Making America Grate

The weird ways the US runs elections and airlines leave plenty of room for greater greatness.

- Joanne Black

For a country that talks a big game about democracy, the US is not very good at it. Nowhere near as good as it is at, say, baseball. It is very good at baseball. Elections? Not so much.

Most importantly, it is not particularly strong on the fundamental democratic concept of one person, one vote. It sounds simple and, to be fair, when a voter is white the system works pretty well. However, when voters are not white, the one person, one vote concept remains great in principle but becomes hazy in practice.

In the midterm elections this month, Florida passed a law that in future will allow felons to vote once they have completed their sentences, instead of being banned from voting for life. This is reported to potentially add an extra million voters to Florida’s register, including