The idea of America that most of us have come to embrace — that of a functioning democracy responsible and responsive to its citizens who are entitled to vote and whose votes are equal — is lost. In fact, it may never have existed in that way at all. And the trends in society are now toward the worse rather than the better.

The founders of this country never intended for everyone to vote, and they didn’t even include a right to vote in the Constitution. Instead they let voting default to the states, which erected their own barriers to the ballot. As such, the right to vote has expanded and contracted over time.

In the beginning, generally speaking, property-owning white men were the only people allowed to vote. That franchise has expanded over time to include all white men, black men, women and so forth. But, there remain efforts to restrict access to the ballot, particularly for black and brown people in this country.

This rash of new restrictions seems to have been ignited by the election of Barack Obama, America’s first black president. As the Brennan Center for Justice has pointed out, “After the 2010 election, state lawmakers nationwide started introducing hundreds of harsh measures making it harder to vote.” As the center documented:

“Overall, 25 states have put in place new restrictions since then — 15 states have more restrictive voter ID laws in place (including six states with strict photo ID requirements), 12 have laws making it harder for citizens to register (and stay registered), 10 made it more difficult to vote early or absentee, and three took action to make it harder to restore voting rights for people with past criminal convictions.”