By turning the task of determining the popular will over to private organizations—the political parties—the United States had created both a means to integrate the politics of the nation and an open invitation for fraud and corruption. The foundational documents of the world’s leading democracy said precious little about conducting elections. The Constitution made no provision for funding elections, and states were reluctant to do so. By failing to provide a mechanism for funding and conducting the constant elections that the democracy demanded, the Constitution had created a vacuum that the
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