voting — Bunk History

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A ballot from Ireland’s 2020 general election.

Avoiding the PR Mistakes of the Past

The proportional representation (PR) vs. single transferable vote (STV) battle in local elections.

by Jack Santucci via Democracy Journal on September 12, 2023

Demonstrators hold Confederate flags near the monument for Confederacy President Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Va., after it was spray-painted with the phrase "Black Lives Matter."

Confederate Monuments Caused Voting Decline In Black Areas

As Confederate monuments were erected, people turned out to vote in lower numbers in predominantly Black areas.

by Alexander N. Taylor via Mississippi Free Press on August 9, 2023

Robert Segovia (left) instructing class. Emerito Torres and Agapito Cruz (at chalkboard).

The Machiavelli of the Mexican American People

How Robert Segovia used steelworkers and the Catholic Church to build a political machine in Chicago.

by Emiliano Aguilar via Process: A Blog for American History on March 28, 2023

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, left, and former Chicago Public Schools chief executive, Paul Vallas. (Erin Hooley/AP; Nam Y. Huh/AP)

Chicago’s Mayoral Election Feels Like 1983 All Over Again — But It Isn’t

Decades of failed promises have left voters apathetic or pessimistic.

by Gordon Mantler via Made By History on March 8, 2023

Drawing of Al Gore at the 2000 Democratic Convention.

Has the United States Ever Been a Democracy?

Jedediah Purdy's new book examines why the U.S. has continuously failed to qualify as a system defined by popular rule.

by Sophia Rosenfeld via The Nation on January 3, 2023

African Americans campaigning for Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker, and Confederate symbols in Georgia.

Minority Rule(s)

Georgia’s competitive runoff election is the result of centuries of white supremacist efforts.

by Anthony Conwright via The Forum on December 6, 2022

Hand tossing a coin.

Why Is America Always Divided 50–50?

Despite wrenching economic and political changes in the country, Democrats and Republicans keep finding themselves nearly tied in election after election.

by Annie Lowrey via The Atlantic on November 8, 2022

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. with Kimberly Teehee

Cherokee Nation Is Fighting for a Seat in Congress

Thanks to an 1835 treaty, they’re pushing Democrats to approve a nonvoting delegate.

by Gabriel Pietrorazio via The New Republic on October 31, 2022

Elder Leslie Mathews, an organizer with Michigan United, joins leaders of the Reproductive Freedom for All campaign as they speak to supporters on July 11 in Lansing, Mich., after turning in 753,759 signatures to qualify for Michigan's November ballot.

Abortion Initiatives Expose the Promise and Peril of Direct Democracy

Ballot initiatives, referendums, and other forms of direct democracy have a mixed track record of empowering the people.

by Elisabeth Clemens via Made By History on October 27, 2022

Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell speaking to each other in the White House.

It Wasn’t the Religious Right That Made White Evangelicals Vote Republican

To understand why evangelicals vote Republican, we shouldn’t focus just on Falwell; we need to look at a century or more of evangelical political culture.

by Daniel K. Williams via Anxious Bench on August 23, 2022

Drawing of a voting booth on top of a gerrymandered district with a saw cutting the floor out from under it.

American Democracy Was Never Designed to Be Democratic

The partisan redistricting tactics of cracking and packing aren’t merely flaws in the system—they are the system.

by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on August 15, 2022

Human legs in the water with a shark under them

Did Shark Attacks Eat Into Woodrow Wilson’s Votes in 1916?

What shark attacks in 1916 could tell us about the midterms in 2022.

by Dylan Matthews via Vox on August 4, 2022

Patsy Min, the first woman of color and the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress.

My Mom Fought For Title IX, but It Almost Didn’t Happen

When the personal and professional lives of Hawai'i Congresswoman Patsy Mink collided.

via New York Times Op-Docs on June 23, 2022

Stack of Latino history books with checkmark on top

There’s No Such Thing As ‘The Latino Vote’

Why can’t America see that?

by Geraldo Cadava via The Atlantic on February 14, 2022

Ballots in sealed envelopes, in a plastic box with a sticker that reads "Vote NYC."

