Voting Rights and Democracy: The Law and Politics of Districting

Because the late 1990s have witnessed a revolution in voting rights unparalleled since the 1960s, there are many new questions and concerns regarding the law and politics of voting rights at the Congressional, state legislative, and local levels. This timely text deals with these issues, paying particular attention to minority issues and bringing together the skills and perspectives of a political scientist, a law professor and former state House speaker, and a professional political consultant and freelance journalist. Voting Rights and Democracy discusses the development over the last thirty years of new legal and political conceptions of voting rights, key decisions and moments, how the racial fairness standard became manifest, and what consequences flowed from these developments. The book concludes with a consideration of the implications of the new revolution in voting rights for American democracy, and provides alternatives to race-based districting.