Drawing the Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Voting in America

This rapid-fire history illustrates the evolution of and challenges to U.S. voting rights from the colonial-era Stamp Act to modern voter ID laws. Leading up to the 2018 midterm elections, Jenkins, a literature professor in North Carolina, asked his students if they planned to vote. To his dismay, only a few raised their hands. What, he wondered, could “show people, especially young people, how important voting is?” This graphic work takes that lofty aim, but in the contemporary context of the President calling elections “rigged” and foreign government’s interference in political campaigns, Jenkins notes, “it takes a Herculean effort to shake up the political status quo.” How, he argues, could the U.S. actually make it easier for more people to vote? Taking a broad survey of 250 years, at times the narrative unfolds like a well-illustrated Wikipedia article. But the exposition and Lacker’s simple but energetic illustrations combine to pack valuable information on each page, while making even complex issues (such as the racism of white suffragists who fought for the 19th Amendment) easy to follow. Suited best to younger readers new to the topic, Jenkins’s work lays out the high-stakes history clearly and succinctly. Agents: Su Wu and Judy Hansen, Hansen Literary. [em](Apr.) [/em]