This post by By ERN Board Member Amber McReynolds and ERN VP of Programs Heather Balas originally appeared on TPM. Amid growing concern about the prospects for a free and fair election in 2024, last week brought a rare piece of good news: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who famously stared down President Donald…
This post by ERN Fellow Al Vanderklipp originally appeared on The Fulcrum. Only hours after the riot of Jan. 6, 2021, with the calls to “stop the steal” still reverberating under the Capitol Rotunda, 139 Republican members of the House of Representatives voted to oppose the valid electoral votes sent from Arizona and Pennsylvania, in…
This post by Larry Garber and Avery Davis-Roberts originally appeared in The Fulcrum. Garber is an international elections expert and a member of the Carter Center‘s U.S. election expert team. Davis-Roberts is an associate director in the center’s Democracy Program. Proposed election law changes in Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere have again brought to the forefront…
This post by Larry Garber originally appeared on The Hill. The ghost of 2006 hangs heavy over the heads of United States policymakers anticipating Palestinian elections scheduled for May 22. Hamas’s surprise victory over a divided Fatah in 2006 upended the plans of those within the Bush administration who had advocated for allowing the elections to proceed, notwithstanding the participation…
This post by Kevin Johnson, Miles Rapoport, and Larry Diamond originally appeared on The Hill. Two secretaries of state were honored recently by the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. Maggie Toulouse Oliver, New Mexico’s Democratic secretary of state, and Kyle Ardoin, Louisiana’s Republican secretary of state, received the organization’s prestigious Patriot Award on behalf of all U.S election…
This post by Kevin Johnson and Larry Garber originally appeared in The Fulcrum. Garber and Johnson advise The Carter Center, the global human rights and democracy foundation based in Atlanta, and helped create the Election Reformers Network, international election specialists who promote voting improvements in the United States. They are among the authors of the group’s September report,…
This post originally appeared in GOVERNING. Disregard for the judgments of courts is a sure sign that democracy is in trouble. Donald Trump’s machinations after the Nov. 3 election centered, fundamentally, on overturning the many court rulings rejecting his claims of fraud. Channeling fomented partisan anger, Trump and his allies sought to replace the verdict…
This post originally appeared in The Fulcrum. It has become clearer to Americans than ever before that the Electoral College is archaic and represents a threat to our democracy — and needs to be significantly altered if not abolished. But what’s the best way forward? Relying on electoral votes is cumbersome and can be so…
This post originally appeared on the Foreign Policy website. Violent conflict over contested elections has plagued authoritarian and undemocratic countries around the world, as well as democracies that are troubled and threatened. On Wednesday, the United States became the newest member of this unfortunate club. Based on my experience working on election observation and democracy promotion…
This post originally appeared on The Fulcrum. The Senate election results in Georgia have Democrats dancing in the streets and democracy advocates cheering another seemingly successful high stress election. Turnout was extraordinary for a runoff, election officials performed efficiently, and fears of conflict and voter intimidation proved unfounded. But there could be trouble ahead. Jon…
