[EL] Vote fraud -- evidence vs. belief

[Jim Gardner]

The lack of evidence to support charges of vote fraud raises a more interesting and profound question: Why do people continue to believe in it?  The answer, it seems to me, has nothing to do with evidence – so arguing about the evidence is probably a waste of time – and a lot to do with culture, specifically the culture of contemporary politics.  

I think the problem here is that many on the right have managed to convince themselves that it is impossible – literally impossible – for people in any kind of numbers to support liberal policies.  Since people can’t possibly support such policies, they can’t possibly vote for liberal candidates.  Consequently, if liberal candidates win, it can only be the result of fraud because nobody could actually vote for such people.  

This problem is cultural.  It reveals a very sad fact about our current politics, namely that the views, beliefs, and experiences of other human beings are so completely dismissed and devalued in some quarters that many find it impossible to take seriously the possibility that their fellow citizens could actually hold certain views (much less actually take those views seriously or engage with them on the merits).

I hasten to add that the political valence does not always run in the same direction.  For example, the “What’s the Matter with Kansas” analysis holds that working class voters couldn’t possibly support candidates who support policies that disadvantage them economically, although proponents of this view explain it by brainwashing rather than vote fraud.  But this explanation doesn’t take seriously the possibility that social and symbolically resonant issues could actually be more important than economic ones to some segments of the population.

Until we start taking each other seriously as political agents, we’re not going to extract ourselves from the current impasse.

Jim

________________________________
James A. Gardner
Joseph W. Belluck and Laura L. Aswad
  SUNY Distinguished Professor of Civil Justice
SUNY Buffalo Law School
The State University of New York
Room 316, O'Brian Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260-1100
voice: 716-645-3607
fax: 716-645-5968
e-mail: jgard at buffalo.edu
www.law.buffalo.edu
Papers at http://ssrn.com/author=40126

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