1. What does the "original Constitution" (Articles 1-7 only, no amendments) say about voting rights?

“Suffrage was treated as a privilege reserved exclusively for property-owning white men, but it was not enshrined as an inalienable right in the Constitution.” They did not guarantee the right to vote for anybody.

2. What does Lichtman mean when he says voting amendments are in "negative terms"?

He means that the amendments are defined by what states or the national government can not do, rather than what they can.

3. Why does he think that the Framers left the right to vote guarantee out of the Constitution?

“Because they knew that to get the Constitution established, three-quarters of the states at minimum had to ratify it” so they did not put the guarantee since at the time voting was really only open to white property-owning men.

4. Why does he say that we are now in a "period of backsliding" when it comes to voting rights?

“We don’t have the gross denials of the right to vote that we once did in this country. But we have newer and more obscure forms of voter disenfranchisement.”

5. What forms of voter suppression does he mention?

Voter ID laws, purges of voter rolls, and racial or political gerrymandering are some forms of voter suppression he mentions.

6. Why is it difficult to overturn laws that suppress voting rights?

Without that guarantee of voting in the Constitution, the states really do get to do whatever they like with voting because it has been left up to them for a long time.

7. Where does he expect to see the biggest changes in the protections of voting rights to come from?

He believes state courts are who have the ability and who will change voting rights.

8. What was strange about the way votes in Florida were counted in the 2000 elections?

180,000 votes were invalidated and the votes made the ratio for African American to White votes 1:5 (one out of every 10 blacks was equal to one out of 50 whites.)

9. How many states added photo ID laws for voters after Barack Obama's election in 2008?

Supposedly, 15 states have made their voter ID laws stricter.

10. What kinds of policies does Lichtman suggest that the US needs?

More anti-gerrymandering referendums and same day and automatic registration are some policies he recommends altering/adding.