Political Culture and Voting Systems in the United States

BRIAN L. FIFE is Professor of Public Affairs at Indiana University Purdue University, Fort Wayne. Among his earlier publications are Desegregation in American Schools: Comparative Intervention Strategies (1992), School Desegregation in the United States: The Focus Must Change (1997), and the co-edited Higher Education in Transition: The Challenges of the New Millennium (2000).GERALYN M. MILLER is Assistant Professor of Public Affairs at Indiana University Purdue University, Fort Wayne. Her articles have appeared in journals and edited collections.

• CONTENTSCONTENTSContents Illustrations ixAcknowledgments xi Note to the Reader xiii 1. The 2000 Presidential Election 1A Close Contest 1The Bush-Gore Legal Battle 5The Palm Beach County, Florida, Ballot 11The Consortium Report 11More Voting Issues in America 12Felons and the Franchise 12Voting in America: A States' Rights Matter 13Federalism and Political Culture: Conceptual Distinctions 182. Political Culture in America 21The Three Subcultures 22What about the District of Columbia? 26Voting Patterns in the American States 28Voting Systems in the American States 31Data Disparities 353. Analyzing the Data 43Research Hypothesis 43The Appropriate Statistical Technique 45Specification of the Model 46Interpreting the Voting Systems Results 48Summarizing the Voting Systems Results 55Political Culture and Presidential Election Outcomes 55Interpreting the Electoral Results 58Summarizing the Electoral Results 634. Implications for Democratic Theory 65The Caltech/MIT Study 65Voting Systems and the Supreme Court's Equal Protection Clause Argument 68Declining Voter Turnout in American Elections 70The Challenge of Registration 71Federalism and American Elections 74Utilization of the Federal Election Commission 75Concluding Thoughts 755. The Pendulum Swing and Voting Rights in America 77Electoral Policy Innovation and the States 78Likelihood of National Mandates for Optical Scan Equipment 82Shaping the Electoral Process in the States 85Selected Bibliography 89Index 93