“For years, Republicans have cried voter fraud, with few substantive examples. But, of late, there have been a few—from Republican politicians themselves. This week brings yet another one: Matt Mowers, a Republican candidate for Congress in New Hampshire, who voted twice in the 2016 presidential primaries, according to an Associated Press report,” Mother Jones says (here).
I wrote about that case here. As Mother Jones pointed out, he’s “allowed to vote only once in elections … based on federal law and the logic of democracy.” (Remember that phrase, “the logic of democracy.”)
There’s also Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff, who “reportedly registered to vote somewhere he does not live.” I wrote about that here. “Of course, he wrote in his memoir about the dangers of voter fraud,” Mother Jones added. I haven’t read his memoir, so I don’t know what he said there, but I wrote about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election here.
And then there’s Tina Peters, a GOP county clerk in Colorado who’s been indicted for — you guessed it — election crimes. I wrote about her here, here, and here. And in at least two Michigan townships, GOP election conspiracy believers have tampered with or stolen voting machines (see stories here and here).
I’ve also posted several times about Trumpers who voted multiple times. You can find those posts by using this blog’s search function to look up “voting fraud.”
Polls show most Republicans believe voting fraud is common, and believe the 2020 election was stolen. Neither of these things is true, and there’s no plausible evidence to support them, so where does this come from?
It’s complicated. Underlying it all, Republicans are an unpopular minority who reject majority rule. (Under that system, they’d never get their way.) Remember “the logic of democracy”? That means we’re all equal under the law, have the same rights, and each get one vote. But they don’t believe in equality, either, and there’s a lot of indication they don’t have much use for other people’s rights. So there’s that.
Peer pressure plays a huge role. The GOP isn’t just a political party, it’s a social group, and to be accepted you must adopt its social mores, one of which is the 2020 election as a result of voting fraud. Truth has nothing to do with this; it’s the price of admission. No doubt there are many Republicans who actually believe it, but it’s pretty clear some don’t but mouth it anyway so they won’t be ostracized, including numerous sitting members of Congress.
But there’s something else, too. Most people see the world from their own limited frame of reference. We know Republicans commit voting fraud, because they’re getting caught (because our election integrity system works). Human nature being what it is, people who cheat assume others do, too. In fact, if you ask them why they cheated, they’ll often say, “Everyone does it.”
So, there you have it — Republicans commit voting fraud because they believe everyone does, and because they believe everyone does because they do.
To activate the dog chasing its tail, click on the image.