PROGRAM

Join us at Roosevelt House as we continue our Keynote Series: Decision 2016 with a timely conversation with Michael Waldman, president of NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice, about his new book, The Fight to Vote, the history of the long struggle to win voting rights for all citizens.

On the eve of presidential primaries in Ohio and Florida, Michael Waldman offers a comprehensive look at a crucial American struggle: the drive to define and defend government based on “the consent of the governed.” From the beginning, and at every step along the way, as some Americans sought the right to vote, others have fought to stop them. The Fight to Vote traces the full story from the founders’ debates to today’s challenges: a wave of restrictive voting laws, partisan gerrymanders, and the flood of campaign money unleashed by Citizens United. 

Mr. Waldman will be in conversation with Dorothy Samuels, a member of the Roosevelt House Advisory Board and a senior fellow at the Brennan Center, who served, for a record 30 years, as a member of The New York Times editorial board, writing on a wide array of legal and social policy issues. In examining how the right to vote has become the fight to vote, Mr. Waldman and Ms. Samuels will explore how raucous debates over expanding democracy have always been at the center of American politics.

We look forward to welcoming you to Roosevelt House for this important Keynote Series looking at the state of American democracy.