American voters are increasingly aware that the mechanics of
elections matter. The conduct of elections how eligible voters make
it onto the voter rolls, how voters cast their ballots, and how
those votes are counted determines the degree to which the people's
preferences are expressed freely, weighed equally, and recorded
accurately. It is not surprising, then, that attempts to "clean up"
elections are widely applauded as being unambiguously good for
democracy.
In The Hidden Costs of Clean Election Reform, Frederic Charles
Schaffer reveals how tinkering with the electoral process can
easily damage democratic ideals. Drawing on both recent and
historical evidence from the United States and countries around the
world, including the Philippines (where Schaffer has served as an
election observer), Venezuela, South Africa, and Taiwan, The Hidden
Costs of Clean Election Reform investigates why citizens sometimes
find themselves abruptly disenfranchised. Schaffer examines
numerous incidents in which election reforms have, whether
intentionally or accidentally, harmed the quality and experience of
democracy.
These cases include the introduction of secret balloting in
1890s Arkansas, which deliberately stripped black citizens of the
power to vote; efforts to insulate voters from outside influences
in nineteenth-century France; the purge of supposed felons from the
voter rolls of Florida ahead of the 2000 presidential election; and
current debates over the reliability and security of touch-screen
voting machines. Lawmakers, election officials, partisan
operatives, and civic educators, Schaffer finds, can all contribute
to the harm caused by improperly or cynically constructed election
reforms. By understanding how even good-faith efforts to improve
corrupt or flawed electoral practices may impede the democratic
process, The Hidden Costs of Clean Election Reform suggests new
ways to help prevent future breaches of democracy."
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