A formally valid election is unconstitutional if any influence deters voters’ free will

Evidence

“An election to be free must be without coercion of every description. An election may be held in strict accordance with every legal requirement as to form, yet, if in point of fact the voter casts the ballot as the result of intimidation; if he is deterred from the exercise of his free will by means of any influence whatever, although there be neither violence nor physical coercion, it is not a free and equal election witnin the spirit of the constitution.” That definition was quoted with approval in Neelley v. Farr 61 Colo. 485, 511. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 3508

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines a ‘free and equal election’ as one free from any coercive influence, not merely from formal illegality or physical violence.
• XREF: connects to: Primary-election ballot fraud violates federally secured voting rights. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 3131; Lesser-of-two-evils voting logic traps voters inside an accepted political cage — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 622; Constitutional validity can only be judged against concrete facts in real cases — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 3493

Broader Connections

• Constitutional validity can only be judged against concrete facts in real cases #qualifies (0.80) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 3493
• Lesser-of-two-evils voting logic traps voters inside an accepted political cage #expands (0.75) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 622