Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy

Abstract Election law should focus less on deliberation in elections and more on deliberation about elections. Promoting deliberative elections is problematic because it runs against the competitive nature of campaigns, frustrates the goal of giving ...

Abstract This article examines how the principles of deliberative democracy should apply to electoral management bodies through the case study of Australian electoral commissions. It focuses on three functions of the commissions (administering electoral ...

Abstract This article addresses the following question: Does the theory of deliberative democracy have any place in the electoral process? Decision-making through deliberation is considered to be a central value in a democracy. However, critics charge ...

Abstract Electoral systems inevitably help form the landscape of political deliberation. This article examines the election-deliberation relationship by considering both the nature of elections and key elements in their regulation. It argues that the open-...

Abstract Theories of deliberative democracy are demanding and set high standards for participants. While these standards are difficult enough to fulfill in a small scale setting, such as a citizen jury, this article will consider what role (if any) the ...

Abstract Deliberative democrats tend to be skeptical about elections as mechanisms for deliberation, and with good reason. But the reality is that elections will likely persist as the primary means by which we make decisions–indirectly–about how we are ...

Abstract Deliberative democracy offers a distinctive and appealing conception of political life, but is it one that might be called into service to guide actual reform of existing American election law? This possibility seems remote because American ...

Abstract Deliberative democracy by the people themselves is a distinctive form of democratic practice. It can be distinguished from deliberative democracy practiced by elites or representatives as well as from other forms of democracy that do not ...

Abstract Referendums are paradoxical. For some, they represent an ideal model of democracy. For others, however, the referendum is a dangerous device precisely because it is considered to imperil democracy—envisaged by the referendum's critics in ...

Abstract This article examines the feasibility of popular deliberation in relation to proposals for modest constitutional amendment. Much of the literature on deliberation and constitutional referendums focuses on major constitutional reform issues which, ...