Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Five Dollars and a Pork Chop Sandwich by Mary Frances Berry - Available

Five Dollars and a Pork Chop Sandwich

Vote Buying and the Corruption of Democracy

by Mary Frances Berry
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Read a sample Read a sample
1 of 1 copy available
A timely and nonpartisan book on voter manipulation and electoral corruption—and the importance of stimulating voter turnout and participation
Though voting rights are fundamental to American democracy, felon disfranchisement, voter identification laws, and hard-to-access polling locations with limited hours are a few of the ways voter turnout is suppressed. These methods of voter suppression are pernicious, but in Five Dollars and a Pork Chop Sandwich, Dr. Mary Frances Berry focuses on forms of corruption including vote buying, vote hauling, the abuse of absentee ballots, and other illegal practices by candidates and their middlemen, often in collusion with local election officials.
Vote buying—whether it’s for a few dollars, a beer, or a pack of cigarettes—is offered to individual citizens in order to ensure votes for a particular candidate, and Dr. Berry notes it occurs across party lines, with Republicans, Democrats, and independents all participating.
Dr. Berry shares the compelling story of Greg Malveaux, former director of Louisiana’s Vote Fraud Division, and how this “everyman” tried to clean up elections in a state notorious for corruption. Malveaux discovered virtually every type of electoral fraud during his tenure and saw firsthand how abuses occurred in local communities—from city councils to coroners’ offices. In spite of Sisyphean persistence, he found it virtually impossible to challenge the status quo. Dr. Berry reveals how this type of electoral abuse is rampant across the country and includes myriad examples from other states, including Illinois, Texas, Florida, Kentucky, and Mississippi.
Voter manipulation is rarely exposed and may be perceived as relatively innocuous, however; Dr. Berry observes that in addition to undermining basic democracy, it also leads to a profound lack of accountability and a total disconnect between politicians and their constituents, and that those in poor and minority communities are the most vulnerable. While reforming campaign finance laws are undeniably important to our democracy, being attuned to issues of structural powerlessness and poverty, and to the cycles that perpetuate them, is no less crucial.
In Five Dollars and a Pork Chop Sandwich, Dr. Berry shares specific successful voting strategies that other countries have adopted and urges creativity in rewarding people for voting. She also underscores the continued importance of grassroots education, so that citizens see voting as desirable and empowering—as a tool to help create the kind of environment they deserve.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 2, 2016

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780807076415
      • File size: 800 KB

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780807076415
      • File size: 800 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      November 1, 2015
      Berry (American Social Thought, History/Univ. of Pennsylvania; We Are Who We Say We Are: A Black Family's Search for Home Across the Atlantic World, 2014, etc.) exposes vote buying and corruption, which is as pervasive as ever. Vote buying, of course, is not a new phenomenon. George Washington hosted voters in the tavern before the first presidential election; getting voters lubricated has always been the easiest way to buy their votes. Machine politics and corruption have changed little since Reconstruction. For political bosses, dirty tricks are their stock in trade. Some examples of these include closing the clerk's office early on a filing date or just ignoring evidence of vote buying. Ballot-box stuffing is widespread, as well, but the best method for vote stealing is the absentee ballot. Workers collect names from retirement homes, halfway houses, and low-income housing, mark the ballots, bundle them up, and present them to the county registrar, often a relative of those in power. Buying votes for beer or food is one method, "taking care" of voters in poor neighborhoods another. In much of the narrative, Berry follows Greg Malveaux, the tireless head of Louisiana's Voter Fraud Division, who traveled the state collecting evidence that would never be used: why would a prosecutor file suit against the voters and political money that put him in office? Federal prosecution is effective but only available if a federal candidate is on the ballot or there is a federal discrimination issue. As the former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the author has seen expansion of voting rights lead to more voter suppression and actually cause vote counts to decline. Honest elections undermine the reward system of the poor. Berry helpfully exposes disturbing facts from across the country. Sadly, solutions cause the corrupt to create new ways to suppress voters, and it's a losing battle when local culture doesn't think it's a crime.

      COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      November 1, 2015

      Berry (history, Univ. of Pennsylvania) tackles an underexamined aspect of electoral wrongdoing: not disenfranchisement but vote buying.

      Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading