Understanding The Presidential Election Process in 2020: Powered by Polis: Center for Politics | Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University
What if enough state results get tied up in the courts to prevent a clear winner? What if Congress gets involved? From presidential concession speeches to Duke experts, we’ve assembled this list of resources for understanding the election process. Below is a collection of speeches, experts and multimedia content on a range of election material.
PRESIDENTIAL CONCESSION SPEECHES
• Vice President Richard Nixon (R) (1960)
• Senator Barry Goldwater (R) (1964)
• Vice President Hubert Humphrey (D) (1968)
• Senator George McGovern (D) (1972)
• President Jimmy Carter (D) (1980)
• Governor Michael Dukakis (D) (1988)
• President George W. H. Bush (R) (1992)
•Vice President Al Gore (D) (2000)
• Senator John McCain (R) (2008)
• Hertzberg, “The Concession Stand,” New Yorker (11/04/96)
• “A Short History of the Awkward Concession Phone Call”
LEGAL AND HISTORICAL SOURCES
• “Presidential Elections and Inaugurations,” National Archives
• “Legal Provisions Relevant to the Electoral College Process,” National Archives
• “What is the Electoral College?” National Archives
• Congressional Research Service, “The Electoral College: A 2020 Presidential Election Timeline,”
• Siegel, “The Conscientious Congressman’s Guide to the Electoral Count of 1887,” Florida Law Review
• Kesavan, “Is the Electoral Count Act of 1887 Unconstitutional?” North Carolina Law Review
• Text of the Electoral Count Act of 1877
• “Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2 and 3” National Constitution Center
• Katz, “Elections and the Electoral College,” Prologue/National Archives
NATIONAL COMMENTARY
• Yoo, “How Donald Trump Defends Presidential Power,” National Review (08/04/20)
•Sunstein, “Responding to a Contested Election, Step By Step,” Bloomberg Opinion (08/31/20)
• Sunstein, “Worried About A Disputed Election? Steel Yourself,” Bloomberg Opinion (09/01/20)
• Harsayni, “The Democrats’ Dangerous Delegitimization of the Election,” National Review (09/03/20)
•Foley, “How to Know if the Election is Actually ‘Rigged,'” Politico (09/13/20)
• Rutenberg, “The Attack on Voting in the 2020 Election,” New York Times Magazine (09/30/20)
• Berman, “The November Surprise: What If Everyone Showed Up to Vote This Year?” Atlantic (10/07/20)
• Douthat, “There Will Be No Trump Coup,” New York Times (10/10/20)
• Montellano and Siders, ” How Biden Could End 2020 on Election Night …,” Politico (10/12/20)
• Enten, “Why Early Vote Trends Can’t Tell You Who Will Win,” CNN Politics (10/18/20)
•Foley, “The Particular Perils of Emergency Election Cases,” SCOTUSblog (10/23/20)
•Brockbank, et al, “Post-Election Day Scenarios”, Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project (10/27/20)
• Gelman, “The Election That Could Break America,” Atlantic (November 2020)
•Sosnik, “Election Night Viewers Guide”, (11/01/20)
DUKE EXPERTS
• “Six Duke Books on Elections and Voting,” Duke Today (10/02/20)
•“Five Duke Books on Politics and Public Policy,” Duke Today (10/27/20)
VIDEOS AND PODCASTS
• Interactive Constitution, “American Elections During Crisis,” National Constitution Center (8/6/20)
• Cato Daily Podcast “American Election Security”, (10/13/20)
•National Public Radio “The Electoral College”, (10/15/20)
•Washington Post, “The 2020 Election Is Facing Big Challenges: Which One Matters Most?”, (10-15-20)
•CBS News Sunday Morning, “Voter Fraud, Suppression, and Partisanship,” (10/25/20)
•Harvard Law Professor Noah Feldman’s “Deep Background” Podcasts:
•”Can the Post Office Handle the Election?” (8/25/20)
•”Why A Leading Election Scholar Cannot Sleep” (9/16/20)
•”Will Trump Concede?” (10/7/20)