elections

• 
• SOURCE: The Conversation
  8/6/2020
  

  1864 Elections Went on During the Civil War – Even Though Lincoln Thought it Would be a Disaster for Himself and the Republican Party

  by Calvin Schermerhorn

  Abraham Lincoln understood that the war for the Union was about the integrity of a constitutional republic, not the president or the party.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  8/10/2020
  

  The Measures of a Successful Vice-Presidential Pick

  by Michael Beschloss

  Now that Joe Biden has announced Senator Kamala Harris will be his running mate, readers can decide how well the pick meets Michael Beschloss's criteria for a beneficial choice. 

• 
• 8/9/2020
  

  The 1976 Election: Why We Can't Predict Vice Presidential Selections in Advance

  by Daniel K. Williams

  The 1976 campaign highlights a paradox: while the person a presidential nominee chooses as their running mate might be surprising, that individual is selected using criteria that are predictable. 

• 
• SOURCE: WBUR
  8/4/2020
  

  The History of the October Surprise (Audio)

  Julian Zelizer discusses the prospects of a major surprise announcement from the administration before Election Day.  

• 
• SOURCE: ProPublica
  7/22/2020
  

  How Voter-Fraud Hysteria and Partisan Bickering Ate American Election Oversight

  Since the early 2000s, an escalating fight over so-called voter fraud has crippled the EAC, often sabotaging its most dedicated commissioners while emboldening those who are less effective.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/18/2020
  

  Take Some Deep Breaths and Prepare to Wait for Election Results

  by Ellen L. Weintraub and Kevin M. Kruse

  Americans and the American news media must face the fact that the safety of voters requires us to slow down on reporting election results as more voters will cast ballots by mail. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/1/2020
  

  How to Run for President in the Middle of a Pandemic

  by Jon Grinspan

  In the 19th century, ordinary citizens did incredible amounts of work for their parties, while nominees sat idle.

• 
• SOURCE: History.com
  4/9/2020
  

  After War, Pandemic and Recession, Americans Voted in 1920 for 'Normalcy'

  Weary from cataclysmic world events, the U.S. electorate chose a mild-mannered candidate promising quieter times.

• 
• SOURCE: TPM
  4/1/2020
  

  For More Than A Century, Americans Fine-Tuned The Rules Of Democracy. Why Have We Stopped?

  by Gregory P. Downs

  The United States has survived not by keeping the same system but by transforming its rules at crucial moments.

• 
• SOURCE: The Conversation
  3/16/2020
  

  Closing Polling Places is the 21st Century’s Version of a Poll Tax

  by Joshua F.J. Inwood and Derek H. Alderman

  Delays and long lines at polling places represent the latest version of decades-long policies that have sought to reduce the political power of African Americans in the U.S.

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  1/6/20
  

  A Historical Look At Whether A Democrat Can Win By Playing To The Progressive Base Featuring Michael Kazin

  Featuring historian Michaael Kazin. 

• 
• SOURCE: BBC News
  1/6/20
  

  Did Britain meddle in a US presidential election?

  When US President George HW Bush craved "a smoking gun" in 1992 to politically kneecap his White House challenger Bill Clinton, the British government delved into its files for damaging information. 

• 
• SOURCE: History.com
  11/25/19
  

  Elections in Colonial America Were Huge, Booze-Fueled Parties

  Candidate George Washington plied potential voters with 47 gallons of beer, 35 gallons of wine, 2 gallons of cider, 3 1/2 pints of brandy and a whopping 70 gallons of rum punch.

• 
• SOURCE: History.com
  11/25/19
  

  Why Is Iowa the First State to Vote?

  Since 1972, the Iowa Caucus has been the first—and some argue most important—electoral test on the road to each party’s presidential nomination. But how did it get that way? 

• 
• 11/24/19
  

  Russian Victories in the Post-Cold War Era

  by Albert M. Camarillo

  Putin’s Russia is winning battles to destabilize the U.S. that former USSR leaders such as Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, and Leonid Brezhnev had tried but failed.

• 
• SOURCE: Politico Magazine
  11/11/19
  

  History Says Bloomberg 2020 Would Be a Sure Loser

  Almost every four years, there’s a last-minute panic candidate for the presidency. They never win.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  11/10/19
  

  The last time Kentucky fought over a gubernatorial election, the governor got killed

  The violence in 1899 left Kentucky on the brink of a civil war.

• 
• SOURCE: The Conversation
  11/1/19
  

  Mississippi governor’s race taking place under Jim Crow-era rules after judge refuses to block them

  by Gideon Cohn-Postar

  A federal judge ruled on Nov. 1 that he would not stop Mississippi voters from electing a governor on Tuesday under an old, Jim Crow-era election law that a civil rights lawsuit argues perpetuates “white supremacy” and violates the principle of “one-person, one-vote.”

• 
• SOURCE: The New York Times
  November 3, 2019
  

  Presidential Candidates Crave the Spotlight. 200 Years Ago That Was Taboo.

  by David Botti

  For a century, presidential candidates were discouraged from openly campaigning - lest they appear power hungry like the British king America revolted against. Here's why that all changed. 

• 
• 11/3/19
  

  Elbridge Gerry’s Monster Salamander that Swallows Votes

  by Harlow Giles Unger

  As Americans prepare to vote in local and state elections on Election Day, tens of thousands--even millions--will find their votes chewed, swallowed, and discarded by a monstrous “salamander”—the two-hundred-year-old creation of Founding Father Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts.