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1. Poll Shows Voters See Democracy in Peril, but Saving It Isnt a Priority  The New York Times
2. Analysis | Americans agree democracy is at risk. They disagree vehemently on why.  The Washington Post
3. Why New York voters are anxious about democracy  Spectrum News
4. Voters see democracy as under threat, divided on how to save it: poll  The Hill
5. Threat to Democracy? Start With Corruption, Many Voters Say  Election Law Blog
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Poll Shows Voters See Democracy in Peril, but Saving It Isnt a Priority - The New York Times

The first objective in the Promote Democracy initiative of the Universitys strategic plan, Carolina Next, is to Actively engage as diverse citizens responsible for the institutions of American democracy. Staff, faculty and students are doing that through Carolina Votes, a robust effort to coordinate with campus partners on voter registration and voter education.

Sam Hiner, a sophomore public policy major, leads voter engagement activities on campus as a member of the student-led Civic Engagement Working Group. Until a few months ago, Hiner wondered: Where can I see Carolinas commitment to voter engagement?

He and other students were pleased to learn that the commitment has top billing in Carolina Next. They and others are turning the commitment into action through the Universitys increasing activities and programs to register and educate voters.

Promote Democracy begins with a focus on students: As a leading global, public research university, we play a key role in the exchange of ideas and the education of informed citizens. That portion ends by confirming Carolinas pledge to support and improve democratic citizenship in the state, the nation and around the globe.

In September, the Promote Democracy Initiative and the Carolina Center for Public Service held a training session for student volunteers on registering new voters on campus. After the session, trainer Jarrod Horsey of You Can Vote talks with volunteers Grace North, Amanda Leder and Grace Parker as Ryan Nilsen, a co-lead on the Carolina Votes effort, looks on. (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)

The 18-24 age group has traditionally had the lowest rates of voter turnout and engagement in the democratic process. A goal of the Carolina Votes initiative is to provide the Carolina community with the tools they need to be informed and engaged participants in American democracy, said Jason Roberts, the Promote Democracy captain and a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences political science department.

Carolina Votes co-leads are Ryan Nilsen, senior program officer for community engagement at the Carolina Center for Public Service, and Bobby Kunstman, the Carolina Unions director of student life and leadership. They convene a group of administrators and faculty focused on election engagement, Nilsen said.

Historically, with UNCs strong emphasis on student leadership, student activists and student governance, students drove a lot of the voter registration and engagement work. In recent years, different offices around campus have seen how that falls short at points and have started to take more aspects of that on within their purview, Nilsen said. The benefit of Carolina Next specifically naming it as a priority gives us a reason to meet regularly and organize so that we arent doing the same things in different places or leaving big holes.

Hiner said that the initiative has been a great way to energize students before voter registration closes Oct. 14 for Nov. 8 statewide general elections. After Oct. 14, only same-day registration is available during the early voting period.

Carolina Votes is leveraging all sorts of efforts, including:

We were surprised and excited to see the Promote Democracy initiative in Carolina Next as an entire pillar, said Hiner, who is executive director of the North Carolina Young Peoples Alliance, a nonprofit with teams working at universities across North Carolina to mobilize students and build youth power. It serves as a beacon for students at the University and beyond to show this is something we care about and, even if things move slowly at times, its a North Star that helps us be more effective.

How to vote: Students registered at an on-campus address may vote on election day at the Stone Center. Students who wish to register and vote in Orange County may use the early voting site at the Chapel of the Cross, 304 E. Franklin St.

Learn how staff, faculty and students are turning the words of Carolina Next into reality at TheWell.UNC.edu

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Promoting democracy critical to Carolina's mission | UNC-Chapel Hill - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Background

1. The Crisis Of Democracy

It is widely accepted that democracy is at risk worldwide. There is a continuous increase in the number of citizens that doubt that democracy is working for them, or that it is working properly at all. Many link this crisis of democracy to the digitalization of societies. These new technologies weaken core aspects of democracy and democratic representation through external and internal challenges. External challenges are represented by the vulnerability of democratic institutions to foreign actors interference, such disinformation and cyberattacks. Internal challenges are represented by threats that undermine democratic processes, such as digital mass surveillance or the concentration of power among a small number of dominant tech companies. Although the 21st century became known as the Information Age, digital technologies have overall weakened democracy.

