The Day After Election Day: An Expert Panel

Image

 What’s going on with the 2020 presidential election? This may be the overarching question after the nation wraps up casting ballots on Tuesday. The results may not be clear that night and the counting process is complex, even more so this year during a pandemic. With 400 lawsuits filed in the 2020 election cycle alone, many issues have yet to be resolved.

This year, the Sanford School of Public Policy along with Polis: Duke’s Center for Politics, have provided resource hubs, voting guidance and informative events intended to help the Duke community of students, staff and faculty navigate the 2020 election.

On Wednesday, November 4, at 3:30 p.m., a panel of experts in constitutional and election law, political science, media, and comparative elections will come together virtually to talk about what they know now and what they think about the challenges to a fair and free election in “The Day After Election Day: An Expert Panel.”

“The assumption that people have is that this is a simple process where you just count up the votes and that person wins,” said Professor Pope “Mac” McCorkle, director of Polis. “For better or worse it can become way more intricate and complex. And we want to be able to both inform people and keep them engaged in the process.”

McCorkle along with Professor Deondra Rose, research director of Polis, will lead an expert panel and audience Q&A. Panelists include:

• Judith Kelley, Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy and Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, whose work addresses human rights, democracy and international election observation 
• Bill Adair, Professor of Journalism & Public Policy and director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy
• John Aldrich, Professor of Political Science, who specializes in American politics and behavior, formal theory and methodology
• Guy-Uriel Charles, Duke Law Professor and co-director of the Duke Law Center on Law, Race and Politics

“One of the most valuable contributions that higher education can make is by providing insight that can help us make sense of really difficult moments like this,” said Rose. “We have a remarkable brain trust in having these experts in our community.”

“I think students and others in the Duke community could have lots of questions about the presidential election process,” said McCorkle. “It will be important to hear from experts immediately, and continue to check in as things unfold.”

The event will take place virtually on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Registration is required.