Dr. Anderson's position on election fraud is supported by many studies and is a non-issue. As to voter id laws and their suppression of turnout, the effects are not as clear: https://www.nber.org/papers/w25522
5
Okay, well, who is paying off the Republicans? Who was the mastermind behind their exercises in bad manners and poor statesmanship?
Please write about the behind-the-scenes puppet masters.
20
Are Republicans anti-American?
It really seems like it.
39
The Republican party is dead.
And along with it, the gold ole white boys hegemony is dying.
But not without a vicious, dirty fight.
Donald Trump, ironically , is speeding up the inevitable demise.
He is an appropriate pall bearer.
39
Do we know why Ivanka Trump got a patent for voting machines from China, announced Election Day Nov 6 2018???
17
The putative party of Lincoln, what a sham and shame at the same time. Where's your honor, repubs?
14
"The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do". ---- Attributed to Josef Stalin.
20
What is more concerning is the possibility that Trump will use the concept of voter fraud to void the 2020 election if he loses. Trump knows that he faces criminal prosecution if he leaves office in 2020 so for his very survival he needs to stay in office.
The GOP who would benefit keeping him in office even though he lost the election for example McConnell denied Obama a supreme court justice for a year and announce he wanted to make him a one term president. Trump would try to use the military to stay in power as he has no shame bringing his family into govt forcing security clearances for Jared to get his billion $ loan. A crime boss who refuses to give up power and is ready for a civil war just to stay in power.
21
What is most surprising about the continuing theft of elections by Republican "patriots" is their inability to comprehend the end result. Clearly they feel that erosion of voters rights is the best way to perpetuate their ideal. Fortunately this strategy impacts Republicans more profoundly than they recognize. First clue is where they attempt these thefts. Places where you would have thought they wouldn't have to. Texas and North Carolina, are you kidding?! The heart of the confederacy is on life support and we'll pull the plug with term limits, federally imposed conformity of election technologies.
15
And then there's Georgia, where the secretary of state was himself on the ballot for governor, and without a trace of irony declared himself not needing to recuse himself even as he shaped voter rolls and distributed resources like voting machines in the closest gubernatorial race in Georgia in 50 years. To get a measure of the hypocrisy and the outrage, see
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.esquire.com/news-politics/amp26827603/brian-kemp-georgia-election-voting/
Language is a bit rough, but given the crime and the frustrated attempts to name and address it, hardly a thing to quibble about.
Support Holder's and Obama's efforts to address gerrymandering, march to restore the Civil Rights Voting Act, and open dialogue with those who don't see the problem-- and don't buy into Russian baiting. We can come together around this common ground.
19
Thank you for saying these things out loud. I hope you keep saying them.
12
If it’s a choice between power and democracy, Republicans will take power every time.
It’s not just stealing the votes - you see it in their embrace of the electoral college and the way it systematically works against the popular vote.
They know they cannot win without rigging the game.
17
Could someone please explain how requiring valid identification at the polls amounts to voter suppression aimed at minorities, particularly African-Americans. Is the underlying premise that minorities are disproportionately so inept and/or lazy compared to white voters that it is harder for them to get identification? Should minorities be exempt from the same requirements imposed on all other voters? Sounds racist to me.
Or, does the author and the NYT community believe we should get rid of all requirements that voters present identification at the polls? How exactly would that work?
Just asking.
9
There is a deep level of cynicism evidenced in the attitude of the GOP which believes little in the power of government to fix problems. It is the same cynicism evident in the non voting public which the GOP uses to its advantage. Democrats actually believe in the power of government to make things better while the GOP only believes in pure naked power.
This cynicism led directly to Trump who is the ultimate power hungry cynic. That people suffer and die because of this cynicism does not matter to the cynical GOP. A case in point is Trump's government shut down which delayed the implementation of fixes to planes that were known but could not happen without FAA approval resulting in two needless plane accidents killing almost 400 people.
If the quest for power pushes out the need for effective government services we all suffer.
6
Can we pause for a moment to recognize how consistent Republicans have been in spreading their outright lies?
Do they even still know that they're lying? Do they understand the concept of truth, or do they think it's something to be manipulated for their own gain?
3
Add to their scurrilous attempts to suppress certain votes and make voting harder their criminal (literally in some cases) lack of oversight of the Trump presidency the first two years, when they had full control of Congress; throw in FOX, and yes, the Republicans and their cohorts in the media have done an incredible amount of damage to our democracy. File their bogus flag-waving jingoism and hollers about Democrats and liberals "hating America", "Destroying America", etc., away with their bogus "Country first!", "Christian, moral and family values" demagoguery, and their "Character counts!" shrieks. Their assault on our election system, including their caring more about a president fibbing about a private, consensual affair than a hostile foreign country committing crimes to interfere with our elections, and making Donald Trump the leader of their party and the US President utterly puts to bed any vestige of truth any of those platitudes might have had.
