NCJ Number
169211
Journal
Social Justice Volume: 22 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1995) Pages: 67-86
Date Published
1995
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This article explores the historical developments that culminated in passage of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
Abstract
It begins by examining the current state of voting within the United States, focusing on the problems of limited and declining participation in electoral politics. It then explores some of the reasons for this decline and attempts to link the etiology of the problem to the range of policy reforms available to policy-makers. The article next describes the legislative history of the National Voter Registration Act, analyzing the influences exerted by social movement actors and legislators alike, with a focus on the events that occurred during the early days of the Clinton administration. Finally, the authors speculate about the possible consequences of this reform, including the irony that the National Voter Registration Act may turn out to be as much a victory for the Republican Party and previously organized interests as it is for President Clinton. Overall, the article develops the thesis that Clinton's success story with the National Voter Registration Act is really the success story of a broad and influential social movement. Like previous extensions of voting rights, this victory was in large part the result of a political struggle that the dominant power structure ultimately supported but did not initiate. 1 figure, 2 tables, 7 notes, and 32 references