I attended the Securing the Vote Talk where it sparked my interest in election fraud. It reminded me of a Netflix documentary I watched on how big data is affecting the world that we live in, in particular how it influenced the last presidential election. There was a company in England named Cambridge Analytica that manipulated the American population into voting for Trump. This company used user data from Facebook, in order to determine the personalities of the American population. It then used this to cater information to the public that fed on their weaknesses. This was proved to be unethical, which caused Cambridge Analytica to be shut down. However, what Cambridge Analytica did in the presidential election just shows how corrupt the world can be, especially now that technology and data on millions of users is readily available to people. This makes is an alarming weapon that anyone can use. This made be wonder if technology continues to increase and the amount of data that is available then how are we going to be able to ensure that the presidential elections are not corrupt. It places us in a very scary world where we need to be careful of the information that we are receiving from the internet.

In 2000, George Bush won the presidential election by a couple thousands of votes. I knew that this election was very close, but I did not know that 6 million votes were lost. Voting is a pillar of the American democracy, yet many aspects of the voting system seem undemocratic. There are confusing ballots that can cause someone to vote for a different candidate, gerrymandered maps that can benefit a specific party (although this is improving), and poor technology that can distort the polls. I also find it hard to believe that there are still some parts of the country where votes are counted by humans. Imagine a poll worker forgetting to count your vote. Charles Steward and Stephen Ansolabehere’s discussion on voting rights issues was very eye-opening. Since the 2000 election, thankfully, the number of lost votes has reduced to around 3 million (roughly half of what it was in 2000). There is still a long way to go,  but technological advancements have greatly helped secure more votes.

Professor Ansolabehere made an interesting point that mandatory voting would benefit my generation the most (people ages 18-24). I cannot believe that my age group is under-represented. Young people should be the most active in politics because the policies politicians implement today will have the greatest impact on my generation and future generations.

As the next election approaches, I strongly encourage everyone to vote.

On Wednesday, I attended the presentation about the voting rights issue by Professor Absolabehere from Harvard and Professor Stewart from MIT. I was surprised that our right to vote has been jeopardized even though we are in a democracy country. Professor Stewart gave an example of the 2000 election in Florida, where many of the Americans’ votes were lost during the voting process. This issue of election frauds stands out to me because I thought the voting process in the United States has always been fair. This reminds me of the voting process in the country where I was brought up, Malaysia. During the 2014 election, there is a blackout during the vote-counting process. Some argue there was an attempt to vote tampering causing the national party to win the election. I felt disappointed because there are many cheating going on, and sometimes your right to vote doesn’t seem like it is your right anymore. However, Professor Steward and Professor Absolabehere gave me a new perspective of what we all can do to secure the vote. I learned that voting is important, as I have always taken it for granted. For the upcoming election, I will exercise my right to vote and expand it for others.

With the upcoming presidential elections being a highly prevalent topic in today’s current events, Professor Stewart of MIT and Professor Ansolabehere of Harvard gave a talk Wednesday evening on the effectiveness of the ballot system as well as discrepancies in voter turnout geographically and by socioeconomic status. Their goal was to discuss the importance of “securing the vote” in the upcoming 2020 presidential election, and they provided interdisciplinary research to explain the flaws in America’s voting system.

Professor Stewart spoke first on the effectiveness of the ballot system. He described the different methods utilized by different states to cast ballots (e.g., paper ballots, electronic voting systems, etc.) and explained the pros and cons to both. In the past, several million ballots in major elections were lost, and he detailed the research that a team of MIT political scientists, engineers, economists, and other professionals found in order to increase the efficiency and efficacy of the voting system in America so that more individuals are represented by their cast votes with reductions in error. Professor Ansolabehere spoke next on the geographic and socioeconomic inequalities that result in inconsistent voter turnout across the nation. He outlined the role of redistricting and gerrymandering in voter turnout as well as public access to the vote. With current voter identification laws, he described how areas with greater poverty levels generally have lower voter turnout, as many individuals of the lower class tend to have less access to voter registration, which inhibits their ability to vote.

Overall, I thought this talk was very interesting, as political discussions in which I’ve previously been involved have not touched upon the logistics of ballot security, election fraud, or access to the vote. As a part of a democratic system, I consciously do not take my right to vote for granted and I make every effort to get out and vote during elections. When I think about these rights of mine, I think about the social progress that we as a nation have made over the years that have allowed more people to vote by expanding the pool of eligibility to 18 year olds, women, and people of all races and ethnicities. I have not, however, considered my right to vote as a privilege in terms of my access to the vote or the underlying logistics that allow me the ability to vote to begin with. This talk has certainly provided me with a new perspective on what it means to have the right to vote.