6
The Old Patriarchy is dying and they know it. The only way they can remain in control and power is by artificial means.
Let's hope we are witnessing their last gasp. I am keeping ears alert for their death rattle.
3
This has been obvious for years, but as the saying goes "you can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time and that is enough to win elections".
2
"Our democracy is being stolen. Guess who the thieves are."
Well, for one I would start with the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC who colluded to rig the 2016 Democratic primary. You remember why the DNC Chair had to resign in disgrace right before the convention, correct? Or the NYC Board of Elections who illegally (stress on illegally) purged 200,000 voters right before the NY Democratic Primary as Sanders closed the gap between him and Clinton and pulling in rally sizes of 20+ thousand while Clinton could manage only rallies of 1,300. If you can't figure out what happened in Brooklyn I have their bridge to sell you. Or what about the DCCC backing candidates in the primaries when they are suppose to remain neutral and allow the voters to choose who they want to represent them in the general election. I guess Steny Hoyer and his apologist Nancy Pelosi, don't like following their own party's guidelines. So please, stop holding the Democrats up as a paragon of virtue and honesty. They are anything but and just as corrupt as the Republicans. But worse in my opinion. They cheat their own Democratic members. Then lie to their faces about doing so.
4
But what’s missing from the piece is how the big-government manages to circumvents people's will and our democracy. Our Democrats love big-government for this reason. But the author of this piece glaringly omits that important fact. The evidence is current news. But she still mangers to bury her head in the sand. The greatest threat to our democracy is the big-government and its big-bureaucrats. These unelected officials and their powerful agencies are tax-payer funded, unelected, and largely unaccountable with unrestrained powers. These “deep-state” officials have become an essential part of Left wing- Liberal- system that impose their personal and political preferences and as much as their bureaucratic will on “we the people.” These officials are ready to trap, slander, conspire, against democratically elected officials, including the elected president. And these vast and powerful unelected Liberal bureaucracies, function are like another branch of our Government, unelected--and increasingly plotting to undermine the Congress and the President, elected by the American people. Our founding fathers foresaw this danger─ and that is exactly why our framers wanted a small, hands off Government. Clearly, the Democrats are biggest threat to our freedoms─ not the other way around as Ms. Anderson says.
2
Out of one side of their mouth, the Dems always tell us that election fraud is very rare. Yet, the other side of the mouth always says the Repubs are suppressing the vote. Which one is it? Suppressing the vote is also election fraud, as the election would have been fraudulently won. My guess is both sides are screaming the sky is falling.
3
This column is half right. The reality is that Democrats are almost as much to blame for our failing electoral system. Why? Because, the second fact is that both parties are beholding to their corporate masters. The column doesn't address WHY the GORP (Grand Ol' Russian Party) is stealing elections and WHY in the end Democrats won't take corporate money and corruption out of our elections either. Any column that discusses election fraud and political corruption without mentioning Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission (FEC) isn't serious.
3
Your average Republican voter wholeheartedly supports voter suppression in all forms for a few concocted, delusional reasons:
1) They truly believe Democrats allow and are driving illegal immigrants onto the voting rolls, of course to vote Democrat.
2) They believe Democrats are buying votes from the poor with social spending, (despite the fact that red states take in more than they contribute in tax revenues).
In the view of Republicans, this voter suppression is justified and necessary to “even the playing field against the “democrats dirty tricks.”
3
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few." Wendell Phillips, 1852
3
Clearly Republicans have long understood that lacking a platform that is attractive & beneficial “ for the people”, they are reduced to stealing votes through gerrymandering and crooked voter suppression. Their efforts only intensify as America (and the House and Senate) grow each year less and less a bastion of white male dominance.
2
58,000 of the 95,000 registered to vote non citizens appear to have voted the Texas GOP claims. How was that second number determined? Fishy. John Oliver compared voter impersonation fraud with forging a discount coupon to Bed, Bath & Beyond. A lot of work for very little payoff.
3
Thats it. Divide Americans? Do Democrats think the division of their nation's people will work?
Instead find something to unify all.
Since 2000 when Roger Stone (yes, that Roger Stone) organized the "Brooks Brothers"riot in order to stop the counting of the ballots in Florida, Republicans have displayed an attitude of winning by either hook or crook.
Many questions went unanswered in 2004 concerning voting machines that failed to work properly. In 2008, Karl Rove refused to accept the vote count for Obama and had to be showed by Fox news that it was so. What did he know that we didn't? Were the results due to a failed attempt at election theft?
Linda Selvia
2
More evidence about something that is really old news. Republicans are responsible for the erosion of our democracy? Duh. They've really only been abetted by Russia.
