Thoughtfully prepared, accessible, and clearly presented, this fourth-edition volume is part of the publisher's five-volume "American Government A to Z" reference. The focus here is on elections, while the other volumes cover Congress, the presidency, the US Constitution, and the Supreme Court. After a chronology of historic milestones, alphabetically arranged essays of a few pages or more clearly cover relevant terms, concepts, court cases, controversies, parties, and ongoing issues related to campaigning, among other topics. A sampling: absentee voting, ballot access, Black suffrage, crossover voting, gerrymander, Motor Voter Act, political party development, term limits, and voting machines, among many others. Appended reference material includes changes in Democrats' nominating rules; summary of presidential elections, 1789-2008; women in Congress, 65th-110th congresses; and chief officers and keynote speakers at Democratic and Republican national conventions. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)