Defrauding the Broad Tirade of Election Fraud Cases Abroad
Hi everyone! Welcome to week 4 of my blog at IFES!
To no one’s surprise, I had another great week at IFES. Work on the database is progressing well (make sure to give it a look! You might learn some cool international election law trivia in the off-chance you’ll need it), and I’m well into briefing cases. This week has featured a general recurring theme of voting issues, both substantively and procedurally.
Substantively, electronic voting faces criticisms based on potential manipulability, access to data, security, and other similar issues. We have seen this in the U.S. in recent elections – 2016 and 2020 immediately come to mind – regarding our own electronic voting systems, so the topic is immediately familiar. While concerns of election fraud in the U.S. are far less sever here in the United States, more serious and real concerns exist outside our borders. Think back to only a few months ago, and we can find a clear example of likely vote manipulation. Here’s another claim of vote interference. Here’s another from my home state of Texas concerning the Mexican national elections. You get the idea – modern voting faces trust issues. As such, a large portion of my cases this week have focused on general distrust among the electorate in election results within countries that have corrupt governments and how courts rule in such environments. A recurring allegation in many of the complaints I’ve read is that the electronic software used to allow voters to submit a ballot had security flaws that allowed ruling party officials to alter results. Sadly, courts have struggled to address claims like these. Bringing an expert into court to authenticate electronic voting records sounds like the obvious solution, and it’s one that courts employ regularly. However, what happens when even those experts are corrupted? What if there is no authority to appeal to for clarity?
Procedurally, courts have also struggled with how to adjudicate cases concerning elections and fraud/manipulation therein. In 2022, Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga sued President-elect William Ruto over claims of fraud and election interference after Ruto won the election. The Court ultimately tossed out the petition and argued that the electronic evidence about the election that Odinga submitted to the court did not satisfy the standards set within Kenya’s Evidence Act for electronic evidence. While this might sound very minor (after all, shouldn’t we inherently want to treat evidence of a similar kind in a similar way?), the Court emphatically affirms that electronic evidence in election-related cases should conform to the same strict level of scrutiny that any other piece of electronic evidence would require; essentially, they have signaled that any frivolous election challenges that aren’t in good faith will not see the light of day.
While these may sound like simple truisms, it’s important to remember that more people are probably voting this year in a democratic election than at any point in human history, and we are actively watching legal principles and structures grow around developing democracies – both as I’m typing this blog, and as you’re (hopefully) reading it. New laws, standards, norms, and institutions are both developing and eroding in real time, and it’s surreal to watch as it happens.
Finally, one more thing that’s exciting – next week, we figure out the results of the lar journal competition our class participated in after the end of 1L finals! For those unfamiliar, law students have the opportunity to serve on law journals within their law school. These are scholarly publications consisting of articles written by legal academics and practitioners, and we as law students get to contribute to the process through proofreading, selecting articles, and even publishing our own notes on legal topics of interest. Personally, I’m hoping to get onto a journal that provides me the opportunity to explore my interests in election law, political law, and adjacent topics. Fingers crossed and hoping for the best!
Until next week,
Hank