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Edward Foley

Ballot Battles: The History of Disputed Elections in the United States Reprint Edition

by Edward Foley (Author)

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The 2000 presidential race resulted in the highest-profile ballot battle in over a century. But it is far from the only American election determined by a handful of votes and marred by claims of fraud. Since the founding of the nation, violence frequently erupted as the votes were being counted, and more than a few elections produced manifestly unfair results. Despite America's claim to be the world's greatest democracy, its adherence to the basic tenets of democratic elections-the ability to count ballots accurately and fairly even when the stakes are high-has always been shaky. A rigged gubernatorial election in New York in 1792 nearly ended in calls for another revolution, and an 1899 gubernatorial race even resulted in an assassination. Though acts of violence have decreased in frequency over the past century, fairness and accuracy in ballot counting nonetheless remains a basic problem in American political life.

In Ballot Battles, Edward Foley presents a sweeping history of election controversies in the United States, tracing how their evolution generated legal precedents that ultimately transformed how we determine who wins and who loses. While weaving a narrative spanning over two centuries, Foley repeatedly returns to an originating event: because the Founding Fathers despised parties and never envisioned the emergence of a party system, they wrote a constitution that did not provide clear solutions for high-stakes and highly-contested elections in which two parties could pool resources against one another. Moreover, in the American political system that actually developed, politicians are beholden to the parties which they represent - and elected officials have typically had an outsized say in determining the outcomes of extremely close elections that involve recounts. This underlying structural problem, more than anything else, explains why intense ballot battles that leave one side
feeling aggrieved will continue to occur for the foreseeable future.

American democracy has improved dramatically over the last two centuries. But the same cannot be said for the ways in which we determine who wins the very close races. From the founding until today, there has been little progress toward fixing the problem. Indeed, supporters of John Jay in 1792 and opponents of Lyndon Johnson in the 1948 Texas Senate race would find it easy to commiserate with Al Gore after the 2000 election. Ballot Battles is not only the first full chronicle of contested elections in the US. It also provides a powerful explanation of why the American election system has been-and remains-so ineffective at deciding the tightest races in a way that all sides will agree is fair.

ISBN-10

0190865954
ISBN-13

978-0190865955
Edition

Reprint
Publisher

Oxford University Press
Publication date

June 1, 2019
Language

English
Dimensions

9.2 x 1.1 x 6.1 inches
Print length

496 pages
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Edward B. Foley
26
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20 offers from $15.94

Editorial Reviews

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"The vitality of democracy depends on honest elections and a fair count of the ballots. Yet as Edward Foley demonstrates in this eye-opening study, many close elections at all levels of American government since 1792 have resulted in contested outcomes that violated one or both of these requirements. With no standard mechanism in place to determine fairly the winner of disputed elections, the instability and bitterness that has marked past elections will likely persist into the future, he predicts, unless we can come up with an accepted means of arbitrating disputed results."-James McPherson, George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History (Emeritus), Princeton University, and author of Battle Cry of Freedom

"Ballot Battles isn't just the most comprehensive study of recounts to date; it's also a lens into our democracy. Foley pairs the clear-eyed perspective of an election lawyer with the idealism of a democratic theorist. He tells us not just who won and why, but who should have won and why we should care. The book is sure to become a touchstone for anyone interested in recounts and of interest to anyone interested in democracy."--Heather Gerken, J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law, Yale University

"Professor Foley is the national expert on recounts, and his book is required reading for anyone who cares about the history and future of American election controversies. Those interested in the history will marvel at the detailed and dramatic retelling of contested election controversies stretching from the Founding Era to our own. For students of contemporary politics and election law, the book provides a sobering lesson on the entrenched features of the American constitutional system that make resolution of such controversies so difficult and unlikely to be solved any time soon."--Nathaniel Persily, James B. McClatchy Professor of Law, Stanford University

"It's hard not to feel outrage and a little dread reading Edward Foley's retelling of ballot battles dating back to the nation's Founding. That's because, as Foley argues beautifully, American democracy lacks a fair, unbiased, non-partisan way to resolve contested elections. What will happen next time an election's outcome is in limbo? Ballot Battles makes a compelling argument that it could well be messy."--Tamara Keith, White House correspondent, NPR News

"Foley's examination of the most recent, and best known, ballot battle in 2000 bookends his study of the phenomena...Foley's view of the 2000 controversy may seem counter-intuitive to many, but his exhaustive scholarship and powerful argumentation mean that it is a view that should be taken seriously."--Sean Ledwith, Reviews in History

About the Author

Edward B. Foley is the Charles W. Ebersold and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold Chair in Law and Director of Election Law at The Ohio State University College of Law.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (June 1, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0190865954
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0190865955
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.59 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.2 x 1.1 x 6.1 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,593,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,145 in Legal History (Books)
- #1,633 in Elections
- #6,622 in History & Theory of Politics

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Joe

Essential for all interested in history, politics, political science, law, and election reform

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

“Ballot Battles: The History of Disputed Elections in the United States”
chronicles election disputes in the United States from the Founding to present day.

"Ballot Battles" takes the reader through election disputes in the Founding Era, how the establishment of political parties changed the Founders carefully balanced system, through the major election disputes in our history to the situation post Bush v. Gore.

