Insights on Law & Society: Voting & Elections

Volume 12, no. 2, Winter 2012

This 32-page issue of Insights includes:

Still Relevant Today: The Voting Rights Act

Elizabeth Yang details how the Voting Rights Act, signed into law over 40 years ago, is still relevant to Americans today.

Whose Votes Count?: Voting Rights Legislation and the Democratic Process

Gilda Daniels discusses recent voting rights state legislation and its potential impact on the democratic process.

Learning Gateways: Voter ID Laws

In this lesson, students analyze a political cartoon and then explore voter identification requirements in their own state.

Perspectives: Are Voter Photo ID Laws a Good Idea?

Seven experts offer arguments for and against voter photo identification laws, which were passed in record numbers during many states’ recent legislative session.

“This Is Not Florida”: The Franken-Coleman Recount

Jay Weiner presents an account of the 2008 U.S. Senate election recount in Minnesota between Al Franken and Norm Coleman. The most expensive recount in U.S. history serves as a case study for the

recount process and how it influences elections and state laws.

Students in Action: Student Election Judges Safeguard the Electoral Process

This fall, thousands of Chicago high school students will work as election judges in polling places across the city. The city leads the nation with this student-driven model.

Law Review: FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc.

Paul Smith outlines the arguments before the Supreme Court as it considers whether the Federal

Communication Commission’s regulation of indecent, but not obscene, speech in broadcast media violates the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Learning Gateways: Could You Vote?

Students take an actual historic Alabama literacy test to determine if they would have been eligible to vote prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Learning Gateways: Challenged Ballots: You Be the Judge!

During the 2008 Minnesota recount, many ballots challenged officials with ambiguous or erroneous markings. Students become recount judges who must decide how to count these ballots, and learn about how ballots are counted in their own state.