Campaign and Election Reform: A Reference Handbook
Why is voter turnout in the United States so low compared with that in other Western democracies? Many experts feel that the present system of campaigns, elections, and election laws has caused mass disillusionment, which discourages voter participation.\ Campaign and Election Reform gathers a wealth of information about attempts to reform the electoral process. The authors discuss such political circumstances as party corruption and excessive campaign donations. Emphasis is placed on the...
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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. Booknews This reference handbook on US electoral reforms offers brief descriptions of key reforms throughout the country's history, a chronology of significant events, biographical sketches of key figures, survey and other data on campaign financing and related matters, quotations on such topics as term limits and racial gerrymandering, a list of organizations and agencies, a lengthy annotated list of books, and shorter lists of periodicals, nonprint media, and Internet resources. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Preface xiBackground and History 1Suffrage Expansion and Voting Rights 1Term Limits 7Ballot Fraud and Voter Fraud 8The Electoral College 11Candidate Nominations 14Progressive Era Reforms 17Low Voter Turnout 18Elections in a Crisis 21Legislative Apportionment and Gerrymandering 22Campaign Finance, the Federal Election Campaign Act, and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 24The Help America Vote Act and Beyond 30References 37Problems, Controversies, and Solutions 43Electoral Mechanics 44Election Ballots 48The Electoral College 49Voter Turnout 53Early and Absentee Voting 54Simplifying Election Forms 56Voting and the Disabled 56Mail-Ballot Elections 58Voting Assistance Programs 59Public Employees 60Representation Systems 61At-Large Elections 61District Elections 62MultimemberDistricts 62Proportional Representation 63Campaign Advertising and the Mass Media 66Nontraditional Voters 67Campaign Spending 69References 72Campaigns and Elections in Selected Western European Democracies 77Denmark 79England 84France 89Germany 93Italy 99Norway 105Poland 109Sweden 113References 118Chronology 123Biographical Sketches 159Herbert E. Alexander 159Douglas J. Amy 160Susan Brownell Anthony 161Kathleen L. Barber 162Kimball William Brace 163Richard A. Cloward 164Chandler Davidson 165David L. Dill 166Richard L. Engstrom 167Russ Feingold 168Bernard N. Grofman 169Lani Guinier 170Stanley A. Halpin Jr. 171Bev Harris 172Paul Jacob 173David B. Magleby 174Michael J. Malbin 175Thomas E. Mann 176John S. McCain III 176Laughlin McDonald 178Louise Overacker 178Mark P. Petracca 179Richard H. Pildes 180Frances Fox Piven 181Trevor Potter 182Robert "Rob" Richie 183Elizabeth Cady Stanton 185Edward Still 186Fred Wertheimer 187Data and Documents 189Campaign Finance Law 190Public Attitudes toward Campaign Finance Laws 192Electoral and Voting Controversies 196Public Attitudes toward the Electoral and Voting Processes 199Major U.S. Supreme Court Decisions on Campaign Finance 202U.S. Supreme Court Decisions on Political Participation 204U.S. Supreme Court Decisions on Redistricting 206The Costs of Elections 207Voter Turnout and Voter Registration 212Quotations 216Alternate Electoral Systems 216Balloting and Voting 217Buckley v. Valeo 219Campaign Finance and Ethics 221Campaign Finance Reform 223Electoral College 227Money and Elections 229Racial Gerrymandering 232Redistricting and Reapportionment 234Term Limits 236Voting Rights 236References 237Directory of Organizations 241Resources 273Print Resources 273Books 273Periodicals 299Nonprint Resources 304Videotapes, DVDs, and Films 304Databases 321Internet Resources 321Glossary 333Index 355About the Author 371
\ BooknewsThis reference handbook on US electoral reforms offers brief descriptions of key reforms throughout the country's history, a chronology of significant events, biographical sketches of key figures, survey and other data on campaign financing and related matters, quotations on such topics as term limits and racial gerrymandering, a list of organizations and agencies, a lengthy annotated list of books, and shorter lists of periodicals, nonprint media, and Internet resources. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.\ \
