How Disputed Elections Have Changed American Democracy

 

President Donald Trump¹ is not the first candidate to dispute the results of a U.S. presidential election. The United States has had several highly contested elections in the past. Here are a few of them.

Voting machines

The disputed presidential election of 2000 led to changes to voting systems in many states across the country. Republican George W. Bush and Democrat² Al Gore³ were the two main candidates.

The dispute over votes centered on a few counties in the state of Florida. After legal action by both sides, the result was decided⁴ by the U.S. Supreme⁵ Court on December 12, 2000. Gore lost the election although his supporters note that he won the popular vote.

The United States elects presidents through a system called the Electoral College. That system gives each state a certain number of votes. A candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes to gain the presidency⁶.

Robert Speel is a professor of political science at Penn State University in Erie, Pennsylvania. He said that in 2000 much of the United States used a punch card ballot⁷ system using mechanical voting machines.

Speel said: "...Unknown to most Americans, every year thousands of ballots⁸ were getting thrown out because that punch card system was malfunctioning⁹ and also was confusing voters."

"Election officials knew that and hadn't told anyone and it didn't become public until that election," he said. Speel went on to say that the election of 2000 led to more modern voting systems being used in the United States. That led to the end of the punch card in the United States and Americans now use more modern voting systems."

Alexander Cohen is an assistant professor of political science at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. He said, "Al Gore had an opportunity to question the legitimacy¹⁰ of some of those votes."

However, Cohen argued that Gore "...chose not to because it would be damaging to democracy to keep fighting."

The election of 1960

The 1960 presidential election between Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon also was notable for accusations¹¹ of cheating. Republicans suspected that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley provided just enough votes to give Kennedy the state of Illinois and the presidency. There also were questions about voting numbers in several other states. After considering it, Nixon decided not to seek court action.

"There's some evidence to suggest again that Nixon didn't want to make things that divisive," said Cohen.

The election of 1876

Some historians say that the 1876 contested election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden had long-term bad results. They say the deal to settle the election resulted in discriminatory laws in the American South that hurt Black Americans.

That year, both parties claimed they had won a majority in the Electoral College. The election was decided by the U.S. House of Representatives, as the U.S. Constitution provides.

The Democratic Party was the majority party in the South during the Civil War, which ended in 1865. Democratic lawmakers eventually conceded to Republican lawmakers in exchange for a withdrawal¹² of Union forces from the South. Hayes was then elected president. But, historians say the Union forces were also protecting the civil rights of the former slaves. In the years that followed, they say, discriminatory laws that separated the races were put in place in the South.

Penn State University's Speel said: "Very quickly the political leaders who had been leading in the South before the American Civil War and who had supported slavery, again rose to the top and began dominating politics again in the South."

He said that led to the loss of almost all political and social rights for African Americans.

Cohen blames Congress for permitting this to happen. "How do you quantify the loss of lives, and the pain...that came from that decision?" said Cohen.

Secret ballots

The election of 1888 was marked by accusations of buying votes or bribing¹³ voters. Democrat incumbent¹⁴ Grover Cleveland faced Republican Benjamin Harrison in that election.

In those days, ballots were given out by the political parties. Some votes were taken publicly. Some people, known as floaters, sold their votes to whoever would pay the most.

A letter sent by the Republican National Committee told party workers to divide voters into groups of five. They were told to pay them to vote for the Republican candidate. The resulting situation led to the end of public ballots.

"That particular election, in which there were widespread accusations of corruption¹⁵, led to the adoption¹⁶ of the secret ballot nationwide where Americans now vote privately¹⁷ without people knowing how they vote," Speel said.

The process of voting in the country

Cohen looks to the failure of democracies in Latin America and Africa when considering the effects of questioning the integrity of voting.

Cohen said people have to believe that the political system is fair and that their votes matter for democracy to succeed.

Cohen went on to say that: "...Once you take the position that our votes don't count because there are so many other fraudulent votes out there, you're inspiring people to revolt because you're...arguing that democracy isn't working."

Cohen said that, so far in the 2020 election, he does not see that any lasting¹⁸ damage has been done to American democracy.

"We still have rule of law. We still follow the rule of law and ... so far the [Trump] campaign is following the rule of law," he said. "They're asking specific things from judges, and the states seem to be behaving as well."

Words in This Story

punch card – n. a card with holes that has been punched in different positions to represent information, once used widely as a way to capture voting information

malfunctioning –v. to fail to work properly

confuse – v. to be unsure or unable to understand something

legitimacy –n. permitted according to law or rules

concede –v. to admit defeat

adoption –n. to begin to officially accept or approve something

fraudulent –adj. done to trick someone or many people to get something valuable

inspire – v. to cause something to happen or to cause people to want to do something

integrity – n. the quality of being honest and fair

specific –n. clearly and exactly presented or stated

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

6 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

7 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

8 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 malfunctioning   

出故障

参考例句：

• But something was malfunctioning in the equipment due to human error. 但由于人为的错误，设备发生故障了。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• Choke coils are useful for prevention of malfunctioning electronic equipment. 扼流圈对于防止电器设备的故障很有帮助。 来自互联网

10 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

11 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

12 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

13 bribing   

贿赂

参考例句：

• He tried to escape by bribing the guard. 他企图贿赂警卫而逃走。
• Always a new way of bribing unknown and maybe nonexistent forces. 总是用诸如此类的新方法来讨好那不知名的、甚或根本不存在的魔力。 来自英汉非文学 - 科幻

14 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

15 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

16 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

17 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

18 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。