Electoral Reform
(see also Disenfranchisement, Campaign Finance Reform & Electoral Participation)
Basics
Many useful ideas included in recently proposed Voter Bill of Rights:
1. Paper trail for touch-screen voting machines.
2. Independent, non-partisan & transparent oversight.
3. Election Day as national holiday, celebrating our democracy.
4. Maximize voter access.
5. Count every vote.
6. Re-enfranchise ex-felons.
7. Instant runoff voting (IRV).
8. Public financing & equal air-time for all candidates.
9. Easier access to ballot & debates for third party candidates.
10. Abolish the Electoral College.
On the Web: Articles
The Ripple Effect. Jennifer Gonnerman, Village Voice (10/12/04). Confusion over felon voting bans keeps even eligible from polls.
Soaries Confronts Voting Reform Obstacles. Erica Werner, Associated Press (6/21/04).
Welcome to the Machine: Glitch Wins By a Landslide. Ben Tripp, CounterPunch (2/20/03).
US Elections Need International Observers. Garry M. Leech, Mother Jones (10/12/00).
On the Web: Specialized Sites
Californians for Electoral Reform.
California Instant Runoff Voting Coalition.
Center for Voting & Democracy.
Code Pink Women for Peace. Circulating Voter Bill of Rights.
Election Reform Information Project.
Global Exchange. Circulating Voter Bill of Rights.
Independent Progressive Politics Network.
Instant Runoff Voting (IRV).
US Elections Assistance Commission.
In the Library: Articles
Anderson, John B. "Flunk the Electoral College, pass instant runoffs," Progressive (1/01):17-19.
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Ackerman, Bruce & Ian Ayres. Voting with Dollars: A New Paradigm for Campaign Finance (New Haven: Yale, 2002).
__________ & James S. Fishkin. Deliberation Day (New Haven: Yale, 2004).
Amy, Douglas J. Behind the Ballot Box: A Citizen's Guide to Voting Systems (Westport CT: Praeger, 2000).
__________. Real Choices/New Voices: How Proportional Representation Elections Could Revitalize American Democracy [1993] (rev. ed. NY: Columbia, 2002).
Bybee, Keith J. Mistaken Identity: The Supreme Court & the Politics of Minority Representation (Princeton: Princeton, 1998).
Disch, Lisa Jane. The Tyranny of the Two-Party System (NY: Columbia, 2002)
Donovan, Todd & Shaun Bowler. Reforming the Republic: Representative Institutions for the New America (Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2003).
Guinier, Lani. The Tyranny of the Majority: Fundamental Fairness in Representative Democracy (NY: Free Press, 1994).
Gumbel, Andrew. Steal This Vote: Dirty Elections & the Rotten History of Democracy in America (NY: Nation, 2005). Current shenanigans by no means unprecedented. Out & out fraud has tended over time to be replaced by disinformation & various devices aimed at suppressing free exercise of people's right to vote. Gives too-short shrift to available methods for improving situation, such as Oregon's highly successful vote-by-mail system.
Powell, G. Bingham Jr. Elections as Instruments of Democracy: Majoritarian & Proportional Visons (New Haven: Yale, 2000).
Richie, Robert & Steven Hill. Whose Vote Counts? (Boston: Beacon, 2001).
Roper, Juliet; Christina Holtz-Bacha & Gianpietro Mazzoleni. The Politics of Representation: Election Campaigning & Proportional Representation (NY: Peter Lang, 2004).
Ryden, David K. Representation in Crisis: The Constitution, Interest Groups & Political Parties (Albany: SUNY, 1996).
Thompson, Dennis F. Just Elections: Creating Fair Electoral Process in the US (Chicago: U. Chicago, 2002).
Utter, Glenn H. & Ruth Ann Strickland. Campaign & Election Reform: A Reference Handbook (Santa Barbara CA: ABC-CLIO, 1997).
In the Library: Fiction
In the Library: For Young Readers
In the Library: Poetry
In the Library: Drama
In the Library: Photography
CD & Audio
Film & Video
"Electile Dysfunction" [2005] dir?, ?m.