This book took me a while to get through, but it was such a fascinating read! I really enjoy reading books exploring the political issues that the US has dealt with from inception to now. There are a lot of people out there who want to see the past through rose coloured glasses, and pretend that everything was perfect back in the good old days and now it's just a partisan mess.

Books like this just prove that, no... It's always been a partisan mess.

But seriously, the US has had growing pains show more regarding the specifics of vote counting law since the very beginning. The first place to even have a dispute was Pennsylvania of all places.

Some good things to wikipedia if you don't want to pick up the book: The Buckshot War of Pennsylvania 1838, Bashford vs Barstow, Hayes v Tilden which was the presidential election that really went crazysauce, New Yorks Stolen Senate of 1891, and Ballot Box 13 involving Lyndon Johnson and some of the most flagrant voter fraud on the record.

There is an entire Bush v Gore chapter, as well as an aftermath chapter. Lots of good information that I didn't know about the specifics of the court cases involved. It's scary how easily that entire situation could have turned into a constitutional crisis had Gore not conceded.

Overall, this was a great read if you have an interest in election law, specifically how ballots have been counted and the cases revolving around that specific area of law.

Copy courtesy of Oxford University Press, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

Sep 15, 2016