dr. abigail thernstrum has worked on these questions. sometimes in conjunction with her husband steven and sometimes on her own. she has written and analyzed the most emotional topics in today's political debate including affirmative action, education, and the subject of today's book and event, voting rights. of these perhaps voting rights is the most important because our experiment in republican self-government ultimately rests on the idea that all men, all people can participate equally in the political and electoral life of our country that determine what we do and who we are. what that means, what it is -- what is meant by equal participation is a much thornier question than is commonly understood and it is that thorny question which the doctor works to untangle in her book and will start to elucidate today. she's an adjunct scholar at aei and a member of the board of advisors at the u.s. election commission. she was a senior fellow from 1993 to 2009 and a member of the massachusetts state board of education for more than a decade.