ELECTION DAY IS NOVEMBER 8th.
MassArt believes in civic engagement and one of the most fundamental acts of civic engagement is voting in local and national elections. This guide will provide information about the history of voting in the United States, as well as present day voting problems.
The Voting Rights Act prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement on August 6, 1965, and Congress later amended the act five times to expand its protections. [Wikipedia contributors. "Voting Rights Act of 1965." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 20 Sep. 2020. Web. 1 Oct. 2020.
The Most Fundamental Right:contrasting perspectives on the Voting Rights Act by 
When the Letter Betrays the Spirit: voting rights enforcement and African American participation from Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama by Fifteenth Amendment, amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States that guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The amendment complemented and followed in the wake of the passage of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments, which abolished slavery and guaranteed citizenship, respectively, to African Americans men. [Parrott-Sheffer, Chelsey. "Fifteenth Amendment". Encyclopædia Britannica, August 14, 2019]
This Bright Light of Ours: stories from the Voting Rights fight by 
Fighting Chance: the struggle over woman suffrage and Black suffrage in Reconstruction America by Minor, Gary. “Relating the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Civil Rights Movement.” OAH Magazine of History, vol. 4, no. 1, 1989, pp. 67–70. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25162641. Accessed 1 Oct. 2020.
Gerrymandering, in U.S. politics, the practice of drawing the boundaries of electoral districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage over its rivals (political or partisan gerrymandering) or that dilutes the voting power of members of ethnic or linguistic minority groups (racial gerrymandering). (Duignan, Brian. "Gerrymanding." Encyclopedia Brittanica. October 11, 2019)
Party Lines: competition, partisanship, and congressional redistricting by 
Political Fix: How Should We Get American Politics Back on Track? by "Gerrymandering and Redistricting." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2020. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link-gale-com.ezproxymca.flo.org/apps/doc/PHQMDR855761977/OVIC?u=mca_main&sid=OVIC&xid=71e3bd51. Accessed 8 Sept. 2020.
Voter suppression concerns allegations about various efforts, legal and illegal, used to prevent eligible voters from exercising their right to vote. "Voter suppression in the United States." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 27 Sep. 2020. Web. 29 Sep. 2020.
Erickson, Erick. "The Voter-Suppression Myth." National Review, vol. 72, no. 13, 27 July 2020, p. 35+. Gale Academic OneFile Select, https://link-gale-com.ezproxymca.flo.org/apps/doc/A629055351/EAIM?u=mca_main&sid=EAIM&xid=1290fbb3. Accessed 29 Sept. 2020.
Moser, Bob. "The Voter Suppression Chronicles." The American Prospect, vol. 30, no. 3, Summer 2019, p. 46+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link-gale-com.ezproxymca.flo.org/apps/doc/A594924439/AONE?u=mca_main&sid=AONE&xid=d1addf80. Accessed 29 Sept. 2020.
GET READY
Are you registered to vote? Find out HERE.
What is the deadline to register in your state? Find out HERE.
Not registered? Register HERE.
Absentee ballots/Mail-in voting. Options and qualifications vary by state and many states are loosening their rules due to COVID-19. Find out more HERE.
Registered and want an absentee ballot? Request it HERE.
And because I registered to vote in 1990, the same year that Rock the Vote was founded I can't resist sharing their website too. Find out more about building the political power of young people:
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. Ratified August 18th 1920. (Wikipedia contributors. "Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 26 Aug. 2020. Web. 8 Sep. 2020.)
Wu, Michelle M., et al. "Searching for Equality: The Nineteenth Amendment and Beyond: A conversation between United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge M. Margaret McKeown." Georgetown Law Journal, vol. 108, no. SE, June 2020, p. 5+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link-gale-com.ezproxymca.flo.org/apps/doc/A630831510/AONE?u=mca_main&sid=AONE&xid=37657a53. Accessed 31 Aug. 2020.
Suffrage Days: stories from the women's suffrage movement by 
Watch PBS's American Experience film The Vote. Available through September.
The Electoral College is a unique method for indirectly electing the president of the United States. It was established by Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution and modified by the 12th and 23rd Amendments... Each state has a number of electoral votes equal to the combined total of its congressional delegation, and each state legislature is free to determine the method it will use to select its own electors. ("The Electoral College." National Conference of State Legislatures website. July 6, 2020.)
Why the Electoral College Is Bad for America by 
Crisis at the Polls: an electoral reform handbook by Magleby, David B. “Ballot Initiatives and Intergovernmental Relations in the United States.” Publius, vol. 28, no. 1, 1998, pp. 147–163. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3331013. Accessed 29 Sept. 2020.
In Massachusetts there are two questions on the ballot this year.
Massachusetts Question 1: the "Right to Repair Law" Vehicle Data Access Requirement Initiative
Massachusetts Question 2, the Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative
Click on the links to find out more about these ballot questions.
And for everyone who isn't voting in the Massachusetts election, you can find ballot question information at one of the following sites. Plus information about candidates running for local, state, and federal seats.
