WHY AMERICAN ELECTIONS ARE FLAWED (AND HOW TO FIX THEM) by PIPPA NORRIS

Author:PIPPA NORRIS
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CORNELL SELECTS An imprint of CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
Published: 2017-02-08T00:00:00+00:00

IV

What Is to Be Done?

By all these indicators, therefore, the evidence points to a range of enduring problems in American elections. Most attempts to strengthen US elections involve piecemeal reforms, often worthwhile but technical in nature.1 These are equivalent to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Instead, what is needed is a more comprehensive wholesale plan addressing systematic and structural weaknesses at the heart of American elections. Several steps are recommended, illustrated in figure 8, including a sequential process involving improving legal regulations, building the capacity of administrative agencies such that these laws can be implemented efficiently and effectively, monitoring performance, and strengthening accountability and oversight. These are the initiatives commonly used in many countries around the world where electoral assistance seeks to improve electoral integrity.2 In practice, perhaps the most urgent practical steps in the United States involve: (i) reforming electoral regulations for registration and balloting; (ii) building more impartial, independent, and professional electoral management bodies; (iii) monitoring performance and expanding transparency through electoral observers, developing comparative and state-level indicators, and strengthening watchdog agencies; (iv) strengthening dispute resolution mechanisms and oversight agencies.

Figure 8: Recommended sequence of reforms

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