What Happened to the "Torch of Liberty": Russia's Lessons to Learn From 3 November 2020

Electoral Politics electronic Journal; Vol 3 Issue 1(5), Jan. 2021.

18 Pages Posted: 4 Sep 2021

See all articles by Sergei Zhavoronkov

Sergei Zhavoronkov

Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy

Alexei Kassian

Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences; School for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, RANEPA

Konstantin Yanovskiy

Shomron Center for Economic Policy Research

Date Written: September 2, 2021

Abstract

The article provides an overview of the issues of the 2020 US presidential election, which were an encouraging signal to dictators of the world. The mass removal of observers from one party from the premises where the votes were counted resembles a familiar sight from the elections in Russia. The widespread introduction of regulations that obviously facilitate electoral fraud on the pretext of "facilitating" the turnout of very small extra groups of voters jeopardizes the certainty of the outcome of the choice made by all other voters. Mass postal voting with an unprecedented low percentage of rejected ballots, voting without identification cards, ballots collected by unofficial collectors – these and other novelties are now proposed to be established as a federal standard. Federal election law is expected to include mandatory federal campaign funding, as well as provisions that are poorly compatible with First Amendment law. Large-scale radical federal intervention in electoral law is unprecedented in US history and breaks with a respected tradition of high state autonomy. All of these measures are accompanied by actions that disappoint the friends of the United States and openly aim to break from the legacy left by the founding fathers of the Great Republic.

Keywords: USA, observers, freedom of speech, postal voting, voting without identification cards, signal to dictators, electoral fraud, elections

JEL Classification: D72, D73, D78

Suggested Citation

Zhavoronkov, Sergei and Kassian, Alexei and Yanovskiy, Konstantin (Moshe), What Happened to the "Torch of Liberty": Russia's Lessons to Learn From 3 November 2020 (September 2, 2021). Electoral Politics electronic Journal; Vol 3 Issue 1(5), Jan. 2021. , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3916411

Sergei Zhavoronkov

Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy ( email )

3-5 Gazetny Lane
Moscow, 125009
Russia

Alexei Kassian

Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences ( email )

Bolshoy Kislovskiy pereulok, 1/12
Moscow, 125009
Russia

School for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, RANEPA ( email )

Vernadskogo Prospect 82
Sredny av. V.O., 57/43
Moscow, St. Petersburg 119571
Russia

Konstantin (Moshe) Yanovskiy (Contact Author)

Shomron Center for Economic Policy Research ( email )

Kley Shir 8
Karney Shomron, 44855

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