Electoral Dysfunction (2012)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Electoral Dysfunction is a documentary film which premiered in 2012. The topic is the electoral system in the United States.

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Written and directed by David Deschamps, Leslie D. Farrell and Bennett Singer

** Presented by Mo Rocca

** Released on DVD in 2013

** Run time: 91 minutes

 

The people product did not want to make a traditional documentary film. They were afraid it was going to be a boring film. They decided to take another approach.

 

They decided to use humour to tackle this issue. Why? Because “There’s something funny about voting in America…”

 

The film is presented by Mo Rocca who drives from place to place in the US. When he stops, he finds someone to talk to. He will talk to them about the electoral system in the US. These people include academic scholars, voting officials, and regular voters. Here are some names:

 

** Alexander Keyssar, professor of history, author of the book: The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States (2009)

 

** Jamin Raskin, professor of constitutional law, American University

 

** Erin Kelly, Indianapolis League of Women Voters

 

** Lawrence Norden, author of the book: The Machinery of Democracy: Protecting Elections in an Electronic World (2007)

 

Several aspects of the main issue are covered in the film. Here are some examples:

 

# 1. The right to vote: is it a right or a privilege?

 

# 2. Voter ID, voter fraud

 

# 3. The Electoral College

 

# 4. The voting ballot: different states have different designs

 

# 5. How to vote: with paper? With electronic machines? Or a combination of both? Different states have different rules and regulations.

 

What do reviewers say about this film?

 

Here are some results:

 

On IMDb it has a rating of 69 percent.

 

On Rotten Tomatoes it has a rating of 60 per cent from the critics, but an audience score of 74 per cent. It seems the general audience is more positive than the critics.

 

On Amazon there are at the moment 39 ratings of this product; 31 with reviews.

 

The average rating is 3.3 stars which corresponds to a rating of 66 percent.

 

If you ask me, these ratings are too low.

 

I like the idea of using humour to tackle this issue. But when you do this, there is a risk that the basic facts and figures will drown in a sea of humour and jokes.

 

I think a combination of humour and dry facts would be perfect. You can use humour to keep the attention of the audience. But you must also give us the dry facts to make sure we know what it is all about.

 

I like this film and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see, I have one reservation.

 

Since this film is all about humour and never about the dry facts, I have to remove one star.

 

This is why I think this product deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).

 

REFERENCES

 

# 1. Film and video

 

Unprecedented:

The 2000 Presidential Election

(2004)

 

One Bright Shining Moment

(2005)

 

Uncounted:

The New Math of American Elections

(2008)

 

Gerrymandering

(2010)

 

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

(2016)

 

# 2. Books

 

The Machinery of Democracy: 

Protecting Elections in an Electronic World

By Lawrence Norden

(2007)

 

The Right to Vote: 

The Contested History of Democracy in the United States

By Alexander Keyssar

(2009)

 

Why the Electoral College is Bad for America

By George C. Edwards III

(2019)

 

Let the People Pick the President

By Jesse Wegman

(2020)

 

*****