Don’t let President Trump sow doubt in the election process during the pandemic
COVID-19 has interrupted our daily lives in so many ways this year, forcing changes in the way we live, work and play. Unfortunately, it also landed right in the midst of one of the most important presidential elections in American history. With the nation deeply divided between two visions of how America survives as a democratic nation and leader of the free world, now more than ever the right to vote and easy access to the ballot must be guaranteed.
COVID’s ability to move silently through gatherings of people, infecting, sickening and killing 200,000 Americans obviously raises serious questions regarding the mechanics of voting in the November election. Just as many people are reluctant to gather in large groups, eat out at restaurants and shop indoors where masks are not worn, so voters are concerned about showing up at the polls in close proximity to strangers. The obvious solution to this is mail-in voting, which even before our COVID concerns, was adopted by Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr contends that mail-in voting allows for fraud and will steal an election for an undeserving candidate. Barr told CNN, “elections that have been held with mail have found substantial fraud and coercion,” even though the Brennan Center for Justice points out that the five states that have mail-in voting have not had voter fraud scandals. Barr also claimed his office indicted someone in Texas for filling out 1,700 ballots to vote for the person of his choice, but the Washington Post fact checked it and it never happened.
President Trump’s steady drumbeat against mail-in voting is even more harmful to the democratic process. He uses the presidential bully pulpit to sow the seeds of distrust of our most basic democratic right to vote every chance he gets. It is unconscionable behavior in the middle of a pandemic when some voters will prefer mail-in voting over voting in person and have the right to have their mail-in ballots counted the same as in-person votes.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess the reason for Trump’s single-minded determination to cast aspersions on mail-in voting, if he gets his base out in sufficient numbers to vote in person on Election Day. After all, they show up for his rallies without masks, so they will have no problem showing up at a polling place. Meanwhile, if Biden, by chance, has lots of mail-in votes that will take time to count beyond Election Day, Trump could declare victory, in an effort to send the election to the courts, which by Election Day will be tilted to his party.
It’s especially alarming that Trump is willing to discourage mail-in voting when the Brennan Center for Justice analyzed voter-file data from seven battleground states in 2016 only to find that “there is little reason to believe that mail-in voting would uniformly help Democrats in November,” and here’s why. Mail voting was used more often by older voters in 2016 who, according to the Pew Center, voted for Trump over Clinton at the highest rates, and even today, older voters are showing strong support for Trump. The survey also found that two-thirds of all mail ballots cast were cast by white voters, so it’s not as though mail-in votes would be used heavily by minorities who Trump fears would vote against him. Of course, the pandemic and voters’ desire to avoid a visit to a polling place could alter those percentages.
To further muddy the prospects for a fair election, Trump appointed one of his largest contributors and GOP fundraiser, Louis DeJoy, as postmaster general, and he, too, found a way to undermine the integrity of our elections. In short order, he slowed delivery, threw out high-speed letter sorters and issued warnings to election officials that mail-in ballots would no longer automatically be moved as priority mail, all of which could assure that mail-in votes arrive late and delay election night counts. The deck is fully stacked for an election that would allow the incumbent and his pals in Congress and on the Supreme Court to throw the election.
Although I hate to admit this, it doesn’t make much difference in a state as red as Idaho whether voters show up to vote or vote by mail; Republicans will rack up wins with ease. In battleground states, however, mail-in voting could jeopardize a fair election if ballots are not counted on election night, and in-person votes for Trump allow him to falsely declare victory with the support of his Attorney General claiming the votes counted on the days after the election — even though in accord with the election laws of those states — are fraudulent
For that reason alone, it is imperative for battleground states to bring voters to the polls. Just as restaurants, shops and businesses have found a way to social distance and require masks, so can election jurisdictions make the polls safe from COVID infection.
We live in an era of fake news where “black” is “white” and “square” is “round” to many folks who “feel” what they want to believe rather than rely on objective and scientific expertise. Trump’s declarations about the dangers of mail-in voting are a perfect example of turning and twisting the truth to fit his strategy of stealing a second term. We cannot let that happen if we care about the future of our democracy.
Trump has already shown his disdain for those who warned against taking the coronavirus lightly, thereby infecting and killing thousands needlessly. We cannot allow him also to infect our electoral process on which depends a healthy and vibrant democracy.