Voices and Votes: Democracy in America: Related Resources

Find answers to common questions about voting in the United States. From USA.gov

Federal election laws can help protect your voting rights and the election process. Learn about limits on campaign contributions, accessibility laws for voters with disabilities or language barriers, and more. From USA.gov

From the National Archives. The portal for Black Americans and the Vote highlights many of the National Archives holdings that relate to the long struggle for equality in voting rights. Through this portal, users can explore the historic events, individuals, organizations, and the Federal government’s actions to both limit and expand access to the vote. The National Archives holds records relating to mass voting actions such as Freedom Summer, as well as records about the organizations and people that championed voting access for Black Americans.

A short history of voting rights from the Carnegie Corporation of New York

From the National Parks Service a series by Megan Bailey. The right to vote (also known as suffrage) is an important part of our democracy. Throughout history, different groups were prevented from taking part in the voting process. At one point, women, people of color, and immigrants could not vote. People without money, property, or an education were also barred from voting. Discover the relationship between the 15th and the 19th Amendments that guaranteed access to the ballot.

From the US History website of the Independence Hall Association (IHA) a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation

Video from CSPAN. April 28, 2001 Standing in front of James Madison’s Montpelier, Governor Wilder spoke to a reunion of slave descendants about slavery’s impacts on American culture. Following his remarks he answered questions from the audience.

From the Library of Congress. The first edition of Abraham Lincoln's final emancipation proclamation from The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana.

New York Times article published Feb. 24, 2020
From 1776 to 1807, women in New Jersey had equal voting rights. Newly surfaced documents illuminate how that happened — and the origins of the messy, imperfect democracy we have today.
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Women and African Americans could vote in NJ before the 15th and 19th Amendments. From the National Park Service

Resources from the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)

The Long 19th Amendment Project is a joint project of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

From the Carnegie Corporation of New York

Explore the collection of virtual exhibits and learn about trailblazing women, past and present.

A special edition of Evoke, a collection of new, optimistic perspectives hosted by Melinda French Gates. Features portraits and artifacts that help tell a more complete story of the history of women's voting rights, with a focus on Black women's activism. This digital collection is brought to you by Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company created by Melinda Gates to advance social progress in the United States.

The U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service website Citizenship Resource Center has a collection of helpful resources and free study materials.

The Journal of Democracy and its book series are published by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
It is available online through Project MUSE,
MUSE is a collaborative Web site between libraries and publishers, housing more than three-hundred humanities, arts, and social-sciences journals.

From the Library of Congress. The images include portraits of women who campaigned for women's rights, particularly voting rights, and suffrage campaign scenes, cartoons, and ephemera.

From the Library of Congress. This resource guide compiles a list of online and print resources that contain U.S. election statistics for both federal and state elections. All of the print publications listed in this guide can be consulted on-site at the Library of Congress. In addition, most of the online resources listed are freely available on the Internet.

Established in 1999 by Alan V. and Amy Lowenstein, the Institute’s cutting-edge racial and social justice advocacy seeks to empower people of color by building reparative systems that create wealth, transform justice and harness democratic power—from the ground up—in New Jersey.

The States United Democracy Center is a nonpartisan organization advancing free, fair, and secure elections. We focus on connecting state officials, law enforcement leaders, and pro-democracy partners across America with the tools and expertise they need to safeguard our democracy. We are more than a think tank—we are an action tank. And together, we are committed to making sure every vote is counted, every voice is heard, and every election is safe.

Voting is a key part of our participation in society and having our voices heard in the issues that affect us all, and we have the right to vote regardless of gender identity. Having ID that doesn’t match your gender identity or presentation should not affect your right to cast a ballot, in any state. But with increasingly strict voter ID laws, trans people may face barriers—both because of difficulties in obtaining an ID that’s accepted, or because they might run into bias or misunderstandings of the law when it comes to their gender.