Jen Fifield with a great ground-level view on the logistics of an office under intense scrutiny.
Young voters and the EU elections
Paul Hockenos has a piece on the EU parliament elections in Germany, where the vote included 16- and 17-year-olds for the first time. And as in Portugal, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, and France, it looks like younger voters this year disproportionately voted for far-right parties. (Including, in Germany, far more support for far-right parties than for the Greens.)
“Mexico’s Historic Elections—and Political Violence”
“Indian election was awash in deepfakes – but AI was a net positive for democracy”
Not sure I agree that the conclusion follows from the examples, but it’s an intriguing argument in The Conversation.
Social-pressure mailers back in the news
Since Gerber, Green & Larimer’s 2008 study – among the most widely cited articles in political science since that time – there’s been both academic and practical interest in the sizable turnout impact of mailings using the shaming impact of voter-file information about election participation, both with and without measures to mitigate backlash.
Green & Gerber later warned against the most heavy-handed version of this sort of shaming, noting that though voter-participation data is usually public, that fact isn’t always salient to voters — and that “Your phone will ring off the hook with calls from people demanding an explanation.”
But the heavy-handed versions persist (and not just for fundraising), and controversy follows. To wit: the campaign mailer in a recent Texas primary runoff:
“Incumbent fends off far-right challenge in local Nevada race with potential elections implications”
Local elections are really, really, really important, example #194820.
“Elections Brain Drain”
The [North] Carolina Public Press has a really important three-part series on funding for election official positions. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
And there’s a timely related story from [South] Carolina as well.
Turns out… Continue reading
“2020’s ‘fake elector’ schemes will be harder to try in 2024 – but not impossible”
Derek Muller, for The Conversation, recounts some of the ways that both the law and enforcement have changed in the last four years.
Speaking of which, Wisconsin Public Radio reports that an attorney charged last week in the Wisconsin false-elector… Continue reading
“Voting machine contract under scrutiny following discrepancies in Puerto Rico’s primaries”
Yikes.
And also, this is a pretty good and exceedingly timely reminder to wait for the real analysis to figure out what happened and why, before jumping to conclusions.
“North Dakotans Approve Age Limit for Members of Congress”
I get that this was a political messaging thing … but it’s very hard to see how this is constitutional under U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton.
“AI can make our elections safer—if we use it correctly”
Chris McIsaac offers a valuable in-depth look at AI in elections over at R Street. I’m really looking forward to digging in.
From the executive summary:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already having an impact on upcoming U.S. elections and… Continue reading
“Cheap fakes”
Deceptive selective editing has been around a whole lot longer than credible deepfakes.
(Cf. Sasha Issenberg’s recent conversation with Chris Hayes on MDM and its responses.)
Campaigns Understand that Extreme Appeals Turn On the Spigot of Small Donations:
“Arkansas State Conference NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment”
Caroline Walker has written this comment for the Harvard Law Review on the Eighth Circuit’s decision that no private right of action exists to enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The comment explores whether plaintiffs might be able… Continue reading