Democracy in the States Experiments in Election Reform

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously observed that "a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." Democracy in the States evaluates the results of state experiments in election reform, including such innovations as early voting, term limits, multimember districts, and redistricting reforms. Some of these measures seek to enhance the integrity of elections, others focus on boosting participation, and some are designed to increase electoral responsiveness. All three goals, the volume concludes, must guide a twenty-first-century agenda for election reform. Book jacket.