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The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown [Hardcover]

Richard L. Hasen
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

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Book Description

August 14, 2012

In 2000, just a few hundred votes out of millions cast in the state of Florida separated Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush from his Democratic opponent, Al Gore. The outcome of the election rested on Florida's 25 electoral votes, and legal wrangling continued for 36 days. Then, abruptly, one of the most controversial Supreme Court decisions in U.S. history, Bush v. Gore, cut short the battle. Since the Florida debacle we have witnessed a partisan war over election rules. Election litigation has skyrocketed, and election time brings out inevitable accusations by political partisans of voter fraud and voter suppression. These allegations have shaken public confidence, as campaigns deploy “armies of lawyers” and the partisan press revs up when elections are expected to be close and the stakes are high.

Richard L. Hasen, a respected authority on election law, chronicles and analyzes the battles over election rules from 2000 to the present. From a nonpartisan standpoint he explores the rising number of election-related lawsuits and charges of voter fraud as well as the decline of public confidence in fair results. He explains why future election disputes will be worse than previous ones—more acrimonious, more distorted by unsubstantiated allegations, and amplified by social media. No reader will fail to conclude with Hasen that election reform is an urgent priority, one that demands the attention of conscientious citizens and their elected representatives.

Also available: The Fraudulent Fraud Squad, an e-excerpt from The Voting Wars
Released February 2012   9780300187489   $1.99


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The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown + The End of Race?: Obama, 2008, and Racial Politics in America + Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a Stephen King novel for election junkies.  No one has a better eye for the next big thing in election law than Rick Hasen.  The Voting Wars provides an engaging, highly readable guide to the thrill ride we call election season."—Heather Gerken, author of The Democracy Index:  Why Our Election System is Failing and How to Fix It (Heather Gerken )

"One of the most disturbing recent US political developments is the rapid growth of election administration litigation.  Professor Hasen has masterfully described this trend, showing how political parties seek to gain advantage through election recounts, voter id laws, absentee ballot procedures, and the like. Scholars, journalists and interested citizens will benefit from Hasen's insightful overview of this struggle and the potential for even more election related controversy and litigation in the future.”—Bruce Cain, Heller Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley  
(Bruce Cain )

"Just in time for the election, Rick Hasen brings this essential reminder of all the lessons never learned after Bush v. Gore. If we don't course-correct our partisan voting systems and ever more partisan efforts to remedy them, Hasen reminds us that we are looking into the face of a democratic disaster."—Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Legal Correspondent, Slate magazine
(Dahlia Lithwick )

"Nobody knows more about elections and election law than Rick Hasen, and nobody writes more clearly about their complexities. The Voting Wars is a straightforward, clear-headed unbiased account of our flawed system, the multiple damaging controversies we have incurred as a consequence, the polarization that has both caused the problems and been exacerbated by them, and the risky path ahead. What a timely and important book!"—Norman J. Ornstein, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
(Norman J. Ornstein )

"Hasen has done a masterful job of describing the post-Florida 2000 battles over election registration, voting, and vote-counting. This book is a compelling read, and guide to the partisan battleground aptly titled The Voting Wars. Unfortunately, as Hasen explains, our election system is still precariously positioned, needing only one more bad series of events to create the next Presidential election crisis."—Trevor Potter, Former Commissioner and Chair, Federal Election Commission, and General Counsel, McCain for President, 2000 and 2008
(Trevor Potter )

"Hasen is a national treasure to students and practitioners of election law. His Voting Wars is a colorful, trenchant, fair-minded and powerfully-argued account of how partisanship and localism continue to haunt the administration of American elections more than a decade after Bush v. Gore and threaten yet another election meltdown."—Thomas E. Mann, W. Averell Harriman Chair and Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

(Thomas E. Mann )

The Voting Wars is a spirited, and deeply disturbing, chronicle of the nonstop partisan skirmishing over voting rights, procedures, and laws that has become a pervasive presence in American politics since the disputed 2000 election. It would be difficult to read Hasen’s informed and fair-minded account and not worry about the future of American democracy.”—Alexander Keyssar, author of The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States
(Alexander Keyssar )

"[A]stute."—Kirkus Reviews
(Kirkus Reviews )

