Elections in a Time of Contagion

Speaker:

• Professor Graeme Orr

About the Talk:

Like all else, politics is upturned by the current pandemic.  How will electoral politics and particularly the conduct of elections be affected?   This talk canvasses what flexibility there is to delay elections and options to adapt their conduct.   And how will such options affect ‘free and fair elections’ – their integrity, democratic value and ritual experience?   The focus is on Australia, but emerging international experience is also considered.

To access the PowerPoint slides, please click here.

The Speaker:

Graeme Orr is Professor of Law at the University of Queensland, specialising in the law of politics.  His books include The Law of Politics: Elections, Parties and Money in Australia (2019, 2nd ed), Ritual and Rhythm in Electoral Systems (2015) and, with Ron Levy, The Law of Deliberative Democracy (2016).   Graeme is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, a former international editor of the Election Law Journal and is a current member of the NSW iVote expert advisory panel.