Race and Democracy—Restoring and Increasing Civic Participation

In the wake of the 2000 and 2004 U.S. presidential elections, fairness in voting and the electoral process took center stage in public dialogue. This conversation provided a historical overview of voting rights and the exclusion of communities of color, felon disenfranchisement, how to include linguistic minorities in the voting process, enhancing civic participation in the 2006 election, and the re-authorization of the Voting Rights Act in 2007.

Moderated by Gara LaMarche, OSI Vice President and Director of U.S. Programs, the panel featured:

• Penda Hair, Co-Director of the Advancement Project;
• Marc Mauer, Assistant Director of the Sentencing Project;
• Jacqueline Berrien, Associate Director-Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund;
• Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.