I attended the Securing the Vote presentation in Call Auditorium on Wednesday 11/6. It was a very fascinating presentation where scholars Charles Stewart III and Stephen Ansolabehere presented on the voting process in American democracy. It was fascinating to hear Dr. Stewart speak first, where he analyzed the political environment of our country qualitatively and presented graphs and numbers corresponding to the voting methods used throughout the country. It was interesting to hear him phrase the 2000 election as a turning point where political scientists realized the voting methods across America needed reform. In contrast, Dr. Ansolabehere focused on voter right issues and described his experiences in court cases. He used a qualitative approach, rather than a quantitative approach and spoke of the cases he had worked on over the past several years.

Both professors presented on the same general topic – yet they did so in completely different ways. It was especially fascinating to see how their approaches were juxtaposed when they presented one after the other. I find it inspiring how you can study the same issue in many different ways. This was especially exemplified in the question-and-answer session where the professors would both respond to a question with different opinions, citing different evidence and looking at the issue from a different point of view. Their responses to a question about mandatory voting is a perfect example. In all, I enjoyed their presentations about the democracy of America and securing the vote. I loved how their different perspectives by which they tackled the same issue were on display – a true sign of democracy!

This Wednesday, I went to the Securing the Vote event, hosted at Kennedy Hall by professors Charles Stewart and Stephen Ansolabehere. At this event, we discussed whether or not the right to vote in American society was in jeopardy, and how problems were currently being addressed For example, I learned that, prior to 2000, 4-6 million out of the 100 million or so American votes would be be lost, and would simply not be counted. Even though I knew that technology was not as advanced back then, I was shocked. The idea that voting, considered a fundamental American right, was simply not registering for millions of people made no sense. Since then, there have been attempts to remedy these incidents, and while they have significantly reduced this harm, the fact that it still exists is nonetheless surprising.

After this, we went over how certain groups are being disenfranchised from the voting process, such as gerrymandering and Voter ID laws. While I was already vaguely familiar with both concepts, I was very interested by the professors’ views on how they will proceed in the near future. For example, they predicted that, over the next few years, gerrymandering would be remedied by State Supreme Courts, as the US Supreme Court does not want to step in. Meanwhile, I learned that Voter ID laws disproportionately impact minorities, as the forms of ID that are accepted tend to be those that minorities would not have.

All of this made me consider my right to vote, a right I have often taken for granted. Despite living in a democracy, supposedly of, by, and for the people, millions are left without this right. Therefore, I must use this right to vote for policies that expand this right to others. I must use my power as a democratic citizen to bring those less fortunate than I am into the national discussion.

To learn that 2016 was quite possibly the best run election in this nation’s history took me by surprise: after all, quite a bit of fuss was made over Russian interference, social media’s role in the election, etc. However, instead of discounting these issues as trivial, the lecturers emphasized just how significant election problems have been in the past, especially within the past two decades. The kerfuffle in Florida with the 2000 election is common knowledge, with much ado having been made over confusing butterfly ballots and uncounted absentee ballots. However, this talk made it evident that Florida’s election issues didn’t exist in a vacuum. One could see that a nationwide election issue existed just by looking at a map showing the different voting methods in different states, which is exactly what we were presented with. It was striking just how divided our country was in that respect; some states used paper ballots, some used lever machines, and others used punched cards, just to name a few methods.

Thankfully, as a country we’ve drastically improved in uniformity of voting machines, among other things. While the odds of having “lost votes” in an election have generally decreased, barriers such as voter registration issues, long waits at polling places, and a lack of political enthusiasm demonstrate that we still have a long way to go. An interesting idea that I’d never thought of or been made aware of was the idea of handing out fines for not voting. This topic came up during the Q&A session at the end, and it actually revealed a difference in opinions between Professor Ansolabehere and Professor Stewart. While I’m not entirely sure what I think of the idea, it certainly gave me something to think about.

I think that previous sentence sums up the talk’s impact on me: we discussed many topics that I could spend all day pondering. As I become more politically active and opinionated (as one does) I’ll be sure to keep in mind the new perspectives that this talk has given me.

Today in Kennedy hall, the presentation given by the political scientists was spectacular. It made me think about the voting system like never before. What stood out to me the most was the point on election frauds and how impactful they can be on changing the course of an election. Coming from India, where corruption is well known, I myself in my childhood have read countless stories where many politicians have bribed external organisations to deliberately interfere in the election process to manipulate their votes and raise their chances of getting elected. This has led to a lot of instability in places in India as well as riots and it just shows to me once again how important it is for a higher authority to make sure the process always remains fair.