The Voting Booth

Brandy Colbert

2020 • 293 pages

Ratings14

Average rating3.5

Marva Sheridan was born ready for this day. She's always been driven to make a difference in the world, and what better way than to vote in her first election?

Duke Crenshaw is so done with this election. He just wants to get voting over with so he can prepare for his band's first paying gig tonight. Only problem? Duke can't vote.

When Marva sees Duke turned away from their polling place, she takes it upon herself to make sure his vote is counted. She hasn't spent months doorbelling and registering voters just to see someone denied their right. And that's how their whirlwind day begins, rushing from precinct to precinct, cutting school, waiting in endless lines, turned away time and again, trying to do one simple thing: vote. They may have started out as strangers, but as Duke and Marva team up to beat a rigged system (and find Marva's missing cat), it's clear that there's more to their connection than a shared mission for democracy.

Romantic and triumphant, The Voting Booth is proof that you can't sit around waiting for the world to change, but some things are just meant to be.

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Daijah

3/5 stars

The Voting Booth falls into the new trend of political YA contemporaries and I absolutely adored this take! The Voting Booth takes place in a single day following the two characters Marva and Duke in their attempt to vote. Marva is very politically active and has dedicated herself to getting people to vote. Duke is at the same polling place as Marva when he finds out he isn't on the list and has to go to a different location. We follow Marva and Duke in their attempt to actually be able to get Duke to vote all whilst skipping school.

I really enjoyed the issues that were discussed in this that related to voter oppression. Every topic that leads into voter suppression (ableism, racism, etc.) is present. These topics were handled with grace and I loved seeing a different perspective. The opinion that voting won't change anything is also within this book and it was interesting to see people's reasoning behind that. This book is EXTREMELY relevant to everything going on in the world currently. It doesn't just discuss voter suppression which pertains to the upcoming 2020 presidential election but also racism within the system. Gun violence is discussed in this because Duke's brother was killed due to lack of regulation. It also brings in police violence a bit which is especially important for young people to see in a novel.

The two characters did fall a bit flat for me. While I think that they were quite dynamic and had many racists to them, something about them just didn't click with me which I found odd since I identify with both characters in a way. Duke is a mixed character which I am and I relate to Marva in being very politically active and taking school seriously.

There isn't emotional cheating in here technically but this is a romance that takes place in one day. At the beginning of the novel Marva has a boyfriend and the romance aspect of this put me off. I would have much rather the two characters just be friends than have any romance considering at the beginning they both have romantic interests.

I enjoyed the writing for the most part but there were a bit of info dumps about certain characters in Marva and Duke's lives. That part just put me off a bit because one moment we are just thrust into flashbacks. The transition to them wasn't seamless because there are heading like “About said character”.

Overall I really did enjoy this book despite the couple flaws I saw within it. I think this book is so relevant right now and the timing of this release couldn't have been more perfect. Thank you to Netgalley and Disney-Hyperion for sending me an advanced e-copy before release date.