Georgia election flap underscores our collective action problem

The Georgia debacle is a perfect example of the rolling collective action problem of our democracy. A collective action problem, simply put, is when there is a goal that would benefit everyone — in this case, confidence in our machinery of democracy — but the incentive structure for the individual players makes it impossible to cooperate to reach the goal. The Georgia electoral mess goes back to the 2018 Georgia governor’s race — and every faction in that state has made it worse over the last three years.