While voting is the sine qua non of a democracy, the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to vote. Rather, suffrage has been left to the states, and over time enfranchisement has been restricted and expanded as suits political circumstances. While this structural weakness was left to the nation by the founders, Lichtman argues that subsequent generations are guilty of not redressing it. In this powerful new book he shows how this oversight has sparked a struggle over voting rights that is as old as the nation. Explaining why we’ve failed to ensure universal voting rights, Lichtman, an American University history professor and frequent media commentator on voting and elections who has testified in some ninety voting rights cases, also proposes practical reforms that will expand access to the vote, increase voter turnout, and even transform American democracy.