Voter fraud and election meddling [podcast]

Next week, over a hundred million Americans will vote to elect the next President of the United States. After a year of political turmoil, mass protests, and a pandemic that drove daily life (and the US economy) to a halt, many are now wondering: will the electoral process go smoothly, or does 2020 have another shock in store for us?

The topic of voter fraud and electoral meddling has been at the forefront of many a conversation over the last four years, as the attempt by Russia to sway the 2016 election and Donald Trump’s electoral college victory and popular vote loss are still vivid memories. How will this year’s election go? Are foreign powers trying to sway our election again? Is mail-in-voting safe from meddling? Will fear of COVID-19 decrease voter turnout?

Our episode of The Oxford Comment today features interviews with scholars who specialize in electoral intervention, voter turnout, and voting laws. Caroline Tolbert and Michael Ritter, co-authors of Accessible Elections: How the States Can Help Americans Vote, and Dov Levin, author of Meddling in the Ballot Box: The Causes and Effects of Partisan Electoral Interventions, answer our questions about voting and offer solutions for the safety and security of this election and elections in the future.

Featured image credit: @tiffanytertipes, CC0 via Unsplash.