Table of Contents
Introduction: Who Is Stealing America's Future? 1
Real Access to the Right to Vote Isn't a Guarantee-And That's a Problem
Who We Are Matters: Identity Politics and the Census
Defeating Populism and Winning Elections to Save
Democracy
Chapter 1 Everything Old Is New Again 17
Deny and Delay: The Fight for Voting Rights Never Ended
Suppression Starts with Who Belongs Here
A Moment's Grace: Reconstruction to a False Redemption
A Dim Light Grows: The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act
Chapter 2 A License to Be Heard (Voter Registration) 42
No New Voices
No Transparency Is the Point
You're Outta Here: Excessive Voter Purges
Chapter 3 Getting Beyond the Gates (Access to the Ballot) 70
The False Seduction of Voter ID
There's No Voting at a Closed Poll
When Voting Isn't Easy, It Can Be Impossible
Chapter 4 When the Numbers Lie (Ballot Counting) 92
Signatures, Rejections, Curing, Oh My!: Absentee Ballots
How a Safety Net Became a Trap: Provisional Ballots
Broken Infrastructure: Malfunctioning Machines, Hours-Long Lines, and Other Barriers
Chapter 5 Taking Our Power Back 116
Staying in the Rigged Game
How We Begin
Fixing the System for Good
Chapter 6 We Can See You and So Should They 141
Class Warfare Begins
More Than the Sum of Our Parts
Why Who We Are Matters
Chapter 7 How the Census Shapes America 161
The Significance of the United States Census
The Census Could Save Us
Collateral Damage: Gerrymandering
End the Electoral College
Chapter 8 The Playbook 190
Reject the Myth of the Magical Voter
Putting Our Money and Information Where Our Votes Are
Run as You Are
Chapter 9 Populism and the Death of Democracy 221
Taking Power from the People
The Rise of Authoritarian Populism as Democracy's Enemy
Getting Our Credibility Back
Chapter 10 The Next Best Version of America 242
Afterword 255
Author's Note 261
Notes 264
Acknowledgments 273
Index 277
About the Author 292