This book is a must for anyone interested in history, politics, political science, law, and election reform. Without understanding our history, it is impossible to understand the persistent problems in our system let alone correct them. Professor Foley documents most of the major election disputes in our history in an honest, non-partisan way without an ideological agenda.

Most voters have a civics textbook view on how the election process works. That is because most of the titanic election disputes are never discussed in the sanitized history that all schools teach. How many college graduates studied the Presidential election of 1800, 1824 or 1876? Very few. How many voters understand that counting votes in an election is never 100 percent accurate. Even absent dishonesty and fraud, all ballot counting methods are subject to some margin of error.

Most Americans think the U.S. Supreme Court ended the 2000 Presidential election dispute with its ruling in Bush v. Gore. As Professor Foley explains in "Ballot Battles": “But that dispute encompassed much more than just the US Supreme Court’s decision, which in truth did not even end the fight. Rather, the end came the next day, December 13, when Gore announced he would not attempt to renew the recount through additional proceedings in Florida’s courts.”

I was counsel in one of the election disputes which “Ballot Battles” highlighted. This case (Chapter 10, p. 267-278, “The 1994 Alabama Chief Justice Election”) lasted 11 months, was litigated in the state and federal courts, and is one of the few election cases in which a federal court intervened and held that the changing of the rules (by a state court) after the ballots have been cast as to which absentee ballots would be counted “…is abominable under the Constitution of the United States. It amounts to ballot-box stuffing.” Roe v. Mobile County Appointing Bd., 904 F. Supp. 1315, 335 (1995), affirmed Roe v. State of Alabama, 68 F.3d 404 (11th Cir.). Professor Foley’s summary of this 1994 election dispute is as accurate and impartial as anyone could write who did not live through that fiasco.

Anyone who wants to understand the good, bad, and ugly about our political/legal system should read this book.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

JL

A Noble but wasted effort by our Forefathers.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 17, 2021

Verified Purchase

The Republic is dead. It doesn’t matter if the rules are perfectly written if one party refuses to follow them.

America has fallen.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 14, 2016

Given as a gift.

Excellent review of disputed elections

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 18, 2022

Professor Foley has done an admirable job of providing a review of various contested elections throughout American history.

It's a well-written book, and the author does an excellent job describing well-known and obscure elections. In fact, I would have given a five-star rating if this were an American history book. Ironically, I found Professor's Foley's legal analysis (and he is a law professor) to be rather tedious.

Helpful

Luther G. Weeks

Required reading for anyone interested in Election Integrity.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 9, 2016

I have long been a fan of the papers and other writings of Edward B. Foley of the Moritz College of Law. He writes extensively on the issues associated with close elections, how have been decided since the founding of the United States, and how the process might be improved.

To me, it was a highly fascinating read that kept my interest through every page. It should be required reading for anyone interested in Election Integrity.

As I would define it, Ballot Battles is focused on one component of election integrity, i.e. How close elections have been decided in the U.S., rather than if the vote counting itself was accurate. Foley’s work is an important component of election integrity. Further along that vein we could say that Fair Elections go beyond Election Integrity to include fair voter eligibility, access to the polls, candidate access to the ballot, access to the press, and campaign financing etc.

Ballot Battles follows close elections and the process for deciding the declared winner from 1781 through 2008. While Presidential races from 1800, 1876, and 2000 are important, many other races for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and Governors are just as important to history and the challenges remaining today. Reforms have been attempted after major controversies, yet as Foley shows they have been insufficient, including those after 2000. We remain vulnerable. As summarized at one point in Ballot Battles:

“the 1960 presidential election must be viewed as a failure of American government to operate as a well-functioning democracy. That failure puts 1960 along-side 1876 — and, as we shall later consider, 2000 — in a disturbing series of instances in which the nation has lacked the institutional capacity to identify accurately the winner of the presidency.”

There is no easy solution. It would likely require a Constitutional Amendment. Ultimately, as Foley recommends, following successful models of successful instances of bodies of equal numbers of partisans, with a single respected non-partisan member. That is unlikely to always work, yet that has worked better than the system we are left with for adjudicating close Federal Elections.

Ballot Battles thoroughly covers the adjudication process and the risks to which we are exposed. Those seeking information on fraud and error in elections will not find the details here. Likewise, those seeking agreement that the Supreme Court erred or acted responsibly in 2000 will find little agreement here, yet much to ponder, much to learn about the law, and the precedents applied to resolve election challenges.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Michael Griswold

Beyond Bush vs. Gore

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 20, 2016

Ballot Battles examines the entire history of elections in the United States where controversy has resulted due to no nationwide procedures for conducting recounts being prescribed in the constitution. The book starts by describing the process that brought about the constitution and explains why recount procedures for elections were not included. The rest of the book is a historical survey of election controversies from the founding of the United States to present. By remaining silent on the issue of vote counting and recounts, the founders left us a Hodge podge of rules that vary from state to state and on a case by case basis, which is subject to partisan manipulation.

How we got to this point is the best part about reading this book. The stories are very colorful and the reader feels himself transported into these electoral fights and feels the candidates’ desperation. If you thought Bush vs. Gore was a mess, Ballot Battles will reorient your thinking in that such controversies while not on the scale of Bush vs Gore are not uncommon and will continue to happen without a change in the status quo.

Necessary reading for those concerned about American Democracy.

One person found this helpful

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