A truly postethnic America would be one in which the ethno-racial component in identity would loom less large than it now does in politics.

—David A. Hollinger in Postethnic America (New York: Harper Collins, 1995)

Voter Registration

To be eligible to vote, a person must be a citizen of the United States and at least eighteen years of age. In a report to Congress on The Impact of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 on the Administration of Elections for Federal Office 2001–2002, the Federal Election Commission reported that in 2002 there were 215.5 million total citizens eighteen years and older in the United States. Of that number, 168.4 million, or about 78 percent, were registered to vote. However, a significant number of these registrants, 20.6 million, were considered inactive, meaning they had not recently participated in election voting and in many cases had moved to other jurisdictions. (See Table 9.1.) Each state determines...