This can explain why there is a global drop in the level of trust in democratic governments (Edelman, 2022). Carlos Scartascini, the Lead Economist at the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank writes that mistrust in the public sector is an impediment to the well-functioning of democracy and to inclusive growth, since it prevents people to demand better public policies and services (Scartascini, 2021). He believes that people will arrange their own security, education and health rather than pay taxes and demand quality public goods. In order to restore trust, Scartascini finds essential to furnish quality information and transparency. Citizens do not trust their government when they are not informed about what the government is doing for them, and when they cant hold government accountable.

Moreover, people trust less and less the internet and BigTechs, which is weakening digital ecosystems and the digital economy.

2. The Covid-19 Pandemic

Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, to governments and citizens alike, how e-services can make countries more resilient to exogenous crises. A study by Bhaskar Chakravorti, Ajay Bhalla, and Ravi Shankar Chaturvedi mapped countries Digital Evolution scores against their percentage decrease in GDP growth from Q2 2019 to Q2 2020 (adjusted for inflation). The analysis showed that the level of digital evolution helped explain at least 20% of a countrys economic resilience against the pandemics economic impact (Chakravorti, Bhalla and Shankar Chaturvedi, 2020).

Spains Digitalization Context

1. The 2008s crisis recovery

Five years after the economic collapse of 2008, the Spanish government issued The Digital Agenda for Spain. A strategy regarding the digitalization of public administration, which was parallel to a broader European approach (Luengo and Garca Marn, 2010). The principal goal of the strategy was the creation of employment and economic growth through the adoption of digital technologies.

2. The COVID-19 pandemic

As a corner stone of the economic recovery, Spain has articulated different strategies and roadmaps to digitalization such as the National Strategy of Artificial Intelligence, 2025 Digital Spain or the National Plan for Digital Skill. However, all these plans are economic-oriented strategies.

3. Present digitalization status

The Digital Evolution chart, realized by Chakravorti, Bhalla and Shankar Chaturvedi in 2020, positions Spain at the very bottom of the Stall Out zone. The authors explain that countries falling in this category have economies with mature digital ecosystems, but which exhibit less momentum for continued advancement.

Estonia as a role model

Spain needs to launch a strategy touching on the very political and democratic core. This means that the government has to design a governance and institutional model that would enlarge the role and contribution of digital technologies. However, it is important to bear in mind that the digitalization of the State is not a process of a single workout or a single strategy. The process involves multiple phases of development. To this end, Spain must learn from insights and lessons of good practice from countries that have already undergo through a digitalization process.

An interesting case is Estonia. The Baltic country, which is found in the Stand Out zone, is considered a role model in the digitalization of its government services and in the guaranteeing that the digital ecosystem respects the privacy of Estonians. Through the digitalization of the State, Estonia, a country with very limited natural resources and population, has achieved to become a very appealing economy, being the nest of global start-ups such as Skype, Bolt or TransferWise. In fact, the country has the largest number of start-ups per capita in the world and a high-tech sector that accounts for about 15 percent of its GDP (Schnurer, 2015).

Moreover, Estonia showed a great ability to adapt to the new COVID-19 reality, since the GDP was barely altered. Both the public and the private sector easily and quickly moved their activity online. And the government managed to curtail the spread of the virus rather effectively, leaning on the existing ICT and e-government infrastructure.

Estonias digitalization cornerstones

The first step in the process of Estonias digital transition was the establishment of a digital identity also referred to as e-identity system (eID) and a data storing system called X-Road.

The eID system was launched in 2002 in a coordinated effort by the Prime Ministers Office and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. It consists of a cryptographically secured digital identity card, powered by a blockchain-like infrastructure (Shen, 2016). The digital card allows Estonians to access all public services, financial services, pay taxes, vote and provide digital signatures.

