{"id":50054,"date":"2022-12-04T16:12:58","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T00:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=50054"},"modified":"2022-12-04T16:12:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T00:12:58","slug":"everyday-erinyes-347","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2022\/12\/04\/everyday-erinyes-347\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Erinyes #347"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto<\/span><\/strong>, Megaera<\/strong><\/span>, and Tisiphone<\/span><\/strong>. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”<\/p>\n

I’ve been saying that democracy requires trust. That doesn’t just mean that citizens should (and should confidently be able to) trust the government – it also means that we need to ba able to trust each other, and the government needs to trust us. There are governments which can function without all of this mutual trust (Hungary, Turkey), but they canot keep it up forever (Russia), and in any case, a government which can function without trust is not worth having. That’s no way to live. I realize there are people who think those governments are worth having, and I don’t trust them. Do you?
\n==============================================================<\/p>\n

Healthy democracy requires trust \u2013 these 3 things could start to restore voters\u2019 declining faith in US\u00a0elections<\/h1>\n
Election workers sort ballots at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center on Nov. 9, 2022, in Phoenix.
\nJohn Moore\/Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sarah Bush<\/a>, Yale University<\/a><\/em> and Lauren Prather<\/a>, University of California, San Diego<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The 2022 U.S. midterm elections ran relatively smoothly and faced few consequential accusations of fraud or mismanagement. Yet many Americans<\/a> don\u2019t trust this essential element of a democracy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s dangerous for peace and stability when the public doubts democratic elections. Disastrous events like the insurrection by supporters of President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol<\/a> in January 2021 make that clear.<\/p>\n

But there are subtler effects of such doubt. Trump isn\u2019t the only instigator of this distrust, which he sowed with his false assertions that the 2020 presidential vote was \u201crigged\u201d<\/a> and that he was the legitimate winner of the election.<\/p>\n

Study after study \u2013 in both the U.S.<\/a> and around the world<\/a> \u2013 make clear that trust in elections predicts whether a person votes<\/a> and decides to participate in politics<\/a> in other ways, like attending peaceful demonstrations or even discussing politics. If people don\u2019t think that elections are fair, then they don\u2019t see the point in taking the steps that maintain democracy.<\/p>\n

Healthy democracies are countries where regular elections lead to peaceful transfers of power. Citizens are essential to this process, especially as their votes and peaceful protests hold politicians accountable. Their beliefs about election credibility<\/a> determine whether they are willing and able to play this role.<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/a>
Voters cast their ballots at the Madison Senior Center on Nov. 8, 2022, in Madison, Wisconsin.<\/span>
\nJim Vondruska\/Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Winners trust elections \u2013 losers don\u2019t<\/h2>\n

The consequences of the Capitol riot continue to loom large. The congressional hearings investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection have revealed the extent of then-President Trump\u2019s desire to challenge the legitimacy of Joe Biden\u2019s victory. In behind-the-scenes footage<\/a> from his address on Jan. 7, 2021, to the nation, Trump said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to say the election is over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, were hardly the first time he sowed distrust in American elections. While campaigning in 2016<\/a>, he warned the election could be \u201crigged\u201d and called on his supporters to be \u201cTrump Election Observers.\u201d Trump built on the claims of earlier Republican politicians who for years stoked fears about what they called \u201cvoter fraud,\u201d even though nonpartisan experts demonstrate<\/a> such fraud is rare in American elections.<\/p>\n

Although GOP politicians have done the most to sow distrust in American elections, some Democrats have also questioned the fairness of elections. In 2018, Stacey Abrams acknowledged losing the race for governor of Georgia to incumbent Brian Kemp, but said<\/a> \u201cthe game was rigged against the voters of Georgia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waning trust in elections not only turns off voters, but it also leads to other problems. Trump supporters deliberately overwhelmed local election officials<\/a> before the midterms with information requests related to 2020 voting records. Other voters were \u201cangry and confused<\/a>,\u201d uncertain about how to vote by mail and voting machines.<\/p>\n

This situation is made worse by polarization in the United States. Many members of the American public will incorrectly question the accuracy of the midterms. As political scientists<\/a> who study elections and democracy<\/a>, we anticipate that post-election distrust will be especially high among the voters who supported candidates who lost<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Polarization widens the gap in trust between election winners and losers because partisans rely on different news sources, and some of them may even start to care more about their party winning<\/a> than about democracy.<\/p>\n

