Center for Voting and
Democracy Recent Recommended Books
July 2001
Text
only version

Fixing Elections
Whose Vote Counts
Bushmanders and Bullwinkles
Challenges to Equality
Fair and Effective
Representation
Elections in Australia, Ireland and Malta Under the STV
The Right to Vote
Elections as Instruments of
Democracy
A Right to Representation
Behind the Ballot Box
The U.S. House of Representations: Reform or
Rebuild?
Patterns of Democracy
Making Every Vote Count
Lift Every Voice
The Universe and the Teacup
The International IDEA Handbook of
Electoral System Design
Electoral Laws and the Survival of Presidential
Democracies
Sam Smith's Great
American Political Repair Manual
The Tyranny of the Majority
Recharging the
American Experiment
Real Choices/New Voices
U.S. Electoral Systems
Seats &
Votes

Most
of the following books are readily available both online and at your
local bookstore. In addition, the Center has several of these
books in stock (see resources). More books will be
added periodically as they come out.

Whose Vote Counts? Robert Richie
and Steven Hill
In an argument made all the more pertinent in
the wake of the 2000 election crisis, the authors propose making
election outcomes represent all Americans through prop
ortional representation.Winner-take-all elections are used in the
vast majority of American elections, leaving those who voted for
losing candidates without representation in government, and too
often disillusioned with politics. The Center for Voting and
Democracy's Rob Richie and Steven Hill argue that we need a new way
of electing our representatives to combat voter apathy and the
leveling of political views. Leading
activists and scholars, including Cynthia McKinney, John Ferejohn,
and Daniel Cantor, respond. Harvard law professor writes the
foreword. The book originally appeared as Reflecting All of Us
in 1999. From Beacon
Press (2001)
Bushmanders &
Bullwinkles: How Politicians Manipulate Electronic Maps and Census
Date to Win Elections.
Mark S.
Monmonier  An
excellent resource for reformers in this redistricting season.
This well-reviewed book includes a chapter advocating
proportional representation as the best means to represent our
diversity. In addition it explains how computers (once thought to be
the tool to eliminating gerrymanders) have wound up crafting
them, the complicated relationship between race and
representation, how the forms of political maps can function as
distractions and hindrances to understanding their content, and
alternative models of representation drawn from examples in Ohio,
Massachusetts, and much of contemporary Europe. From University of
Chicago Press
(2001)
Challenges to Equality: Poverty and Race in
America. Chester
Hartman (editor)
This timely work
provides multiple perspectives on many important current social
issues -- integration and civil rights; President Clinton's race
initiative; poverty; education; the environment; democratic
participation; disability rights; corporate welfare; and others. The
contributors includes such well-known public and academic figures as
Julian Bond, Herbert Gans, James Loewen, Jonathan Kozol, Manning
Marable, Howard Zinn, Benjamin DeMott, Frances Fox Piven, and Marian
Wright Edelman. It contains a chapter on proportional representation
by Douglas Amy, Fred McBride and Rob Richie. From M.E. Sharpe
(2001)

Fair
and Effective Representation.Mark E. Rush and Richard
L. Engstrom
Two
experts on political representation, voting rights, and the election
process debate representation and minority rights, one the most
pertinent issues of electoral reform. Mark E. Rush and Richard L.
Engstrom, both of whom have headed the Section on Representation and
Electoral Systems of the American Political Science Association,
discuss the promises and pitfalls of converting from the traditional
single-member district to some form of proportional representation.
The authors also examine the shortcomings of the existing methods of
elections (such as gerrymandering, low turnout, voter apathy, and
underrepresentation of minorities and women) and investigate the
extent to which proportional representation adheres to the
Founders' vision of representation. With an introduction
by political scientist Bruce E. Cain. From Rowman &
Littlefield (2001)

The single
transferable vote (STV), termed choice voting by many American
electoral reformers, has typically been the preferred proportional
representation system in the United States and United Kingdom. Yet
relatively little is known about its actual workings. Gathering
leading experts on STV from around the world to discuss the examples
they know best, this book represents the first systematic
cross-national study of STV, with a focus on elections in Australia,
Ireland and Malta. Rather than seeing electoral institutions in
purely mechanical terms, the collection of essays in this volume
shows that the effects of electoral system may be contingent on
other factors rather than automatic. From University of Michigan
Press(2000)
The Right to Vote: The Contested History of
Democracy in the United States. Alexander
Keyssar
Most Americans
take for granted their right to vote, whether they choose to
exercise it or not. But the history of suffrage in the U.S. is, in
fact, the story of a struggle to achieve this right by successive
waves of different classes of voters, defined by differences in such
areas as wealth, race, gender, age and citizenship. Historian
Alexander Keyssar explores the evolution of suffrage over the course
of the nation's history, exploring the conditions under which
American democracy has expanded and contracted over the years. From
Basic Books (2000)

