“Guardians of fairness” taking political sides

Re: “GOP election tactics no surprise to Black voters,” Feb. 13 news story

Want to know why Americans are losing faith in their institutions?

Think about this year’s Super Bowl. A key play deciding the outcome was the defensive holding call against Eagles cornerback James Bradberry. The penalty gave the Chiefs the opportunity to run the clock down before kicking the game-winning field goal.

Now, imagine the official who threw the flag had bet on the Chiefs.

Football and basketball referees, baseball umpires, and election officials are supposed to be neutral; only their neutrality maintains faith in the competition.

Once they favor one side over another, teams refuse to play, and spectators switch to different competitions.

But that’s what’s happening in our most important institutions. Supposedly-neutral guardians of fairness are undermining fairness by taking political sides.

One of the most basic is our election system; the ability to effect change through electoral politics has, more than once, saved America from a violent revolution.

Monday’s edition of The Denver Post carried an Associated Press article describing a Wisconsin elections commissioner Bob Spindell bragging about Republican success in suppressing the Black and Latino vote.

The critical information is that he was not a political operative but an election official.

It matters less whether Spindell’s boast is correct than that an election official roots for a particular outcome. It undermines the faith of many that they can trust elections to solve problems. And that’s a formula for the demise of democracy.

— Ralph Taylor, Centennial