Article Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "pk": 31509,
    "title": "Electoral Sandbagging",
    "subtitle": null,
    "abstract": "<p><em>An insidious tactic threatens elections across the United States. Some refer to it as a </em><em>“bait and switch.” Others recognize a form of “election sabotage.” While the labels vary, the </em><em>pattern is the same. First, an election official or other figure of authority consents to an error </em><em>at an early stage of the election process. The actor then waits to see how the election unfolds. </em><em>If the election results are favorable, the error slides into irrelevance. If not, that same actor </em><em>refers back to the earlier error, now with indignity, and insists that it requires a late-stage </em><em>disruption of the election process. The aim of this maneuver—a maneuver this Article terms </em><em>“electoral sandbagging”—is to install a favored candidate into office. An effect is to imperil </em><em>the election process from within.</em></p>\n<p><em>This Article, the first to identify and examine this pattern, connects it to another </em><em>phenomenon: sandbagging in the courtroom. There, Justice Scalia defined the practice as </em><em>“suggesting or permitting, for strategic reasons, that the trial court pursue a certain course, </em><em>and later—if the outcome is unfavorable—claiming that the course followed was reversible </em><em>error.” Unsurprisingly, judges have long recognized and denounced this tactic. Sandbagging </em><em>in the election context warrants even stronger censure. Among other harms, electoral </em><em>sandbagging fundamentally undermines the fairness of election proceedings and otherwise </em><em>strikes at the heart of democratic governance. By exposing and contextualizing this growing </em><em>phenomenon, this Article provides guidance for a path forward. In addition, by demonstrating </em><em>how electoral sandbagging thrives in the shadows—its perpetuators dependent on dissembling </em><em>and subterfuge—this Article helps to counteract its effects.</em></p>",
    "language": null,
    "license": {
        "name": "All rights reserved",
        "short_name": "Copyright",
        "text": "© the author(s). All rights reserved.",
        "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/authors"
    },
    "keywords": [],
    "section": "Article",
    "is_remote": true,
    "remote_url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2jp9k6wf",
    "frozenauthors": [
        {
            "first_name": "Lisa",
            "middle_name": "",
            "last_name": "Manheim",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "",
            "department": ""
        }
    ],
    "date_submitted": null,
    "date_accepted": null,
    "date_published": "2023-10-31T20:00:00-04:00",
    "render_galley": null,
    "galleys": [
        {
            "label": "PDF",
            "type": "pdf",
            "path": "https://journalpub.escholarship.org/ucilr/article/31509/galley/22578/download/"
        }
    ]
}