“In his well-drawn analysis, UC-Irvine law and political science professor Hasen considers unwieldy procedures, conflicting state laws, politically motivated election challenges, and legal follies that undermine public confidence in the voting process. . . . Hasen’s timely and factually rich account merits attention from jurists, policy specialists, and government reformers of all political stripes.”—Publishers Weekly
(Publishers Weekly )

About the Author

Richard L. Hasen is Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science, University of California, Irvine School of Law. He lives in Studio City, CA.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Yale University Press (August 14, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0300182031
  • ISBN-13: 978-0300182033
  • Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 6.2 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard L. Hasen is Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine School of Law.

Hasen is a nationally-recognized expert in election law and campaign finance regulation, and is co-author of a leading casebook on election law.

From 2001-2010, he served (with Dan Lowenstein) as founding co-editor of the quarterly peer-reviewed publication, Election Law Journal. He is the author of more than 80 articles on election law issues, published in numerous journals including the Harvard Law Review (forthcoming 2012), Stanford Law Review, and Supreme Court Review. He was elected to the American Law Institute in 2009.

His op-eds and commentaries have appeared in many publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, and Slate. Hasen also writes the often-quoted Election Law Blog.

Customer Reviews

Rick Hasen is America's most prolific and best informed observer of developments in election law. Nicholas Stephanopoulos  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
I learned a lot reading it and had fun doing so. Adam D Winkler  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
His ananlysis of election the law is presented in a manner that the layman can understand. Martin L. Karp  |  2 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An Eloquent Dispatch from the Voting War Trenches August 7, 2012
Format:Hardcover
Rick Hasen is America's most prolific and best informed observer of developments in election law. In The Voting Wars, he describes in captivating detail the shambles that is the American system of election administration. Among other topics, he covers the travesty of Bush v. Gore and the 2000 Florida recount, the cynical efforts of the "Fraudulent Fraud Squad" to lower turnout among poor and minority voters, the left's conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, and the alarmingly high likelihood of another electoral meltdown. Readers will be educated and entertained by the book--and also shocked by the partisanship and incompetence that infect American election administration to its core.

Can anything be done about this sorry state of affairs? Absolutely. As Hasen points out, the U.S. could easily adopt a centralized nonpartisan system that would ensure that elections are administered professionally and consistently throughout the country. Almost all Western democracies have such systems and have avoided anything like the U.S.'s problems over the past decade.

But will anything be done to improve the status quo? Hasen's pessimistic (but probably correct) answer is no. Neither party is eager to relinquish control over electoral matters to apolitical technocrats. Indeed, one party sees ballot access as a wedge issue that can energize its supporters and prevent its opponents from going to the polls in the first place. The state and local officials who currently run America's elections are also fiercely opposed to giving up their authority.

We are left, then, in a terrible limbo--aware of our system's glaring flaws but entirely unable to fix them. Unfortunately, it will likely take another catastrophe on par with Florida in 2000 before our present impasse is broken.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must REad for Political Junkies August 15, 2012
Format:Hardcover
"The Voting Wars" by Richard L. Hasen is a must read for those of us who place ourselves in the category of political junkies. The American voting system in the world's leading democracy is much more complicated that we assume, and far more intricate than portrayed on MSNBC of Fox News. Professor Hasen reviews how both Democrats and Republicans attempt to manipulate the system while hiding behind their respective ideologies, and how the states, and at times even the courts, are swayed by politics while adjucating decisions on contested elections. Hasen visits some of the more recent close elections and the behind the scenes issues in deciding them. His ananlysis of election the law is presented in a manner that the layman can understand. Can Flordia 2000 happen again? If you are the least bit concerned, then you need to read this book.
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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Sorely Needed Data-Based Sanity August 14, 2012
Format:Hardcover
Our increasingly hyperpartisan political atmosphere in which people with an opposing opinion are not merely disagreed with but denounced as malevolent and unhinged, as now brought the conduct of elections as more accusation to throw in opponents' faces. The fact that many election officials are either elected in partisan elections or appointed and supervised by partisans only adds tinder to the situation.