Why am I not surpised? Because Republicans have made no secret of their overt legislative manuevers to stifle voter turnout including the disenfranishment of voting blocs (via ad hoc ID requirements) that are not reliable Republican votes. To think that election fraud was somehow beneath Republicans is a farce. Republican hypocrisy truly knows no bounds.
1
So Republicans are cheating to hold power by fraud. Meanwhile Fox News propaganda has convinced millions of their right wing viewers that liberals are evil and they are using control of the deep state to betray the US and they need to be suppressed before they succeed in their attempted coup d'etat against Trump.
Trump today threatened to unleash police and military violence against liberals. To me it looks like Trump is preparing the ground in case he is impeached or faces electoral defeat next election. People think that death squads and dirty civil war cannot happen here but Trump could prove them wrong.
4
Jim Crow is alive and well and dwells in the heart of the Republican Party. Evil minds there use every trick in the book to maintain political power in order to thwart the will of the people. The party should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
1
There are many who have written and reported on this ongoing problem that has largely been ignored by most US commercial media.
Two words for you: Greg Palast.
Here is a report he submitted for Salon in Georgia prior to the election. About 7 minutes- well worth your time. No wonder Ms. Abrams was not ready to concede the election.
https://youtu.be/0SrV7tN23XA
3
Rigging elections is just about as un-American as one can get.
Anyone who impedes voters by any means (voter fraud fraud, gerrymandering, denial by ridiculous standards, insufficient voting places, etc.) is a traitor. Maybe not in the legal sense, but certainly by everything our founding fathers and held dear.
Don’t call yourself an American, a patriot, a Democrat, or a Republican if you thwart this primary process.
1
The Republican Party has essentially become a crime organization, with Mr. Trump as its "Don."
4
For a somewhat different look at how democracy is being stolen, read KILLING DEMOCRACY on Amazon. Somewhere in it you will read about making sure that the "right people" vote.
1
All should be outraged by what happened in N.C., but this column then makes the unwarranted leap to contend that voter ID laws "suppress" voting. The relevant data say otherwise:https://www.nber.org/papers/w25522
Omigoodness. The premise of this article is just wrong. Democracy is stolen long before anyone even considers casting a vote. In a country where corporations have grabbed the constitutional rights of human persons, and money is constitutionally protected speech, surely it's clear that voters have nothing to do with choosing the usual dreadful candidates, but they are pre-selected for us. To restore our democratic republic, we need a 28th constitutional amendment stating that 1. only human persons have constitutional rights; and 2. money is NOT speech. It was introduced in the last two congresses and Rep. Jayapal will introduce it in the 116th Congress. It is HJR-48 and you can read all about it here: https://legiscan.com/US/bill/HJR48/2019
5
Republican's glacial coup. (1) Make running for office a rich person's hobby, (2) Make money "speech", (3) Enfranchise the well to do as voters and suppress the rest, (4) Pack the Supreme Court with Republican Loyalists (suppress the rest) to approve steps 1, 2, & 3.
Wikipedia:
"A coup d'état (/ˌkuː deɪˈtɑː/ (About this soundlisten); French: [ku deta]), also known as a putsch (/pʊtʃ/), a golpe, or simply as a coup, means the overthrow of an existing government; typically, this refers to an illegal, unconstitutional seizure of power by a dictator, the military, or a political faction.[1]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d'%C3%A9tat
2
And the biggest frauds aren't even mentioned here. As I am sure others will mention, Operation CrossCheck, funded by the Koch brothers, which removed upward of a million democratic/democratic leaning minority voters in the battleground states.
www.gregpalast.com
5
No one knows how prevalent voter impersonation is because it is difficult to detect unless voter IDs are required and most who are caught are simply turned away instead of being arrested.
In 2013 the New York City Department of Investigation sent 63 investigators to test the voting system’s vulnerability to vote impersonation. They posed as individuals who were still on the voter roles but had died, moved away or were ineligible to vote because they had convicted of felonies. Some investigators in their 20s or 30s posed as voters over 80 while some posed as persons of other racial or ethnic groups. All but one of the voter impersonators was allowed to vote. The one turned away was unlucky. He tried to cast a ballot at a polling place where the clerk happened to be the mother of the ineligible felon he was impersonating.
The 63 voter impersonators had a 97 percent success rate and the unsuccessful one was not arrested.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/voter-fraud-a-myth-thats-not-what-new-york-investigators-found-1485994200
3
There is a really simple solution to this: a federal picture ID issued to every citizen and a central citizen database. This is how it’s done in every First World country. I don’t understand why Democrats don’t push for it. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that you can vote in the US without showing a proof of citizenship. It would be impossible in any European country. And it’s simply not true that you cannot register for vote without being a citizen. Many DMV branches will register you for voting if you show proof of residency, which is not the same thing. And finally, 40 percent of 95,000 is not an insignificant number, so what happened to their investigation? I am a legal immigrant and I know that naturalization takes longer than a year even in the best case-scenario.
