Volume 1.1 - Election Issues - Fall 1996

Title: National Success of "Motor Votor" Act Merits Imitation in Illinois

Author: Erin Austin Krasik

Abstract:Federal legislation in the past three decades to expand the electorate has made voter registration more accessible and voting more protected than any other time in the history of the United States. Most notably, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened doors to African-American voters formerly barred from full participation in the electoral process. Ratified in 1971, the 21st amendment to the Constitution lowered the voting age to 18, enfranchising an entire generation of new voters. In the 1990s, the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) is no less historic in its intent and success to protect the nation's democracy, lowering the costs of voting by increasing the accessibility of voter registration. Such national success should be modeled, especially in states such as Illinois that have delayed its full and proactive implementation in the manner the NVRA was intended.

About the Author:

Erin Austin Krasik is Program Director with the Midwest-Northeast Voter Registration Education Project in Chicago, Illinois, and is a student at the Harris School.

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