[EL] Undermining Faith in Democracy

JBoppjr at aol.com JBoppjr at aol.com
Sun Oct 16 04:41:43 PDT 2016


And of course the false charges by the "reformers" that "money buys  
elections," "corporations are buying elections since Citizens United,"  and "we 
have a plutocracy" also undermine faith in elections and voting. But  this has 
become a partisan game where only one side get criticized for their  
rhetoric.  Jim Bopp
 
 
In a message dated 10/16/2016 1:20:00 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
mark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu writes:

 
Both of our major party presidential candidates would be rejected in an  
instant by Diogenes. He wouldn't bother getting out his lantern.


Claims of massive voter suppression [see the Patriot Majority ad campaign  
noted below] undermine faith in democracy just as do claims of massive voter 
 fraud and rigging of elections. All such claims need to be made with 
extreme  care.


When an incompetent federal government lets hackers take the personal  
information of millions of people from OPM many people wonder whether our  
systems (governmental or other) can be trusted. Of course that's only one  
example of many that could be given.


And we all know that faith in democracy requires more than faith in the  
voting process. 


Mark



Mark S. Scarberry
Professor of  Law
Pepperdine University



_____________________________
From: Rick Hasen  <_rhasen at law.uci.edu_ (mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu) >
Sent:  Saturday, October 15, 2016 8:59 PM
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary  10/16/16
To: Election Law Listserv <_law-election at uci.edu_ 
(mailto:law-election at uci.edu) >


[snip]

_“Group accuses Mike Pence of voter  suppression after state police raid 
registration program in  Indiana”_ (http://electionlawblog.org/?p=87536)  
Posted on _October 15, 2016 1:01  pm_ (http://electionlawblog.org/?p=87536) 
 by _Rick Hasen_ (http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3)  
_WaPo:_ 
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/15/group-accuses-mike-pence-of-voter-suppression-after-state-police-raid-registrat
ion-program-in-indiana/)  
A progressive advocacy group  is launching an advertising campaign accusing 
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who  also is the Republican vice-presidential 
nominee, of allowing voter  suppression after state police raided the offices of 
a voter registration  program aimed at signing up African Americans. 
Patriot Majority USA will  place the ads on black-oriented radio stations 
and in print and online with  black newspapers throughout the state starting 
Saturday, said the group’s  director, Craig Varoga. Patriot Majority is 
affiliated with the Senate  Majority PAC, a super PAC that supports Democratic 
candidates. 
 
(https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http://electionlawblog.org/?p=87536&title=“Group%20accuses%20Mike%20Pence%20of%20voter%20suppression%20after%20st
ate%20police%20raid%20registration%20program%20in%20Indiana”&description=)  
Posted in _campaigns_ (http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59) , _chicanery_ 
(http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12)  

[snip] 

_“Donald Trump Is Setting a Time  Bomb; His calls for racial voter 
intimidation on Election Day could explode in  all our faces.”_ 
(http://electionlawblog.org/?p=87530)  
Posted on _October 15, 2016 12:41  pm_ 
(http://electionlawblog.org/?p=87530)  by _Rick Hasen_ (http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3)  
_I  had missed this excellent Jamelle Bouie_ 
(http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/10/donald_trump_is_setting_a_time_bomb_for_r
acial_violence_on_election_day.html)  piece from Oct. 6. 
 
(https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http://electionlawblog.org/?p=87530&title=“
Donald%20Trump%20Is%20Setting%20a%20Time%20Bomb;%20His%20calls%20for%20racial%20voter%20intimidation%20on%20Election%20Day%20could%20explode%20in%20
all%20our%20faces.”&descriptio)  
Posted in _campaigns_ (http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59) , _chicanery_ 
(http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12)  
_“Americans are losing faith in  democracy — and in each other”_ 
(http://electionlawblog.org/?p=87528)  
Posted on _October 15, 2016 12:37  pm_ 
(http://electionlawblog.org/?p=87528)  by _Rick Hasen_ (http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3)  
Must-read _Nate  Persily and Jon Cohen_ 
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/americans-are-losing-faith-in-democracy--and-in-each-other/2016/10/14/b
35234ea-90c6-11e6-9c52-0b10449e33c4_story.html?utm_term=.d13a1a0a5e59)  in 
WaPo: 
If there had been any  doubt, it has now become clear that this election 
campaign is about more than  the selection of a president: The values that 
support American democracy are  deteriorating. Large numbers of Americans 
across party lines have lost faith  in their democracy, and many will not accept 
the legitimacy of this  election. 
Those were the stark  findings from a survey we performed from Oct. 6 
through Oct. 8 of more than  3,000 registered voters, fully 40 percent of whom 
say: “I have lost faith  in American democracy.” Six percent indicate they’ve 
never had faith in  the system. Overall, barely more than half — just 52 
percent — say, “I have  faith in American democracy.” (Most respondents 
completed the survey before  the Oct. 7 release of the video in which Donald 
Trump bragged about groping  women, but the responses of those surveyed 
afterward were indistinguishable  from those who answered the day before.) 
This cynicism is widely  shared across the electorate, but significant 
partisan differences emerge on  this question, as on so many others. More than 6 
in 10 voters backing  Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton express faith in 
U.S. democracy, compared  with just over 4 in 10 of those backing her 
Republican rival. Most of Trump’s  supporters say they’ve lost confidence in the 
basic mechanism of governance in  the United States. 
 
(https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http://electionlawblog.org/?p=87528&title=“Americans%20are%20losing%20faith%20in%20democracy%20—
%20and%20in%20each%20other”&description=)  
Posted in _campaigns_ (http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59) , _chicanery_ 
(http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12)  
_“Let’s Dispense With this Notion  That The Election is Rigged, Shall We?”
_ (http://electionlawblog.org/?p=87526)  
Posted on _October 15, 2016 12:33  pm_ 
(http://electionlawblog.org/?p=87526)  by _Rick Hasen_ (http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3)  
_Worthy  tweetstorm_ 
(https://twitter.com/ashbylaw/status/787352959633981440)  from Republican lawyer Chris Ashby. 
 
(https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http://electionlawblog.org/?p=87526&title=“Let’
s%20Dispense%20With%20this%20Notion%20That%20The%20Election%20is%20Rigged,%20Shall%20We?”&description=)  
Posted in _campaigns_ (http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59) , _chicanery_ 
(http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12)  
--  
 
 
Rick Hasen 
Chancellor's Professor of Law  and Political Science 
UC Irvine School of  Law 
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite  1000 
Irvine, CA 92697-8000 
949.824.3072 - office 
949.824.0495 - fax 
_rhasen at law.uci.edu_ (mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu)  
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/

_http://electionlawblog.org_ (http://electionlawblog.org/) 





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