Voting and Voting Rights in America - Then and Now
Lifelong Learning | Registration opens 8/20/2026 9:00 AM EDT
This course will start with an overview of voting in America through the centuries - who voted and how they cast their votes. We will explore post-Civil War laws and constitutional amendments intended to confer voting rights on Black Americans and their initial successes before decades of subversion of those rights. We will follow the rise and fall of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the impact of gerrymandering on elections and the current challenges to the voting process launched by the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
We will wrap up the course with a step-by-step understanding of the process by which our votes are cast, counted, certified, audited and in some elections legally challenged.
Ronald Brown
Ron Brown is a Pittsburgh attorney and political consultant with more than 30 years' experience providing campaign strategy, producing campaign TV ads, and providing other campaign communication tools for Western PA candidates. Ron has also represented campaigns as an attorney in election recounts and other legal issues facing candidates and voters. His law degree and undergraduate degree were received from the University of Pittsburgh.