Q: What Is Needed to Have a Free and Fair Election This November?

• Date: 01 October 2020

ROBIN E. BEST

Associate professor of political science at Binghamton University

There are certain basic factors necessary for all free and fair democratic elections. For instance, each ballot cast must be counted according to established rules and procedures, and each citizen deemed eligible to vote should be able to do so without intimidation or undue hardship.

But it is equally important that the election be perceived as free and fair. Democracy is a form of government that ultimately rests on the consent of the governed and on perceptions of legitimacy.

Officials at the federal, state, and local levels must provide the information...