US electoral system flaws
The US government often casts itself in the role of the protector of “democracy and freedom” around the world. Those two themes have been used frequently in some of the rationales behind the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. And most recently Russia has come under fire for problems in its democratic system. But is the US’s own system itself beyond reproach? The two most recent presidential elections were marred by allegations of lost votes and voters being arbitrarily struck the electoral roll. In the November 2004 poll in particular some voting stations lacked enough voting machines, leading to long queues and in some cases people just not being able to cast a ballot. In other states, electronic voting systems failed to count all the votes. In the swinging state of Ohio, some observers have suggested that thousands of voters may have been denied their vote due to these flaws in the system. But the question is, is the system likely to be fixed before the next presidential election?