About this item
In this concise, lively look at the past, present, and future of voting, a journalist examines the long and continuing fight for voting equality, why so few Americans today vote, and innovative ways to educate and motivate them; included are checklists of what to do before election day to prepare to vote and encourage others.Voting is a prized American right and a topic of debate from the earliest days of the country. Yet in the 2016 presidential election, about 40 percent of Americans -- and half of the country's young adults -- didn't vote. Why do so many Americans choose not to vote, and what can we do about it? The problem, Erin Geiger Smith contends, is a lack of understanding about our electoral system and a need to make voting more accessible.
About the Author
Erin Geiger Smith grew up in tiny Liberty, Texas and is now a journalist living in New York City. Her coverage has ranged from the Supreme Court to stationery, as well as the silence that results from choosing a bad book for book club, and A-listers selling socks in podcast ads. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among other leading publications. Previously, she was a legal reporter at Reuters.After the 2016 election, she had a lot of questions. Her search for answers eventually became a research project for the author Ann Patchett, and that research became the foundation of her book, Thank You for Voting, and the young readers' edition of the same title. Erin graduated from the University of Texas, the University of Texas School of Law, and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. She is married and has a six-year-old son.
