In 2012, Donald Trump tweeted, “The Electoral College is a disaster for a democracy.” By November 2016, after that same body had handed him the presidency, he was tweeting a different tune: “The Electoral College is actually genius.” Whether or not the existence of this American institution is a good or necessary thing seems to depend on whether or not it favored your candidate of choice in the most recent election. Some regard it as a bizarre and inexplicable holdover from the days of the Founding Fathers that no longer serves its original intended purpose.
If you are among those who feel befuddled by how our electoral system actually works, you might want to check out the documentary film Electoral Dysfunction. Made during the 2012 election race, the issues that it raises are still quite pertinent today. The 90-minute film will be presented twice at the Rosendale Theatre on Tuesday, March 28, at 4 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. Admission to both screenings is free, thanks to the sponsorship of the League of Women Voters of the Mid-Hudson Region.
Directed by David Deschamps, Leslie D. Farrell and Bennett Singer, winners of multiple Emmy, Peabody and DuPont-Columbia Awards, Electoral Dysfunction takes an in-depth nonpartisan look at our right to vote and exactly how it functions in America. It shows us up-close-and-personal some of the tactics that political campaign officials use to try to make it harder or easier to vote in certain election districts. Redistricting issues and the trend toward “no-fault” absentee voter registration also come under scrutiny. Our guide through the electoral maze is political correspondent and humorist Mo Rocca (CBS Sunday Morning, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Wait, Wait...Don’t Tell Me!).
Following the 7:15 p.m. screening, the Theatre will host a post-film discussion on the Electoral College, moderated by professor Joel Lefkowitz of the Department of Political Science & International Relations at SUNY-New Paltz.
The Rosendale Theatre is located at 408 Main Street (Route 213) in Rosendale. For more information, visit www.rosendaletheatre.org/category/documentaries. To watch a trailer for Electoral Dysfunction, visit https://t.co/rUbeHFyiBp. For more information about upcoming League of Women Voters events, visit http://lwvmidhudson.org.
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