Rick hasen election meltdown10/10/2023 ![]() Ongoing COVID-related voting disputes display each of the “principal dangers” that Election Meltdown identifies as threats to American elections. Indeed, it would be difficult to conjure up a better case study for the book’s claims. The pandemic has generated a host of election-related disputes that show Election Meltdown’s analysis to be spot on. COVID-19 as an Election Meltdown Case Study Still, one cannot read Election Meltdown today without considering its claims in light of these developments. Understandably, the book does not discuss the ramifications of either a global pandemic or a mass protest movement for election law and administration. Rick is a savvy observer of American political life, but I suspect that even he did not anticipate that events of such magnitude would follow publication of Election Meltdown. The BLM protests initiated a host of proposals to reform the criminal justice system, and, more broadly, public and private institutions long shaped by entrenched systemic racism. Amid this evolving crisis came a second one as tens of millions of people worldwide joined Black Lives Matters (“BLM”) demonstrations to protest the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers and other cases of police violence. The COVID-19 pandemic has touched and altered every aspect of life with millions infected, millions more unemployed, and its radiating impacts expanding daily. It was the start of an election year, and, no doubt, he anticipated that disputes would soon emerge that would test, and in many cases, confirm his analysis. Rick published Election Meltdown on February 4, 2020. Election Meltdown closes with some proposals to temper the identified dangers so as to make voting less difficult and restore confidence in the electoral process. He argues that these dangers have contributed to past dysfunctional elections and are sure to infect future ones. Rick identifies four “principal dangers”-namely, voter suppression, “pockets of incompetence” in election administration, “dirty tricks,” and “incendiary rhetoric” about stolen or rigged elections. Rick Hasen’s Election Meltdown provides a concise and scathing analysis of what ails the American electoral process. Hasen, Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy (2020)
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