Election Meltdown

Election law expert Richard Hasen talks about what new challenges coronavirus poses to the 2020 elections

Tune into a virtual book talk, held on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, with Richard Hasen, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine — and author of “Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy.” Ash Center Democracy Fellow Tova Wang moderates.

Written before the current coronavirus pandemic, Election Meltdown has taken on an even deeper meaning. Hasen talks about the major new challenges the virus is creating for the elections of 2020 and what election officials can do, all on top of the significant issues revealed in the 2016 and 2018 elections. These include efforts at voter suppression, incompetence in administration, and of course the vulnerability of US election systems to foreign interventions of misinformation and cyberattacks. All of these affect the critical issue of Americans having trust in our democratic system, and Hasen has a wide and deep knowledge to bring to this discussion.