Features of public electoral administration in situation of pandemic

The aim of the article is to consider the issues of public administration of the election process in situation of pandemic, the peculiarities of the implementation of election legislation and the problems of elections in Ukraine and abroad with the introduction of quarantine restrictions. The subject of the study is the peculiarities of holding elections in situation of pandemic. Research methodology. The set of general scientific and special methods is used to achieve the objectives of the research: systemic, dialectical, systemic and structural, legal and dogmatic, comparative, predictive methods. Research results. It has been noted that in many countries the question of postponing the dates of elections and referendums, which had been set in advance, was raised because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Practical meaning. The analysis of the experience of foreign countries in postponing the voting dates of elections and referendums has shown that such measures had been taken because of the introduction of the state of emergency as the special legal regime for public authorities and administration throughout the State or in individual administrative-territorial units, which entailed substantial restriction of citizens’ rights and freedoms in the area of electoral matters. Value / originality. The need for further research of alternative voting methods, such as direct visits to the polling station, such as remote voting, voting by mail, early voting, mobile voting, electronic voting, voting by proxy and others has been substantiated.

Advance voting and political competition

This paper appears to be the first to analyse political campaign incentives when the electorate vote at different moments before Election Day, a phenomenon known as early or advance voting. Many jurisdictions accommodate such voting by accepting mail-in ballots or by opening polling places before Election Day. Since politicians can thereby add campaign promises while citizens vote, they have an incentive to add promises valued by late-voting segments as Election Day approaches. This implies that early-voting segments of the electorate will pay higher taxes and receive lower transfers than had been announced when they voted. Late-voting segments benefit.

Conclusion

The concluding chapter reviews the findings and discusses their implications for academic research and for policymakers. It also discusses alternate ways of increasing turnout that may have fewer downstream consequences than a requirement to vote. These include: easing voter registration requirements; making it easier to vote with procedures such as early voting, online voting, and mail voting; and rewarding citizens for voting. It wraps up with reflections on the justifiability of compulsory voting in democracies.

Conclusion

The conclusion presents the consequences of entitlement for individuals, the planet, and democracy. Entitlement makes people cognitively inflexible but also behaviorally, professionally, and politically unable to adapt to change. Dominant group members do not believe they should have to change and adapt, and they react emotionally when they are asked to do so. Economically struggling White people support policies that are self-destructive to themselves and their communities. Many White people vote according to their racial status against their economic needs. They support politicians who offer policies that objectively advantage the wealthy and harm working-class and poor White people. Entitlement can help us understand climate change denial if we consider it in the context of anti-intellectualism, individualism, and fragile masculinity—topics covered in previous chapters. Finally, entitlement could end democracy. The grievance politics of the entitled has knocked down some crucial pillars that historically have upheld democracy in the United States. In order to stay in power, Republican politicians must cheat because their initiatives are so unpopular, they would not win elections if everyone voted. Therefore, they gerrymander districts to absurdity, they remove voters of color from voter lists, they close voting locations in ethnic minority communities, and they limit early voting, weekend voting, and even voting by mail during a global pandemic.

COVID-19 Pandemic and the 2020 Elections in Ghana

The paper explores the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on Ghana’s election 2020 which will be conducted on the 7th December 2020. The paper argues that despite the fact that the pandemic has negatively affected the 2020 elections process, it also presents political parties and the Electoral Commission the opportunity to be innovative in their activities. The study adopts a content analysis approach and depends mainly on the desk review of related literature on the topic under investigation. The study found that the possible negative impacts of the virus on the 2020 elections include: low voter turnout because of the fear of contracting the virus due to human contacts at the voting centers and postponement of the 2020 elections if the spread goes out of hand. The impacts felt already include postponement of voter registration exercise from April 2020 to June 2020 and the ban on political activities such as mass campaigns. Again, one positive impact of the virus is that it has made political parties innovative in the mobilization of voters through the use of various social media platforms. Now campaigns and other political activities are held via the internet. With such innovation, the paper proposes that the E.C. should consider online voting, postal voting, and early voting in the 2020 election as a way of reducing human conduct and overcrowding on the day of voting in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Polling place changes and political participation: evidence from North Carolina presidential elections, 2008–2016

How do changes in Election Day polling place locations affect voter turnout? We study the behavior of more than 2 million eligible voters across three closely-contested presidential elections (2008–2016) in the swing state of North Carolina. Leveraging within-voter variation in polling place location change over time, we demonstrate that polling place changes reduce Election Day voting on average statewide. However, this effect is almost completely offset by substitution into early voting, suggesting that voters, on average, respond to a change in their polling place by choosing to vote early. While there is heterogeneity in these effects by the distance of the polling place change and the race of the affected voter, the fully offsetting substitution into early voting still obtains. We theorize this is because voters whose polling places change location receive notification mailers, offsetting search costs and priming them to think about the election before election day, driving early voting.

Accessible Elections

This book explores the wide variation across states in convenience voting methods—absentee/mail voting, in-person early voting, same day registration—and provides new empirical analysis of the beneficial effects of these policies, not only in increasing voter turnout overall, but for disadvantaged groups. By measuring both convenience methods and implementation of the laws, the book improves on previous research. It draws generalizable conclusions about how these laws affect voter turnout by using population data from the fifty state voter files. Using individual vote histories, the design helps avoid bias in non-random assignment of states in adopting the laws. Many scholars and public officials have dismissed state election reform laws as failing to significantly increase turnout or address inequality in who votes. Accessible Elections underscores how state governments can modernize their election procedures to increase voter turnout and influence campaign and party mobilization strategies. Mail voting and in-person early voting are particularly important in the wake of Covid-19 to avoid election day crowds and ensure successful and equitable elections in states with large populations; the results of this study can help state governments more rapidly update voting for the 2020 general election and beyond.