Attacking and Defending Voting Rights

Now & Then

Vox Media Podcast Network

History, Society & Culture, News Commentary, News

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2021

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of Now & Then, “Attacking and Defending Voting Rights,” Heather and Joanne discuss the history of American voting rights and the antecedents to the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021. They look at New Jersey’s surprising history of female voting, the violence of the Know-Nothing Party, and the long congressional struggle to secure full suffrage for all Americans. Who has worked to deny the vote to marginalized populations? Which laws have been most effective in bolstering enfranchisement? And what still needs to be accomplished? Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and Joanne chat each week about the anecdotes and ideas that formed the episode. And for a limited time, use the code HISTORY for 50% off the annual membership price. Head to www.cafe.com/history Join us each Tuesday for new episodes of Now & Then, and keep an eye out for live events with Heather and Joanne and the rest of the CAFE Team. For references & supplemental materials, head to: cafe.com/now-and-then/attacking-and-defending-voting-rights Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	From Cafe and the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is now and then.
0:07.0	I'm Joanne Freeman.
0:10.0	And I'm Heather Cox Richardson.
0:12.0	Today, we want to talk about a topic that I suppose to say that it's been in the news a lot.
0:19.0	Lately, is the most dramatic understatement one could make.
0:24.0	In one way or another, what we want to talk about is voting and more specifically voting rights.
0:30.0	Because obviously, if you think about it, the vote, who can vote and when and how they can vote,
0:38.0	is an enormous aspect of a functioning democracy.
0:42.0	In essence, it's helping to determine who is a full-fledged citizen and even more broadly than that.
0:48.0	Who counts as an American?
0:51.0	We're going to be looking in a lot of ways at how the vote has changed throughout time.
0:58.0	And what that suggests about how a healthy democracy works.
1:03.0	And of course, we're talking about it in part because on Tuesday, August 24th,
1:07.0	the House passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021,
1:12.0	which is an attempt to push back on the fact that between January 1st and July 14th of this year,
1:19.0	at least 18 states enacted about 30 laws that actually restrict access to the vote.
1:26.0	And one of the things that really jumps out about the House Passage of the John Lewis Act
1:31.0	is that the vote on whether or not to pass it was a strict party line vote,
1:36.0	in which the Republicans all voted no.
1:40.0	And that's a really specific and interesting moment right now.
1:44.0	And it really shows a theme, something that we're going to be talking about a little bit on today's episode.
1:49.0	And that is the role and function of political parties in shifting around the ways in which voting does or doesn't function.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox Media Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox Media Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.