3
It seems clear that certain elements of the Republican Party have given up on the idea of a democratic government, and the tawdry strategies described here are deplorable, albeit not surprising by now. Even so, it seems to me that an even more important constituency that is eroding our democracy is the 50+% of eligible Americans who do not vote.
1
40% of the 95,000 in Texas were actually not citizens. That's 38,000 illegal votes. Ignore that and charge straight ahead with the claim that voter fraud is a myth.
2
I think you misread. Sixty percent in the initial review were found to be naturalized. The other 40% are undetermined.
3
@Pono
If you read the link from the article, you learn the counties’ review of the voter rolls has stalled, and there are multiple federal lawsuits about the processes involving voter rolls. We don’t know anything about the other 40%.
2
95000 on voting roles, 58,000 (60%) exercised their constitutional right to vote as naturalized citizens. The 37,000 non citizens who were on the voting roles (why?) did not vote, or were not permitted to vote. Sounds like everything is working perfectly. Whats the problem?
Not only is Mitch McConnell happy to take voting rights away from general citizens, he wants to take voting rights away from US Senators as he did today when he refused to allow the Senate a vote to consider to release the Mueller report. And as he did on during the government shutdown. When will the voters in KY realized that he is not representing their interests and remove him from office?
19
He's at 33% in Kentucky. I'd say they are pretty fed up with his shenanigans... He's up for re-election next year.
The opinion piece only scratches the surface. The thieves are the rich. In essence, money steals our democracy.
Tell me if any prominent elected politicians do NOT have big money support. Any one can be elected without money? Money have bought our government.
We need a system which average people without big money can be elected to the public office or represent people.
Money is the real problem, folks.
7
Obviously, the Republican Party is seeking a one-party state - mostly by suppressing the vote of racial minorities. Today's radical Republicans are the architects of this discriminatory plan. In the 1800s, another group of Republicans had a very different plan. A faction called the Radical Republicans wanted to take emancipation a step further by granting full voting rights to freed male slaves.
These two groups of radical Republicans were united by a political party but separated by time and values. It is despairing to realize that a radical group from the 19th century was more enlightened and progressive than its 21st century successor.
8
It’s more than voter suppression. In 2018, Missouri voters voted for Amendment 1, Clean Missouri, by 62%. Republicans immediately began to introduce bills to weaken the amendment and the voter’s intentions. They are now trying to make the citizen’s initiative even more difficult because Amendment 1 was a citizen’s initiative to get it on the ballot. These are difficult but over 300,000 Missourians signed it. So we vote, but we are still suppressed.
10
How many years ago was it that the SCOTUS decided to remove the federal law requiring specific states to have any new laws relating to voting/elections reviewed by the feds. the argument made in the decision was that since they had not broken any laws, they should be freed from this review.
So basically, if a person is in prison for bank fraud, the fact that they have not committed any bank fraud while in prison means they should be freed from prison.
Well, we have seen how well those states have behaved regarding voting /election laws since they have been 'freed'.
13
This has been going on for a while now and has been the GOP strategy both in drawing up district maps for the House of Representatives and state congresses. The practices described in the article are pretty well known, but they still get away with it. One thing I would mention. The United States is not a democracy, its a republic. I wish otherwise educated and talented writers would learn the difference. It is an important distinction on how we our actually represented in local, state and federal governments.
3
Actually, the United States is both a democracy and a republic. It is a democracy in that power is vested in representatives by the people. It is a republic in that the power itself is limited by a constitution.
Texas is slowly going blue. All of it's major cities now vote blue. Beto O’Rourke did help shift Texas’s congressional delegation; Democrats picked up three seats, ousting longtime Dallas-area Pete Sessions and two others. Republicans gerrymandered Texas to make the most of its suburban vote, and the suburban vote abandoned Republicans this year. Suburban counties around Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Houston either went blue completely or delivered greatly diminished returns for Republicans up and down the ballot. We have every opportunity in Texas to go blue in the next presidential election regardless of candidate unless there are more frauds by Republicans.
14
Here is the irony of all of this:
The GOP is fond of calling itself "The Party of Lincoln."
That's right.
The President
who led the nation through its darkest hour and agonized over the slaughter of thousands upon thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers
All to liberate slaves and give them the right to vote
That is the President that the GOP claims to embrace as their intellectual forefather.
Imagine what Lincoln would say today if he saw the GOP engaged in pervasive voter suppression, gerrymandering, and other legal shenanigans to manipulate the franchise.
