Donald Trump is a blustery con man who has spent his entire life lying, and his supporters are infamous for ignoring truth (even obvious truth) while embracing wild conspiracy theories. Trump began bleating about “fraud” long before the election, and in the wake of his defeat, his diehard supporters are picking up that banner.
GOP politicians are more circumspect; they aren’t endorsing Trump’s fraud claims, but only saying he has a right to litigate them.
There’s no such thing as a perfect election — mistakes, breakdowns, and ineligible votes are to be expected — and, under our election laws, elections don’t have to be perfect. Court trials, where money and guilt or innocence are at stake, aren’t required to be perfect, either — only fair. Human perfection isn’t attainable, yet we need functioning election and legal systems in order for society to function.
The recounts, lawsuits, and election contests authorized our election statutes provide a way to shake the bugs out of our elections to make them more for. Trump can allege fraud, but to get relief in the courts, he has to prove fraud. Keep in mind this rhetoric is for public consumption, and specifically to keep his supporters fired up (and giving money); it won’t sway judges, only evidence sways judges, and he’ll have his chance to show the courts whether he has any.
Meanwhile, for all the calumny the Trump camp and his GOP enablers are heaping on our election process, objectively, how good or bad was it?
“1. PARTICIPATION, GRADE: EXCELLENT
“Nearly 159 million Americans were estimated to have voted in the election …. The previous record was set in 2016 when 138 million people voted ….
“2. VOTING PROCESS, GRADE: GOOD
“The U.S. election was ‘well managed,’ particularly considering challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which sent 30 observers to the United States to monitor the process. The organization saw no evidence of systematic irregularities ….
“3. VOTER SAFETY AND VOTE-COUNTING SECURITY, GRADE: PASSING
“U.S. law enforcement officials warned of possible violence around the election, but voting and a number of related demonstrations across the country have so far remained largely peaceful …. Pro-Trump protests outside a vote-counting site in Phoenix have attracted members of far-right and militia groups, but have not become violent. Overall, clashes between protesters were more intense than in recent elections, but no major incidents occurred …. A small portion of voters – 3 percent – responded affirmatively when asked if anyone had ‘confronted/threatened/intimidated me outside the polling location about voting,’ according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll of more than 40,000 voters conducted on Election Day.”
“4. MISINFORMATION, GRADE: POOR
“Voters were targeted repeatedly with misinformation during the 2020 election …. Social media companies … instituted measures … to combat the spread of false information across their platforms …. But some critics said the companies did not do enough to halt the spread of misinformation, particularly when Trump and his allies flooded social media on Wednesday with false claims of victory and unsupported allegations of voter fraud.
“5. TRANSFER OF POWER, GRADE: POOR
“Trump has refused to concede …. Senior congressional Republicans … have not acknowledged Biden’s victory, either. … The transition between the Biden administration and the Trump administration is expected to be more difficult than that of most previous modern-day presidents.” (For more about that, read articles here and here.)
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