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Electoral Dysfunction: A Survival Manual for American Voters Paperback – Illustrated, September 18, 2012

by Victoria Bassetti (Author), Heather Smith (Afterword), Mo Rocca (Foreword)

4.3 16 ratings

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Imagine a country where the right to vote is not guaranteed by the Constitution, where the candidate with the most votes loses, and where paperwork requirements and bureaucratic bungling disenfranchise millions. You're living in it. If the consequences weren't so serious, it would be funny.

An eye-opening, fact-filled companion to the forthcoming PBS documentary starring political satirist and commentator Mo Rocca, Electoral Dysfunction illuminates a broad array of issues, including the Founding Fathers' decision to omit the right to vote from the Constitution―and the legal system's patchwork response to this omission; the battle over voter ID, voter impersonation, and voter fraud; the foul-ups that plague Election Day, from ballot design to contested recounts; the role of partisan officials in running elections; and the anti-democratic origins and impact of the Electoral College. The book concludes with a prescription for a healthy voting system by Heather Smith, president of Rock the Vote.

Published in the run-up to the 2012 election, Electoral Dysfunction is for readers across the political spectrum who want their votes to count.

Review

“Crisply written, irreverent yet engaged. . . . A lively, witty survey of the numerous ailments that afflict the American electoral system.”
―Alexander Keyssar, Stirling Professor of History and Social Policy at Harvard, author of The Right to Vote

“People are dying to vote―but not in the U.S. where only five in 10 exercise the privilege in presidential elections. What's standing in the way? Electoral Dysfunction begins the national conversation we need to have.
―Mark McKinnon, co-founder of No Labels

“This is a well-written, enlightening look at how, when it comes to access to the ballot box and other voter rights, the world's second oldest democracy still has a long way to go.”
―Publishers Weekly

"Delightfully provocative. . . . A well-organized, important tool that will remain useful beyond the present electoral cycle."
―Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Victoria Bassetti has worked with legislative and judicial bodies of the U.S. government, including serving as chief counsel/staff director to a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. She has been active in numerous political campaigns and participates regularly in Election Day voter-protection efforts. Electoral Dysfunction is directed by Bennett Singer, Leslie D. Farrell, and David Deschamps, whose credits include multiple Emmy, Peabody, and duPont-Columbia awards.

Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

The New Press
Publication date

September 18, 2012
Dimensions

5.25 x 1 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

1595588124
ISBN-13

978-1595588128
See all details

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ The New Press; Media tie-in edition (September 18, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1595588124
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1595588128
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 1 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,825,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,612 in United States National Government
- #4,776 in Elections

Customer Reviews:
4.3 16 ratings

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4.3 out of 5

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J. Wise

Delightfully enraging

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2012

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Winston Churchill may have been right when he said that "Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time," but what he left out is that democracy can fall short of even that modest standard. Though America imagines itself to be a shining paragon for oppressed peoples everywhere, the reality is that - as Bassetti reveals with wit and concision - our political system today is substantially unfair in both design and practice. An essential read in this pre-election season.

5 people found this helpful

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Fran L.

Great, informative book. Everyone should read it.

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2012

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This book contains many basic facts about the Constitution and Electoral College that most citizens do not know, and definitely need to know. It has been a great help to me in preparation for a presentation on voting rights. The author also has excellent e-mail updates which are also terrific. This should be required reading for every civics class in our schools, except too many schools no longer have civics classes.

4 people found this helpful

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Nicholas Horton

A superb overview of the challenges facing our democracy

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2012

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This is a lovely, readable, and compelling overview of the challenges facing our democracy. Bassetti describes almost farcical situations, which would be humorous if the stakes weren't so high. I wish I'd read this in my American History class.

2 people found this helpful

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jilllikespink

Great supplement to the video of the same name

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2016

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Great supplement to the video of the same name. I show the video when I begin teaching elections in a high school government class.

One person found this helpful

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Elise

Smart and Entertaining

Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2012

A timely (and timeless) documentary worth its length in gold. Seriously, how many times does one get to watch a documentary that is educational, funny, informative, funny, teaches you something without making you feel like an idiot for not knowing the information in the first place, is funny, AND stars Mo Rocca? Don't bother answering, it's a rhetorical question. All I can say is that two generations in my household watched it, two are 14-year-old girls whose initial reaction to suggestions made by their parental unit is "No,", and all were glued to the television laughing and learning at the same time. Who says there are no miracles. Thanks go out to Misters Deschamps and Singer. And here's looking at their present and future ventures

One person found this helpful

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junius

Beautifully written, intelligently observed

Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2012

The title says it all. The country has an electoral system worthy of Belize. Everybody knows that, but Victoria Bassetti documents it with style and wit and with a legal knowledge that informs the book. Who knew that there is no constitutional right to vote? And while most books on the problem are dull as dirt this book is interesting and entertaining. Read it and weep -- or raise your blood pressure to a dangerous level. What a country we live in where the inmates run the asylum.