Elections as Instruments of
Democracy. G. Bingham Powell,
Jr.
In this book, a
leading scholar of comparative politics asks crucial questions about
modern democracies. Of the two great visions of democracy--the
majoritarian, winner-take-all vision and the proportional
representation, consensus model - which best serves as an instrument
of democracy and policy-making? When and why does each vision
succeed or fail? G. Bingham Powell examines over 150 elections in
twenty democracies over the past quarter century to arrive at
important and sometimes surprising conclusions, one of which is that
national legislatures elected by proportional representation are
more likely to enact policies supported by majorities in the
electorate. From Yale University Press (2000)

A Right to Representation: Proportional
Election Systems for the Twenty-first
Century
. Kathleen
Barber  In this book, an outgrowth
of her earlier Proportional Representation and Electoral Reform
in Ohio, Dr. Barber explores the origins of proportional
representation (PR) systems, explains their use and adaptability,
and supplies empirical evidence of how they actually worked in
practice in five Ohio cities that used the choice voting method of
proportional representation in the 1900's. From Ohio State
University Press (2000)

Behind
the Ballot Box: A Citizen's Guide to Voting
Systems. Douglas J. Amy  A comprehensive and
objective guide to all voting methods, from variations of
winner-take-all elections to variations of proportional
representation, with a particular focus on semi-proportional
systems, and the plurality/majority voting systems that are
currently used in the U.S. The book includes a set of
criteria for evaluating voting systems, an explanation of the
workings of each system, and a discussion of their various political
advantages and disadvantages. From Praeger Publishing
(2000)
The
U.S. House of Representatives: Reform or Rebuild?
Joseph F.
Zimmerman and Wilma Rule (editors)  The
unrepresentativeness of the U.S. House of Representatives--in terms
of ethnicity, gender, race, and socio--economic status--and its
nearly closed system for election have generated questions about the
legitimacy and authority of the House as an institution which
"represents" citizens and whether House membership should mirror
directly the diverse population of the nation. This essay collection
examines the causes of the unrepresentative character of the House
and offers recommendations to make it a more representative
deliberative body. The single-member district system
is examined as a major causal factor of the
unrepresentativeness, and alternative electoral
systems--single-transferable vote types of proportional
representation, cumulative voting, and limited voting--are explored.
From Praeger Press (2000)
Patterns of Democracy:
Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six
Countries. Arend Lijphart
This updated and
expanded edition of the highly acclaimed book Democracies
offers an even broader, more thorough analysis of today`s
democracies. Encompassing thirty-six democracies around the world,
the book compares cabinets, legislatures, parties, election systems,
supreme courts, interest groups, and central banks to arrive at
important-and unexpected-findings about what type of democracy works
best. A former president of the American Political Science
Assocation and considered by many to be the world's leading
authority on comparative electoral systems, Lijphart has "an amazing
grasp of the relevant literature [and has] compiled an unmatched
collection of data," according to Yale University's Robert Dahl.
From Yale University Press (1999)
Making Every Vote Count:
Reassessing Canada's Electoral System. Henry Milner (editor)
Among the political
institutions inherited from Canada's British past is the
winner-take-all, single-member districtd system by which people are
elected to office. This electoral system, used by only a small
minority of stable democracies, is now on the defensive even
in countries with historical connections to Britain - starting
with Britain itself, which has adopted proportional representation
for several regional election and is debating reform of elections to
the House of Commons. In 1993 New Zealand went all the way and
adopted the German form of proportional representation. Now debate
about PR is increasing in Canada, and this book brings the a
range of up-to-date analyses on the Canadian situation both from at
home and abroad. It includes a chapter on reform in the United
States by CVD's Rob Richie and Steven Hill. From Broadview
Press(1999)
Lift
Every Voice, Turning A Civil Rights Setback Into A New Vision Of
Social Justice. Lani Guinier  Harvard law
professor Lani Guinier prescribes solutions through bringing more
people into the political process, rethinking the way we elect
people to some four major political institutions, and rethinking
how, when and why we talk about race. The book includes an excellent
chapter on the case for proportional representation voting methods.
The
book also provides a gripping account of her nomination to run the
civil rights division of the Department of Justice and her ultimate
"dis-appointment." From Simon & Schuster (1998)

