Election subversion can involve a range of measures to change the outcome of a vote, including voter suppression, election denial, disinformation, intimidation and other legal or illegal attempts to not count or disqualify certain votes.[1]

United States

Richard L. Hasen outlines three main avenues for election subversion in the United States: 1) disqualify votes where a partisan body justifies changing the outcome (2) fraudulent or suppressive election administration and (3) actors disrupting the voting, the counting of votes, or the assumption of power by true winner.[2]

Avenues for election subversion

Disqualification of votes

See also: Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election

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. The use of the theory was rejected in Moore v. Harper by the US Supreme Court in 2023.

Election insecurity

Main article: Election security

The lack of election security best-practices creates opportunities for compromised election systems/ballots by third-parties which can also foster mistrust of the results even without evidence of tampering.[3]

Intimidation and/or replacement of election officials

See also: January 6 United States Capitol attack and Stochastic terrorism

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.[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

Main article: Vote buying

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

See also

References

  1. ^ Homer, Rachel; Marsden, Jessica (2023-08-14). "What is election subversion?". Protect Democracy. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
  2. ^ a b Hasen, Richard L. (April 20, 2022). "Identifying and Minimizing the Risk of Election Subversion and Stolen Elections in the Contemporary United States". Harvard Law Review (Essay). Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  3. ^ Root, Danielle; Kennedy, Liz; Sozan, Michael; Parshall, Jerry (February 12, 2018). "Election Security in All 50 States". Center for American Progress. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
  4. ^ Levine, Sam; Pilkington, Ed (2022-10-04). "Democracy, poisoned: America's elections are being attacked at every level". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-12-23.
  5. ^ Griswold, Eliza (2022-10-31). "How Election Subversion Went Mainstream in Pennsylvania". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  6. ^ Manheim, Lisa Marshall (November 2, 2022). "Forum: Election Law and Election Subversion". The Yale Law Journal. 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.

External links

Election Subversion: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO). November 6, 2022.

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