Our Unfinished March: The Violent Past and Imperiled Future of the Vote—a History, a Crisis, a Plan

In this analytical call-to-action, former U.S. attorney general Holder charts the history of voter discrimination. Noting that since the Supreme Court “gutted” the Voting Rights Act in 2013, more than two dozen states “have instituted draconian anti-voting laws that clearly and intentionally have a disproportionate impact on communities of color,” Holder documents disagreements among the Founders over whether to “expand the franchise” to propertyless whites, and details the progress and reversal of Black voting rights after the Civil War and the campaign for women’s suffrage. According to Holder, the election of the nation’s first Black president in 2008 provoked efforts by Republican lawmakers (“aware that their agenda did not align with the interests of a majority of Americans”) to make it harder to vote. Holder also delves into Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and details how recent state laws have made it harder to vote by mail and criminalized giving water and food to voters waiting in line to cast their ballots. His proposals for fixing the problem include automatic voter registration and passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Lucid history lessons and concrete solutions make this an essential primer on a hot-button political issue. (May)