Introduction
The main aim of this article is to present an analysis of an artifact. Specifically, this paper focuses on a The Washington Post national correspondent Philip Bump's opinion regarding the American 2016 elections' fairness. The area of interest of discussion is whether the American elections are fair, and as such, the topics of interest are American electoral process and fraud, what does constitute a free and fair election in America, and a look at the arguments for fair and unfair elections. Free, fair, and transparent elections are the building blocks of every healthy democracy globally, ensuring that the governing authority is derived from the people's will. However, for the voters to have the confidence that their election was genuinely transparent, free, and fair, they need to get assurance that the election process and the polling is adequately managed. Some of the common features of transparent, free, transparent, and fair elections include a society that promoted citizens to vote, giving space for several political parties to campaign and participate in the elections freely, and flourishing civil society and independent media. A free and fair election process that fosters democracy has a strong judiciary that can act impartially.
The Artifact
In the essay, I analyze Philip Bump's artifact " There have been just four documented cases of voter fraud in the 2016 election ." The article presents a discussion regarding the 2016 electoral fraud. The article is based on the fact that during the 2016 general elections, majority of the republicans believed that the elections were not free and fair. This article targets the American voter who both believe in the American elections being free and fair or elections being fraudulent. The article aims at convincing the world that despite the republicans believing the American elections were not 'free and fair', there was no evidence indicating fraud in the election.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Literature Review
American Electoral Process and Fraud
The American electoral process and fraud allegation debate is a fairly common one in almost every sector, including social media, the traditional media, and academic spheres. The media, including BBC, national TVs, and social media, has predominantly driven this debate based on allegations, comments, and investigations from the appropriate authorities. This paper has chosen academics as an authoritative source of discourse. Academic references are likely to give more credible insights into the real phenomena surrounding electoral processes' correct position in American democracy. Therefore, this paper presents four scholarly sources from different databases, including journals, Science Direct, and ProQuest. To look into the two sides of the argument, those suggesting that elections were free and fair and those against this argument, this essay has selected four articles, two for the 'free and fair' argument and two against the 'not free and fair' argument.
In his literary works, Cottrell et al.' examines the American 2016 electoral process. Cottrell et al. investigate the subject of whether the allegations by President Donald Trump that the 2016 Presidential elections involved massive voter fraud was real or not. The authors note that Trump, the Republican candidate for the American presidency who later became the 45 th president, repeatedly claimed that the General Elections were characterized by voter fraud. Cottrell and his colleagues adopt the aggregated election statistical figures to investigate Trump's claims and shift attention to the non-citizens' population across the Americas, the state-specific claims targeted at New Hampshire, California, and Virginia election results timing. Consistent with the early research studies, this study did not uncover any scientific proof supporting President Trump's assertions regarding systemic fraud in the 2016 General Elections. From the research results, the authors' results mean that either there was never any fraud in the 2016 General Elections or that the elections were free of errors. However, the results undoubtedly reveal that the voter fraud issue strongly fronted by Trump and his partners is not grounded in any kinds of observable activity in the 2016 elections. His is a strong indication that the 2016 general elections were largely fraud-free.
Flanders investigates whether the 2016 elections were legitimate. Flanders begins by arguing that precisely one day after the US General Elections, on 10 th November 2016, the Americans woke up to discover that President Donald Trump was the legitimately elected candidate to take over the presidency. This news was a shock to most Americans and people worldwide simply because most almost all of the polls predicted that Hillary Clinton would be the next American president. Flanders argues that these polls were right in one sense: many people think Trump lost to Clinton in the popular General Elections. The author says that most people assume that Trump could have lost decisively by around 3 million votes. However, he goes ahead to explain that these were just people's thoughts and that this is not how the American democracy works, at least for the presidential elections, through the electoral college, and Trump had won that. Flanders argues that by examining the United States map, Trump had won the elections decisively; by winning the most states against Hillary Clinton, thirty to twenty, and the most electoral votes, 304 to 227.4, Trump becomes the legitimately elected president. The author argues that this represented a free and fair electoral US General Elections in 2016.
What Constitutes a Free and Fair Election?
The proponents argue that the American elections are free and fair because it respects the people's will. America is a country protected and guided by the constitution. It is democratic and allows political parties to freely campaign and participate in the elections ( More 34 ). On the other hand, the opponents argue that the American elections are not free and fair because the 2016 elections were marred with electoral process fraud. With Trump doubting the elections' credibility and the DHS alleging that a foreign government hacked election systems. The political processes and national elections are very important for effectively governing a country. They can be essential in advancing or setting back a nation's long-term democratic development and national and global foreign policy priorities.
The most critical and fundamental principle that defines credible, free, and fair elections is that they must reflect the free expression of the people's will. Everything else is based on this principle. To ensure the people's will be met in an election process, the elections need to be inclusive, transparent, and accountable. They also must be equal opportunities to compete in the elections for everybody. These are general principles, and they are buttressed by numerous electoral process-related obligations and several other primary rights and freedom, each of which are borrowed from international law. A free and fair election must periodically allow its citizen to vote in their leaders, including the president. A transparent electoral process must also allow political parties to campaign freely and independent media and civil society.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Arguments
The supporters of a Free and Fair American elections base their argument on the general American democracy principle that the country is founded on a democratic constitution that allows for a thriving environment for political parties that takes part in a democratic election where people vote, an independent and powerful judicial system and freedom for the civil society and the media. While this is the greatest strength of this argument, this is too general; there are small things but critical principles that inform a free and fair election. These school of thinkers goes ahead to argue that social media and traditional media houses played a critical opinion in changing the perceptions of the true voters' will. This argument is true because almost all the American 2016 election polls predicted Hillary Clinton's win, similar to the media houses and analysts. One author argues that the American voting system and democracy are not like other democracies. By Trump winning the most states against Hillary Clinton, this is decisive and must not be contested. However, the supporters of a truly democratic America do not base their argument on the fundamental principle of a free and fair election: the will of the people must be met. The researchers cannot give conclusive remarks regarding the hacking of election systems and the claim by Trump himself that the elections were fraudulently conducted.
The argument that the American election processes are not free and fair bases their argument on the fundamental principle of American democratic elections that is the will of the people in the 2016 General Elections, were not met. The people's will be not met because the DHS provided a clue that a foreign country hacked the systems and that Trump himself revealed that the elections were fraudulent. The only weakness of these claims is that there has never been concrete evidence to prove that Russia interfered with the American election process and democracy. Trump won the elections, and as such, the narrative that the elections were fraudulent was not followed up, and he has never given his proof. This could give a hint that should Trump have lost the elections, he would have rejected the results, unethical!
Conclusion
Well, America has been the champion of democracy and a model for other nations across the world. A free and fair election is based on whether the people's will be reflected on the ballot or not. Where the will of the people is not met, then the elections are not free and fair. The contention issue is determining whether the elections were truly marred or fraudulent, and the truth is, this has never come out clearly. But DHS had a significant claim that the foreign Government interfered in the American elections. As a precaution, it would be necessary to reform the American electoral process to ensure no foreign or local interference. The most outstanding argument of these is that the American electoral process is free and fair because of the constitution's environment, including political parties' participation, freedom for media and civil society, and the will of the people being met. There has never been a clear justification for stolen elections or a fraudulent election in the 2016 US General Elections, so it remains that the American elections are transparent, free, and fair.
Work Cited
Birch, S. (2008). Electoral institutions and popular confidence in electoral processes: A cross-national analysis. Electoral Studies : 305-320.
Bump p. (2016). “ There have been just four documented cases of voter fraud in the 2016
election.” The Washington Post. Accessed https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/01/0-000002-percent-of-all-the-ballots-cast-in-the-2016-election-were-fraudulent/
Cottrell, D., Michael C., and Sean J. (2018. An exploration of Donald Trump's allegations of massive voter fraud in the 2016 General Election. Electoral Studies 51: 123-142.
