Note: This is an encore edition of Reader's Corner. The episode originally aired in September 2021.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is considered one of the most effective pieces of legislation the United States has ever passed. It enfranchised hundreds of thousands of voters, particularly in the American South, and drew attention to the problem of voter suppression. Yet in recent years there has been a continuous assault on access to the ballot box in the form of stricter voter ID requirements, meritless claims of rigged elections, and baseless accusations of voter fraud. In her new book, Uncounted: The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America, Gilda R. Daniels examines the phenomenon of disenfranchisement through the lens of history, race, law, and the democratic process.
Gilda R. Daniels is an expert on voting rights, serving as a deputy chief in the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Voting Section in both the Clinton and Bush administrations. She has more than a decade of voting rights experience, bringing cases that involved various provisions of the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act and other voting rights statutes.
