This is going to sound strange because I’m talking about the election but let’s take some of the politics out of the conversation for a bit.
It’s really easy to define a fair election process. Put simply, in a fair election, all valid votes will be counted. But only valid votes are counted.
To validate the legitimacy of an election process, all you have to do is prove that the votes being counted are valid, and that those valid votes are counted accurately.
So, let’s not consider the issues or candidates. Let’s talk about the election itself. Because the election process is more important than the election results.
Regardless of your political affiliation, you should be able to agree that the American people need to be able to trust that the election process accurately counts each valid vote. Everyone should be equally interested in having a process above reproach. If the process is questioned, everyone should be equally interested in proving that the process is sound.
We should all demand that the process is completely transparent so that both/all sides can be certain that it is fair and accurate. Everyone involved should be working as hard as they can to be as transparent as possible ensuring that there is absolutely no question about the accuracy of the election results.
By now, everyone should have heard talk about potential irregularities in the election. These include, but are not limited to:
- “Sharpie-gate”
- Rewriting election laws on the fly to allow invalid votes to be counted
- Counting mail-in-ballots that have no signatures.
- Allowing people to change their votes after election day.
Each of the claims of election malfeasance must be aggressively investigated and determined to be either true or false. Both the Trump and Biden campaigns should be cooperating fully and doing whatever they can to ensure the legitimacy of the election process.
But, here’s the problem. The candidates aren’t equally motivated to look for the truth. Because the truth can mean that the claims are either true or false. And, the only way you’ll find election fraud is if you actually look for election fraud.
The Trump Campaign is working to prove that these claims are true, and that Biden’s apparent lead is illegitimate. So, the Trump Campaign is extremely motivated to push for proof that the claims of irregularities are true. Because if the claims are true, it will likely mean a victory for the President.
Biden, on the other hand, has the apparent lead. If it can be proven that the claims have no merit, it will eliminate any concern about the legitimacy of his election. It will reinforce that this was just “another one of those crazy things Trump says”. But, since it appears that Biden is ahead in the election, the Biden Campaign isn’t really motivated to start looking for a problem.
If there was election fraud, Trump will win. If there was no election fraud, Biden will win.
An accurate and fair election process should be more important than who wins the election. So, we should expect that Trump Campaign will demand a transparent investigation. Because they believe that an investigation will prove they’re right, and that the election was rigged. But, we should also expect the Biden Campaign to demand a transparent investigation. Because they should believe that an investigation will prove they were right, and the election wasn’t rigged.
That’s what we should expect to see. But it’s not what we’re seeing. Instead of allowing Republican observers access to lawfully monitor the counting of the votes, voting boards in some Democratic-controlled cities are blocking their access. Barricades are being installed and windows boarded over so the work can continue unobserved.
I tend to believe that someone with nothing to hide will not try to hide anything. Someone with nothing to hide will cooperate fully and be completely transparent. Maybe I’m being unreasonable but barricades and boarded-over windows don’t seem transparent to me.
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