“Detecting Election Fraud in Europe and in the United States”

Political Science 399

Summer  Weekend Class 2008 (2 credits)

Important: must also register for 1 credit PS405 reading to get 2 credits

Instructor: Mikhail Myagkov, 913 PLC

June 21st-22nd 2008

Sat 21th 900-1550

Sun 22nd 900-1150

Office Hours Sun 1-3pm

e-mail myagkov@uoregon.edu

 

Tentative:  Subject to Change!

 

 

General Description

Focuses on recent elections in Russia, Europe, and the United States.  We will considers whether allegations and anecdotal evidence of election fraud in these countries  can be substantiated by “irregular” voting patterns; types of electoral irregularities, election fraud, and methods to pinpoint them.

We will critically evaluate various pieces of evidence that may suggest that election fraud occurred. We will connect journalistic accounts of possible election fraud and other similar allegations to “irregular” voting patterns. Students will learn a lot about elections in Eastern, Central and Western Europe. We will draw various comparisons between European elections and elections in the United States. A substantial amount of class time will be devoted to discussions.

 

Requirements

Class attendance, in-class quiz  and a short (2- 3 pages) essay writing is required for two credits. The quiz will be in the form of multiple choice type questions covering basics of in-class lectures and discussions. It will be administered twice  during the class. All quizzes will be open books/notes.

Essays can be in the form of an article review from class reading articles and/or news reports  or a student can pick his/her own topic of interest related to the main subject of the class. It can be any situation or topic related to the issue of election fraud.

Note: there will be no midterm nor final exam in the class. Grades will be posted by August 15th. Requests for earlier grade submission will be considered.

Incompletes: All the work (essays) should be complete by the due date (July 28th). An incomplete grade may be given in some cases if there is evidence of some kind of emergency (medical/family) that prevented the student from completing the work on time. It is instructor’s discretion whether or not to grant such a request. If the request is granted then the student has to sign an agreement regarding the date of work completion or a failing grade can be given.  

Required Readings: “Forensics of Election Fraud” Mikhail Myagkov, Peter Ordeshook and Dmitrii Shakin ( required, “pdf” file will be posted on class web site )

Articles to Read will be posted on class web site.

News Reports to Read will be posted on class web site.

 

 Examples of  Class Topics:

1.      Review of recent elections in Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and the US

 

2.      Examples of allegations of massive election fraud in Central and Eastern Europe

 

3.      Peculiar voting patterns in alleged fraudulent districts

 

4.      Basic methodological approach to modeling election fraud.

 

5.      “Fraud or Fiction?”. Do voting patterns support the models of election fraud.

 

6.      Who commits fraud and how they do it?

 

7.      Allegations of Election Fraud in recent elections in the United States. Is there evidence of fraud in the US elections?

 

and others ….

 

Daily Class Organization:

Saturday:

 Lecture1: 900-1020;

Lecure2: 1030-1150;

Break      12noon-1pm;

Lecture3  100-220

Lecture4   230-350

Sunday

Lecture1: 900-1020;

Lecure2: 1030-1150;