October 23, 2020

Neither Free Nor Fair? Kevin Johnson: Election Calm or Chaos?

https://soundcloud.com/political-economy-forum-at-university-of-washington/9-kevin-johnson-election-calm-or-chaos?in=political-economy-forum-at-university-of-washington/sets/neither-free-nor-fair

Guest: Kevin Johnson, Executive Director of the Election Reformers Network, senior member of the US Election Expert Team at the Carter Center; member of Advisory Boards of Fairvote, Issue One, and Voter Choice Massachusetts.

James is joined by Kevin Johnson. Kevin is the Executive Director and Founder of the Election Reformers Network and a senior member of the US Election Expert Team headed by the Carter Center. He has 20 years’ experience in election reform programming in the US and abroad, and Kevin is on the Advisory Boards of Fairvote, Issue One, and Voter Choice Massachusetts. Kevin has also observed elections in the West Bank & Gaza, Indonesia, and sub-Saharan Africa with the National Democratic Institute. Kevin is the CEO of Liberty Global Partners, an investment advisory firm he co-founded in 2002 that focuses on venture capital and private equity in emerging markets.

In the first of a two-part episode, Kevin and James discuss why most citizens should remain calm about this election because the fundamentals are strong; the threats that could still cause uncertainty in the process and count; what happens with the Electoral College in December and the inauguration in January; voter suppression; and why international election observation is playing a role domestically in this election.

Other related work mentioned in the podcast:

Kevin’s recent presentation at The Carter Center on electoral integrity.

The Roman Emperor giving the thumbs up or down like Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator.

Barton Gellman in The Atlantic on whether this election will “break America.”

Kevin and Yuval Levin’s op-ed in the Washington Post where they discuss “how to avoid chaos in this election,” including moving the “safe harbor” date and electoral college date back a few weeks in December.

Daniel Tokaji’s work on election law and reform.

Jason Carter and David Carroll’s op-ed on The Carter Center’s observation of the US election.

James’s Rob Zombie reference to describe risks to the election.

[Correction: James mistakenly referred to the 1992 election in Zambia where Kenneth Kaunda lost; the election was in 1991.]