The convergence of these two competing trends has brought the issue of voting rights to a boil in the United States, and Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law and the author of the new book The Fight to Vote, says America has reached a “tipping point” in its democratic process.

I talked with Waldman about this tipping point, why he thinks automatic voter registration is the best solution, and why every state doesn’t already have it. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Elaine Godfrey: Is voting a privilege or a right?

Waldman: Americans have grappled for centuries over whether voting is a right or a privilege. But in fact, it is viewed as a core right of citizenship and membership in the American community. The ‘right to vote’ phrase did not appear in the original Constitution, and the states were left with the task of deciding who could vote. But over time, the right to vote has been added to the Constitution repeatedly, and it’s now recognized as a real right. The question is, how do we give life to that right? How do we protect it? How do we make that vote meaningful?

Godfrey: Has voting always been a partisan issue?

Waldman: One of the lessons of history is that it shouldn’t be surprising that voting is a partisan issue. There have always been some people pushing to expand the right to vote. Right now, the most restrictive voting laws are being passed by Republican legislatures, and other times it’s been Democrats. What’s encouraging is that we now see both parties engaged in the fight on this issue.

Godfrey: Your book covers the evolution of voting rights throughout the past two centuries. Why did you write this book now? Where is America on the timeline of voting rights?

Waldman: This is a time of great and intense pressure on many of the core institutions of American democracy. We’re seeing battles over who can vote, over the rules of how we run elections, of the kind we haven’t seen in years and years. Seventeen states will have new laws on the books for the first time in a high turnout national election that make it harder for people to vote. It’s the first presidential election in half a century without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act.

In the last election, voter turnout had plunged to its lowest level in 72 years. So American democracy is facing real stresses, and people are having to fight for their right to vote. And it turns out that these fights are intense, and they are consequential, but they’re not new. The fight to vote, it turns out, has been at the heart of American politics from the very beginning.

Godfrey: Is it counterintuitive to you that every American doesn’t have an automatic right to vote? Why don’t we already have automatic voting in every state?