Molly Reynolds, the Senior Research Coordinator of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project (of which Why Tuesday? board member Norm Ornstein is co-director) has a fantastic piece online about why election reform efforts in the United States constantly are stalling out. The main reason? The public doesn’t seem to care, because they don’t seem to notice.

Reynolds’ thesis is nicely summarized with a quote by then-Senator Barack Obama at the end of her piece:

Indeed, at the launch of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project in 2006, then-Senator Barack Obama captured several of these dynamics of public opinion on potential changes to our election system. “Election reform,” he said, “is one of these issues where America has a tendency to go from shock to trance. We’re shocked right after an election when the news reports horror stories about disenfranchisement and intimidation and suppression; there’s a public outcry; there’s a flurry of legislation; but then the politics gets tough and the problems aren’t solved and pretty soon everyone forgets about it until the next electoral crisis.” Having avoided such widespread shocks in recent years, the nation remains in a trance of sorts and, as a result, any efforts to enact the types of reform proposals being touted by policy elites will collide with a neutral-at-best, resistant-at-worst public. While the expression of the public’s opinions is problematic enough that it should not completely deter reformers from pursuing their goals, it does, nonetheless, add one more hurdle to an already uphill battle.

For the complete article, visit the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project.

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After speaking at the Personal Democracy Forum last month in New York, I sat for an interview with Andy Plesser of Beet.TV, the website and vlog that explores “the root of the media revolution.” Here’s Andy’s description of how, in his words, our “little video blog powered the agenda for election reform.”

A cheap camera, dogged determination, and a smart video blog strategy has created a national dialogue about election form in the United States.

[snip]

Without press credentials or special access, [Why Tuesday?] managed to tape segments with all of the 2008 presidential candidates and created tremendous attention for the election reform movement.

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Friday night, on Jeopardy show #5735, Alex Trebek announced the category for “Final Jeopardy,” and it was “The Calendar.”

The clue: This U.S. event was set after the harvest, on a day when rural folk could get there without having to travel on Sunday.

The correct response, which only contestant Kathleen could come up with: What is Election Day?

Alyssa and Peter, the two other contestants, guessed Thanksgiving. That’s not the full reason we vote on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. For all of the details, click here to find out.

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Photos below of Joe Trippi, shot of the panel I was on, shot of the audience from my POV at the panel, Lindsay Hamilton from Rep. Isreal’s office, and the books of two of our advisory board members, Trippi and Andrea Batista Schlesinger.

For a pic of me with Rep. Steve Israel and Steve Grove of YouTube, check out this post.

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