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The fascinating tale of how a bipartisan coalition worked successfully to lower the voting age "Let Us Vote!" tells the story of the multifaceted endeavor to achieve youth voting rights in the United States. Over a thirty-year period starting during World War II, Americans, old and young, Democrat and Republican, in politics and culture, built a movement for the 26th Amendment to the US Constitution, which lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen in 1971. This was the last time that th...

All democracies face the dilemma of how to pay for politics. Money fuels the campaigns that inform and mobilize voters. But private political contributions raise the specter of undue influence, or, worse, political corruption. In ""Small Change"", Raymond J. La Raja reviews the history of America's efforts at federal campaign finance reform and explains why they have largely failed to stem the flow of money in politics: partisans often design new reforms to give themselves electoral advantage ov...

This book places the 2014 elections in Florida in historical perspective and provides an analysis of the outcomes of each of the state and federal races held in that year: Governor, State Constitutional Offices, the US Congress and the Florida State House of Representatives and the State Senate. It draws on information from exit polls and data from state voter registration rolls and county and district election outcomes. It also utilizes campaign expenditure data from the files of the Florida De...

In the 1918 Michigan race for the U.S. Senate, auto tycoon Henry Ford faced off against a less well-known industrialist, Truman Newberry. Bent on countering Ford's fame and endorsement from President Wilson, Newberry's campaign spent an extravagant amount, in fact much more than the law seemed to allow. This led to his conviction under the Federal Corrupt Practices Act -but also to his eventual exoneration in the first campaign finance case to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. In Newberry v....

This timely Research Handbook offers a systematic and comprehensive examination of the election laws of democratic nations. Through a study of a range of different regimes of election law, it illuminates the disparate choices that societies have made concerning the benefits they wish their democratic institutions to provide, the means by which such benefits are to be delivered, and the underlying values, commitments, and conceptions of democratic self-rule that inform these choices. Comparative...

In 2000, just a few hundred votes out of millions cast in the state of Florida separated Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush from his Democratic opponent, Al Gore. The outcome of the election rested on Florida's 25 electoral votes, and legal wrangling continued for 36 days. Then, abruptly, one of the most controversial Supreme Court decisions in U.S. history, Bush v. Gore, cut short the battle. Since the Florida debacle we have witnessed a partisan war over election rules. Election...

Compulsory voting is widely used in the democratic world, and it is well established that it increases electoral participation. Beyond Turnout: How Compulsory Voting Shapes Citizens and Political Parties assesses the effects of compulsory voting beyond turnout. Singh first summarizes the normative arguments for and against compulsory voting, provides information on its contemporary use, reviews recent events pertaining to its (proposed) adoption and abolition, and provides an extensive account o...

"Hartmann's history of voter suppression in America is necessary information given current news about voter registration purges and redistricting...a particularly timely topic for an election year, and anyone who is seriously concerned about the survival of American democracy will want to read this book and apply its lessons."--Booklist America's #1 progressive radio host looks at how elites have long tried to disenfranchise citizens--particularly people of color, women, and the poor--and shows...

Forrest County, Mississippi, became a focal point of the civil rights movement when, in 1961, the United States Justice Department filed a lawsuit against its voting registrar Theron Lynd. While thirty percent of the county's residents were black, only twelve black persons were on its voting rolls. United States v. Lynd was the first trial that resulted in the conviction of a southern registrar for contempt of court. The case served as a model for other challenges to voter discrimination in the...

The 2000 presidential race resulted in the highest-profile ballot battle in over a century. But it is far from the only American election determined by a handful of votes and marred by claims of fraud. Since the founding of the nation, violence frequently erupted as the votes were being counted, and more than a few elections produced manifestly unfair results. Despite America's claim to be the world's greatest democracy, its adherence to the basic tenets of democratic elections-the ability to co...

It's a system that now fosters massive inequality in voting rights and opens the door to manipulation of presidential elections by foreign and domestic enemies of democracy. Electoral Bait & Switch is prescriptive, and accessible to the general reader. The current Electoral-Vote system presents a severe and growing threat to democracy in the United States. It has thwarted the will of a majority of the voters twice in the last five presidential elections (2000 and 2016) by elevating to office a c...

Maveety argues that the Supreme Court under Burger revolutionized the constitutional view of political representation.

Through primary sources, this volume examines the history, evolution, and major contemporary controversies associated with voting rights in the United States, devoting particular attention to demographic groups including women, young people, people of color, and poor people. Voting is often described as the central pillar of American democracy. Yet at various points in the history of the United States, the franchise was kept away from people without landholdings, women, black people, and young...