Becoming a Democracy: How We Can Fix the Electoral College, Gerrymandering, and Our Elections

by Kristin Eberhard

The United States wasn't built as a democracy. The Senate doesn't represent people. Both sides hate gerrymandering and the courts refuse to fix it. Our right to be heard is defeated by voter suppression and an Electoral College system that concentrates power in a handful of states and too often reverses the popular vote. But within our flawed system, we have the tools to tackle our most stubborn election problems by flexing state and local power (no constitutional amendments or courts required).

This should be the last American election that works against the people. Kristin Eberhard, Director of Democracy at Sightline Institute, thoughtfully researched how the U.S. election system is unjust to many by design, and walks us through 10 big but practical ideas for making our elections free, fair, and secure. Now is the

- More than half of Americans live in just nine states. That means less than half the population controls 82 percent of the Senate. It doesn't have to be that way. We can hope the Senate eliminates the filibuster. But while we're holding our breath, what if we went further and remade the Senate to represent people?
- Voter suppression justified by trumped up fears of double voting and dead voters – why? There's already a simple, proven solution working in 30 states to keep voter lists secure and accurate.
- Feel stuck with the Electoral College reversing the popular vote? That isn't even in the Constitution! There is a path for states to ensure the candidate with the most votes wins (and we're already on it).
- We could defeat gerrymandering and create a multi-party system where voters have more options, lawmakers get more work done, and extremists are relegated to the fringe, unable to take over a major party.

A field guide to better elections for both sides of the aisle, Becoming a Democracy illuminates the meaningful, concrete actions that can transform our elections and make sure everyone's vote counts (and that they get to vote in the first place).

Eberhard delves into the history and evolution of our flawed systems, showing their impact on voters the outcomes of our elections, and the perpetuation of racist policies.

- American voters aren't going to elect the American president. Twelve states are.
- One in every 13 Black adults could not vote as the result of laws limiting voting rights for people with felony convictions, as of 2016.
- Some 23 million American citizens who are eligible to vote could not exercise that right if all states had strict voter ID laws. More than one in ten voting-age citizens do not have a current, government-issued photo ID--if you're in a state with a strict Voter ID law, that means no vote.
- The Supreme Court cleared the way for states to purge 2 million voters from the rolls between 2012 and 2016.

She also shows how states across the country are changing all that with proven solutions for running fair elections and making every vote count.
- Thirty states are members of a secure and modern system to keep voter rolls clean. Together, they've removed more than 300,000 names of deceased voters from their rolls and updated addresses for nearly 10 million eligible voters.
- In the 2020 primary, Montana mailed ballots to all registered voters. It saw the highest voter turnout in more than 40 years.
- In the 2014 midterm elections, voter participation in Vote At Home states across the nation was on average 23 percent higher than in other states.
- In 2018, Maine voters used ranked ballots to elect members of Congress. A four-way race for a House seat would have elected someone with only minority support, but ranked choice voting elected the candidate with support from more than half of voters.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

228 pages, Paperback

Published January 11, 2021

Reviews

[Kate Welsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, accessible primer on these issues, potential solutions, and concrete next steps.

[Kathleen (itpdx) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I have been an active volunteer with the League of Women Voters for several decades, much of this was not new to me. But Eberhard lines up the arguments for reforms in our (the US) political system in a coherent and succinct format. She gives the reader direction to ways to effect the changes that we would like to see. Some of them like breaking up populous states and combining low population states are probably beyond reach. But some like automatic voter registration and ranked choice voting are already happening in some places.
What was new to me and intriguing is the idea of citizen assemblies. A citizen assembly was at the core of the Irish repeal of their constitutional ban on abortion. A surprising outcome. It looks like a powerful way to get past political stalemates.
I recommend this book to people in the US who are looking for solutions to our political gridlock.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes a lot of really good common sense points about simple ways we can fix our elections, but also presents some pie-in-the-sky ideas that would realistically never happen in the America we live in today. Found myself inspired and informed when it was all said and done, and would recommend for anyone who wants to understand how we can make elections fairer and more democratic.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book covers ground that has become familiar over recent years, I'd recommend it to others because it does a nice job of summarizing arguments about possible alterations to our current political systems while pointing out reasons why such alterations might be desirable (such as how a vote for a Senator in Wyoming is in some way worth 70 times as much as voting for one in California).

When it gets into the details after those summaries, in the chapters about specific topics like the House of Representatives or the Senate, it prioritizes the things that can be done without overhauling our entire constitution (thinking of the Senate case there, especially). In some cases, that makes the suggestions seem possible, but the Senate case seemed more likely to be an illustration of how unlikely any real change is (does anyone imagine a scenario where the "party of no" would vote to allow existing states to split into smaller entities, or to allow multiple states (for example ND, SD, and NE) currently sending separate Senators from that same party to be combined into one geographically large state of a more middling population, or to allow a "clean slate" redrawing of state boundaries to reflect the nature of residents better? At least it's very hard for me to imagine any such things happening. But the book does an admirable job of explaining the reasons why other reforms are even more unlikely to happen, and for cases where reforms _are_ possible, it explains multiple avenues that could be traveled.

I especially liked the examples in the chapter on the House, about how having larger districts with multiple winners can better represent the citizens of those districts, rather than having small districts with one winner (more often than not an older white man) per district. In our age of digital communication, who still sees necessity in trying to maintain geographically small districts as a way to allow constituents to know their representative better?

There's a certain amount of utopian thinking taking place here, but without some hope and optimism the future would be bleak indeed. For those still willing to hope, there are references to various organizations working for the preservation (or attainment!) of democracy. Even though most of that information is readily available via an internet search, having the groups mentioned here was enough of a nudge to have me go out and read about some of them while being reminded that, at its core, democracy is not a spectator sport.

[Keiko Budech · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frustrated by the electoral college, voter suppression, gerrymandering and all that ways that make voting inequitable in America? Becoming a Democracy clearly lays out the historical and current issues with our electoral process and clear solutions that can get us to a better system — one that allows everyone to have a voice in our elections. Must read!

[Simon Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are You Questioning Efficacy of our Democracy?

Ms. Eberhard delivers a brilliant effort in describing how the complexities and difficulties inherent in our voting process can be addressed in 10 understandable and achievable solutions .

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of time spent surface pandering to the populist rabble who backed an overthrow of our government but most of the meat of the book would do much to limit their oversized access to power. Strange and unnecessary choice that distracted from the message.

[Douglas Anstruther · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the sample, I was afraid it would be a lot of stuff I already knew, but it wasn't. I learned a lot and even bought a hard copy to share with friends. Democracy 2.0 - let's do this.