The Way We Vote : The Local Dimension of American Suffrage

To a degree unique among democracies, the United States has always placed responsibility for running national elections in the hands of county, city, and town officials. The Way We Vote explores the causes and consequences of America's localized voting system, explaining its historical development and its impact on American popular sovereignty and democratic equality.The book shows that local electoral variation has endured through dramatic changes in American political and constitutional structure, and that such variation is the product of a clear, repeated developmental pattern, not simple neglect or public ignorance. Legal materials, statutes and Congressional debates, state constitutional-convention proceedings, and the records of contested Congressional elections illuminate a long record of federal and state intervention in American electoral mechanics. Lawmakers have always understood that a certain level of disorder characterizes U.S. national elections, and have responded by exercising their authority over suffrage practices--but only in limited ways, effectively helping to construct our triply-governed electoral system. To a degree unique among democracies, the United States has always placed responsibility for running national elections in the hands of county, city, and town officials. The Way We Vote explores the causes and consequences of America's localized voting system, explaining its historical development and its impact on American popular sovereignty and democratic equality. The book shows that local electoral variation has endured through dramatic changes in American political and constitutional structure, and that such variation is the product of a clear, repeated developmental pattern, not simple neglect or public ignorance. Legal materials, statutes and Congressional debates, state constitutional-convention proceedings, and the records of contested Congressional elections illuminate a long record of federal and state intervention in American electoral mechanics. Lawmakers have always understood that a certain level of disorder characterizes U.S. national elections, and have responded by exercising their authority over suffrage practices—but only in limited ways, effectively helping to construct our triply-governed electoral system. Table of Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 1. “Times, Places, and Manner”: Early American Voting......Page 26 2. “Who Shall Create the Voter”: The Late Nineteenth Century......Page 57 3. “To Promote the Exercise of That Right”: The Twentieth Century......Page 81 4. Mediated Popular Sovereignty: Local Suffrage Practices and American Self-Rule......Page 103 5. Exclusion, Equality, and the Local Dimension of American Suffrage......Page 129 Conclusion......Page 160 Notes......Page 168 Index......Page 230 Table of Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 10 1. “Times, Places, and Manner”: Early American Voting 26 2. “Who Shall Create the Voter”: The Late Nineteenth Century 57 3. “To Promote the Exercise of That Right”: The Twentieth Century 81 4. Mediated Popular Sovereignty: Local Suffrage Practices and American Self-Rule 103 5. Exclusion, Equality, and the Local Dimension of American Suffrage 129 Conclusion 160 Notes 168 Index 230 082651653X,9780826516534,0826516548,9780826516541 Vanderbilt University Press "To a degree unique among democracies, the United States has always placed responsibility for running national elections in the hands of county, city, and town officials. The Way We Vote explores the causes and consequences of America's localized voting system, explaining its historical development and its impact on American popular sovereignty and democratic equality."--BOOK JACKET "Times, places, and manner" : early American voting "Who shall create the voter" : the late nineteenth century "To promote the exercise of that right" : the twentieth century Mediated popular sovereignty : local suffrage practices and American self-rule Exclusion, equality, and the local dimension of American suffrage The local dimension of American suffrage. How the United States ended up with the system of elections administration that it has