News & Insights

Originally published in the National Endowment for Democracy's Democracy Digest. Overall, the dangers are much greater than the opportunities in terms of the pandemics impact on liberty and democracy, says Stanford University's Francis Fukuyama. I do think there are opportunities for improving policies and institutions, but right now the dangers are much more serious, because when people are afraid...

Published in The Fulcrum‍. Regrettably, the bipartisan cooperation that enabled last month's $2.2 trillion economic stimulus package fell short when it came to addressing concerns about coronavirus and elections. Congress did allocate $400 million for state election preparation, but proposals to require more voting by mail and early in-person voting met with partisan rancor...

Originally Published: US News & World Report | April 7, 2020. It may be a sign of things to come: Wisconsin voters went to the polls Tuesday in what could be a pivotal race for the Democratic presidential nomination and during a time of national crisis. And they won't know who won for almost a week...

‍A wide variety of election management models, all of which are supposed to ensure legitimate elections, exist throughout the democratic world. It is normal that countries will choose different ways of conducting elections, as countries are in a sense, like snowflakes no two ones are identical.

Florida holds its March 17 primary, the odds are good that most voters aren't thinking about the health of global democracy. Most Americans don't focus on international affairs unless there's a crisis like war, terrorism or a pandemic. But a new report from Freedom House, an independent human-rights organization, documents that 2019 marked the 14th straight year that the global state of democracy and human rights declined.

Thank you Rob, it’s been a pleasure to get to know you and this great organization. It’s also an honor to co-host this event. When we got started, one of our first steps was to seek wisdom from Rob and Cynthia, and Rob, it was good to learn that conversation was a coming full circle, of sorts, to a conversation...

Is presidential elector freedom one risk too many?

Washington, DC; December 13, 2019. Election Reformers Network has received an 18-month grant to support its work to address conflicts of interest at the state chief election officer level. This is an important but complicated and neglected area of reform, so we are thrilled to have the support of an organization with the sophistication of the Democracy Fund, said Kevin Johnson, Executive Director of Election Reformers Network...

Published in The Fulcrum, August 22, 2019. With all eyes on the threats outsiders pose to the next presidential election, it seems we have forgotten the self-made dysfunction at the center of our democracy. Another presidential election approaches, with another victory to the popular vote loser a distinct possibility...

Perhaps it is not surprising that Friday’s vote on HR1, the omnibus election reform bill, broke strictly along partisan lines … And yet, just last year, many of the reforms featured in HR1 won backing from Republican majorities in several states. Reforms like independent redistricting, automatic voter registration, campaign…