To protect the national data architecture and guarantee resiliency against cyber threats, the Estonian government wisely decided to not centrally store data. The government established a data platform called X-Road, which links individual servers through end-to-end encrypted pathways, letting information live locally (Heller, 2017). X-Road also filters the information available, e.g. a doctor can access the medical records of a patient, but not its financial status. Furthermore, citizens must give permission for its information to be disclosed to anyone. The blockchain infrastructure makes any anomaly or breach to leave a trace, regardless of the source. To cover tracks also leaves a trace.

Moreover, Estonia installed backup of its systems in Luxembourg to safeguard critical information systems and databases. They called it a data embassy since it is built on the same body of international law as a physical embassy. The goal is the guarantee of the uninterruption of the States activities, functioning even if the country is compromised, whether digitally or physically.

Some examples of e-services that have been created following the establishment oof the eID are: e-Health, e-Voting, e-Tax Board, e-Business, e-Banking, e-Ticket, e-School, University via internet, the E-Governance Academy, as well as the release of several mobile applications.

Through this system, Estonia has achieved five goals:

1. Restore confidence on the Internet

The Estonian digital system has made it reliable and secure for citizens to log in to Internet environments. The e-ID is used as a way to verify a persons identity when they log in to an electronic environment. Hence, phishing, scams and unmoderated anonymous internet comments that have led to disinformation and polarization have been reduced. Actually, Estonia is ranked second worldwide in internet freedom (Freedom House Index, 2019).

2. Restore confidence in the State and in democracy

To begin with, the e-Estonia project gives the control of personal data to each citizen, who have the power to decide what private entities can access their information and when. They are also aware of the data that the government collects of them. The fact that citizens can access their personal data in a transparent and secure way removes privacy concerns and institutional distrust.

It limits privacy violations by restricting the amount of data shared in online transactions. For example, while buying online products, Estonians do not have to provide their full date of birth to verify a certain age limit, since the digital identity confirms that the user meets the shopping conditions. The system also allows to access private sector services, instead of doing it through email or social media, which gives a better protection against online tracking for advertising and algorithm bias.

Finally, there is great transparency. Citizens can easily access all governmental and bureaucratic data. But also the government has greater tools to fight against corruption, since every business transaction or investment is captured and becomes searchable public information.

3. Revitalize the economy

The Estonian Government reported in 2020 that the digital transition has allowed the country to be ranked first in entrepreneurial activity by the World Economic Forum in 2017, first in start-up friendliness by Index Venture in 2018, and first amongst EU countries in the European Commissions 2020 digital economy and society index (Government of Estonia, 2020).

The Baltic countrys ease and secure online bureaucracy has allowed the quick creation of enterprises and nurtured active and engaged consumers, resulting in a very dynamic digital ecosystems and the generation of huge amounts of data.

4. Cost-saving efficiency

e-Estonia is based on what the government calls a once only policy, which implies that a person only needs to give their data to a state institution once. The collection of duplicated personal data is prohibited. For example, if a person needs to do a loan application, he can extract his data (income, debt, savings) from already existing information in the national data system. This method saves time and resources for government and citizens alike. Apparently, the digitizing processes reportedly saves the state two per cent of its G.D.P. a year in salaries and expenses (Heller, 2017).

5. Cyber resilience

The system guarantees data resilience since it ensures that all public data is indestructible and that it cannot be made inaccessible. Furthermore, it also guarantees data integrity since information cannot be illicitly altered. This fact has made Tallin a hub for cyber-defence and is considered the most advanced country in this field in Europe. For this reason, NATO has its network protection headquarters in the capital of the country.

Challenges for Spain

The Estonian system is difficult to replicate in a country like Spain, for several reason. Estonia has 1.3 million inhabitants, while Spain has 47.35 million. The Baltic country has a very centralized system, while Spain has a federal-type territorial organization.

Furthermore, Bhaskar Chakravorti, Ajay Bhalla, and Ravi Shankar Chaturvedi argue that economies like Spain once they reach a higher level of digital evolution, they are confronted with the trade-off between continuing with digital expansion and establishing institutions that prioritize digital inclusion. It is harder for large-complex economies to balance innovation with the bureaucracy needed to responsibly regulate that innovation (Chakravorti, Bhalla, and Shankar Chaturvedi, 2020). However, it is easier for smaller economies such as Estonia to keep up their innovative edge while providing an inclusive digital transformation.

