58 pages • 1 hour read
Carol AndersonOne Person, No Vote
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Why does Anderson use One Person, No Vote as the title? Provide the name and origins of the judicial principle it plays on. What is the importance of the individual power of voting?
What role did the 2000 presidential election play in elevating voter ID laws to a national issue? Explain what tactics Republicans took to elevate the issue and why it is difficult to reverse these measures.
Anderson is critical of Chief Justice John Roberts and his perspective of voting rights. Explain what led to his decision on Shelby County v. Holder and its impact on state voting laws. What can be done to mitigate these decisions and restore the Voting Rights Act?
Explain the origins of gerrymandering and how it acts as a tool of voter suppression. What impact does it have on both elections and political parties?
Explain how Anderson uses both statistics, individual stories, and third-party sources to highlight injustice. What are the benefits and disadvantages of each approach?
What measures did civil rights groups take in the 2017 Alabama special election to defeat Roy Moore? Discuss why Anderson emphasizes the importance of local participation and person-to-person connections. How replicable are these results?
What solutions are states and civil rights groups pursuing to expand voting and prevent voter suppression? Consider measures that voters are enacting to circumvent suppression tactics by the legislature.
Select one of the states that Anderson focuses on and explain how officials use legislation and bureaucracy to control voting rights. What are the results of these practices? Why is it difficult to bring this issue to a national stage?
At the end of the book, Anderson calls voter suppression as divisive and destabilizing to American democracy as slavery. Why does she feel this way, and what evidence does she provide to support her conclusion? Is this comparison justified?
