University of California, Irvine Professor Richard Hasen was worried about the 2020 election before the coronavirus pandemic. As the public health crisis evolved into a societal and economic crisis, it became clear this could become a political crisis as well.

In his most recent book, Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy, Prof. Hasen pointed out four key threats to US Democracy and what needs to be done to address those problems. Trust in our democratic institutions are already strained by overly restrictive voter ID laws, incompetent election administrators, dirty tricks, and foreign interference. COVID-19 makes all of those worse and living in a post-truth era where the sides don’t even agree on the facts in front of them doesn’t help either. I won’t go into too many of the specifics of those problems here because a) I don’t want to depress you too much, and b) you should listen to the podcast where we do talk about them

The good news is that none of the problems are unsolvable. We discuss some of the short and long term solutions that can address the problems facing US democracy. Again, if you want some of the actual solutions, listen to the podcast, or read the book.

As mentioned on the podcast, there are many ways to keep up with Professor Hasen’s work. You can visit his UCI faculty page, subscribe to his blog – Election Law Blog – and follow him on Twitter @rickhasen. Be sure to also read Fair Elections During a Crisis and Professor Hasen’s new book, Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy.

As always, if you enjoyed this conversation on The CAP⋅impact Podcast, you can find more like it by subscribing to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or your favorite podcast listening app.

https://soundcloud.com/capimpactca/episode-63-how-you-have-an-election-in-a-crisis-w-prof-richard-hasen