Race, Reform, and Regulation of the Electoral Process: Recurring Puzzles in American Democracy

This book offers a critical re-evaluation of three fundamental and interlocking themes in American democracy: the relationship between race and politics, the performance and reform of election systems, and the role of courts in regulating the political process. This edited volume features contributions from some of the leading voices in election law and social science. The authors address the recurring questions for American democracy and identify new challenges for the twenty-first century. They not only consider where current policy and scholarship is headed, but also suggest where it ought to go over the next two decades. The book thus provides intellectual guideposts for future scholarship and policymaking in American democracy.

Guy-Uriel E. Charles is a Professor of Law at Duke Law School and the Co-Director of the Duke Center on Law, Race and Politics. Professor Charles teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, civil procedure, election law, law and politics, and race. His articles have appeared in Constitutional Commentary, the Michigan Law Review, the Michigan Journal of Race and Law, the Georgetown Law Journal, the Journal of Politics, the California Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review and others.

Heather K. Gerken is the J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where she specializes in election law, constitutional law and civil procedure. Professor Gerken is one of the country's leading experts on voting rights and election law, the role of groups in the democratic process, and the relationship between diversity and democracy. Her work has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, Political Theory and Political Science Quarterly. Her book, The Democracy Index: Why our Election System Is Failing and How to Fix It (2009), discusses a proposal put into bills by then-Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and Congressman Steve Israel.

Michael S. Kang is an Associate Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law, where he teaches election law, business associations and a seminar on law and democratic governance. His research focuses on issues of voting, race, election law and political science. Professor Kang's articles have been published by the Yale Law Journal, the NYU Law Review and the Michigan Law Review, among others. He received his JD from the University of Chicago Law School and his PhD in government from Harvard University.