VOTE-GOONING
Glenn Reynolds jokes that the calls he’s been getting from the Bredesen campaign are so annoying they might be Republican dirty tricks. It’s no joke in New Hampshire, where someone (I wonder who?) is robocalling in the name of the Democratic gubernatorial candidate stressing such sure-fire vote-winners as tax increases, gay marriage, and opposition to the Pledge of Allegiance. Atrios provides the text here.
But that sort of minor-leage fraud is pretty mild compared to some of what’s going on: systematic attempts to scare voters away from the polls, so far reported in Texas, Arkansas, Maryland, and Tennessee. There’s a catalogue here and more here. TAPPED thinks that “voter suppression” is too mild a term for this, and asks for alternatives. I nominate “vote-gooning.”
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman