S2 E27 The State of Voting and Representation

Episode discussion topics <ul><li>Our right to vote is under siege by <a href='https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/voting-restrictions-republicans-states/'>proposals across 43</a> out of 50 states in the Union (Washington Post, March 11, 2021). This is one of the rare cases DC is fortunate not to have a statehouse. We provide a May round-up on what's passed, below under the more info section.</li> <li>First, we review a "brief" timeline on the <a href='https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/31063/ambiguous-origins-hokey-pokey'>Hokey Pokey dance</a> for who could vote when and where within the United States. Thank you to Wikipedia for the info. (<a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_voting_rights_in_the_United_States'>Full list here</a>, accessed Jun 4, 2021). </li> </ul> <p style="margin:0in;margin-left:.375in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt;">1789 </p> <ul style="margin-left:.75in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in;" type="circle"><li style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;vertical-align:middle;">The <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States'>Constitution of the United States</a> grants the <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._state'>states</a> the power to set voting requirements. Generally, states limited this right to property-owning or tax-paying white males (about 6% of the population).<a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_voting_rights_in_the_United_States#cite_note-1'>[1]</a> However, some states allowed also Black males to vote, and New Jersey also included unmarried and widowed women, regardless of color. Since married women were not allowed to own property, they could not meet the <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_qualification'>property qualifications</a>.<a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_voting_rights_in_the_United_States#cite_note-Klinghoffer-2'>[2]</a></li> </ul> <p style="margin:0in;margin-left:.375in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt;">1791 </p> <ul style="margin-left:.75in;margin