If there’s a prolonged recount, Florida can handle it

For 17 days in November 2000, I was an informal adviser to Florida’s chief election officer, Secretary of State Katherine Harris, as she oversaw the now famous recount of votes in the presidential election. Because I was a wellknown Republican political operative at the time, I arrived early each morning via the Capitol building ’s basement parking garage so that I would not be seen by the press gathered outside, and I departed each night the way I came. On Sunday, Nov. 26, with my wife and two young daughters sitting in the front row of the Cabinet room as Katherine’s guests, and with me watching on television alone in her office upstairs, she and the two other members of the state election commission finally certified the election results, delivering Florida’s electoral college votes and the presidency of the United States to George W. Bush. It was my birthday, a birthday I will never forget.

So I know something about contested elections, as do the people of Florida, who have endured extended elections in statewide races as recently as 2018, when three races, those for governor, United States senator and agriculture commissioner, saw recount-triggering margins of victory of less than 0.5%. This is an experience that will stand us in good stead if, as is certainly possible, we soon face another prolonged vote count or even a contested outcome in the most consequential presidential election since 1860.

There are, however, fundamental differences between this election and that in 2000, differences that are critical for the stability of American democracy. The dispute in 2000 was basically about process, about what was the appropriate standard to apply in attempting to determine voter intent with respect to ballots that were manually cast and incompletely executed. In contrast, the 2018 recounts were conducted amid irresponsible allegations of fraud made by Rick Scott and Matt Caldwell, the Republican candidates for U.S. senator and agriculture commissioner, respectively. These unsubstantiated allegations were the foreseeable result of Donald Trump’s persistent attacks on the integrity of the electoral process, beginning with the bald-faced lie that millions of illegal votes were cast in the 2016 presidential election, depriving him of a popular majority. Those attacks continue today with Trump’s predictions of massive voter fraud in voting by mail in the current election, which is a preemptive attempt to explain and excuse his possible defeat.

This is dangerous stuff, compared to which Benedict Arnold’s infamous attempt to deliver West Point to the British during the Revolutionary War was small beer. The legitimacy and stability of representative government at every level depends on the shared belief of the citizenry that the electoral process is efficient and fundamentally fair and every legal vote will be counted. Thus, allegations of widespread electoral fraud strike at the very foundation of representative government in America.

And make no mistake about it: There is no significant voter fraud of any kind anywhere in the country, as state elections officials from both political parties repeatedly attest . Of the hundreds and hundreds of millions of votes cast in various elections during the last decade, the number of verified instances of voter fraud is in the low four figures, an inconsequential pittance. But those who fear the voice of the people being expressed at the polls emphasize these extremely rare exceptions to justify voter suppression.

Fortunately, Florida is better prepared to weather the storm of disinformation and outright lies that will descend upon us if the upcoming presidential election is very close. Florida has long had no-excuse voting by mail, and there have been no problems with the process. Even Donald Trump, a newly minted Florida resident, voted by mail in 2018, and many of his senior staff and prominent advisors with permanent residences in Florida, like press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, routinely vote by mail.

Still, the sheer volume of votes in what looks to be a record turnout may delay the final accounting in Florida beyond election night, and that delay of a few days could become much longer if a recount is necessary. But delay in such circumstances is a testament to the care being taken to count every vote and means our democratic process is working the way it was designed.

Each of us must do our part in shoring up our beleaguered democracy, first by voting, then by trusting in the fair tabulation of our votes, and lastly by accepting the outcome regardless of who wins. We are not going to be asked to starve during a siege or to carry on during daily bombing, but we may well be tested in the coming days and weeks, and the future of the country depends on us meeting the challenge.

We know what to do, and we know how to do it. All that is left is the doing of it.