Akron Roundtable

Akron Roundtable inspires and promotes community dialog and networking by presenting speakers who inform and educate listeners on diverse topics of importance to the region, the nation, and the world. You can hear a broadcast of this forum every fourth Thursday of the month at 8 p.m. on WKSU.

Hans von Spakovsky: Election Integrity, Preserving Our Democratic Republic

By Jon Nungesser

Published March 24, 2022 at 6:14 PM EDT

Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow and Manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. [ THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION] — Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow and Manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

This presentation was originally recorded on March 17, 2022.

About the Presentation:

Election integrity is a fundamental requirement of a functioning democratic republic. In the freest nation in the world, our system of government and our very liberty depend on free, fair, and honest elections. Americans must be able to trust the process, or the democratic system itself breaks down. The U.S. has a long and unfortunate history of election fraud and we must take steps to deter and prevent it. As the U.S. Supreme Court said in 2008, such fraud can make the difference in close elections – and we have close elections all the time in this country, particularly in local elections.

We must ensure that every eligible American is able to vote and that their vote is not negated by fraud, errors, mistakes, or other problems. Election reform should be a bipartisan concern that ensures both access and security. Both of those goals can be achieved through commonsense, reasonable measures.

About the Speaker:

Hans A. von Spakovsky is a Senior Legal Fellow and Manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. He is an authority on a wide range of issues, including civil rights, elections, the First Amendment, immigration, the rule of law and government reform.

He is a former member of President Donald Trump’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. From 2006 to 2007, von Spakovsky was a member of the Federal Election Commission. He served as the career Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2002 to 2005. Prior to entering public service, Hans von Spakovsky worked for 17 years as a government affairs consultant, in a corporate legal department, and in private practice.

He is a 1984 graduate of the Vanderbilt University School of Law and received a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981, which he attended on a National Merit Scholarship. He is a member of the board of the Public Interest Legal Foundation.

He is the 2016 winner of the Drs. W. Glenn and Rita Ricardo Campbell Award from the Heritage Foundation and received Meritorious Service Awards from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2003, 2004, and 2005.

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