This handbook provides a sweeping overview of U.S. campaign and election reform efforts, past and present, from the introduction of the secret ballot to touch-screen voting.
Voting may be the quintessential democratic right, but designing a fair campaign and election system has always been a problem. From the days of the three-fifths compromise to the hanging chads of the new millennium, Americans have confronted a variety of electoral problems and abuses, and met each new problem with an attempt at reform.
Emphasizing the major electoral reforms since 2000, this second edition of Campaign and Election Reform investigates the development of the American electoral system from colonial times to the present. It chronicles efforts to expand suffrage, reform campaign financing, and prevent vote fraud, and traces the development of election technology from the paper ballot to the lever voting machine, from the punch-card ballot to the optical-scan and touch-screen systems.
The book also explores alternative voting systems, such as preference voting and proportional representation, and compares the U.S. electoral process with the voting systems of selected European democracies. Campaign and Election Reform, Second Edition is essential reading for any citizen who wants to understand the U.S. electoral system, what's wrong with it, and how it might be fixed.
Features
• Includes extensive quotations from reform advocates, along with excerpts from legislation and court cases related to changing campaign and election procedures
• Summaries of recent research on voter turnout provide a means of evaluating legislation intended to increase voter registration and turnout rates
Highlights
• Presents competing arguments for supporting limits on campaign spending and for viewing them as violations of the right of free speech
• Analyzes the disagreement between those who see increasing voter turnout as the key issue in election reform and those who point to potential vote fraud
Preface
List of Tables
List of Figures
1 Background and History,
History of Campaign and Election Reform,
Suffrage Expansion and Voting Rights,
Term Limits,
Ballot Fraud and Voter Fraud,
The Electoral College,
Candidate Nominations,
Progressive Era Reforms,
Low Voter Turnout,
Elections in a Crisis,
Legislative Apportionment and Gerrymandering,
Campaign Finance, the Federal Election Campaign Act, and the Bipartisan
Campaign Reform Act,
The Help America Vote Act and Beyond,
References,
2 Problems, Controversies, and Solutions,
Introduction,
Electoral Mechanics,
Election Ballots,
The Electoral College,
Low Voter Turnout,
Early and Absentee Voting,
Simplifying Election Forms,
Voting and the Disabled,
Mail-Ballot Elections,
Voting Assistance Programs,
Public Employees,
Representation Systems,
At-Large Elections,
District Elections,
Multimember Districts,
Proportional Representation,
Campaign Advertising and the Mass Media,
Nontraditional Voters,
Campaign Spending,
References,
3 Worldwide Perspectives,
Campaigns and Elections in Selected Western European Democracies
Denmark,
England,
France,
Germany,
Italy,
Norway,
Poland,
Sweden,
References,
4 Chronology,
5 Biographical Sketches,
Herbert E. Alexander,
Douglas J. Amy,
Susan Brownell Anthony,
Kathleen L. Barber,
Kimball William Brace,
Richard A. Cloward,
Chandler Davidson,
David L. Dill,
Richard L. Engstrom,
Russ Feingold,
Bernard N. Grofman,
Lani Guinier,
Stanley A. Halpin,
Bev Harris,
Paul Jacob,
David B. Magleby,
Michael J. Malbin,
Thomas E. Mann,
John S. McCain III,
Laughlin McDonald,
Louise Overacker,
Mark P. Petracca,
Richard H. Pildes,
Frances Fox Pivens,
Trevor Potter,
Robert (Rob) Ritchie,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Edward Still,
Fred Wertheimer,
6 Facts and Data,
Campaign Finance Law,
Public Attitudes toward Campaign Finance Laws,
Electoral and Voting Controversies,
Public Attitudes toward the Electoral and Voting Processes,
Major U.S. Supreme Court Decisions on Campaign Finance,
U.S. Supreme Court Decisions on Political Participation,
U.S. Supreme Court Decisions on Redistricting,
The Costs of Elections,
Voter Turnout and Voter Registration,
Quotations,
Alternate Electoral Systems,
Balloting and Voting,
Buckley v. Valeo,
Campaign Finance Reform,
Electoral College,
Money and Elections,
Racial Gerrymandering,
Redistricting and Reapportionment,
Term Limits,
Voting Rights,
References,
7 Directory of Organizations,
8 Resources,
Print Resources,
Nonprint Resources,
Glossary,
Index,
About the Author
