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Voting in America: Voting in America

A research topic guide covering voting in the United States.

Voting in America

This research guide covers topics related to voting in the United States. Topics covered include the history of voting in America, the electoral college, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, women's suffrage, and the election process. 

Please note: While some selections are open access, others require SAU login. 

Voting in America

Resources & Research

Perspectives

Parties and Elections in America

This classic text provides an in-depth examination and history of American political parties and their critical role in representative democracy at the local, state, and national levels. Focused on the continued evolution and significance of parties in the American political system, separate chapters are devoted to key topics such as the impact of social media in the electoral process, and recent developments in campaign finance. The seventh edition fully incorporates the results of the 2012 presidential election and the 2014 midterm elections, as well as the impact of the Tea Party within the Republican party and important demographic shifts in the American electorate.

Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America

A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, Nonfiction ANew York Times Notable Book of 2015 AWashington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2015 ABoston Globe Best Book of 2015 AKirkus ReviewsBest Nonfiction Book of 2015 An NPR Best Book of 2015 Countless books have been written about the civil rights movement, but far less attention has been paid to what happened after the dramatic passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1965 and the turbulent forces it unleashed.Give Us the Ballot tells this story for the first time. In this groundbreaking narrative history, Ari Berman charts both the transformation of American democracy under the VRA and the counterrevolution that has sought to limit voting rights, from 1965 to the present day. The act enfranchised millions of Americans and is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement. And yet, fifty years later, we are still fighting heated battles over race, representation, and political power, with lawmakers devising new strategies to keep minorities out of the voting booth and with the Supreme Court declaring a key part of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. Berman brings the struggle over voting rights to life through meticulous archival research, in-depth interviews with major figures in the debate, and incisive on-the-ground reporting. In vivid prose, he takes the reader from the demonstrations of the civil rights era to the halls of Congress to the chambers of the Supreme Court. At this important moment in history,Give Us the Ballot provides new insight into one of the most vital political and civil rights issues of our time.

The Women's Suffrage Movement

An intersectional anthology of works by the known and unknown women that shaped and established the suffrage movement, in time for the 2020 centennial of women's right to vote, with a foreword by Gloria Steinem Comprised of historical texts spanning two centuries, The Women's Suffrage Movement is a comprehensive and singular volume with a distinctive focus on incorporating race, class, and gender, and illuminating minority voices. This one-of-a-kind intersectional anthology features the writings of the most well-known suffragists, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, alongside accounts of those often overlooked because of their race, from Native American women to African American suffragists like Ida B. Wells and the three Forten sisters. At a time of enormous political and social upheaval, there could be no more important book than one that recognizes a group of exemplary women--in their own words--as they paved the way for future generations. The editor and introducer, Sally Roesch Wagner, is a pre-eminent scholar of the diverse backbone of the women's suffrage movement, the founding director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, and serves on the New York State Women's Suffrage Commission.

Bending Toward Justice: The Voting Rights Act and the Transformation of American Democracy

When the Fifteenth Amendment of 1870 granted African Americans the right to vote, it seemed as if a new era of political equality was at hand. Before long, however, white segregationists across the South counterattacked, driving their black countrymen from the polls through a combination of sheer terror and insidious devices such as complex literacy tests and expensive poll taxes. Most African Americans would remain voiceless for nearly a century more, citizens in name only until the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act secured their access to the ballot. In Bending Toward Justice, celebrated historian Gary May describes how black voters overcame centuries of bigotry to secure and preserve one of their most important rights as American citizens. The struggle that culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act was long and torturous, and only succeeded because of the courageous work of local freedom fighters and national civil rights leaders -- as well as, ironically, the opposition of Southern segregationists and law enforcement officials, who won public sympathy for the voting rights movement by brutally attacking peaceful demonstrators. But while the Voting Rights Act represented an unqualified victory over such forces of hate, May explains that its achievements remain in jeopardy. Many argue that the 2008 election of President Barack Obama rendered the act obsolete, yet recent years have seen renewed efforts to curb voting rights and deny minorities the act's hard-won protections. Legal challenges to key sections of the act may soon lead the Supreme Court to declare those protections unconstitutional. A vivid, fast-paced history of this landmark piece of civil rights legislation, Bending Toward Justice offers a dramatic, timely account of the struggle that finally won African Americans the ballot -- although, as May shows, the fight for voting rights is by no means over.

Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State

On the night of the 2000 presidential election, Americans sat riveted in front of their televisions as polling results divided the nation's map into red and blue states. Since then the color divide has become a symbol of a culture war that thrives on stereotypes--pickup-driving red-state Republicans who vote based on God, guns, and gays; and elitist, latte-sipping blue-state Democrats who are woefully out of touch with heartland values. Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State debunks these and other political myths. With wit and prodigious number crunching, Andrew Gelman gets to the bottom of why Democrats win elections in wealthy states while Republicans get the votes of richer voters, how the two parties have become ideologically polarized, and other issues. Gelman uses eye-opening, easy-to-read graphics to unravel the mystifying patterns of recent voting, and in doing so paints a vivid portrait of the regional differences that drive American politics. He demonstrates in the plainest possible terms how the real culture war is being waged among affluent Democrats and Republicans, not between the haves and have-nots; how religion matters for higher-income voters; how the rich-poor divide is greater in red not blue states--and much more. Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State is a must-read for anyone seeking to make sense of today's fractured American political landscape. Myths and facts about the red and the blue: Myth: The rich vote based on economics, the poor vote "God, guns, and gays." Fact: Church attendance predicts Republican voting much more among rich than poor. Myth: A political divide exists between working-class "red America" and rich "blue America." Fact: Within any state, more rich people vote Republican. The real divide is between higher-income voters in red and blue states. Myth: Rich people vote for the Democrats. Fact: George W. Bush won more than 60 percent of high-income voters. Myth: Religion is particularly divisive in American politics. Fact: Religious and secular voters differ no more in America than in France, Germany, Sweden, and many other European countries.

Presidential Elections 1789-2004

This resource explains the evolution of presidential elections. Now updated to include coverage of the 2004 Bush-Kerry presidential contest, this volume explains the process through which the president is elected, including the complexities of the Electoral College system.

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