Ballot
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Ballot examines the psychological, cultural, and political significance of voting in an increasingly anti-voting climate. Armed with her personal experiences as a poll worker, electoral organizer, and activist, Anjali Enjeti unspools a timely narrative about the precarious state of the ballot during one of the most tumultuous political eras in US history, and recounts the astonishing events leading up to the 2024 presidential election.

Enjeti lays out the growing challenges for voters in battleground states, where rightwing legislatures have introduced staggering numbers of voter suppression bills and redrawn district lines, all to disenfranchise as many Black and other marginalized voters as possible. As her account of the history and stakes of election integrity shows, the aftershocks of the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021 have manifested most egregiously on the four corners of the ballot.

1147386363
Ballot
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Ballot examines the psychological, cultural, and political significance of voting in an increasingly anti-voting climate. Armed with her personal experiences as a poll worker, electoral organizer, and activist, Anjali Enjeti unspools a timely narrative about the precarious state of the ballot during one of the most tumultuous political eras in US history, and recounts the astonishing events leading up to the 2024 presidential election.

Enjeti lays out the growing challenges for voters in battleground states, where rightwing legislatures have introduced staggering numbers of voter suppression bills and redrawn district lines, all to disenfranchise as many Black and other marginalized voters as possible. As her account of the history and stakes of election integrity shows, the aftershocks of the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021 have manifested most egregiously on the four corners of the ballot.

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Overview

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Ballot examines the psychological, cultural, and political significance of voting in an increasingly anti-voting climate. Armed with her personal experiences as a poll worker, electoral organizer, and activist, Anjali Enjeti unspools a timely narrative about the precarious state of the ballot during one of the most tumultuous political eras in US history, and recounts the astonishing events leading up to the 2024 presidential election.

Enjeti lays out the growing challenges for voters in battleground states, where rightwing legislatures have introduced staggering numbers of voter suppression bills and redrawn district lines, all to disenfranchise as many Black and other marginalized voters as possible. As her account of the history and stakes of election integrity shows, the aftershocks of the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021 have manifested most egregiously on the four corners of the ballot.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9798765126196
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 02/05/2026
Series: Object Lessons
Pages: 160
Product dimensions: 4.75(w) x 6.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Anjali Enjeti is a former attorney, journalist, activist, and election worker based near Atlanta. She is the author of two award-winning books, Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change, and the novel, The Parted Earth. Her other writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Harper’s Bazaar, Oxford American, and elsewhere. She teaches creative writing in the MFA programs at Antioch University in Los Angeles and Reinhardt University in Waleska, Georgia.

Ian Bogost is an author and an award-winning game designer. He is Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences, Director of Film & Media Studies, and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. Bogost is also Founding Partner at Persuasive Games LLC, an independent game studio, and a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic. Bogost is author or co-author of ten books, including Alien Phenomenology (2012)and Play Anything (2016).

Christopher Schaberg is Director of the Program in Public Scholarship at Washington University in St. Louis, USA, and the author of The Textual Life of Airports (2012), The End of Airports (2015), Airportness (2017), The Work of Literature in an Age of Post-Truth (2018), Searching for the Anthropocene (2019), Pedagogy of the Depressed (2021), and Adventure: An Argument for Limits (2023), all published by Bloomsbury. He is also the founding co-editor (with Ian Bogost) of Bloomsbury's Object Lessons book series.

Table of Contents

1. Ballot Beginnings
2. A Brief History of Ballots
Balls, Viva voce, Paper, Absentee, Touchscreen and Electronic Voting Machines, Online
3. Ballot Interference
Voter Identification, Absentee Ballots, Voter Helpers, Intimidation and Policing, Certification Usurpation, Purges, Felony Disenfranchisement
4. Ballot Dilution
Gerrymandering, Multiracial Voting Blocks
5. Ballot Potential
Local Elections, Initiatives
6. Ballot Psychology
Fear and Loathing, Stereotypes, Identities, Influencers
7. Ballot Revolution
Uncommitted, Upheaval, Ultimate
8. Ballot Aftermath
9. The Better Ballot
10. Beyond the Ballot

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

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