Poll Power

Poll Power
Author: Evan Faulkenbury
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2019-04-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1469651327

The civil rights movement required money. In the early 1960s, after years of grassroots organizing, civil rights activists convinced nonprofit foundations to donate in support of voter education and registration efforts. One result was the Voter Education Project (VEP), which, starting in 1962, showed far-reaching results almost immediately and organized the groundwork that eventually led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In African American communities across the South, the VEP catalyzed existing campaigns; it paid for fuel, booked rallies, bought food for volunteers, and paid people to canvass neighborhoods. Despite this progress, powerful conservatives in Congress weaponized the federal tax code to undercut the important work of the VEP. Though local power had long existed in the hundreds of southern towns and cities that saw organized civil rights action, the VEP was vital to converting that power into political motion. Evan Faulkenbury offers a much-needed explanation of how philanthropic foundations, outside funding, and tax policy shaped the southern black freedom movement.

Give Us the Ballot

Give Us the Ballot
Author: Ari Berman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2015-08-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0374711496

A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, Nonfiction A New York Times Notable Book of 2015 A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2015 A Boston Globe Best Book of 2015 A Kirkus Reviews Best 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.

Every Vote Matters

Every Vote Matters
Author: Thomas A. Jacobs
Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2016-08-10
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 163198070X

Encourage teens to recognize the importance of voting and making their voices heard in the democratic process with this timely book focused on Supreme Court decisions that came down to a single vote. Chapters examine key Supreme Court rulings and explore how these cases have affected the lives and rights of U.S. citizens—especially teens. Using a straightforward, impartial tone, the authors take a close look at often controversial cases and at the history of voting in the United States. The emphasis is involvement in local and national elections as well as other ways to be an engaged citizen. With an accompanying digital discussion guide, the book is a perfect choice for teachers and youth leaders to offer teens in the upcoming 2016 presidential election cycle.

From the Bullet to the Ballot

From the Bullet to the Ballot
Author: Jakobi Williams
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2013-02-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1469608162

In this comprehensive history of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party (ILBPP), Chicago native Jakobi Williams demonstrates that the city's Black Power movement was both a response to and an extension of the city's civil rights movement. Williams focuses on the life and violent death of Fred Hampton, a charismatic leader who served as president of the NAACP Youth Council and continued to pursue a civil rights agenda when he became chairman of the revolutionary Chicago-based Black Panther Party. Framing the story of Hampton and the ILBPP as a social and political history and using, for the first time, sealed secret police files in Chicago and interviews conducted with often reticent former members of the ILBPP, Williams explores how Hampton helped develop racial coalitions between the ILBPP and other local activists and organizations. Williams also recounts the history of the original Rainbow Coalition, created in response to Richard J. Daley's Democratic machine, to show how the Panthers worked to create an antiracist, anticlass coalition to fight urban renewal, political corruption, and police brutality.

The Power of the Ballot

The Power of the Ballot
Author: Vipul Maheshwari
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2022-03-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9354353614

Elections in India have been a stable and impressive feature of the country's political landscape. They provide the voiceless, the disempowered and the poorest the right to vote, equally with the mightiest, the richest and the most influential. And Indian political parties are surpassed by those of no other country in electioneering skill, dramatic presentation of issues, political oratory, or mastery of political psychology. In the decades after Independence, democracy in India has been confronted with various challenges, including radicalism, ultra-Left-wing activism, external threats and the vicissitudes of the polity or economy. The year 2020-21 brought an unprecedented challenge in the form of an unseen, unknown and silent enemy, the SARS-Cov 2 virus, that had to be fought simultaneously while upholding the democratic process of elections. The Power of the Ballot narrates the saga of Indian elections with stories ranging from digitisation of voting and the constant struggle with the malpractices to holding elections during pandemic.

Power and the Vote

Power and the Vote
Author: Brian Min
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2015-09-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107109841

Shows that the provision of seemingly universal public goods is shaped by electoral priorities.

Give Us the Vote!

Give Us the Vote!
Author: Susan Goldman Rubin
Publisher: Holiday House
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2020-02-04
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0823439577

The corruption, activism, heroic efforts, and ongoing struggles for the right to vote are chronicled by an award-winning nonfiction author. For over 200 years, people have marched, gone to jail, risked their lives, and even died trying to get the right to vote in the United States. Others, hungry to acquire or hold onto power, have gone to extraordinary lengths to prevent people from casting ballets or outright stolen votes and sometimes entire elections. Perfect for students who want to know more about voting rights, this nonfiction book contains an extensive view of suffrage from the Founding Fathers to the 19th Amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to today's voter suppression controversies, and explains the barriers people of color, Indigenous people, and immigrants face. Back matter includes a bibliography, source notes, texts of the Constitution and amendments, a timeline, and an index. A Junior Library Guild Selection Selected for the CBC Champions of Change Showcase A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year!

The Fight to Vote

The Fight to Vote
Author: Michael Waldman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2022-01-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1982198931

On cover, the word "right" has an x drawn over the letter "r" with the letter "f" above it.

This is What Democracy Looked Like

This is What Democracy Looked Like
Author: Alicia Yin Cheng
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2020-06-30
Genre: Design
ISBN: 161689931X

This Is What Democracy Looked Like, the first illustrated history of printed ballot design, illuminates the noble but often flawed process at the heart of our democracy. An exploration and celebration of US ballots from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this visual history reveals unregulated, outlandish, and, at times, absurd designs that reflect the explosive growth and changing face of the voting public. The ballots offer insight into a pivotal time in American history—a period of tectonic shifts in the electoral system—fraught with electoral fraud, disenfranchisement, scams, and skullduggery, as parties printed their own tickets and voters risked their lives going to the polls.

Design for Democracy

Design for Democracy
Author: Marcia Lausen
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2008-11-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0226470636

In November 2000, when the now-infamous "butterfly ballot" confused crucial Florida voters during a hotly contested presidential race, the importance of well-designed ballots to a functioning democracy caught the nation's attention. Recognizing that our entire voting process—from registering to vote to following instructions at the polling place—can be almost as confusing as the Florida ballot, Design for Democracy builds on the lessons of 2000 by presenting innovative steps for redesigning elections in the service of citizens. Handsomely designed itself, this volume showcases adaptable design models that can improve almost every part of the election process by maximizing the clarity and usability of ballots, registration forms, posters and signs, informational brochures and guides, and even administrative materials for poll workers. Design for Democracy also lays out specific guidelines—covering issues of color palette, typography, and image use—that anchor the comprehensive election design system devised by the group of design specialists from whose name the book takes its title. Part of a major AIGA strategic program, this group's prototypes and recommendations have already been used successfully in major Illinois and Oregon elections and, collected here, are likely to spread across the country as more people become aware of the myriad benefits and broad applicability of improved election design. An essential tool for designers and election officials, lawmakers and citizens, Design for Democracy harnesses the power of design to increase voter confidence, promote government transparency, and, perhaps most important, create an informed electorate.