Democracy faces major threats, but it’s not first time

What if it turned out President Donald Trump was good for democracy?

Voter turnout is on a record-setting pace, voter enthusiasm is as high as it has ever been and the number of people making small campaign donations is surging.

This election is all about Trump, who clearly craves to be the center of attention, though in this case, it may prove to be his downfall. His opposition is galvanized by the singular motivation of voting him out of office.

He appears to have equally energized his supporters, but it’s uncertain whether his backing has enough breadth to win him a second term. Polls, which nobody seems to fully trust these days, show him in danger of losing to former Vice President Joe Biden.

Regardless, partisans on both sides believe no less than the future of the country is at stake.

That Trump is responsible for such a high-level of public engagement in the election is ironic, to say the least. Such activism should be good for democracy, but the president at almost every turn has sought to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the democratic process in this election.

He has claimed without proof that the widespread use of mail ballots during the coronavirus pandemic will result in massive voter fraud. Trump and his allies have waged legal and procedural battles seeking to limit who can vote and how, and to halt vote counts before all legally valid ballots are tabulated.

Citing all that and more, Trump’s critics say he is pushing the United States toward autocracy, not democracy. The ultimate judgment of his impact on that may depend on whether or not his challenges of voting systems succeed.

Tensions are such that law enforcement agencies are preparing to deal with possible violence and voter intimidation on Election Day and beyond.

Accusations of skulduggery aside, there likely will be plenty of issues over how well, or poorly, some states handle the increase not just in mail ballots, but ballots overall because of the turnout. Further, large numbers

of ballots are expected to be disqualified because signatures didn’t match up or they were otherwise not filled out properly.

The prospect for postelection challenges and chaos are great. But there’s always the chance that won’t happen to the extent some people fear.

Regardless of who wins, it is an election with serious consequences and people are paying attention — and taking action.

It really wasn’t that long ago that the notion of holding an election during a deadly pandemic was viewed with dread, with worries about dismal turnout.

With expanded in-person early voting and use of mail ballots, voters so far have proved just the opposite.

As of Friday, voting across the nation was well over half the total number of ballots cast in 2016 — four days before Election Day 2020. More people in Texas already have voted than the total number who voted four years ago.

In San Diego County, nearly 75 percent of the total number of votes cast in the 2016 presidential election were received by Friday.

Various election experts are predicting a record turnout, though some of their colleagues weren’t ready to go that far, given how unpredictable politics has been this year.

In early October, 67 percent of adult Americans surveyed by Gallup said they were more enthusiastic than usual about voting, tying the highest percentage Gallup has measured at any point in prior campaigns.

By mid-october, infrequent and first-time voters

cast two and a half times the number of ballots compared with the same time four years ago, according to Targetsmart, a Democratic analytics firm.

And while turnout is up across all age groups, Politico noted that younger people (18-29) are making up a larger share of the early-voting electorate than they did at this point in either 2018 or 2016. The Washington Post said data and polling suggests that age group could top its historic turnout of 48 percent in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected president.

Political contributions have soared, according to the Los Angeles Times, “and the number of small donations has shot through the roof.”

The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics said in an Oct. 1 report that small donors — people giving $200

or less — made up 22 percent of all federal committees’ fundraising, up from 14 percent in 2016.

Nobody talks about voter apathy these days.

There’s hope, of course, that this kind of engagement will carry over to future elections. But it’s hard to imagine that any time soon there will be a candidate or issue as motivating as Donald Trump has been.

Despite the controversy generated by the president, some states likely will examine whether to continue offering broader voting options, particularly through mail balloting — something California and several other states have been doing for years.

Those are positive signs amid an election that could hardly be described as upbeat. The campaign is characterized by anger from both sides against the other.

The pandemic has people

worried about their health and economic wellbeing, and many don’t think government has done enough to protect the public or help struggling businesses.

These are not happy times. Social justice protests against police brutality filled streets across the nation.

The country is in the midst of a reckoning with its divided and racist history that continues to shape society and, in many ways, frames this election.

In the moment, it may feel like the United States is at a breaking point. The nation has survived worse. The Civil War and political assassinations are part of long-ago history, though there continues to be talk on the margins of breakaway regions and a violent future.

Let’s remember that Americans handled a strung-out, hotly disputed presidential election in 2000 with relative aplomb, certainly when compared with the current climate. The squabble over “hanging chads” now seems quaint.

At the very least, this election could greatly affect the direction of the country and that, along with everything else going on, has people on edge.

A promotion for a podcast this week on the reliability of polling noted that “The Biden-trump election will have massive repercussions for the U.S. and the world.”

As if we didn’t know.

Tweet of the Week

Goes to Joe Little (@Littlejoetv) of NBC San Diego.

“C’mon maaaaaan. Who wants ANOTHER hour of 2020?!”