How Worried Should We Be About the Midterm Elections?

About this episode

Many Americans are losing faith in elections. Proposed solutions from across the political spectrum to restore faith in the process — early voting, mail-in ballot restrictions and voter ID laws — seem to have the opposite effect. But lack of trust in elections is a symptom of a broader problem: America is living through an era of democratic dissatisfaction. That’s what the New York University law professor Richard Pildes argues on this episode of “Interesting Times.” He and the guest host, Sarah Isgur, the editor of SCOTUSblog, discuss why Americans are so worried about the midterms and how to fix our electoral system and restore trust. 00:00 Existential Election Anxiety 02:38 Era of Democratic Dissatisfaction 04:21 Were Recent Election Reforms a Mistake? 06:09 Campaign Finance Reform 09:22 SCOTUS and Trump’s Mail-In Ballot Executive Order 13:57 Why Did Trump Target Absentee Ballots? 20:32 Should There Be a National Voter Database? 23:58 Proof Of Citizenship Debate 29:48 What Should SCOTUS Do? 35:47 Partisan Manipulation in Elections 42:24 Can the Midterms Be Stolen? 44:51 Closing Thoughts (A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.) Thoughts? Email us