United States Electoral Systems: Their Impact on Women and Minorities

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This study examines how different electoral systems impact on the election of women and minorities to public office in the United States. The contributors draw upon local, state and national election data, demographic factors and voting patterns in making their analyses. The book is unusual in combining an overall analysis of electoral systems and case material with proposals for making government more representative, inclusive and responsive. Criteria are provided for evaluating the equity of electoral systems. The election of women and minorities to Congress is reviewed and options for increasing this direct representation of minorities and women are considered. Case studies describe legislative elections in several states.

Author Bio

WILMA RULE is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Reno. She is secretary-treasurer of the Section on Representation and Electoral Systems of the American Political Science Association. Her major research interests are the legislative recruitment of Anglo and minority women and the effect that electoral systems have on their political opportunities. She has written at length on these subjects for scholarly journals. JOSEPH F. ZIMMERMAN is Professor of Political Science in the Graduate School of Public Affairs, State University of New York at Albany. He is a former chair of the Section on Representation and Electoral Systems of the American Political Science Association. His books include Federal Preemption: The Silent Revolution (1991), Participatory Democracy: Populism Revived (Praeger, 1986), and State-Local Relations: A Partnership Approach (1983).