Lincoln would disown them and condemn them.
A party that depends upon voter suppression, propaganda (including assistance from a foreign enemy), corruption, and massive donations from the billionaire class to stay in power is by these very acts admitting that it is on its death bed.
I think we are now seeing the start of the collapse.
The only question is how much damage will they do in these finals days.
14
I keep wondering if having everyone work and low unemployment means that there are too few people monitoring what is going on as nobody has time to follow, digest, and comment on what lawmakers are doing. From what I understand, these lawmakers have many staff people to research and think about the laws they are creating. So, when laws don't work as intended, like Reagan's "Trickle Down Theory", I can only believe that they were never intended to work as they were sold to. Or, quietly acquiesced to by both parties. In my opinion, Americans are over worked and underpaid.
9
Don't forget the Supreme Court when identifying the thieves. The craven Roberts Court gutted the Voting Rights Act stealing the vote from hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of American citizens. Looking right at you Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy and you too Tony Scalia, "thief" a fine epitaph for you.
44
Nice call, John Roberts.
14
You forgot to mention the ballot harvesting that took place in California.
6
What happened in California is that Democrats went around a collected the ballots of likely democratic voters to make sure those voters voted and their votes were counted. Why would they bother to collect ballots from Republican leaning voters? And why wouldn’t Republican campaign workers do the same for their likely voters? Seems like the Dems were supporting voter turnout and citizen engagement to me. Thats quite different from what happened in North Carolina, where Republican operatives collected (harvested0 incomplete (or complete) ballots, altered or forged votes in favor of their candidate, and submitted them in small quantities to remain undetected. That’s fraud.
3
@Harlod Dichmon
He didn't. This is an article about proven voter fraud, not about conspiracy theories, remember?
When will we recognise that the Republican Party is becoming a criminal enterprise on a grand scale, representing a kleptocrat class that has captured the executive branch and wants to do the same for all other branches of government by whatever means?
The GOP would happily turn the US into South Africa under Jacob Zuma, Venezuela under Maduro and Russia under Putin.
35
Sure. It's a theft until the Democrats back wars in Iraq, Libya or Venezuela, then it becomes a distraction.
3
@Louis Anthes
No legalized injustice is a "distraction". You either take it seriously and solve it, OR you get distracted by other problems.
@Lewis Anthes: Did you forget or ignore the inconvenient fact the Democrats, feckless as they were, were also a vast minority, who wrongly assumed if they played ball with the GOP majority, tbe majority would reciprocate in some fashion. So, how did that work out?
Republicans are good at crossing their fingers behind their backs, when making these kinds of promises.
This is hard-wired into Republican DNA. The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, long before he was designing Supreme Court robes, made his GOP bones in Arizona voter suppression.
9
Never gonna happen while the party of Abraham Lincoln is dominated by racism as a tool for clinging illegitimately to its power.
12
When Republicans tell me Black Lives Matter is too radical and unnecessary, I point to articles like this. I'm white, and if living with such truly gross indecencies were part of my life in America, I'd be dead by now. In fact, that's exactly why so many black people die younger than white people, because the stress is killing them.
14
Will Harris go on trial?
7
I’m sure Chris Kobach got right on the NC ballot stuffing
1
This is all true...and disgusting...and un-American.
And if the good guys had all showed up, or if even two-thirds of them had showed up—two-thirds! That’s a “D,” folks—Donald Trump would still be in NYC running his phony little scams, and the dems would also have the Senate.
It’s all true, and we all need to stop blaming everybody and everything else, not least Hillary Clinton, for our abject failure.
14
Two other legs on which the current rampant theft of democracy rest are 1) gerrymandering and 2) the Electoral College. Both do violence to the principle of ‘one person, one vote.’ The general ideal is that each person’s vote should be of roughly equal weight. We already have two senators from each state regardless of size - there is no need for the Electoral College to ‘balance out things’ further between small and large states. Getting rid of it and electing the only nationwide office by popular vote (like every state’s governor is) would make every vote equal and a robust competition for every vote throughout the country.
Gerrymandering is simply political parties attempting to thwart the will of the people to hold onto power. It is done by both major parties, but not equally so. The districts should be drawn by nonpartisan (NOT bipartisan) panels of experts.
Yes, we are losing our democracy because those who claim to love it and protect it, really fear and despise it.
15
racism.
7
Republicans may be stealing our votes, their donors are stealing our money, our children's money and ruining the planet while at it because they don't want to look beyond quarterly earnings. These crony capitalists and their congressman, cry foul about the crummy food stamps and the cost of social security benefits that labor paid into; while they avoided paying any taxes (of course legally, drafted by their lobbyists and passed by the very Congress bought by them).
