“During a House hearing Thursday on the recent ‘audit’ of the 2020 election results in Arizona conducted by supporters of former President Donald Trump, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., sparred with Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who refused to accept its results showing that Joe Biden won the state,” Yahoo! News says.
So Rep. Raskin pressed him:” “Who won the election in Arizona: Donald Trump or Joe Biden?” Biggs replied, “We don’t know. There are a lot of issues with this election that took place.” (Read story here.)
No. There’s no ambiguity about who won, or “issues” with the election. Let’s take these one at a time, and then I’ll have some further comments.
Rep. Andy Biggs
Once an election is certified, and a winner declared, the election is over. Certification is the final step, and is unappealable. That’s the law.
It’s how our elections work, whether for a sewer district commissioner or President of the United States. By refusing to acknowledge the certified result, Biggs (photo, left) is repudiating the election system itself, and more broadly, the rule of law. That’s unacceptable.
Now let’s discuss “issues” with the election. Uncovering flaws in the election system, and fixing them, is a legitimate legislative function when something’s actually wrong and correcting it is done honestly and in good faith. But Biggs’ honesty and good faith are in doubt, to say the least; and if his aim is to undermine our elections with baseless claims of irregularities or fraud, his posturing is illegitimate and destructive.
So let’s look at that. The 2020 Arizona general election was conducted by trained professionals. The ballots were counted carefully, then recounted even more carefully, and the GOP’s own partisan “audit” came up with near-identical results despite their best efforts not to. The voters of Arizona elected Biden’s electors, not Trump’s. There’s simply no factual basis to say otherwise. By the way, they also re-elected Biggs, and he’s being highly selective when he casts aspersions on that election.
The Yahoo! News article doesn’t say what he thinks was wrong with the election. (Hint: his guy didn’t win.) The Arizona Republic, his hometown newspaper, is a bit more explicit about what’s going on. They said (here),
“So, here comes Andy Biggs, who has participated in many elections in Arizona, and who has never complained about the results or the calculations in any of his races, or any other races, from president on down, all of which are contained on the same ballot,”
and therefore has no problem with the election system itself,
“but who, when asked about the presidential election of 2020, says, ‘I don’t know who won in Arizona.’ Sure he does. But admitting as much would be admitting that the ‘big lie’ was, in fact, a big lie. And if he did that some of those Trump-Republicans he is counting on would begin to question things, perhaps even to start thinking on their own.”
In other words, he’s pandering to the rabble that constitutes the GOP’s voter base these days. Instead of leading, he’s following a mob. We don’t expect much from politicians, certainly not character, because we’ve learned not to. But even by those low standards Biggs stands out as an exceptionally craven example of the species. It’s one thing to pander to crazy constituents, something else to egg them on, especially when they demonstrate a propensity for politically-motivated violence. (He’s also a rabid anti-masker and anti-vaxxer, infamous for incendiary rhetoric, and a darling of rightwing extremists.)
If you wanted (for whatever reason) to give Biggs the benefit of doubt, you could assume he’s nit-picking the mistakes that crop up in every election, this one too, although that’s not what he’s doing. But let’s play with that anyway, as a kind of intellectual exercise.
It’s unrealistic to demand perfection, in elections or anything else. Prosecutors don’t have to convict suspects beyond any doubt, only beyond a reasonable doubt. Otherwise, violent criminals would always go free, and society would be at their mercy. Imagine a high school or college test in which you must get every answer right or receive a failing grade. No one would ever graduate. Or an employer who insists every job applicant be perfect in every respect. He would have no employees. Now imagine an election system in which every vote, of millions of votes cast, must be beyond question. No election would be certified, no offices filled.
Life is full of imperfections. We’re required to accept them. It’s a basic life lesson that children are taught, and expected to learn, beginning at an early age. Most do, not all at once, but in stages. Biggs is throwing a tantrum because his guy lost, thereby showing us he hasn’t yet made it past toddler stage. It would be a good idea for him to grow up; and until he does, everyone else should just shut their ears to him.
Certifying the election and insuring its integrity is a state responsibility. Not a federal one nor the responsibility of any elected federal official.
Presidential elections are not over when states certify. Congress can question certification and raise questions when the electoral college meets. Congress can toss the votes from a state out. Does not happen often and typically even after a lot of fire and thunder a states results are usually accepted. There are times Congress has rejected a states results though such rejections have not changed the result and subsequently motions are made and the results added in.
Some Presidential election the House and Senate will pick the President and VP. It will be most likely an election some third party candidate manages to pick up some electoral votes. They may end up President is a clear winner does not quickly emerge from House horse trading and out of frustration after 40 or 50 votes house members go with the dark horse.
After all is said and done it appears Arizona can count votes. [Edited comment.]
It’s inappropriate to claim an election was stolen when it wasn’t, to shout “fraud!” where there’s none, to enact laws intended to intimidate eligible voters and prevent them from voting, to threaten election workers, and to attempt to overthrow a valid election with a violent coup. Republicans have done all those things, and Biggs promotes that behavior. He knows, they all know, that Biden won. It’s time for them to stop throwing toddler tantrums and grow up.