Photo: Rochelle Hartman

We’ve been hearing for a decade about problems with voting machines nationwide — it’s an issue that Karr on Culture tackled in May and that we address on this week’s Need to Know. But progressive blogger Matthew Yglesias says there are at least three other problems with the way we cast our ballots. We cast votes for too many offices, he says, which prompts voters to make poorly-informed choices. We vote on a weekday, which depresses turnout. And our winner-take-all electoral system overemphasizes tiny swings in the national mood. Bottom line: Majority rule isn’t as simple as it seems.