elections — Bunk History

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The American flag depicted upside down, in a beige color scheme.

Making the Constitution Safe for Democracy

The second section of the Fourteenth Amendment offers severe penalties for menacing the right to vote—if anyone can figure out how to enforce it.

by Anthony Conwright via The Forum on August 17, 2022

Drawing of a voting booth on top of a gerrymandered district with a saw cutting the floor out from under it.

American Democracy Was Never Designed to Be Democratic

The partisan redistricting tactics of cracking and packing aren’t merely flaws in the system—they are the system.

by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on August 15, 2022

Human legs in the water with a shark under them

Did Shark Attacks Eat Into Woodrow Wilson’s Votes in 1916?

What shark attacks in 1916 could tell us about the midterms in 2022.

by Dylan Matthews via Vox on August 4, 2022

Protest sign reading "We never left Jim Crow."

Voter Fraud Propagandists Are Recycling Jim Crow Rhetoric

The conservative plot to suppress the Black vote has relied on racist caricatures, then and now.

by Nick Tabor via The New Republic on February 4, 2022

African American man casting a ballot following the Fifteenth Amendment.

Echoes of 1891 in 2022

Using the congressional filibuster to prevent voting rights legislation isn't new. It has roots in the 19th century.

by Daniel W. Crofts via Muster on January 25, 2022

Ballots in sealed envelopes, in a plastic box with a sticker that reads "Vote NYC."

You Didn’t Always Have to Be a Citizen to Vote in America

The electorate has consistently changed over time as politicians seek to shape it in their favor.

by Rachel Michelle Gunter via Made By History on December 29, 2021

Gerrymandering's Surprising History and Uncertain Future

Both parties play the redistricting game, redrawing electoral boundaries to lock down power.

via Retro Report on October 18, 2021

National Park Services sign

The Roots of the Politicization of the National Parks Service

Understanding how the National Park Service Director is chosen is important for understanding the current state of our national parks system.

by Nick DeLuca via HNN on September 26, 2021

Man is being carried by a lot of people while sitting on a chair

What Made Gilded Age Politics So Acrimonious?

Fearful of increasing participation, elites of the era attempted to rein in democracy.

by Chris Lehmann via The New Republic on June 21, 2021

Cartoon of politicians arguing

The Gilded Age’s Democratic Contradictions

How the late 19th century’s raucous party system gave way to a sedate and exclusionary political culture that erected more and more barriers to participation.

by Eric Foner via The Nation on June 1, 2021

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).

House Republicans’ Leadership Fight Signals a New Direction

Leadership battles tell us a lot about where a party is headed.

by Zack C. Smith via Made By History on May 12, 2021

Sketch of late 19th century political rally in NYC

The Forgotten Precedent for Our ‘Unprecedented’ Political Insanity

The decades after the Civil War saw mass participation and mass outrage, followed by a period of orderly reform. What can we learn from that era today?

by Jon Grinspan via Politico Magazine on April 24, 2021

James Baker and Jimmy Carter.

Why Republicans Won’t Shut Up About a 16-Year-Old Bipartisan Report on Election Reform

The Carter-Baker report was intended to strengthen Americans’ trust in the electoral process. It’s become a weapon for right-wing attacks on voting rights.

by Matt Ford via The New Republic on March 10, 2021

Rudy Giuliani and a graphic that says "multiple pathways to victory."

Disenfranchisement: An American Tradition

Invoking the specter of voter fraud to undermine democratic participation is a tactic as old as the United States itself.

by Julilly Kohler-Hausmann via Dissent on January 10, 2021

Painting of “Polling Day” in Pennsylvania in the Colonies, date unknown.

“They Chase Specters”

The irrational, the political, and fear of elections in colonial Pennsylvania.

by J. L. Tomlin via Age of Revolutions on December 3, 2020

Photo of people protesting and demanding all votes are counted the day after Election Day at McPherson Square, near the White House.

President Trump’s False Claims About Election Fraud Are Dangerous

Trump’s campaign to delegitimize the vote has a familiar ring. It evokes an egregious example of election fraud in the 1890s.

by Sid Bedingfield via Made By History on November 5, 2020

Jill Lepore and the cover of her Book "If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future"

“We Don’t Want the Program”: On How Tech Can’t Fix Democracy

“Start-ups: they need philosophers, political theorists, historians, poets. Critics.”

by Jill Lepore, Danah Boyd via Public Books on November 2, 2020

Poll Watchers and the Long History of Voter Intimidation

President Trump has called on supporters, including law enforcement officers, to monitor election sites. Voter intimidation tactics have a long history.

via Retro Report on November 1, 2020

Bush v. Gore: How a Recount Dispute Affects Voting Today

The controversy surrounding the 2000 presidential election led to sweeping voting reforms, but opened the door to a new set of problems still affecting us.

via Retro Report on October 19, 2020

Mail-in ballot in a mailbox.

Holding an Election During the Civil War Set the Standard for Us Today

On-time elections are a key part of ensuring the promise of American democracy.

by Jonathan W. White via Made By History on October 5, 2020

Contested Elections Can Unleash Violent White Supremacy. We Have Seen It Before.

Why President Trump’s refusal to commit to accepting the election results is so dangerous.

by Calvin Schermerhorn via Made By History on September 28, 2020

Salvador Allende during his inaugural parade, November 3, 1970 (photo credit: Naul Ojeda)

“Allende Wins”

Chile voted calmly to have a Marxist-Leninist state, the first nation in the world to make this choice freely and knowingly, on September 4, 1970.

by Peter Kornbluh via National Security Archive on September 3, 2020

Slavery Was Defeated Through Mass Politics

The overthrow of slavery in the US was a battle waged and won in the field of democratic mass politics; a battle that holds enormous lessons for radicals today.

by Matthew Karp via Jacobin on February 24, 2020

A Century of Reforms Made Iowa and New Hampshire Presidential Kingmakers

But did they backfire?

by Bruce J. Schulman via Made By History on February 3, 2020

America Is Now the Divided Republic the Framers Feared

John Adams worried that “a division of the republic into two great parties … is to be dreaded as the great political evil.”

by Lee Drutman via The Atlantic on January 2, 2020

Elections in Colonial America Were Huge, Booze-Fueled Parties

From rum to cakes to rowdy parades, election day was a time for gathering and celebration.

by Erin Blakemore via HISTORY on November 25, 2019

Map of 1796 presidential election electoral votes by state.

The Founders Knew That Foreign Interference in U.S. Elections was Dangerous

The origins of our efforts to keep foreign countries out of our elections.

by Jordan E. Taylor via Made By History on October 7, 2019

Rush Limbaugh sits next to Newt Gingrich during NBC's "Meet the Press" taping on Sunday Nov. 12, 1995.

They Just Wanted to Entertain

AM stations mainly wanted to keep listeners engaged—but ended up remaking the Republican Party.

by Brian Rosenwald via The Atlantic on August 21, 2019

John Lewis Krimmel's painting, "Election Day in Philadelphia" (1815).

Mapping the First Party System

Introducing a new digital history project focused on the ways Americans voted from 1788 to 1825.

by Lincoln Mullen via Mapping Early American Elections on May 13, 2019

Bernie Sanders

The Transformation of Bernie Sanders

How the Vermont senator went from a third-party independent to a 2020 frontrunner.

by Matthew Karp via The Nation on May 7, 2019

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