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Every Vote Equal: A State-Based Plan for Electing the President by National Popular Vote
The book argues that the President of the United States should be elected in the same manner as all other elected officials, namely a popular election in which each vote is equally important. The book outlines the current system of electing the President. It explains that the U.S. Constitution specifies that the manner of electing the President is a matter of state law, and that the states have the power to implement a national popular vote for President. The book describes, in detail, an interstate compact entitled the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote. The legislation described in the book is currently under consideration by state legislatures throughout the United States. The 3rd edition contains responses to 91 myths that are commonly raised about the proposed National Popular Vote system.
894 pages, Paperback
First published December 20, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 24, 2024
You can also see this review, along with others I have written, at Mr. Book's Book Reviews.
Mr. Book just finished Every Vote Equal, by John R. Koza.
This edition of the book was published in 2013, but everything in it is just as true today and relevant today as it was then.
This was an excellent encyclopedic view of the problems with the electoral college and why we replace it with the interstate compact that would award the presidency to the candidate with the most popular votes.
The best parts of the book were a look at what would happen if states assigned their electoral vote proportionally—either using decimals (which would require a constitutional amendment) or whole numbers (which would not)—and an extremely long look at all of the arguments against going to a popular vote and explaining why they are all based on myths.
I give this book an A+ and inducted it into the Hall of Fame.
Goodreads requires grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A+ equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews, and Goodreads.
Mr. Book originally finished reading this on November 24, 2024.
Mr. Book just finished Every Vote Equal, by John R. Koza.
This edition of the book was published in 2013, but everything in it is just as true today and relevant today as it was then.
This was an excellent encyclopedic view of the problems with the electoral college and why we replace it with the interstate compact that would award the presidency to the candidate with the most popular votes.
The best parts of the book were a look at what would happen if states assigned their electoral vote proportionally—either using decimals (which would require a constitutional amendment) or whole numbers (which would not)—and an extremely long look at all of the arguments against going to a popular vote and explaining why they are all based on myths.
I give this book an A+ and inducted it into the Hall of Fame.
Goodreads requires grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A+ equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews, and Goodreads.
Mr. Book originally finished reading this on November 24, 2024.
July 25, 2014
Disclosure: I received this book in the mail.
Double disclosure: I have no idea why and that was probably the only reason I read it.
PRO: This book is very thorough. Very thorough.
CON: The fact that it is thorough is kind of meaningless. There are two assumed major premises: (1) Presidential elections would be better if every vote was weighted equally or, phrased another way, if the majority vote of the country elected the president. (2) Proposed constitutional amendments have shown themselves empirically to be unable to address this problem because they have not been enacted.
If you agree with the two of those, then there's really no point in going any further other than to say, "Yeah, let's do an interstate compact."
The real argument is whether there's some value in disintermediating the electorate from the results. Of course, that argument is also pretty boring as both sides' positions and rationales are pretty clear.
Double disclosure: I have no idea why and that was probably the only reason I read it.
PRO: This book is very thorough. Very thorough.
CON: The fact that it is thorough is kind of meaningless. There are two assumed major premises: (1) Presidential elections would be better if every vote was weighted equally or, phrased another way, if the majority vote of the country elected the president. (2) Proposed constitutional amendments have shown themselves empirically to be unable to address this problem because they have not been enacted.
If you agree with the two of those, then there's really no point in going any further other than to say, "Yeah, let's do an interstate compact."
The real argument is whether there's some value in disintermediating the electorate from the results. Of course, that argument is also pretty boring as both sides' positions and rationales are pretty clear.
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February 23, 2019Read only select references in text. Good info.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews