This year WhoWhatWhy spent considerable resources shining a light on election vulnerabilities, and how bad actors both foreign and domestic are trying to undermine our most precious resource, democracy. We think some of these outstanding pieces deserve a second look.
Opinion: Millions of Americans are voting on hackable machines with no paper trail. Cyber systems are wide open to attack. It’s time for election officials to take their security and privacy responsibilities seriously.
Whistleblower and former NSA contractor Reality Winner exposed attempts by Russian military officers to hack US elections. This week she was sentenced to over five years in federal prison.
With the midterms now less than 100 days away, here is a reminder of why elections are important and why every vote matters.
If the Democrats want to win control of the House in the fall, they need to have a plan, a positive vision, and a focus on issues that directly affect Americans. Not surprisingly, they are failing on all fronts.
Voters should be able to choose their lawmakers. Yet, in North Carolina, a crucial swing state, lawmakers have repeatedly made calculated efforts to choose their voters.
Forget Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Jill Stein. This recount isn’t about them, it’s about you. It’s about shedding a little light on a process that is needlessly and absurdly opaque. A Gallup poll released in November shows that 69% of Americans lack confidence in the “honesty of the election.” That’s up 30% from 2009. Read More
Republicans control 25 out of 50 Attorneys General, 31 out of 50 Secretaries of State, and 69 out of 99 State Legislative bodies. This shaped the election — and it might be shaping the recount.
Manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency is a canker at the heart of the political system.
New ultra-precise mapping software is taking the practice of gerrymandering to levels never before imagined and, in so doing, is making elections irrelevant.
Funny and frightfully true observations on elections, politicians, and voters, by such characters as George Carlin, Jon Stewart, Woody Allen, P.J. O’Rourke, and even Joseph Stalin. (A slightly shorter version was published by WhoWhatWhy last August.)
Gerrymandering is undermining democracy in America. Find out how both parties use this tactic to cling to power and take away the right of voters to choose their leaders.
JFK was the first politician to recognize that the media image of a candidate, not his platform, determines who wins and who loses. Now candidates everywhere rely on that playbook.
Even in a close presidential race, candidates need only campaign in 10 “purple” states to optimize their chances of winning. So how healthy is this for our democracy?
In February, Iran will hold elections that could determine the country’s future — and the future of the rest of the world, especially that of the US.
Many jurisdictions across the country are using election equipment that is completely outdated and experts believe that this will lead to large problems on Election Day.
Sharp comments about those circuses known as “elections.”
Lawyers, money and enforcement are an ever growing part of elections in America. A new set of rules now prevail. Issues such as campaign finance, voting rights, voter ID, electronic voting and ballot access itself are now debatable parts of voting in America.
The latest campaign cash tally demonstrates a disturbing trend—the 2014 vote drew the biggest haul in history. Yet the number of donors fell, meaning a smaller, richer group of people is giving the most. Curt Hopkins looks at the numbers.
If you have trouble figuring out how the presidential nominees are substantively different on the great issues of our time, you’re not necessarily dense. The system as it currently operates encourages candidates and campaigns that hew to the unremarkable and the disappointing.