Moreover, a quick and unreflexively planned digital identity system, without proper controls will put enormous power into the government and the administration, which could lead to discrimination or authoritarian state behaviours.

Conclusion

Digital technologies must be used to enhance democracy and increase citizens trust in their governments. Although Estonia and Spain are very different countries in terms of territory, population and administration, Spain can learn from the Baltic country digitalization process and adapted to its own national reality.

Spain needs to take a proactive approach to technology and use it to restore trust in its democratic institutions. The Spanish government must make trust a public policy objective of its digitization strategy and not only a possible by-product. Ilves and Schroeder in their paper Unlocking Digital Governance argue that digital governance only works, however, if trust has been established between the government and the citizen. Building this trust and reaping the benefits of digital governance require two critical policy interventions: secure digital identities for citizens, and resilient data architectures for governments.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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What are the first steps to achieve an e-democracy? - Atalayar

Gregory T. Moore| Guest columnist

Gregory T. Moore is author of the new book, Beyond the Voting Rights Act, the Untold Story of the Struggle to Reform Americas Voter Registration Laws. He lives in Cleveland.

Over the last two years, since the beginning of the redistricting and reapportionment process, we have watched as Republicans in the state legislature have vehemently undermined both the spirit and the letter of the law under the Ohio Constitution.

First, they completely dismissed and circumvented the law by refusing to draw fair legislative and congressional maps as mandated by two overwhelmingly popular referendums passed by Ohio voters in 2015 and 2018. Second, they refused to obey the Ohio Supreme Court decisions that ruled the maps submitted by the Republican-controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission were unconstitutional.

Thomas Suddes:Ohio Democrats doing Republicans big favor by barely play defense

Unfortunately, this history of circumventing the will of the voters did not begin there. It is only the latest example of the further erosion of our democracy in the state of Ohio under a supermajority Republican rule in state government.

Ohio is one of the few states where the right of referendum is granted to the citizens as the highest arbitrator of lawmaking when the legislature and its elected executive fall out of alignment with the citizens of Ohio.

This was the case in 2011, when voters of Ohio pushed back against a Republican legislature and governor who signed a law, Senate Bill 5, that would have rolled back Ohio workers collective bargaining rights. Citizens of Ohio rose up in the "We Are Ohio" campaign that gathered over 1.3 million signatures, which sent that measure to the ballot to be repealed.

Voters responded overwhelmingly and overturned that law, saving millions of workers from economic disaster in the midst of a crippling recession and record unemployment.

The Republican-led legislature in that same year passed a draconian voter suppression bill, House Bill 194, that rolled back the very popular provisions of Democrat-sponsored Ohio election law reforms. It sought to eliminate early voting, no-fault absentee voting, weekend voting, and other pro-democracy reforms passed by the previously Democrat-controlled legislature.

Those reforms, administered by then-Secretary of State and current Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner broke down longstanding barriers to voting that led to historic turnouts of over 70% of Ohio voters in the 2008 elections. It was the election year that saw Ohio play a decisive role as the state that put the first African American president, Barack Obama, over the top in electoral votes on that historic election night.

More:How to submit guest opinion columns to the Columbus Dispatch

Once Republicans regained control of the legislature and governors mansion in 2010, they sought to repeal these election law reforms in 2011, leading to another statewide referendum to repeal House Bill 194. The repeal campaign under the banner of "Fair Elections Ohio" was led by former Secretary of State and current Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner and a large cross-section of voting rights advocates, labor, clergy, and Democratic leaders.

The effort gained the support of Ohio voters across the political spectrum, with overwhelming strong support in both blue and red counties across the state. Seeing what was sure to be another major defeat at the polls in November 2012, Republican lawmakers and then-Secretary of State now Lt. Gov. Jon Husted voted to remove the referendum from the ballot and repealed most portions of the bill themselves.

As we observe the 10th anniversary of that historic victory in voting rights, we are reminded that the fight to save our democracy is ongoing. Whether its undermining the administration of the elections process, stripping away reproductive rights, or ignoring constitutional court rulings on redistricting; the citizens of Ohio have had enough.

