We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2014
How good are American elections?
Where would one start in answering this question?
Whenever this question is posed, it is common to answer it from the position of deeply held beliefs, but rarely from the position of a systematic analysis of facts. These beliefs might arise from partisanship: a good election is one that my favored candidate wins. These beliefs might be chauvinistic: a good election is one run according to the rules of my community.
Rarely are these beliefs rooted in hard facts.
When facts intervene, they rarely are presented in a systematic fashion. Opinions about levels of voter fraud might be attributable to a viral YouTube video. Concerns about the effects of a new voter identification law might be informed by a reporter’s interview with an activist who is eager to share stories about how voters she has talked with will be disenfranchised on Election Day. Satisfaction with a new electronic voting machine may be illustrated by a picture of a smiling citizen coming out of the precinct with an “I Voted” sticker stuck to her lapel. Disdain about the ability of local governments to run elections might follow from a newspaper article detailing yet another season of long lines when waiting to vote in Florida (or South Carolina or Maryland or …). At its worst, this approach is evaluation by anecdote.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
