Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy

by David Daley

Overview

A revelatory account by the best- selling author of Ratf**ked that will give you hope that America’s fragile democracy can still be saved.

Following Ratf**ked, his “extraordinary timely and undeniably important” (New York Times Book Review) exposé of how a small cadre of Republican operatives rigged American elections, David Daley emerged as one of the nation’s leading authorities on gerrymandering. In Unrigged, he charts a vibrant political movement that is rising in the wake of his and other reporters’ revelations. With his trademark journalistic rigor and narrative flair, Daley reports on Pennsylvania’s dramatic defeat of a gerrymander using the research of ingenious mathematicians and the Michigan millennial who launched a statewide redistricting revolution with a Facebook post. He tells the stories of activist groups that paved the way for 2018’s historic blue wave and won crucial battles for voting rights in Florida, Maine, Utah, and nationwide. In an age of polarization, Unrigged offers a vivid portrait of a nation transformed by a new civic awakening, and provides a blueprint for what must be done to keep American democracy afloat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631495755
Publisher:	Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publication date:	03/17/2020
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	275,255
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

David Daley is the author of Ratf**ked. His journalism has appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Slate, the Washington Post, and New York magazine. He is a senior fellow at FairVote, the former editor of Salon, and lives in Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Prologue xiii

Introduction xxi

Chapter 1 Second Chances and Rights Restored "I will be a lifelong voter." 1

Chapter 2 Aboard Idaho's Medicaid Express "I had to get off the couch and actually do something." 23

Chapter 3 The Defeat of the Voter Fraud Myth "The fix was in." 36

Chapter 4 Native Americans Battle Back "There will be a lot more Native voices to hear from." 53

Chapter 5 Michigan's Redistricting Revolution "We were tired of sitting on the sidelines." 72

Chapter 6 Redistricting Goes National "There's got to be a better way to do democracy." 87

Chapter 7 Donald Duck and Goofy No More "The map was smoking. The map made it easy." 106

Chapter 8 Mathematicians Enlist for Duty "I would like someday to live in a democracy." 125

Chapter 9 People Power "It's like diving into The Matrix." 143

Chapter 10 Punching Up Down-Ballot "If Trump can be president, why can't I run for city council?" 169

Chapter 11 Maine's Ranked Choice "The people can't be stopped." 187

Chapter 12 Youth Saves the Day "If they don't want you voting, that means we have to." 201

Conclusion 214

Acknowledgments 241

Notes 247

Index 263

Editorial Reviews

01/06/2020

Journalist and voting rights advocate Daley follows Ratf**ked, his investigation into how Republicans “weaponized gerrymandering” in the wake of President Obama’s 2008 victory, with an uplifting survey of grassroots efforts to make American democracy more inclusive. In 2018, Daley set out to meet with such reformers as Louisiana resident Norris Henderson, who founded Voice of the Ex-offender, an organization that fights to restore voting rights to former felons, after his life sentence for murder was overturned in 2004. Daley also profiles three young Idahoans who traveled the state collecting signatures for a Medicaid expansion bill (it eventually passed with 61% of the vote); Native Americans battling restrictive voter ID laws in Nevada, North Dakota, and Utah; anti-gerrymandering activists in Michigan and Pennsylvania; members of the League of Women Voters, who helped to bring ranked-choice voting to Maine; and Amanda Litman, a former Hillary Clinton campaign staffer who recruits millennial candidates and trains them in the art of running for office. Daley’s wit (the offices of the Election Protection hotline are filled with “enough Starbucks cups to caffeinate The Walking Dead”) and clear explanations of electoral processes make the book accessible to political neophytes as well as experts. This optimistic appraisal of the political scene will strike a chord with progressives gearing up for the 2020 elections. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"The wildly undersold story of the beginning of the next American revolution: If you ever needed hope, it is here. If you need a cause, it is here. If you want to mark the beginning of whenever everything changed, it is in the passion and the truth of what is told here: Daley has given us a picture of what democracy looks like. Or will, when this revolution is complete."

Lawrence Lessig

"A thoughtful and important follow-up to Daley’s earlier book, Ratf**ked."

Timothy Smith

"Unrigged is largely a photograph of the national movement that his previous book helped spawn, and suggests the possibility of a nationwide grassroots voter rebellion."

Skip Johnson

"He's back! David Daley's first book, Ratf**ked, was a fantastic read that exposed the politicians who rig maps and gerrymander themselves into office, regardless of the will of the people. This inspiring story of the everyday citizens who stood up, fought back, and won will restore your hope that in America, the people still have the power."

Arnold Schwarzenegger

01/24/2020

Journalist Daley (Ratf**ked) has written an inspirational polemic about political involvement from a plethora of people in different areas. This work has a clear bias toward certain political positions, which may be its weakness. Its strength, however, is displayed through the examination of activist work that brings to light the common humanity of society's marginalized populations. Much of the book relates to voting rights. For example, Daley describes the disenfranchisement of felons in the United States, especially in Florida, and its racist history. The author further details efforts in Michigan to redistrict voting jurisdictions from where they were formerly gerrymandered for the sake of wealthier areas over poorer districts. Overall, this account shows the significance of more people getting involved in public service after the 2016 election. VERDICT Best suited for civically engaged readers interested in a populist vision for political activism.—Jesse A. Lambertson, Univ. of Chicago Law Libs.

Library Journal

2019-11-24
An uplifting story of how grassroots political movements around the nation are forcing significant changes in how our government operates.

Former Salon editor Daley wrote his first book, Ratf**ked (2016), to show how Republicans in many states have used gerrymandering and voting manipulation to guarantee total control of many levels of government for years, even decades, into the future. Guided by powerful new algorithms, they made it virtually impossible for Democrats to defeat them. In his latest book, however, the author offers a much more hopeful outlook, writing about nonpoliticians who have started a powerful new political movement that is catching on across America and is showing every sign of accelerating. One story tells of a 27-year-old woman, an employee in a recycling nonprofit, who wrote on Facebook that she wanted to "take on gerrymandering in Michigan" and asked if anyone was interested. Ultimately, she was able to get portions of Michigan's constitution rewritten. Similar movements soon followed in Colorado, Utah, Ohio, and Missouri, all of which faced powerful opposition, and all of which won. Then, as it became clear that 25 other states had passed laws designed to make it harder for Democrats to win elections—and more difficult for people of color to vote—citizens in those states joined the fight. They won battles dealing not only with gerrymandering, but also with such issues as voter ID laws, precinct closures, voting roll purges, voting rights for released felons, and more. As Daley clearly shows throughout this inspiring text, it was always "ordinary" citizens who led the way, often people who had never participated in politics. They took to the streets, circulated petitions, ran for office, and launched or joined organizations, and they did it while facing overwhelming odds and severe opposition from elected officials. But they never gave up, and they almost always won.

A book for anyone who wants to effect major change but thinks they can't.

Kirkus Reviews

"An inspirational polemic about political involvement from a plethora of people in different areas.... Its strength... is displayed through the examination of activist work that brings to light the common humanity of society’s marginalized populations.... This account shows the significance of more people getting involved in public service after the 2016 election. Best suited for civically engaged readers interested in a populist vision for political activism."

Jesse A. Lambertson

"David Daley's work has fired up a generation of activists who are fighting to un-fuck it all up before time runs out. He is a must-read writer for this critical moment."

Amanda Litman

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