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The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

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Change campaign laws to fix voting

In an international ranking of the integrity of electoral processes in 66 democracies, the United States came in at 26, behind recently embattled nations like Rwanda and Georgia.

The Electoral Integrity Project, conducted by a group of researchers from Harvard University and other institutions around the world, compiled the rankings by comparing elections that have taken place over the last three years.

Researchers attributed the relatively low ranking of the U.S. to the prevalence of gerrymandering, monetary influence on politics, attack ads and restrictive or confusing voter registration laws.

In response to these and other shortcomings in the American political process, University of Minnesota students have opened a new chapter of the national group Represent.Us. As reported last week in the Minnesota Daily, the group is trying to drum up support for the American Anti-Corruption Act, which would change campaign laws to increase transparency in political finances and lessen the impacts of lobbyists and super PACs.

With the midterm races now in the books, local Represent.Us founder Shoubhik Sinha told the Daily that post-election apathy would be an obstacle to increasing interest or support in the group and its causes right now.

However, it is equally important to remain politically active outside of election seasons, especially when the U.S. electoral process is in need of improvement. We urge University of Minnesota students and faculty members to continue discussing and raising awareness for these problems to help get the American Anti-Corruption Act on the ballot in upcoming years.

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