‘Election Hacking’ or Voter Education? New at Reason

Last week President Obama announced sanctions against Russia in retaliation for “data theft and disclosure activities” that were intended to “interfere with the U.S. election process.” Hillary Clinton calls those activities, which revealed purloined emails that made her look bad during her unsuccessful presidential campaign, “an attack against our country” and “our electoral system” that undermined “the integrity of our democracy.”

But these overheated descriptions misleadingly equate information that guides voters’ choices with nullification of those choices, Jacob Sullum writes. A calmer, less partisan perspective suggests that what Clinton and Obama view as interference with the election process might more accurately be described as voter education, which strengthens democracy by helping its participants make better-informed choices.

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