Conservative used to be a respectable term, but not anymore as these 'United citizens' have coopted that term for their nefarious purposes. As Mayor Pere said, these guys have maligned the term Socialism to mean worse than communism. It is crony capitalists that are striking at the Democratic foundations while GOP gleefully reaps the benefit.
NJ democrats tried something similar and the Dems came down on them hard. GOP just doubles down. Yep Mr. Harris, we have money for another election. Would you like to run again? This time make sure, not to get caught!
6
There is one other form of voting suppression the republicans are practicing...the prevention of votes on the Senate floor.
Mitch McConnell simply refuses to schedule a vote on issues he doesn't like.
Where in the Constitution does it say, there will be 100 Senators, but one of them gets to control all the actions of the Senate?
Mitch McConnell is corrupt and likely compromised.
Boycott Kentucky.
32
@Fred Armstrong
And maybe North Carolina and Georgia...
Let's put this author across the table from Hans von Spakovsky and see how the conversation rambles.
Both parties work to secure their advantage, and unscrupulous members of both parties take liberties with the law from time to time, to do so.
These persons are despicable.
But it is not a formal policy of either party, to engage in fraud or suppression, and it is childish to suggest otherwise.
3
Less voter participation is never good in a Democracy. Fewer facts, less information, less transparency is never good for making the right choice. Republicans are consistently for fewer voters and less transparency. Never good. Not equivalent.
That, we still require a "Voting RIghts ACT" in the 21st century to protect blacks and latinos from disenfranchisement at state polling places is both a cruel and unusual punishment! Your insightful essay is a glimmer of hope, Professor Anderson, PhD.
5
Remember the adage: You get the government you deserve. A message to the Dems: the youth of America is its future. Spend the TV ad time teaching the civics lesson of citizenship. Get out the vote and change the laws. Secondly, sue every person who has repressed or stolen a citizen's right to vote - individually - in Federal Court. A dropoff of this theft will soon be seen.
5
Those old men aren't going to get away with it for much longer.
2
Yes, it's a problem that Republicans are cheating; but the bigger, more dangerous problem, is that millions of Republican supporters don't seem to mind that their party is corrupting the republic they claim to love.
9
After so many years of republican deception I have come to the conclusion that their supporters are either deliberately joined in the effort or incredibly stupid. At any rate I suspect they will never face the reality until there is nothing left to lose. A sorry lot they are.
3
Oh, come on. The Republicans dont have a monopoly on voter suppression and fraud. The Democrats are just as likely to do this when it suits there needs, and when they think they can get away with it.
6
It’s telling that the Republicans know they can’t win without cheating. They are out of step with the country and that’s a pill too bitter for them to swallow. Unfortunately, democracy is a casualty of their “survival at all costs” strategy.
5
Bogus, discredited fearmongering over voter fraud is a well publicized Republican tactic. Less well publicized is computer based Election Fraud. Voters who use voting computers are essentially whispering their vote to a man behind a black curtain and trusting he records it as the voter wishes. The ongoing mergers and consolidation of voting computer companies solidify Republican control of our voting computers. Currently, all are companies owned by Republicans, and all are using *proprietary* code that is unavailable to local election jurisdictions. Absent hand counted paper ballots, (you know, like actual European democracies use) we need exit polls and especially audit laws in every state that feature Risk Limiting Audits with *consequences* for rigged tallies. What we don't need is new election computers like we're about to get in Chicago that feature bar codes on the ballot--the bar codes is what gets counted!
7
The main culprit of voter fraud and suppression is donald in connection with his own "election'.
2
I would argue the real attempted theft of American democracy are from those attempting to reverse the results of the 2016 presidential election.
2
@jaco
No one is attempting to "reverse the results of the 2016 election" -- no one just wants to see a repeat of them.
2
It seems as though every time trump points a finger at an issue or a person, J'acusse, he, or members of his party are so guilty of the same and those accused are innocent.
It amazes me, and at the same time disappoints me so, the stupidity of Americans. What disaster will convince Americans?
3
Over the years both parties have been guilty of various forms of voter fraud, gerrymandering, ballot stealing, etc. so lets be fair.
In fact the biggest travesty in recent memory was when Hillary and the DNC stole the nomination from Bernie Sanders via the flawed Super Delegate system and other shady methods. It is actually kind of sad at this point that the NYT and most of the big media outlets continue to push the one sided narrative that it is only the Republican party at fault here. It is truly unfortunate that the only big media voice left that tries to argue the Conservative /Republican side, Fox News, has been banned from all Democrat party debates. Is that democracy in action?
It's amazing, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that right wingers continue to insist that the left is committing massive voter fraud. They will read this article and not even believe it, or say, but what about...? How do you get through to people who have no capacity to review evidence and change their minds?
