People typically use religious language, such as the word faith, when talking about worldly institutions, such as elections, indicating a loss of faith in religious institutions, Notre Dame Professor of Law Derek Muller ’04 said at a talk titled, “Faith in Elections: Trust, Legitimacy, and the Sacred in American Elections” Nov. 10.

The lecture was part of the Drummond Lectures in Christ Chapel series.

“The language of faith is powerful, and is undoubtedly used rhetorically to convey something significant,” Muller said.

Muller said Americans’ recent confidence in the legitimacy of elections is low, citing a 2016 survey that said 40% of Americans had lost faith in elections.

Muller said the issue of confidence in elections is not new, mentioning constitutional amendments going as far back as the early 19th century.

“The Constitution has a lot to say about elections,” Muller said. “It’s probably not the first thing you think about the document, or even one of its defining characteristics, but just as important to the framers as what this government could do would be how this government should be formed.”

Problems with the elections of early presidents and vice presidents necessitated a change in the Constitution, Muller said. Under the original system, each elector would cast two votes, and the two with the most votes would become the president and vice president. 

After the first few cycles, it was apparent that the system needed to change, especially after a tie in 1800 that required 36 rounds of voting to break, he said.

“It was quite clear that there were unanticipated consequences from this system of elections that required changing that system in the 12th Amendment,” Muller said.

Muller also cited the 17th Amendment, which instituted the direct election of U.S. senators, and the 24th Amendment, which eliminated the poll tax, as other times the Constitution changed to increase confidence in elections.

“These are all debatable propositions, but the unmistakable pattern is that we have this practical wisdom to learn from our experiences,” Muller said.

Muller said a lack of faith in elections could be a distraction from God’s providence.

“To lose faith in elections might be to fail to remember God’s providence,” Muller said. “To place our faith in worldly things threatens to replace God’s providence with man-made institutions.”

Muller said the requirements for a good election are a lack of corruption and an independent judiciary.

“Elections are not flawless,” Muller said. “Nevertheless, we can still have confidence in those elections, at least as much confidence in worldly institutions as we can.” 

Freshman Jonah Meduna said he found the lecture interesting.

“I hadn’t really put much thought into the implications that faith may have on democracy and elections,” Meduna said. “It was a cool way to look at it.”

Freshman John Copeck also said he enjoyed the lecture.

“Overall, I’ve always thought that there was a sense in which there was a religiosity about elections and about how much faith we put in them,” Copeck said. “In putting so much faith in elections, we overinvest in the temporal sphere, and how if we put more of our faith in spiritual things, we will be able to trust the democratic process more.”