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Gderf

Good history; shallow analysis

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2013

This polemic advocates elimination of the Electoral College and expanding the popular vote. It contains a good history of suffrage in the USA along with a very shallow analysis of voting democracy. There is suffrage history from the founding citing discussions in the constitutional convention of 1787, including the logic of Gouvernuer Morris, George Mason and others in proposing limited popular electoral representation. The book engages in discussion of the B of R, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments with legal challenges and SC cases.
None of it supports either expansion of popular vote or elimination of the EC.

Against her own interests in both expanding the popular vote and eliminating the EC, Bassetti fairly depicts the history of corrupt practices of machine politics in St Louis, New York and Chicago as well as the community organizing excesses of ACORN, Obama's former organization. There's little on the history of the gerrymandering issue.

There are a couple of curious references to Akhil Amar and Jason Brennan, both of Yale University. Amar, in 'The Unwritten Constitution' makes a very logical analysis proposing the 'equal protection' clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as a basis for the incorporation doctrine, applying the B of R to the states while SC decisions have heretofore cited due process. Bassetti also cites 'equal protection' without any rationale in the text. Is that an accident, or does she blindly follow Amar? Brennan, a Libertarian, would never countenance the proposed expansion of federal power proposed in this book.

There is no analysis of alternatives such as proportional representation or differences in a large republic from a small one popular democracy occasionally worked in Athens, but would give inordinate power to large urban centers in the USA. A corrupt machine in say Chicago might achieve the presidency in every election. For all of Bassetti's counter examples the EC has historically done a fine job in protecting us from such a travesty as it was intended to do.
Modification of local voting rules could achieve much more with less harm than expansion of government power. The Electoral College give power to the states with reason. Eliminating it would further erode the checks and balances built into the Constitution. The Seventeenth Amendment greatly lowered quality of Senators in the last century. Similarly, eliminating the EC will not improve the legislative branch.

Much of the electorate treats each election as a personality contest. Many others are dedicated to idealistic party loyalty. Indigents will vote for those who promise the most in entitlement benefits. The book doesn't make the case that expanding the vote will enhance either democracy or general welfare.

Segments of the book deplore low voter turnout in the USA. Syria and Egypt have 100% voter turnout. Is the direction Bassetti intends us to go? Francis Fukuyama in 'The End of History' has blamed the welfare state, arguing that the decrease in turnout has come after the government became more involved in people's lives. There's no analysis by Bassetti, who advocates greater federal regulation of the voting process. Voter turnout is affected by significance of vote. Votes count more in proportional representation systems than in the first past the post system in the USA. In general, the more winners the more voters. Of course 100% voter turnout can be achieved by edict as in the former USSR. I suppose that would fit Bassetti's idea of democracy.

Worst of all, Bassetti seems unaware that our selection process whereby candidates are vetted by oligarchies in the two party system is much more dysfunctional than the election process. Elections have become media popularity contests among unsuitable candidates.
Our fine presidents have been an accident with no credit to the selection process.
That applies especially to Truman who was first vice-president. Other such successors have been a disaster. Favorable treatment of the Twelfth Amendment is not justified; it has not served us well. More recently, no informed voter could think that Gore, Bush, Kerry, Romney, Obama, Biden or the Clintons would be among the 1,000 best candidates for the office of president. As long as the selection process is this dysfunctional, election democracy is a pipe dream.

There appears to be a misguided impression that our elected representatives carry out the will of the electorate. Nobody voted for the dysfunctional budget and financial regulation system in place today. Ultimately this shallow analysis will sell by telling the politically illiterate voting public what they want to hear.

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Top reviews from other countries

Glowglowgirl

Easy read, very informative.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 18, 2020

Verified Purchase

Truly the US system is a piecemeal product of political horsetrading, historical bias and misplaced reliance on outmoded and spurious principles. It's hard for an outsider to see why the need for reform is not obvious to all. The book gives the history and some of the most intriguing examples in a clear and objective way.

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