Election interference to the end
As Arizona officials’ continued counting of ballots further narrowed Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s lead there Wednesday night, supporters of President Trump gathered outside government buildings chanting, “Count the vote!” Meanwhile, in Detroit, where the tallying of mailed ballots erased the president’s lead until Michigan was called for Biden, Trump supporters massed behind a different mantra: “Stop the count!” At least it can be said that one of the two crowds had it right. For all its uncertainty, this election made it clear that Americans are not in broad agreement on the hopedfor result of the counting. But we should be able to agree that the counting, whomever it benefits, should continue.
That we apparently don’t can be blamed partly on the president himself, who made similarly contradictory demands hours after the polls closed — for more counting where it might help him and less where it might not — even as his opponent declared flatly that “every vote must be counted.” Trump’s considerably less coherent stance was in keeping with a campaign strategy geared toward suppressing absentee votes and any others thought likely to go against him.
In the days since, Trump and company have done more than yell about stopping the count; they have rushed into courtrooms asking judges to do so on the basis of what appeared to be innuendo and hearsay.
They were having about as much success as they deserved, which is to say very little. A Michigan judge Thursday threw out a Trump campaign lawsuit seeking access to the absentee ballot counting and surveillance video of ballot drop boxes, ruling that the completed tally was duly monitored and finding no basis for the request for recordings. In Georgia, where the ongoing count was threatening the president’s narrow advantage, a judge threw out a Trump lawsuit the same day, finding no evidence for allegations that a few dozen latearriving ballots had been improperly included.
Trump’s team had more success in Pennsylvania, where the president’s margin was also shrinking, pausing the tabulation in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh while election officials responded to court orders to accommodate closer monitoring as appeals continued. And the campaign announced that it would file yet another lawsuit in Nevada, where Biden’s edge was expanding and verging on insurmountable, to stop counting of mailed ballots that it claimed were improper.
The counting, however, proceeded, as did the likelihood of Biden reaching 270 electoral votes and the White House. While Trump retained a slim chance of eking out an electoral victory, he was also looking at the possibility of a decisive loss to match his popular deficit, which was approaching 4 million votes Thursday and expected to keep growing.
The president’s attempts to interfere with the tallying of votes have succeeded in one respect: discovering the theoretical line that a host of prominent Republicans would not join him in crossing.
Perhaps because the tactic is so antidemocratic and indefensible — but more likely because the voting went unexpectedly well for Republicans in Congress — Trump’s latest attack on the election has so far been as lonely and ineffectual as it should be.