The African American Electorate: A Statistical History

Hofstra Law students have full access to this unique and rich database of materials covering every era in the history of African-American voters, from the Colonial period through 2008, with charts and graphs to enhance the story.  Chapters on each historical period include supporting statistical data from both the North and South on registration, voter turnout, and electoral impact in addition to suffrage, enfranchisement and disenfranchisement, poll taxes, voting rights activism and the Voting Rights Act.  A wonderful resource for legal, political, and cultural history, the African American Electorate: A Statistical History is part of the CQ Press Electronic Library created by Congressional Quarterly, Inc.  It is available to all Hofstra students through the University portal.

To access this Axinn Library database from the Hofstra University website, start here.  Click on the "Research Databases" tab, then on "click here to browse the full A-Z list."  At the Hofstra portal login page, use your network login to proceed.  Then select "CQ The African American Electorate: A Statistical History" from the alphabetical list under "C".       

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

New York Anniversary

Last Tuesday was an election day for New Yorkers, but yesterday was the anniversary of a momentous day in New York election history--November 6, 1917, when New York state passed a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote.

Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party had been picketing the White House since January of that year, followed by arrests and continuing protests. Although the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting suffrage to all American women, was not ratified until August 1920, New York's amendment and a march of 25,000 women in late 1915 in New York City were major events in the last successful push for the vote. The Library of Congress American Memory collection features a fascinating photo and timeline glimpse into the all-important year of 1917 in the history of legal rights for women.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

The Redistricting Game

How may future lawyers, legislators or policymakers really understand how congressional redistricting works--and how it affects political power and the outcome of elections? Grasping these concepts would never be fun if it weren't for the Redistricting Game.

This free game, developed at the University of Southern California's Game Innovation Lab for the USC Annenberg Center for Communication, lets you play the "redistricting game" by redrawing maps of congressional districts in fictional states within a browser window. Watch the results both on the map and in the facial expressions of the fictional representatives affected by your moves, and work toward approval of your plan. Players can work through five missions, including basic population equality, partisan Gerrymander, and Voting Rights Act. Each mission comes with eye-opening quotes.

Check out this game and play the real world variables to understand how the system really works.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Voting Location

Not sure of your voting location? The Smartvoter site by the League of Women voters can help. Use the Find My Ballot function to find voting locations and ballot information. The site also contains candidate information and links to other political information sites.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat