The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is considered one of the most effective pieces of legislation the United States has ever passed. It enfranchised hundreds of thousands of voters, particularly in the American South, and drew attention to the problem of voter suppression. Yet in recent years there has been a continuous assault on access to the ballot box in the form of stricter voter ID requirements, meritless claims of rigged elections, and baseless accusations of voter fraud.
Daniels presents a well-researched, sober discussion of the efforts by politicians, special interest groups, judges, and sundry other forces to undermine the right to vote in the United States ... This is a particularly timely book given the partisanship that runs rampant in society today. However, this is not an easy book. Be prepared to be ashamed, infuriated, exasperated, shocked, surprised, and hopeful. It is that kind of book ... This book offers readers the opportunity to familiarize themselves with past and present efforts to interfere with elections and the voting process. Gilda Daniels has provided a cogent, well-written roadmap through those efforts to restrict voting rights in the United States ... This is a book intended for all American citizens concerned about the future of the republic, regardless of political beliefs. Only through free and fair elections, with robust protections for the right to vote, will this unique experiment continue to flourish ... Read Uncounted. And don’t forget to vote.
In concise chapters focused on specific suppression tactics, she offers strategies for moving the pendulum towards access. The book also covers key federal policy choices and court cases that have impacted voting rights and, lest readers lose sight of the impact of voter suppression on real people, draws on individual experiences, including those of Daniels’ own family members—whose lives span the decades from Jim Crow-era fights for voting rights to the need to defend them in the present—to illuminate the issue’s urgency. This book is a valuable resource for all participants in civic life.
Replete with documentary evidence and examples, this work sounds an alarm for any and all readers interested in reversing the damage and danger of the nondemocratic dynamic threatening truth, justice, and the fight to vote.