This legislative arrogance of circumventing the voices of the people and undermining their constitutional laws has to end.

On Nov. 8, voters across the state will have the opportunity to reject those candidates who have ignored their demands to reform the redistricting process and expand voting rights.

Thankfully, it is the will of the citizens of Ohio, and not the recalcitrant legislature who will have the final word in stopping the further erosion of our democracy in the state of Ohio.

Gregory T. Moore is author of the new book, Beyond the Voting Rights Act, the Untold Story of the Struggle to Reform Americas Voter Registration Laws. He lives in Cleveland.

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Opinion: To help save democracy, Ohio must reject those who ignore us - The Columbus Dispatch

Special to The T&D

The Smithsonians Museum on Main Street, in cooperation with SC Humanities, presents Voices and Votes: Democracy in America.

The exhibition examines the nearly 250-year-old American experiment of a government of, by and for the people, and how each generation since continues to question how to form a more perfect union. Opening at the Arthur Rose Museum on the campus of Claflin University on Oct. 29, "Voices and Votes will be on view through Dec. 10.

Claflin University and the surrounding community have been chosen by SC Humanities to host Voices and Votes as part of the Museum on Main Street program a national/state/local partnership to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations. The exhibition will tour six communities in South Carolina from April 2022 through January 2023.

Voices and Votes explores the action, reaction, vision and revision that democracy demands as Americans continue to question how to shape the country. From the revolution and suffrage, to civil rights and casting ballots, everyone in every community is part of this ever-evolving story the story of democracy in America.

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Exhibition sections explore the origins of American democracy, the struggles to obtain and keep the vote, the machinery of democracy, the right to petition and protest beyond the ballot and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. Voices and Votes features historical and contemporary photos; educational and archival video; engaging multimedia interactives with short games; and historical objects like campaign souvenirs, voter memorabilia, and protest material.

Voice and Votes allows us to reflect on Orangeburgs rich history dealing with democracy and race, and to explore what it means to be an active participant in the governance of not only the country but also this community, said Robert Greene II, assistant professor of history at Claflin. We want to convene conversations. We worked hard to develop this local exhibition and public programs to complement the Smithsonian exhibition.

Such free events include the grand opening event on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 6 p.m., as Dr. Robert Greene II, assistant professor of history at Claflin and co-chair of the Voices and Votes exhibit committee for Claflin, will give a talk titled Orangeburg and the Crucible of Democracy. This talk will highlight how the City of Orangeburg has long served as a critical battleground for democracy and voting rights in the history of South Carolina and the United States.

On Monday, Nov. 7, the Voices and Votes programming will continue with two events. At 6 p.m. legendary photographer and civil rights advocate Cecil Williams will participate in a forum discussion about the intersection of photography, the arts, civil rights, and democracy.

That evening will feature an Orangeburg County School District Voting Sticker Student Art Contest. The stickers, judged by Voices and Votes Claflin co-chair Dr. Indira Bailey, will represent what the next generation sees as the importance of participatory democracy.

Finally, on Nov. 15 at 6 p.m., Claflin will host University of South Carolina-Columbia professor Dr. Todd Shaw, who will participate in a roundtable discussion titled South Carolina and Southern Politics: Where Do We Go From Here?

Designed for small-town museums, libraries and cultural organizations, Voices and Votes will serve as a community meeting place for conversations about democracy, the freedoms and responsibilities of citizens, participating in government, and more. With the support and guidance of state humanities councils, these towns will develop complementary exhibits; host public programs and facilitate educational initiatives to raise peoples understanding about their own history, the joys and challenges of living rural, and how change has impacted their community; and prompt discussion of goals for the future.

Voices and Votes is based on an exhibition currently on display at the Smithsonians National Museum of American History called American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith.

The exhibition is part of Museum on Main Street, a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), state humanities councils across the nation, and local host institutions. To learn more about Voices and other Museum on Main Street exhibitions, visit museumonmainstreet.org.Support for MoMS has been provided by the U.S. Congress.

Events will be hosted at the Arthur Rose Museum at Claflin. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Admission for all events is free and open to the public.

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Smithsonian 'Democracy in America' coming to Claflin - The Times and Democrat