FC's very own Political Science Professor, Jodi Balma, has a podcast focusing on "all things politics in North Orange County, California." Give it a listen on your favorite podcast app! (Source: https://rss.com/podcasts/sliceoforange/)
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-slice-of-orange/id1529822944
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4EcPOr7adlathn31vkhKcj
Here are some books from the FC Library catalog on various topics related to elections and voting.
Is Voting for Young People? by
For years, political scientists have told their students that it doesn't make a difference whether they vote because one vote won't make a difference. This book is antidote to that argument. -- Richard Niemi, University of Rochester Marty Wattenberg's new book is a brilliant analysis of a big and growing problem in modern democracies; it is also an urgently needed wake-up call. How can we call ourselves a democracy if fewer and fewer people participate in elections and, in addition, if these voters are far from representative of the whole population? The author's recommendations for remedial action, including the adoption of mandatory voting, deserve the most serious consideration. - Arend Lijphart, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California -- San Diego This text is likely to become one of the seminal works on voting -- readers of all levels cannot help but be impressed by the clarity and strength of Wattenberg's answer to why young people do not vote, and his solution will spur debate about the meanings of democracy, rights, and responsibilities. - Sean Matheson, KnoxCollege This is first-rate scholarship. and integrates competing theories in an accessible manner. Wattenberg's book] makes an important contribution to our understanding of voter participation, while at the same time speaking directly to young people. - Miki Kittilson, ArizonaState University This is a fine example of putting first rate social science research in the service of larger normative concerns. Not everyone will agree with Wattenberg's prescription, but his description of the disengagement of younger citizens here and in other advanced democracies, his explanation for their disengagement, and his identification of the consequences of their disengagement are compelling. - Morris Fiorina, StanfordUniversity Everyone who seeks to understand today's politics, and tomorrow's, ought to read Martin P. Wattenberg's marvelous new book. Today's young adults are not like yesterday's. Even if you had thought they are less interested in politics and in news, you're going to be surprised by how much less involved they are. Democracy here and in Europe faces the disturbing challenge of how to get young people to take part in their governing. HarvardUniversity
Let Us Vote! by
The fascinating tale of how a bipartisan coalition worked successfully to lower the voting age "Let Us Vote!" tells the story of the multifaceted endeavor to achieve youth voting rights in the United States. Over a thirty-year period starting during World War II, Americans, old and young, Democrat and Republican, in politics and culture, built a movement for the 26th Amendment to the US Constitution, which lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen in 1971. This was the last time that the United States significantly expanded voting rights. Jennifer Frost deftly illustrates how the political and social movements of the time brought together bipartisan groups to work tirelessly in pursuit of a lower voting age. In turn, she illuminates the process of achieving political change, with the convergence of "top-down" initiatives and "bottom-up" mobilization, coalition-building, and strategic flexibility. As she traces the progress toward achieving youth suffrage throughout the '60s, Frost reveals how this movement built upon the social justice initiatives of the decade and was deeply indebted to the fight for African American civil and voting rights. 2021 marks the fiftieth anniversary of this important constitutional amendment and comes at a time when scrutiny of both voting age and voting rights has been renewed. As the national conversation around climate crisis, gun violence, and police brutality creates a new call for a lower voting age, "Let Us Vote!" provides an essential investigation of how this massive political change occurred, and how it could be brought about again.
Voting Rights by
This issue of The Reference Shelf looks at some of the best American journalism and writing on the topic of voting rights. Sections present articles on subjects ranging from convict disenfranchisement, voting and race, and the challenges of voting in urban versus rural areas. This issue pays special attention to the debate over voter fraud and voting security and how recent allegations of voter fraud have been used to justify new voter restrictions in many states. Other topics covered include voter ID requirements, voting and transportation for the elderly, and the debate over online voting.
Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? by
A New Statesman Book of the Year With every presidential election, Americans puzzle over the peculiar mechanism of the Electoral College. The author of the Pulitzer finalist The Right to Vote explains the enduring problem of this controversial institution. Every four years, millions of Americans wonder why they choose their presidents through the Electoral College, an arcane institution that permits the loser of the popular vote to become president and narrows campaigns to swing states. Most Americans have long preferred a national popular vote, and Congress has attempted on many occasions to alter or scuttle the Electoral College. Several of these efforts-one as recently as 1970-came very close to winning approval. Yet this controversial system remains. Alexander Keyssar explains its persistence. After tracing the Electoral College's tangled origins at the Constitutional Convention, he explores the efforts from 1800 to 2020 to abolish or significantly reform it, showing why each has failed. Reasons include the complexity of the electoral system's design, the tendency of political parties to elevate partisan advantage above democratic values, the difficulty of passing constitutional amendments, and, importantly, the South's prolonged backing of the Electoral College, grounded in its desire to preserve white supremacy in the region. The commonly voiced explanation that small states have blocked reform for fear of losing influence proves to have been true only occasionally. Keyssar examines why reform of the Electoral College has received so little attention from Congress for the last forty years, and considers alternatives to congressional action such as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and state efforts to eliminate winner-take-all. In analyzing the reasons for past failures while showing how close the nation has come to abolishing the institution, Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? offers encouragement to those hoping to produce change in the twenty-first century.
For more books on elections and voting, check out our curated reading list: Elections and Voting Collection.