4
Maybe if election fraud like this was prosecuted (and punished) more consistently the message would get through.
There's a GOP House member from NY and his district is in Long Island, and two election cycles in a row he sent out voting reminder mailings that stated the **wrong date** for the election. Interestingly, those mailings only went to democratic leaning zip codes.
When confronted about it, his staffers insisted that it was an honest mistake - TWO TIMES IN A ROW.
In a functioning democracy, the candidate and everyone involved should've been indicted and taken to court.
3
"Within days, however, election officials in Harris County, which includes Houston, revealed that that 95,000 number was as solid as papier mâché. Mr. Whitley had used a driver’s license database that doesn’t track when or if an immigrant becomes a citizen during the six-year window when a license is issued and expires. Since more than one million Texans had become naturalized citizens during the time frame of the list, this was not insignificant."
According to this stat 38000 voters in Harris County are potentially fraudulent so how is this insignificant??? I have to produce an ID to get a library card, but not to vote. If the Dems were worried about this issue the NYT would be calling for a Constitutional Amendment
1
Why does Trump look like the cat which swallowed the canary ?
Because he did and it'll get stuck in his craw.
The man who perpetrated the fraud was hired by Dems in the past. And the scheme used, otherwise known as vote harvesting, is both legal and common in California.
3
The first past the post election system is undemocratic per se! It violates the one voter, one vote principle from the beginning. The fact that an advantage can be gained from gerrymandering is just a symptom, it is not the core problem.
Unfortunately, while absolutely correct, the argument is simplistic. The argument for democracy was fierce in its day, with much doubt that ordinary people could make judgments for the whole endeavor. Brexit demonstrates the danger, economic failure, Irish rebellion, Northern Ireland and Scotland want to secede? The problem with democracy is that the voters a) don't all vote and b) don't all do due diligence in evaluating the issues or nominees. So, yes the last step of the vote, the election is well described in the article, but the preliminaries are where the real fight for democracy belongs. Abraham Lincoln said you can't fool all the people all the time, but you can distract them and lie to them and make up silly issues that for the most part does fool them. Now, all the time is more problematic if we have a legitimate press, uh oh. The culprits are tribalism, media distortions, lack of trust among Americans of different outlooks.
1
Given that there will be no restored voting rights act isn't it about time that we admit to ourselves and inform our children that this country is no longer a democracy? Freedom House is an organization that evaluates liberty and democracy in countries around the world. The United States has fallen behind most of the nations of Europe in terms of these ideals. Ben Franklin told a woman once that we had established a Republic if we could keep it. We couldn't.
5
The real thieves of Democracy are the 'Founding fathers': we don't vote directly on laws, we don't vote directly for the president, no one votes for the Federal Judges. Why?
Because the 'Founding Fathers' did not want us to: they firmly believed that 'man is not wise enough to govern himself'.
Consequently elected Representatives make the laws under which we live and not, We The People, because we are not wise enough to do so. We vote for members of the Electoral College to chose our President, because we, The People, are not wise enough to do so. And Federal Judges are not voted on by us; because, you guessed it, we are not wise enough to do so. The only Founding Father who stood against this position, embedded in the Constitution, was the, arguably, brightest of the group, Jefferson. Jefferson said, in his first inaugural address, "It is often said man is not wise enough to govern himself, then he should govern others?"
Actual Democracy is people voting directly on the laws under which they live, directly on the Executive officers, and directly on the Judges. Everything else is being governed by what Rousseau called the "Elected Aristocracy".
5
Roger,
Calm down, Dude. There was never a direct democracy in a large nation in the history of the world. Greece, the birthplace of Democracy, had an elected Senate. We are a nation of over 300million people. You can't run a government with that many people directly involved. Sorry, not. even. close.
4
@Roger Duronio
Given that voters elected AOC I can understand the idea that "We the People" are not wise enough...
3
Idaho has elected judges, even to the state Supreme Court. When right-wingers didn’t like a judgement a few years ago, a man who’d lost his job as a veterinary assistant ran for Chief Justice.
He got a lot of votes, too.
I am most certainly NOT in favour of elected judges — provided, of course, that the executive branch and the senate actually do their respective jobs and don’t nominate, and approve, unqualified Thomases and Kavanaughs.
I live in hope.
Some people are conceived as more important, more worthy, more capable of knowing what is best. All others are conceived as helpful parasites. Pull the curtain back and consider the assumptions that are implicit to voter suppression. Not a pretty picture. Very reminiscent of the feudal days whereby only the property owning class were allowed to be in charge of their destiny. Some humans became no more than property. Ultimately, voter suppression are the seeds of unrest. The choice then becomes a police state or revolution. I want neither. But, neither do I want a socialist soceity. What I do want is for all to have a stake in their lives. We must not hinder the most basic underpinnings of democracy.
