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One symptom of significant issues in the U.S. democratic republic is election fraud. Harper's ran an article within the past year documenting election fraud in the last two presidential elections and arguing why the democrats haven't done anything about it. Another essay here on Helium points out that election fraud is neither new nor limited to one political party. Nor, would I argue, is election fraud the main reason to not trust election results. Election fraud however has ultimate causes that raise questions about the democratic nature of the U.S. These include, but are not limited to, the influence of money on election and the role of parties in limiting the range of candidates available to voters (particularly within a two party system). Of these two, money is the more likely to lead to vote rigging.

We may want to believe that everyone could run for president, or at least congressman, or perhaps city council. At local levels of government it's even possible for individuals who are not affiliated with a particular party and who don't have strong financial backing to successfully run for office, but even at that only for smaller units of government and not likely for larger municipalities. Still, if one wants to make a run for state office and certainly for federal office, one has to have access to money and to the political apparatus of one of the major parties.

The fact that money is so much a part of our election and re-election process has newly elected officials beginning their fund raising for re-election within weeks or even days of taking office. The influence of money invites corruption, or at least favors that might technically be legal (such as access and information sharing). Money also plays a role in the motivation for office. It's not just the salary, but the ability to sell one's experience, expertise, influence, and access to power to institutionswhether consulting firms, lobbying organizations, universities, private corporations, law firms, or think tanks.

We have seen from the last two presidential elections and the resulting awarding of no-bid contracts to friends and colleagues of the vice-president and president that money has a wider influence than on the office holder alone. Donors, friends, colleagues, supporters all stand to benefit from the spreading green dye of cash. This provides one reason, across ideologies and party lines, for tainting the outcomes of elections through unethical or illegal campaign tactics, such as vote rigging.

Learn more about this author, Michael Deqel.
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