About this item
Highlights
- Democracy is broken because the way we vote is broken.
- Author(s): Bradley Tusk
- 304 Pages
- Political Science, Political Process
Description
About the Book
"The way we vote is broken. Poll after poll reveals that most Americans agree on major issues--gun control, climate change, healthcare--but low voter turnout keeps our elected officials on the far ends of the political spectrum and unable to compromise. Every policy output is the result of political input, and our inputs are not representative. Our voting system is heavily influenced by special interests among politicians who worry about their next elections and little else. The technology exists to fix this problem by drastically increasing voter turnout: mobile voting. We do just about everything on our phones, but we can't use them to vote. But since 2018, mobile voting pilots and audits have taken place in 21 elections and 7 states. This technology has the ability to exponentially increase voter turnout and restore faith in the promise of a representative democracy where compromise and bipartisanship are possible. This book introduces the history, opposition, and potential of mobile voting to generate grassroot support and encourage us to seize the solution we already have"--Book Synopsis
Democracy is broken because the way we vote is broken. But there is a solution: Mobile Voting.
Gun Control. Abortion. From the halls of Congress, it may seem that Americans are bitterly polarized on the biggest policy issues of the day. But Americans are not as divides as we think, and polls show that most of us largely agree on even the most divisive issues. The problem lies in how we vote.
Politics is more extreme because only the most extreme voters turn out in primaries. And with politicians prioritizing reelection above all else, they shun compromise, feed this extremism, and get rewarded for it. If a lot more people vote, the views of the electorate become more mainstream, and our politicians and policies will shift to the center.
Mobile voting is the solution. We do just about everything on our phones, and yet we still can't use them to vote. But the technology exists, provides enhanced security over traditional paper ballots, and it could exponentially increase voter turnout by:
- Allowing Americans to vote from anywhere, on their own schedule
- Making voting more accessible for people who are not well served by mail-in ballots, such as voters with visual impairments and military servicemembers - and their families - overseas
- Providing more security than traditional paper ballots
- Incentivizing younger voters to participate by using technology they're familiar with
From Bradley Tusk, philanthropist and founder of the Mobile Voting Project, comes a deeply informative and timely analysis of our broken voting system, introducing us to the history, opposition, and potential of voting from our devices. Including essays by Martin Luther King Jr. III and other prominent political figures, Vote with Your Phone shows us that a solution to restoring faith in our representative democracy is right in the palm of our hands.
Review Quotes
"When our forefathers rebelled against the king and instituted democracy, they wanted each person to have a vote. This book outlines how to make that easier than ever." -- Scott Galloway, NYU Stern Professor of Marketing and bestselling author of The Four