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Available for over a year

Owen Bennett-Jones explores the threats facing America’s electoral system - from Russian interference to voter suppression and from cyber-attacks to conspiracy theories. How vulnerable is American democracy? And can US citizens still trust the system to deliver a fair result? As the Republican and Democratic parties prepare for November’s mid-terms, the last major polling day before the 2024 Presidential election, we hear what is being done to counter these threats. And with Donald Trump's Stop the Steal campaign bringing doubts about the electoral system into the political mainstream, is an erosion of faith in democracy now the greatest threat of all? In Episode Five, we hear about a national campaign of threats and violent abuse directed at election volunteers when it became clear that Donald Trump had lost the last Presidential election. Will a future election trigger an even greater backlash if the result is controversial with some voters? And could some officials simply refuse to follow precedent and begin taking the electoral process into their own hands? Presenter: Owen Bennett-Jones Producer: Leo Hornak A Novel production for 91¸£ÀûÉç Radio 4