Election subversion

Election subversion typically refers to meddling with the vote counting process (whereas voter suppression seeks to disrupt the vote casting process for those likely to vote for a particular candidate).[1] Electoral fraud is a form of illegal election subversion, whereas this article focuses on loopholes in election law to subvert elections.

Avenues for election subversion

Disqualification of votes

Rules that make voting more difficult for some, for example, can become a pretext for disqualifying votes, regardless of whether or not it justifies such a radical action.[2] The independent state legislature theory in the U.S., for example, would allow state legislatures to unilaterally disqualify votes and send their own electors regardless of the vote outcome.

Election insecurity

The lack of election security and other best-practices creates opportunities for compromised election systems/ballots by third-parties.[3]

Intimidation and/or replacement of election officials

By major candidates calling into question the integrity of elections, the ensuing threats towards election officials have led to hundreds of resignations in the U.S. for example, leading to concerns of understaffing and some vacancies being filled by hyper-partisans interested in election subversion.[1][4]

Question/deny legitimacy of election
See also: Election denial movement in the United States

This tactic to deny unfavorable results[5] weakens the power of the winners through decreasing the number of citizens who find them legitimate, potentially leading to a breakdown in the rule of law as was seen on January 6, 2021 in the United States.[6] These claims can also be used to try to justify the manipulation of election results in the courts[7] or other bodies of power such as legislatures.[8]

Vote buying

This happens when someone offers money in return for a voter voting a certain way.[9]

See also

References
  1. Election Subversion: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), retrieved 2022-12-14. November 6, 2022.
  2. Hasen, Richard L. "Identifying and Minimizing the Risk of Election Subversion and Stolen Elections in the Contemporary United States". harvardlawreview.org. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
  3. "Election Security in All 50 States". Center for American Progress. February 12, 2018. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
  4. "Democracy, poisoned: America's elections are being attacked at every level". the Guardian. 2022-10-04. Retrieved 2022-12-23.
  5. "How Election Subversion Went Mainstream in Pennsylvania". The New Yorker. 2022-10-31. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  6. "Election Law and Election Subversion". www.yalelawjournal.org. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
  7. Hasen, Richard L. (2022-11-02). "The Courts Are the Only Thing Holding Back Total Election Subversion". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  8. Sweeney Jr., William R.; Vickery, Chad; Ellena, Katherine (September 2, 2016). "Yes, the U.S. presidential election could be manipulated". The Washington Post.
  9. Cheeseman, Nic; Klaas, Brian (2018). How to Rig an Election. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-23521-0. OCLC 1033404921.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.