In 2016, for example, our surveys of Americans<\/a> showed that Hillary Clinton\u2019s supporters went into the presidential election thinking it would be significantly more credible than Trump\u2019s supporters thought it would be. Prior to the election, Clinton\u2019s supporters gave the election an average of 7.5 on a 10-point scale of credibility; Trump supporters gave the election an average of 5.4 on a 10-point scale of credibility.<\/p>\n

After the election, Trump supporters were much more confident than Clinton supporters in the credibility of the election. Trump supporters gave an average 8.4 vs. Clinton supporters\u2019 5.4 on the same 10-point scale.<\/p>\n

There was an even larger partisan gap after the 2020 presidential election, with Biden\u2019s supporters expressing twice as much confidence in the election than Trump supporters. And the aftermath of that election is well known \u2013 the Jan. 6 insurrection.<\/p>\n

Fostering faith<\/h2>\n

Can Americans\u2019 trust in elections be rebuilt?<\/p>\n

Answering that question is complicated by the country\u2019s decentralized system of election management<\/a>. Researchers have found that trust can be enhanced when whole countries reform their electoral systems to make them fairer and more transparent<\/a>. Although American elections are democratic, it is difficult to highlight specific qualities \u2013 or implement reforms that would make elections even better \u2013 because election administration varies from state to state.<\/p>\n

Poll worker training<\/a> and other measures that make it likely that voters have a positive experience on election day<\/a> can improve Americans\u2019 trust in their elections. This will likely happen at a local level.<\/p>\n

Another way that countries help the public understand election quality is through positive reports from trusted election observers, both domestic and international. More than 80% of national elections<\/a> in the world have international monitors present. But, according to a study by the Carter Center and the National Conference of State Legislatures<\/a>, 15 American states do not allow nonpartisan election observers to monitor polling stations. These states generally do allow partisan election observers, so that means citizens will be able to rely only on party-aligned reports \u2013 which citizens may not trust.<\/p>\n

One valuable reform that would enhance the public\u2019s trust<\/a> would be to make it possible for nonpartisan groups to observe American elections more widely. In fact, many of the leaders in this practice abroad \u2013 like the Carter Center<\/a> and the nonpartisan National Democratic Institute<\/a> \u2013 are based in the U.S.<\/p>\n

There is precedent for monitoring in American elections by such groups as the nonpartisan League of Women Voters<\/a>. The U.S. government has also invited observers from international organizations, such as the Organization of American States<\/a> and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe<\/a>, to monitor elections under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump.<\/p>\n

Giving monitors access to more state elections and publicizing their work is a step toward rebuilding Americans\u2019 trust in elections. We know this from national surveys of the American public we conducted around the 2016, 2018 and 2020 elections. We consistently found<\/a> that telling Americans that monitors reported the elections were fair increased citizens\u2019 trust.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/a>
What happens when people don\u2019t trust elections? They can get violent, as they did on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol.<\/span>
\nShay Horse\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Politicizing election administration<\/h2>\n

Steps like allowing nonpartisan monitors and publicizing their positive assessments can only go so far toward reversing Americans\u2019 declining trust in elections.<\/p>\n

If politicians continue to express doubt about the fairness and legitimacy of American elections, whether warranted or unwarranted, the damaging effect of their messages will be difficult to correct.<\/p>\n

And some elected officials are taking steps to actively undermine not just perceptions of election credibility, but election integrity itself. For example, the nonpartisan organizations States United Democracy Center and Protect Democracy in August 2022 identified 24 bills that have been enacted across 17 states<\/a> that politicize and interfere with professional election administration.<\/p>\n

The politicization of election administration threatens to further erode public trust in election integrity. Democracy depends on the public\u2019s active participation in elections and acceptance of their results.\"The<\/p>\n

Sarah Bush<\/a>, Associate Professor, Political Science, Yale University<\/a><\/em> and Lauren Prather<\/a>, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of California, San Diego<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

==============================================================
\nAlecto<\/span><\/strong>, Megaera<\/strong><\/span>, and Tisiphone<\/span><\/strong>, this article is an excellent start. It addresses trust in the government and its institutions,and that is necessary – but ot suffivient. And, of course, the other two legs of mutual trust are much harder to establish and strengthen. How does one go about buiding, from outside, trust in people who apparently don’t even trust themselves?<\/p>\n

The Furies and I will be back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":48762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,5],"tags":[4676,3729,3751,3972,5219],"class_list":["post-50054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-open-thread","category-politics","tag-democracy","tag-furies","tag-gop-insanity","tag-scotus","tag-trust","category-35-id","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}