Mr. Trump will tell you that fraud cost him the election. Those of us who have analyzed the facts and data almost inevitably come to other explanations: grumpy voters beset with COVID-19 and a crummy economy, high Democratic turnout stoked by Trump’s relentless trolling of the left, GOP voters who were put off by The […]
What’s the harm of refusing to concede?
Readers of these Election Reform Q&As may recall that I interviewed the R Street Institute’s Matt Germer about the importance of loser’s consent for our democratic system. In short, our democratic republic exists by the consent of the governed, and that consent is renewed when we hold elections and accept the results. But the gripe “We wuz […]
Election reform: Is history repeating? A...
Many Americans are unhappy with the quality of governance and the two major parties. Last month, 43 percent of Americans surveyed by Gallup declared themselves independents. Unsurprisingly, public dissatisfaction has coincided with calls to reform elections, including nonpartisan primaries, ranked-choice voting, and other systems. We have been here before. Dr. Jack Santucci’s new book, More Parties or No […]
What’s going on with ranked choice votin
Utah is a very conservative state. Its two senators and four House members are Republicans, as are its governor and attorney general. The GOP holds majorities in both the state’s legislative chambers. The right has been in charge for decades. The state prides itself in running elections that make it easy to vote and hard to cheat. […]
How did James Madison think about congre...
The significance of James Madison’s contributions to creating our representative democracy cannot be overstated. He saw the troubles of the first union as a member of the Congress of the Confederation. He was a major player at the Constitutional Convention, and wrote the Federalist Papers to get the new federal charter ratified. Subsequently, Madison helped […]
Did states’ 2020 election adaptations du
States adjusted their election administration procedures during the 2020 election in response to the pandemic. Among other adaptions, they expanded the use of absentee ballots, added drop boxes, and instituted various cleaning and social distancing procedures to increase the odds that virus-wary Americans would feel safe casting their ballots. Did these changes appreciably affect turnout, […]