Block the vote? The battle over ballots and the future of American democracy.
As partisanship becomes more correlated with demographics, voting itself is once again a crucial front in the battle between the two parties, with Democrats pushing for greater access and some GOP-led states tightening requirements. Eighth in our ‘Democracy Under Strain’ series.
President Lyndon B. Johnson used 50 pens to sign the Voting Rights Act into law. Television footage of the Aug. 6, 1965, ceremony shows the president putting each to paper for a moment, scratching perhaps a half-letter, and then swapping the instrument out for new. When finished, he handed...