It Takes More Than a Naked Katy Perry to Get Out the Vote

Ranking Candidates Gives People What They Want: a Choice, a Party, and Tighter Elections

Katy Perry’s new Rock the Vote video offers a great strategy for encouraging engagement in democracy—prurient interest. She tries to vote naked, and ends up being arrested and taken away. But a strong message is left: You can vote wearing whatever you want—“Just wear clothes.”

Perry’s home state, California, is full of celebrity calls to get to the polls, clothed and unclothed. But such stunts obscure the essential problem with voting in the United States—too often our electoral rules actually discourage participation in elections.

I know something both about publicity, and about …