The regulatory state also has implications for the individual rights of citizens. For instance, the federal government streamlined civic participation standards in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As Jenna Bednar, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan and preeminent researcher on federalism, told the HPR, “Voting rights is an interesting one because we had this centralization, but now states are exploring other ways of regulating who is able to participate politically that is either not in violation of the Voting Rights Act or through the Supreme Court which has minimized the effect of the Voting Rights Act.”