Electoral Corruption

Introduction and background Elections are the keystone of democracy as we know it, but the spectre of corruption and manipulation hangs over all electoral processes. For as long as elections have been held, they have been subject to efforts to corrupt them. Vote-buying and fraud were features of elections in ancient Athens and Sparta two and a half thousand years ago (Staveley, 1972: chap. 5) as well as in early modern elections across the world (Posada-Carbó, 1996; 2000), and the same problems haunt electoral conduct in virtually all contemporary states. Moreover, there is evidence to suggest that electoral corruption may be growing as a problem. Not so many decades ago, many of the world‟s most authoritarian states refrained from holding elections at all, whereas in the post-Cold War world, changes in value systems and the forces of globalisation have made it increasingly difficult for states to resist the pressure at least to pay lip service to democracy. Consequently, many more states have begun to hold elections, though the quality of electoral conduct in a number of them leaves much to be desired. Before embarking on a review of the scholarly literature on this topic, it is necessary to provide a brief consideration of what is meant by the term „electoral corruption‟ and what types of activities are collected under this rubric. The phenomenon here termed „electoral corruption‟ goes by a number of names: electoral malpractice, electoral misconduct, electoral malfeasance, electoral fraud, and electoral manipulation. These terms will be used interchangeably in the present analysis. The defining feature of this activity is that it involves the abuse of electoral institutions for personal or political gain. Electoral corruption can be broken down for the sake of convenience into three types according to object: the manipulation of rules (the legal framework), the manipulation of voters (preference-formation and expression) and the manipulation of voting (electoral administration) (see also Birch, 2009). The manipulation of rules involves the distortion of electoral laws so as to benefit one party or contestant in an election. Electoral rules are manipulated to some extent in virtually all states, democratic or otherwise, but electoral rule manipulation can be classified as a form of electoral corruption when it seriously distorts the level playing field subtending elections, as, for example, when the rules governing candidacy prevent certain political forces from contesting elections, or when large sectors of the adult population are excluded from the franchise. This survey of electoral corruption provides an overview of the phenomenon, including a summary of the scholarly research on the topic and an assessment of the relevance of research findings for the practitioner community. The paper is grounded on the assumption that elections are the keystone of modern democracy, and that understanding electoral corruption and addressing its main causes can improve electoral integrity around the world

A boundary allocation entailing more competitive results would not necessarily be more ‘political’, but it would be more democratic.

A recent post by Ron Johnston, Charles Pattie and David Rossiter objected to an idea published in the IPPR Democracy Commission which suggested that the UK Boundary Commission should take a more active role in creating ‘competitive’ constituencies on the grounds that it would politicise the neutral process by which boundaries are decided. Here, the author of the IPPR piece Sarah Birch responds to their critique, arguing that creating more competitive results would be good for democracy

Voter engagement, electoral inequality and first time compulsory voting

This paper reviews the problem of declining turnout and proposes as a solution a system whereby each elector would be legally obliged to vote in the first election for which they were eligible. Popular attitudes toward first-time compulsory voting are measured and probed by means of UK data. The main findings of the paper are that first-time compulsory voting is a politically and administratively feasible proposal that appears tentatively to command popular support and has the potential to help address a number of the problems associated with declining turnout, and in particularly low rates of electoral participation among younger citizens

‘Post-truth’ politics are a debasement of standards in public life

Verbal dexterity, inconsistency and ‘spin’ are part and parcel of normal politics but the exaggerations and distortions of the EU referendum campaign has led to concerns about ‘post-truth’ politics. Nicholas Allen and Sarah Birch write there is a need for someone to provide a moral lead, and argue the Committee for Standards in Public Life could play a valuable role by establishing some relevant basic markers

The Rochester by-election highlights a pervasive ‘anti-politics’ mood in the UK

The result in the Rochester and Strood by-election makes clear that many are looking to Westminster and venting their dissatisfaction with what they perceive to be a distant, unresponsive and dishonest political class. The anger underpinning UKIP support is a product of the particular performance of the governing and opposition parties’ in the current economic climate as well as the perceived failings with mainstream politics more generally, argue Nicholas Allen and Sarah Birch

A vicious cycle of apathy and neglect: young citizens and the power gap

It is well known that the number of people neglecting to turn out at elections is on the increase. It is also firmly established that non-voters tend, on the whole, to be younger than the population at large. This non-participation in electoral life increasingly problematic for representative democracy as a whole. In an extract from a new Democratic Audit publication, Guy Lodge, Glenn Gottfried, and Sarah Birch vividly illustrate the growing power gap between young and old

If the divide between politicians and the public is to be bridged, we need better understanding on both sides

Over recent years, the relationship between members of the public and the democratic process has fallen into serious disrepair. To an extent, this is to do with perceptions of the ethics of politicians, but it is also to do with politicians communications techniques, particularly in interviews. Sarah Birch and Nicholas Allen argue that a greater degree of understanding is required on both sides of the divide if the problem is to be overcome

Ending the vicious cycle: compulsory turn-out for first time voters

Democratic disengagement amongst young people in on the rise, with research in a new Democratic Audit publication showing the scale of the problem. Here, Guy Lodge, Glenn Gottfried, and Sarah Birch make the case for compulsory turnout amongst first-time eligible voters, which would help to redress the power gap between younger and older citizens

Longitudinal Development of Refractive Error in Children With Accommodative Esotropia: Onset, Amblyopia, and Anisometropia.

Purpose: We investigated longitudinal changes of refractive error in children with accommodative esotropia (ET) throughout the first 12 years of life, its dependence on age at onset of ET, and whether amblyopia or anisometropia are associated with defective emmetropization. Methods: Longitudinal refractive errors in children with accommodative ET were analyzed retrospectively. Eligibility criteria included: initial hyperopia ≥+4.00 diopters (D), initial cycloplegic refraction before 4 years, at least 3 visits, and at least one visit between 7 and 12 years. Children were classified as having infantile (N = 30; onset ≤12 months) or late-onset (N = 78; onset at 18–48 months) accommodative ET. Cycloplegic refractions culled from medical records were converted into spherical equivalent (SEQ). Results: Although the initial visit right eye SEQ was similar for the infantile and late-onset groups (+5.86 ± 1.28 and +5.67 ± 1.26 D, respectively), there were different developmental changes in refractive error. Neither group had a significant decrease in hyperopia before age 7 years, but after 7 years, the infantile group experienced a myopic shift of −0.43 D/y. The late-onset group did not experience a myopic shift at 7 to 12 years. Among amblyopic children, a slower myopic shift was observed for the amblyopic eye. Among anisometropic children, the more hyperopic eye experienced more myopic shift than the less hyperopic eye. Conclusions: Children with infantile accommodative ET experienced prolonged hyperopia followed by a myopic shift after 7 years of age, consistent with dissociation between infantile emmetropization and school age myopic shift. In contrast, children with late-onset accommodative ET had little myopic shift before or after 7 years

Votes at 16: what the UK can learn from Austria, Norway and the Crown dependencies

Implementing the proposal in Ed Miliband’s party conference speech to lower the voting age would make Britain one of only a few countries to allow 16 year olds to vote. In this post, Democratic Audit asks leading democracy experts to share findings from nations that have introduced this change, focusing especially on Austria, Norway and, from closer to home, a number of the UK’s Crown dependencies