elections

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• SOURCE: The Yale Review
  11/15/2020
  

  The Wondrous Banality of Democracy

  by John Witt

  A professor of law and legal history volunteered as a ballot counting observer in Pennsylvania and offers a reflection on the unspectacular nature of democracy in action. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/8/2020
  

  Elections Don’t Have to Be So Chaotic and Excruciating

  by Stephen I. Vladeck

  A uniform procedure for publicizing the vote count can eliminate the chaos of haphazard vote counts and remove the opportunity for candidates to portray the normal process of counting votes as irregular or crooked. 

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  11/5/2020
  

  A Disputed Election Delivered 3 governors to Georgia – at the Same Time

  by John A. Tures

  As election results continue to come in around the country, it’s worth recalling that once, the state of Georgia found itself with a dead governor-elect – and three politicians who each insisted he was the real governor.

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• SOURCE: Curbed
  11/3/2020
  

  There Have Been Relatively Few Post-Election Riots in American History. So Far.

  Bruce Shulman of Boston University identified riots after William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryan in 1896 as one of the few instances of rioting directly inspired by an election. 

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  11/4/2020
  

  An Embarrassing Failure for Election Pollsters

  by W. Joseph Campbell

  Pollsters problems predicting the 2020 election deepened the embarrassment for a field that has suffered through – but has survived – a variety of lapses and surprises since the mid-1930s. 

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• SOURCE: TIME
  10/26/2020
  

  Not Every U.S. Presidential Race Has Been Decided on Election Day. Here’s What to Know About America’s History of Contested Elections

  by Olivia B. Waxman

  “The Constitution does not tell you what should happen if there are disputed returns in a presidential election,” says Eric Foner. “We are in uncharted waters if disputes arise as to who carried a state.”

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• SOURCE: NPR
  10/22/2020
  

  Throughline: How We Vote

  In this episode, the process of voting; how it was originally designed, who it was intended for, moments in our country's history when we reimagined it altogether, and what we're left with today.

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• SOURCE: Saturday Evening Post
  10/27/2020
  

  Considering History: Voter Suppression and Racial Terrorism, the Twin Pillars of White Supremacy

  by Ben Railton

  Voter suppression has consistently gone hand in hand with racial terrorism to prop up white supremacy.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  10/24/2020
  

  How to Steal an Election

  by Jon Grinspan

  Many of our election rules date from that moment, around 1900, when Americans redirected their “love of smart dealings” toward tightening up electoral systems, rather than finding ways around them.  

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/26/nyregion/nyc-vo
  

  Inside Decades of Nepotism and Bungling at the N.Y.C. Elections Board

  “I expect the B.O.E. to pull this off — there’s no other option. It’s the most important election of our lifetime,” said Scott Stringer, the city comptroller. “But we shouldn’t have to hold our breath because of their gross incompetence.”

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• SOURCE: Perspectives on History
  10/19/2020
  

  “If Anybody Says Election to Me, I Want to Fight”: The Messy Election of 1876

  by Jon Grinspan

  The election of 1876 was a disaster for American democracy. 

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• SOURCE: History Extra (BBC)
  10/13/2020
  

  Lincoln, Adams and George W Bush: The 6 Most Disputed Presidential Elections in American History

  A presidential historian discusses disputed elections in the past, and explains how they illuminate the possible paths of contestation for the 2020 results. 

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• SOURCE: Iowa Public Radio
  10/6/2020
  

  A History Of October Surprises (audio)

  Although Trump's COVID diagnosis was, perhaps, unexpected, October Surprises have historically involved presidents announcing policy initiatives to improve their reelection prospects. Presidential historians Tim Naftali and Tim Walch discuss.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
  10/5/2020
  

  Holding an Election During the Civil War Set the Standard for Us Today

  by Jonathan W. White

  “We can not have free government without elections,” Lincoln told the crowd, “and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us.” 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
  9/11/2020
  

  The Election from Our Past that Blares a Warning for 2020

  by Richard Kreitner

  The election of 1876 threatened to return the country to civil war. The compromise that prevented that outcome may have been worse. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
  9/15/2020
  

  Republicans’ Problems with Young Voters Go Far Deeper than Trump

  by David Faris

  The idea that young voters lean left and shift to the right as they age is political folk wisdom, but has no basis in reality. The Republican Party risks its survival by counting on young voters to get more conservative. 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  9/14/2020
  

  How the Promise of Normalcy Won the 1920 Election

  The Warren Harding presidency promised a return to normalcy after war, pandemic, political unrest and racial violence. The promise proved illusory.

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  9/8/2020
  

  The Terrifying Inadequacy of American Election Law

  by Larry Diamond and Edward B. Foley

  Two election law experts point to the non-trivial possibility of a constitutional crisis over the 2020 presidential election. 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  9/6/2020
  

  Our Long, Forgotten History of Election-Related Violence

  by Jelani Cobb

  A weather forecast is not a prediction of the inevitable. We are not doomed to witness a catastrophic tempest this fall, but anyone who is paying attention knows that the winds have begun to pick up. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  9/8/2020
  

  Republicans Have Insufficient Evidence To Call Elections ‘Rigged’ And ‘Fraudulent’

  by Benjamin L. Ginsberg

  "Republicans trying to make their cases for stricter voting procedures in courts must deal with the basic truth that four decades of dedicated investigation have produced only isolated incidents of election fraud," writes a longtime Republican election lawyer.