Gore 2.0 and post-election violence in November is neither an honest election system nor counterspeech to combat election misinformation. What is most likely to save us from a Twitterized Bush v. A debacle is unlikely to happen in November, but thanks mostly to luck, not work. My position falls somewhat between these two poles. Two symposium contributors, Anthony Gaughan and Derek Muller, believe that while we are not necessarily in the “best of times,” we can hope that forces such as free speech and a modern history of honest elections in the United States can save us from a November election meltdown. įour of the contributors to this fine and generous set of Boston University Law Review symposium essays on Election Meltdown-Atiba Ellis, Ellen Katz, Lisa Marshall Manheim, and Lorraine Minnite -believe things are even worse than I described when my book first appeared in February, and particularly that systemic racism and voter suppression have contributed to a crisis not just of election administration but of American democratic legitimacy. and beyond, and the President’s continued insistence without evidence that extended mail-in voting necessitated by the pandemic will lead to a stolen or rigged election. It is easy to assume that the author of a book called Election Meltdown thinks we are in a Dickensian “worst of times.” Adding to the feelings of despair is the condition of the United States since the book appeared in February 2020, with more than 200,000 Americans dead from COVID-19 and millions more affected, systemic racism brought to the forefront of the national consciousness by the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests, President Trump’s decision to use force against protestors in Washington D.C. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities Hasen, Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy (2020) Optimism and Despair About a 2020 “Election Meltdown” and Beyond
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