Voting Rights and Democracy

What’s At Stake: Examining Voting Rights in the 21st Century

Details

Saturday, June 16, 2012
4:00 pm
American Constitution Society

As we head toward the 2012 presidential election, the ability of citizens to participate in the political process could have enormous consequences. This panel considered challenges to the right to vote posed by newly enacted obstacles, including new voter ID and residency requirements, constitutional attacks on the Voting Rights Act, the continued problem of felon disenfranchisement, and efforts by state legislatures in the reapportionment process to minimize the voting strength of growing minority communities. What impact will these developments have on voter participation during the next election cycle? What is at stake for American law and policy in the upcoming election? What proactive steps can be taken to eliminate barriers and expand voter access to the ballot box? Panelists discussed these and other questions that lay at the foundation of our democracy.

More from Voting Rights and Democracy

Voting Rights and Democracy
April 29, 2026

CAC Release: Supreme Court’s Conservative Supermajority, Once Again, Guts the Voting Rights Act and Further Enables Racial Discrimination in Voting

WASHINGTON, DC – Following today’s decision at the Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais, a...
By: David H. Gans
Voting Rights and Democracy
April 15, 2026

David Gans on the History of the Reconstruction Amendments, and the Connection to Current Supreme Court Cases, including Callais

Election Law Blog
CAC Director of the Human Rights, Civil Rights, and Citizenship Program David Gans' article in Slate about...
Voting Rights and Democracy
March 23, 2026

The Alito Wing of the Supreme Court Sure Sounds Sold on Trump’s Voter Fraud Lies

Slate
CAC Director of the Human Rights, Civil Rights, and Citizenship Program David H. Gans' article...
Voting Rights and Democracy
March 23, 2026

The Supreme Court’s Conspiracy-Brained Justices Are Ready to Limit Mail-In Voting

Balls and Strikes
Balls & Strikes summarized the arguments in Watson v. RNC, linking to CAC's brief. Read more at...
Voting Rights and Democracy
March 21, 2026

Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick: The Roberts Court’s Internal Reckoning

Slate
The Constitutional Accountability Center's brief in Watson v. RNC was discussed on Slate's Amicus podcast. Listen to the full...
Voting Rights and Democracy
March 23, 2026

CAC Release: The Conservative Attack on Voting By Mail Comes to the Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, DC – Following oral argument at the Supreme Court this morning in Watson v....
By: David H. Gans, Simon Chin