elections

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• SOURCE: Harvard Kennedy School
  7/28/2022
  

  Alex Keyssar on the Need to Reform the Electoral Count Act

  The Electoral Count Act imposed after the contested election of 1876 leaves potential loopholes for a minority faction to override the will of voters and hijack the electoral college. Is proposed bipartisan legislation enough to fix it? 

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• 2/27/2022
  

  Irwin Gellman Asks: Did JFK Steal Victory in the "Campaign of the Century"?

  by Justin P. Coffey

  Irwin Gellman's latest volume in his political history of Nixon argues the 1960 election returns in Illinois and Texas were rigged for Kennedy. A reviewer finds the case is intriguing but falls short of solid proof, though it does resonate with charges of stolen elections and media favoritism that are all too familiar today. 

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• SOURCE: Substack
  1/17/2022
  

  Of Course the Federal Government Can Regulate Elections

  by Heather Cox Richardson

  The Constitution not only enables, but requires the federal government to act when state authority violates the principles of democracy, something President Harry Truman realized in 1946.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  10/13/2021
  

  Gaming Elections is a Conservative Political Tradition

  by John S. Huntington

  "Conservatives have spent generations attempting to exploit arcane and anti-democratic electoral structures to carve a pathway for minoritarian rule."

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  9/7/2021
  

  Too Often, Politicians Pick Their Voters

  by Warren E. Milteer Jr.

  Political factions and then organized parties have fought over the size, composition and geographical ordering of the electorate since the founding. This legacy today undermines the legitimacy of government and the political will to protect the right to vote. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  7/21/2021
  

  Richard Pildes: Our Elections are Too Frequent for Democracy to Work

  by Richard Pildes

  The legal scholar argues that the Framers' belief in frequent Congressional elections has resulted in time for governing being squeezed out by campaigning. 

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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.”