You Didn’t Always Have to Be a Citizen to Vote in America

The electorate has consistently changed over time as politicians seek to shape it in their favor.

by Rachel Michelle Gunter via Made By History on December 29, 2021

Protesters holding flags of the US and Mexico.

How Prop. 187 Transformed the Immigration Debate and California Politics

Much of the anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy in the news today is similar to a movement that swept the country 20 years ago.

via Retro Report on December 3, 2021

Black and white photo of four children holding hands and dressed up in 18th century outfits

A Surprising Factor Influenced How the Framers Voted

The more sons a Founding Father had, the more supportive he was of a strong centralized government.

by Soren J. Schmidt, Jeremy C. Pope via The Atlantic on July 7, 2021

Cartoon of politicians arguing

The Gilded Age’s Democratic Contradictions

How the late 19th century’s raucous party system gave way to a sedate and exclusionary political culture that erected more and more barriers to participation.

by Eric Foner via The Nation on June 1, 2021

Sketch of late 19th century political rally in NYC

The Forgotten Precedent for Our ‘Unprecedented’ Political Insanity

The decades after the Civil War saw mass participation and mass outrage, followed by a period of orderly reform. What can we learn from that era today?

by Jon Grinspan via Politico Magazine on April 24, 2021

The GOP elephant depicted as falling apart

What Is Happening to the Republicans?

In becoming the party of Trump, the G.O.P. confronts the kind of existential crisis that has destroyed American parties in the past.

by Jelani Cobb via The New Yorker on March 8, 2021

Rev. Timothy McDonald III in First Iconium Baptist Church

Attacking Sunday Voting is Part of a Long Tradition of Controlling Black Americans

The centuries-long battle over Sunday activities is really about African Americans' freedom and agency.

by Rebecca Brenner Graham via Made By History on March 4, 2021

Recruiting poster for USCT featuring a lithograph of African American soldiers.

In 1868, Black Suffrage Was on the Ballot

At the height of the Reconstruction, the pressing issue of the election was Black male suffrage.

by Jordan Grant via Smithsonian on February 19, 2021

Ted Cruz.

The Dangerous Historical Precedent for Ted Cruz’s Shameless Electoral College Gambit

The Texas senator claims to be moved by the spirit of 1876, but he’s just another huckster playing a risky game with democracy.

by Matt Ford via The New Republic on January 5, 2021

Harry S. Truman holding up a newspaper with the erroneous headline "Dewey Defeats Truman"

Why Americans Will Never Turn Against Polling

Failures inspire distrust of pollsters and calls for more shoe-leather reporting. But by the next election, we always come running back.

by Rebecca Onion, W. Joseph Campbell via Slate on November 5, 2020

A women in a newsroom covering the election

Good TV Demands Results on Election Night, but That’s Bad for Democracy

The history of tuning in to televised election returns.

by Kathryn Cramer Brownell via Made By History on November 3, 2020

Jill Lepore and the cover of her Book "If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future"

“We Don’t Want the Program”: On How Tech Can’t Fix Democracy

“Start-ups: they need philosophers, political theorists, historians, poets. Critics.”

by Jill Lepore, Danah Boyd via Public Books on November 2, 2020

Poll Watchers and the Long History of Voter Intimidation

President Trump has called on supporters, including law enforcement officers, to monitor election sites. Voter intimidation tactics have a long history.

via Retro Report on November 1, 2020

Bush v. Gore: How a Recount Dispute Affects Voting Today

The controversy surrounding the 2000 presidential election led to sweeping voting reforms, but opened the door to a new set of problems still affecting us.

via Retro Report on October 19, 2020

People holding protest signs

On the Fight for Black Voting Rights at the Turn of the 20th-Century

A rally at Faneuil Hall in support of the Fourteenth Amendment and congressional investigation of southern disfranchisement.

by Kerri K. Greenidge via Literary Hub on October 14, 2020

Mail-in ballot in a mailbox.

Holding an Election During the Civil War Set the Standard for Us Today

On-time elections are a key part of ensuring the promise of American democracy.

by Jonathan W. White via Made By History on October 5, 2020

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