Don’t let rhetoric, obstacles deter your vote
In the midst of a global pandemic, the 2020 presidential election is shaping up to be one of the most chaotic in U.S. history.
The leader of our country has contributed to the chaos by repeatedly making false claims about massive voter fraud associated with mail-in ballots and by telling his followers to stand guard at voting places to “secure” the vote. The tactics he is employing have dangerous implications for suppressing our most basic right.
Nearly every state has expanded its capacity to vote by mail in this year of the pandemic. Oregon, Colorado and Washington have conducted elections only by mail for a combined total of four decades with few, if any, attempts to cheat their systems. Texas and Mississippi are the only states that have not allowed every voter the option of mailing their ballot.
While there is no credible evidence of widespread voter fraud by mail-in voting, there is a method to Trump’s madness. A recent study from the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University revealed details of what the writers called “the most important disinformation campaign in the 2020 election.”
The campaign to cast doubt on the validity of mail-in voting began when Democrats started promoting vote-by-mail as a means of avoiding COVID-19. From March 1 to Sept. 1, the Harvard Law researchers tracked more than 55,000 stories on voter fraud or election rigging associated with mail-in voting or absentee ballots from various media and online outlets. The stories were traced to 5 million tweets and 75,000 Facebook posts.
The study found coordination among the White House, the Republican National Committee, or RNC, and some Republican elites in a very strategic plan to attack mail-in voting, supported primarily by Fox News and conservative talk radio shows, and covered extensively by the mainstream network media.
It became clear to me why the president would disparage mailin voting after seeing a New York Times poll of likely voters in late September. Three times as many Democrats as Republicans plan to vote by mail: 17 percent of Republicans said they will vote by mail, compared to 48 percent of Democrats. Two-thirds of Republicans (68 percent), but only 28 percent of Democrats, plan to vote in person on Election Day.
Some of the possible factors that could contribute to voting difficulties in the upcoming election are:
• Texas is one of a number of states with Republican-majority legislatures that have increased voter-ID requirements over the past decade to make it more difficult to vote.
• Trump appointed Louis DeJoy, one of his loyal contributors to head the U.S. Postal Service. Then, DeJoy downsized postal operations, although the courts have put a hold on dismantling some of the changes.
• The RNC and the Trump campaign have assembled an army of poll watchers and lawyers prepared to do battle in court in key battleground states.
• At the presidential debate last month, Trump repeated his completely baseless claim that mail-in ballots are subject to mass voter fraud and that would be reason to refuse to accept the results if the election did not go his way.
• There is concern that paramilitary groups who have pledged their loyalty to Trump may interfere in the election by “guarding” voting places. When asked during the debate to denounce white nationalist extremists, Trump said “stand back and stand by,” which some might interpret as an invitation to get involved should he lose.
If Election Day voting skews in his favor, Trump may declare victory before all absentee ballots are in. He has already planted doubts about the validity of mailin ballots, and he could illegally delay the counting of mailed ballots.
Texas voters concerned about the long voter lines on Election
Day in an unusually high-turnout election now have other voting options.
They can vote in-person at any one of the early voting locations in their county; early voting began Tuesday and runs through Oct. 30. Voters can drop off mail ballots. Voters receiving mail-in ballots have the option of voting early in-person by machine if they bring in the mail-in ballot unmarked to the early voting location along with the carrier envelope.
The important thing is not to be deterred from voting at all.