What is it about?
The fragility of our electoral systems was revealed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter emphasizes the need to improve their resilience so that they can withstand any future crises (i.e. heat waves) and enable us to exercise our democratic right to vote within the necessary timeframe and despite any unforeseen difficulties.
Featured Image
Photo by Tiffany Tertipes on Unsplash
Why is it important?
In the world of climate crisis, geopolitical tensions and civic unrest, voting will become only more difficult for many social groups. The experience of conducting elections during the COVID-19 pandemic lets us learn from past mistakes and duplicate past successes, i.e. ensure that there are alternative voting methods to use for vulnerable citizens.
Perspectives
It is my hope that the need to provide alternative voting methods and secure infrastructure during elections will be noticed not just by researchers, but policy-makers as well. If we want to call our countries democratic, we need to make sure that every vulnerable citizen or group can exercise their right to vote even under unexpected dangerous circumstances. Crises will happen and it is up to us to learn from them and improve our electoral systems rather than hope for the best.
Piotr Walewicz
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Towards Resilient Electoral Systems, February 2024, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004690622_004.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