The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics
of Truth and Beauty. K.C. Cole
 Mathematics, Cole explains, enables us to "translate the
complexity of the world into manageable patterns," whether we're
trying to comprehend the risks of smoking or the usefulness of DNA
matches in criminal investigations. Cole also looks at how
mathematical principles apply in unexpected fields. One chapter, for
example, vindicates the theories on voting rights and proportional
representation that cost Lani Guinier her Justice Department
nomination in 1993. From Harcourt and Brace (1998)

The International IDEA Handbook of
Electoral System Design. Andrew Reynolds and Ben Reilly  The
first publication in the International IDEA Handbook
Series is an easy-to-use guide describing the world of electoral
systems and what factors to consider when modifying or designing an
electoral system. Created for policy-makers, politicians and
election administrators it is also an excellent tool for students.
The handbook gives practical information explaining why certain
countries choose different systems, and how other countries have
modified inherited systems. It describes which electoral systems
have proven advantageous for specific cultural, social and economic
conditions, and how electoral systems can increase participation,
reach out to minorities and help instill faith in a sceptical
electorate. It includes a range of helpful graphics and sample
ballots. From Broderna Carlssons Boktryckeri AB (1997)
Electoral Laws and the Survival of
Presidential Democracies. Mark P.
Jones
 The success of the
current third wave of democracy is interlinked with the performance
and survival of the world's democratic presidential
systems. Author Mark Jones' goal is to make the relationship
between specific electoral laws and the survival of presidential
democracy completely transparent.These laws are hence vital to the
success and (in many cases) the survival of presidential democracies
throughout the world. Jones concludes that presidential systems
provide a viable form of democratic government, and therefore a
realistic democratic alternatives to a parliamentary system, is one,
therefore, that must be given thoughtful consideration. Among his
suggestions are that presidential democracies use modest levels of
proportional representation. From University of Notre Dame Press (1997)
Sam Smith's Great
American Political Repair Manual : How to Rebuild Our Country So the
Politics Aren't Broken and Politicians Aren't Fixed.
Sam Smith
"Neither right nor left
but ahead" is the political course for very independent
journalist (editor, Progressive Review) and founding CVD advisory board member Sam Smith in
this entertaining, myth-busting guide to a new American crossover
politics. This primer gives hope that the coughing engines and
stripped gears of American democracy can be made to work again if we
can recover our can-do spirit and practice a politics of common
sense and common decency combined with a search for common ground.
The book includes an excellent chapter on proportional
representation and instant runoff voting, told in his typical style
conjoining hilarity and wisdom, education and provocation.
From W.W. Norton. (1997)
The
Tyranny of the Majority: Fundamental Fairness in Representative
Democracy. Lani Guinier  Guinier's footnote-laden essays, originally
published in legal and academic journals, raise challenging
questions about American elections. The Voting Rights Act, she
argues, has been more successful in achieving the election of black
officials than in altering the conditions of their constituents. She
cogently suggests that winner-take-all voting systems that
consistently exclude minorities are undemocratic. Instead, she
advocates cumulative voting, which is used in many corporate
elections and a growing number of local elections in the Unitd
States. From Free Pr ess
(1994)

Recharging the American
Experiment: Principled Pluralism for Genuine Civic
Community. James
W. Skillen
James W. Skillen, executive director of the Center for
Public Justice, calls for united political and social action on the
part of Christian and secular conservatives. As part of a broader
agenda for reform he advocates making electoral politics truly
representative in an excellent chapter on proportional
representation. From Baker Books (1994)
Real Choices/New Voices: The Case for Proportional
Representation Elections in the United States.
Douglas J.
Amy
The definitive book on the
subject of proportional representation (PR) in the United States.
Chapters explain how PR would ensure fair representation for all
voters, eradicate gerrymandering, encourage issue-oriented
campaigns, break the two-party monopoly, insure fairer
representation for women and minorities, and encourage higher voter
turnout. From Columbia University Press (1993)
United States Electoral Systems: Their
Impact on Women and Minorities. Wilma Rule and Joseph
F. Zimmerman (editors)
This comprehensive collection
examines how different electoral systems impact the election of
women and minorities to public office in the United States. Rule and
Zimmerman have brought together leading scholars to show how
different systems affect local, state, and national elections.
Important demographic changes, new opportunities, and formidable
problems are underscored in analyses of the effects of cumulative
voting, limited voting, judicial election systems, multimember and
single-member district, and reapportionment. This study is unusual
in combining an overall analysis of electoral systems and case
material with proposals for making government more representative.
From Praeger (1993)
Seats & Votes: The Effects &
Determinants of Electoral Systems. Rein Taagepera and
Matthew Soberg Shugart
A comprehensive study of electoral
systems that describes the electoral rules of different nations,
reviews the current state of knowledge about their effects, and
offers guidelines for designing new systems. From Yale University
Press (1989)
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