and felons in some states); whether policy and law-making is dominated by a small economic elite molding it to their interests; whether a small cultural elite has undermined traditional values; More recently, concerns have included: that a disconnect between what the majority of people want and what the government does (in supreme court rulings, legislation, etc.) has gotten worse in recent years because of some features and institutions of the American system (gerrymandering, the electoral college, "first-past-the-post" voting, etc.); "a growing movement inside one of the country's two major parties—the Republican Party—to refuse to accept defeat in an election"; a belief (without evidence) that voter fraud is "being committed by minority voters on a massive scale" preventing Republicans from being elected. Underrepresentation by gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation Observations of historical trends and current governmental demographics have raised concerns about the equity of political representation in the United States. In particular, scholars have noted that levels of descriptive representation—which refers to when political representatives share demographic backgrounds or characteristics with their constituents—do not match the racial and gender makeup of the US. Descriptive representation is noted to be beneficial because of its symbolic representative benefits as a source of emotional identification with one's representatives. Furthermore, descriptive representation can lead to more substantive and functional representation, as well as greater institutional power, which can result in minority constituents having both representatives with matching policy views and power in the political system. Serving as a congressional committee chair is considered to be a good example of this relationship, as chairs control which issues are addressed by committees, especially through hearings that bring substantial attention to certain issues. Though minorities like African Americans and Latinos have rarely served as committee chairs, studies have shown that their presence has directly led to significantly higher likelihoods of minority issues being addressed. Given that racial and ethnic minorities of all backgrounds have historically been marginalized from participating in the US political system, their political representation and access to policymaking has been limited. Similarly, women lack proportional representation in the United States, bringing into question the extent to which women's issues are adequately addressed. Other minority groups, such as the LGBTQ community, have also been disadvantaged by an absence of equitable representation—especially since scholars have noted their gradual shift from originally being perceived as more of a moral political issue to being considered an actual constituency. Political