Electoral Dysfunction: A Survival Manual for American Voters

by Victoria Bassetti, Mo Rocca (Foreword), Heather Smith (Afterword)

Imagine a country where the right to vote is not guaranteed by the Constitution, where the candidate with the most votes loses, and where paperwork requirements and bureaucratic bungling disenfranchise millions. You're living in it. If the consequences weren't so serious, it would be funny.

An eye-opening, fact-filled companion to the forthcoming PBS documentary starring political satirist and commentator Mo Rocca, Electoral Dysfunction illuminates a broad array of issues, including the Founding Fathers' decision to omit the right to vote from the Constitution―and the legal system's patchwork response to this omission; the battle over voter ID, voter impersonation, and voter fraud; the foul-ups that plague Election Day, from ballot design to contested recounts; the role of partisan officials in running elections; and the anti-democratic origins and impact of the Electoral College. The book concludes with a prescription for a healthy voting system by Heather Smith, president of Rock the Vote.

Published in the run-up to the 2012 election, Electoral Dysfunction is for readers across the political spectrum who want their votes to count.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 2012

Reviews

[Kelly Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good not great. Not exactly unbiased but not obnoxiously slanted. Good primer on the basics of voting for those a little rusty on 8th grade civics.

[Jake Danishevsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read some of it and came to conclusion that when someone says bipartisan or nonpartisan, they mean to the left. Victoria writes well, but if you pay attention to a more detailed explanation on the voter id, she takes sides and states an opinion that it would be discouraging the voters more aka voter suppression, basically saying proving that you are eligible to vote is discouraging to the voters according to her. She says that having to use Voter ID, which by the way is a regular ID that you need in many aspects of most people's lives, is a voter suppression. She claims that Republicans want voter ID and Democrats call it voter suppression and fight it, but yet she takes the side of discouraged voters when it comes to proving you are eligible and not fraudulent. She also takes it upon herself to explain some articles of our constitution, which she does well, but yet presenting the side of voting being phrased to suppress those who were slaves in some states, rather than the fact the the voting was phrased indirectly for south to not get the votes needed and therefore try to abolish the slavery by the north. If she was in fact bipartisan or nonpartisan, she would have known to properly explain those several items that I mentioned here. This book fails to be bipartisan, but yet claims to be. Hypocritical is more like it, but well written as far as pretending to be bipartisan or nonpartisan. If you are looking for explanation on the voting process, she does relatively good job, but if you think that this is an open minded opinion without taking sides, you would be mistaken and therefore somewhat swayed to one sided direction of the political spectrum. There is a statement made by Mark Twain and I think it applies here: "If you don't read newspaper, you are uninformed, but if you do, you are misinformed". If you didn't read this book and didn't know about voting, you knew less about it, but this book will not really teach you to know about voting as it claims, it will more or less teach you about what she wants you to think about voting. Think about that for a moment and decide if you still want to read this one.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victoria Bassetti uses humor and wit to take an irreverent (and nonpartisan) look at voting in America prior to concluding with a prescription for a healthy voting system. This is a companion book to a recent PBS documentary (aired Oct - Nov, 2012 in most major TV markets) of the same title. The documentary and the book provides a number of interesting facts about the unique method of voting for the U.S. President. While the Electoral College has been in place since the founding of our Country, many find themselves confused in trying to explain its origin, reason, and need.

"Electoral Dysfunction" not only discusses the origin of the Electoral College, but also provides a number of other surprising facts about voting in the United States. For example, many may be surprised to read that neither the Constitution nor the Bill of Rights guarantees the right to vote for all citizens. And while most Countries have a National Election process, with everyone following identical rules, the U.S. has 13,000 voting districts, each with its own set of rules, making the role of partisan officials in running elections even more significant.

"Electoral Dysfunction" and the points it raises seems especially relevant following the 2012 election. A new survey conducted by the Penn Schoen Berland National Post-Election poll revealed that the majority of Americans would like to see National Standards implemented for how people vote, including what hours polls are open, who is eligible to vote, and the type of ballot used. And as MacArthur Foundation President Robert Gallucci noted: “On the heels of an election that required some Americans to endure a long line to cast their vote and others to face confusing new requirements, the message from this poll is clear. Our democracy and our electorate deserve better rules and procedures for efficiently administering federal elections.”

[Gemini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone need to read this book. Seriously. Buy it or suggest it to everyone you know. I am amazed at all this voting history this book goes through that most people are unaware of. The ins & outs of what voting has done (or undone) in the history of politics, how the electoral works (nobody really gets it), the issues that have come up & how you can win the popular vote but still lose. This is simply fascinating & infuriating at the same time. How people of color were treated & considered 3/5 human being is an abomination, how they won the right centuries ago & then lost it. The suffragettes made a huge difference in what they did to come to power to win. All the fights that have happened & what was done to get people engaged to build a movement, yet also how certain groups rallied & failed. Voter fraud & going to jail for years, it's unreal. There are so many things that have made voting rights become a contentious issue w/ voter ID laws & other things that target lower income or communities of color. How certain states have been able to increase voter registration when others lose voters. This book is such an eye opener it should be used in all civics classes in the country.

[Beth E · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting and eye opening book on our election process. How on earth we can pose ourselves, as Americans, as being the world's democracy when our election process looks like this, I just do not know. A must read for everyone, and then more so, we really need to look at grassroots efforts to resolve these issues.

[Jennifer Boone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read, especially for young adults. The system has been corrupt for years, but it has also come a long way. Knowing this information would really help inform general public on how to ensure that they get registered properly, and how important that one vote really is.

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book and also see the DVD of the same name with Mo Rocca featured on PBS. Very good read and good view.

[Gwen Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

a must for anyone wanting to better understand the election process

[Samantha Hafner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good information, but not particularly entertaining to read. I would probably recommend the documentary instead.

[Thibaud Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book to understand how bad our electoral system is. Our country needs to do better by having more political choices instead of just Democrats or Republicans. If we want to show that we are a free country then we have to let other candidates that aren't Democrats or Republicans run without interference. I connect this to Rosa Luxemburg's quote that freedom is always for those who think differently. The electoral system is both patriarchal and racist according to this book.

[Margaret Wilber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a challenging read but well worth the effort. It really illustrated some of the typical voter suppression tricks, and unfortunately they've only gotten worse since this book was written in 2012. I'd love to see a follow-up to this, updated to what we're dealing with today.

[Javier Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An insightful look into the patchwork quilt that is the United States electoral system, the book gazes back at the history that made the U.S. electoral system the way it is today.

[MorganJac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting information i don't agree with all their conclusions but as far as I tell well researched and well executed

[Irus · Rating 5 out of 5]

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