Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Harvard Study Says Michigan Elections Less Democratic Than Cuba, North Korea, Iran

Harvard Study Says Michigan Elections Less Democratic Than Cuba, North Korea, Iran [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
"A former head of the Federal Elections Commission says an academic study on elections that recently made national news is “absurd” and subjective.
The study ranked Michigan’s elections as less democratic than those of Cuba, Iran and North Korea. It reports the perceptions of 726 election experts about the electoral integrity — or how ethical the democratic process is — in each state.
Michigan is one of several states that is ranked lower than some authoritarian countries.
Michigan’s Perception of Electoral Integrity index score, which the project complied by using survey methods and 49 measurements, was 57 out of 100.
The Great Lakes State was ranked ahead of ten other states, including Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
...“The criteria is subjective, and often ideological highly contested — for example, U.S. scores were lowered in the latest survey because of recent deregulation of the campaign finance in the United States — even though those who have argued for such deregulation believe it is a huge plus for democracy,” Smith continued..."

No comments: