But the power and potential corruption of big money are not the only voting-equality concerns for blacks and other minorities, said Spencer A. Overton, a 1990 Hampton University graduate, law professor at the University of California at Davis and Fannie Lou Hamer board member. Other key issues, he said, include intimidation at the polls, having access to new voting machines and restoring voting rights to felons who've served their jail time. Overton suggests that groups such as the League of Women Voters and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People discuss each other's values more deeply. If any coalition emerges, then each member must respect all others as equal partners, Overton said. Reformers also should not wait to see who invites whom first.
Democracy is based on equality.