Hasen's 'The Voting Wars' begins with the 2000 Florida debacle, which Hasen contends mainly taught operatives the benefits of manipulating the rules. Continuing, Hasen covers efforts to suppress voting aimed at minority communities - spreading misinformation through flyers, and restricting registration. He also contends that much of what is described as partisan manipulation often is instead possibly lack of training and/or incompetence. Not surprisingly, efforts to improve via national standardization is fought by local officials fearing loss of autonomy. More disappointing - since 2000 not one state with partisan administration of elections has removed authority from partisans, though we have greatly reduced the prevalence of punched-card balloting.

Between 2005 and 2007, ten states considered new voter ID legislation - always a Republican-led affair. Between 2002 - 2005, only seventy federal convictions occurred for election crimes - only 35 were against voters, the rest vs. party and campaign workers. Less than 20 were convicted of casting fraudulent ballots, 5 for registration fraud.

Why so few cases? It's too easy to get caught when conducted at a level intended to sway election results, and therefore we don't have a single recent example of anyone even attempting it. Absentee ballot fraud is much easier.

Voter registration fraud is easier to conduct, but per Hasen, had not stolen elections - its purpose was simply to steal the money of those paying for voter registration drives. ACORN was just such a victim. Unfortunately, it also was a gift from heaven for voting-fraud chasers.

Of course, not all instances of alleged voter fraud are prosecuted. For example, recently released felons were found to have voted in a Washington state election prior to having their voting rights restored. However, the state had recently sent them ballots and urged them to vote - thus, the real problem was official incompetence.

Hasen also tells us that absentee ballot fraud is rare, usually involves vote-buying, and does get prosecuted. An example - officials in Cudahy, CA. recently admitted intercepting absentee ballots and throwing out those not cast for incumbents.

An email among New Mexico Republican party leaders stated that the voter ID issue should be used at all levels as a wedge issue. Bush-appointed U.S. Attorney Iglesias' failure to meet their expectations of follow-up led to his removal, though denied by Rove etc.

Bottom-Line: Hasen contends that there is very little substance to allegations of voter fraud. Yes, it exists, but we're dealing with it in an irrational and partisan way. We would better spend our efforts looking at corporate interest donations and their influence on actual policies carried out.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview of some voting problems in various states
I agree with the summary of maskirovka. I strongly disagree with the reviews of:
mark smith, cliff arnebeck, and heyletsevolve. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Terry Jennrich
5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and informative
I used this book for a short research paper and found it to be a very readable and concise overview of the deeply flawed, decentralized, partisan American election system. Read more
Published 1 month ago by tim
3.0 out of 5 stars Missing the point.
I have a friend, a JD who specialized in election law before deciding to teach school instead. It was his extensive knowledge of the Constitution that led me to understand that the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mark E. Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars Good but not perfect
This is an extremely interesting and timely book about the political warfare and politics surrounding the issue of voting in US elections. Read more
Published 6 months ago by maskirovka
1.0 out of 5 stars Why the deception?
Hansen goes out of his way in this book to attempt (unsuccessfully) to discredit other investigators who have exposed how secretly programmed, corporate-controlled electronic... Read more
Published 7 months ago by heyletsevolve
2.0 out of 5 stars If you want to believe that Karl Rove has not been corrupting American...
Robert Kennedy, Jr. in June 2006 wrote an excellent article describing the grand theft of the 2004 Presidential election. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Cliff Arnebeck
5.0 out of 5 stars Well-informed and well-written
Rick Hasen chronicles the voting wars largely through a number of prominent battles between Democrats and Republicans over voting rules and vote counts, such as those in Florida,... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Kevin Pallister
5.0 out of 5 stars The Voting Wars
Superb acting and realistic depiction of the voting wars in 2000. This film is the best explanation for what happened and how it happened. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Shirley Leckie
4.0 out of 5 stars What's inside the book
Introduction: The Next Meltdown - A ten-page preview of the seven following chapters.

1 All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Florida - 30 pages covering events of the... Read more
Published 8 months ago by S. Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars Take my Secretary of State and partisan State Board of Elections out...
In his preface, Richard L. Hasen, hands us this: "The legitimacy of democratic government itself depends on faith in the rules for casting and counting votes, and in the fairness... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Eleanor
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