3
William, you’re in luck! Because no one, not one person, is advocating for socialism in the US. Not. One.
Socialism means government owns the means of production - the raw materials, the companies, etc., and also determines compensation and “merit”. Tell me exactly which politician you’ve heard proposing that?
What many Democrats are advocating for is to stop handing out corporate welfare and instead invest in the rest of us. If corporations didn’t have workers and purchasers, they’d produce and sell nothing. If they didn’t have government to maintain roads, electricity, and telecommunications, to maintain basic order, protect their property, etc., they’d produce and sell nothing.
It is long past time for our laws to be written to favor the many who keep it all going instead of the few who can afford to “buy” laws for their own benefit.
8
@Kris. If the Dems don’t figure out a better way to promote capitalism for all then they will own the narrative, as they do now.
1
Well said!
Democracy needs equality. We're so unequal in wealth, income, property and power that our democracy is being had. Until we rid ourselves of billionaires and poverty, of grotesque inequity we will not really be a healthy democracy. So glad for the 2016 election and the Democrats running for President. I hear good things for our country. Now is the time to stand for 'the People'.
8
"What's wrong with stealing elections?"
The fact that a modern Republican could ask you this with a straight face says it all.
20
The Russians have their ruthless oligarchs, we have the ruthless Gas and Oil Party doing endless damage, except to the ultra-wealthy, in the US. Thomas Piketty's economic analysis is correct. In the late phases of capitalistic countries the numbers of citizens holding the most resources and wealth narrow to a tiny percentage and the middle class and working classes are squeezed relentlessly. Mitch McConnell is a villian in American Civic Life. He should be voted out of office post-haste. His 'long game' is a very destructive game for a broadly prosperous entrepreneurial, aspirational society. Not to mention for minority voters. America is better than this people!
12
And this all lays the groundwork for Trump to refuse to accept the results of an election he loses.
9
If you tried to create an organization subversive to our government, you couldn't do better than the GOP. The are the anchor to our progress and the roadblock to our success.
20
The line referencing the op ed should read "Charlotte Observer" not Charlotte News & Observer. (The latter is the Raleigh paper).
2
The biggest problem is that the majority in this country, white Christians, want to keep their privilege and will turn a blind eye to obvious malfeasance by their "own" to keep their hands on the reins of power.
It's the same with Trump; they all know he's a villain; that he cheats, lies and steals, but as long as he keeps them at the top of the pile, they will overlook his myriad flaws.
The USA right now is trying to become politically similar to apartheid South Africa in the last century. Even white South Africans knew their system was indefensible, but they had to keep their privilege, so tuned out decency, until they couldn't any more.
The USA is still tuning out decency, just to maintain white Christian privilege. I hope it ends soon. Whatever happened to honor?
16
It is amazing how Mitch can sleep at night knowing that he defrauds the people continuously for the benefit of GOP, and how gullible are people to keep voting for him.
16
I'm more curious how he is able to come out during the day and the sunlight doesn't burn his flesh.
5
Yet another piece of fake news. Well, sort of. Yes, election fraud was committed. But the author clearly, and erroneously claims that it's the Republicans. As in there's a sinister plot being hatched in a smokey back room by rich old white men that run the RNC. Democrats have hired shady people as well.
Conveniently she fails to mention that the Democrats, for decades, were the ones engaging in election fraud in the South. But no surprise there.
5
That was back when Democrats were the conservatives. So perhaps it would be more accurate to say that conservatives have stolen our democracy. And right now, that equals the Republican party.
14
We're talking about now, not decades before the Voting Rights Act was put in place.
2
those southern democrats are republican now.
show me the evidence of modern democrats stealing elections through voter supression and election fraud.
i want evidence not your disinformation
2
The party of freedom and family values has unfortunately become the party of democratic devastation. The American people have become an after thought to them. Money and power are their gods. They subscribe to the theory of the subterfuge of Democracy. Trump, McConnell, Jordan and their like are traitors and should know the comfort of a jail cell
4
Anyone who supports the current administration's embracing of fear, greed and suppression of voters is complicit in the thievery. We aren't coming out of this until enough Americans find a reason to live with integrity. If this administration survives 2020 we may be simply admitting that there's two completely different Americas.
The 2 coasts and a few other states should merge with Canada, Canada willing, of course. The rest can create their "US White Christian Confederacy", a conservative Christian version of a Sharia Law utopia, in peace.... with lot's and lot's of peaceful guns of course.
8
@Robert Pierce If the blue states were to leave, what's left of America would have an economy the size of... Ecuador. And to think Republicans talk about "makers" and "takers," and like to portray Democrats as effete "snowflakes" who don't know hard work.
3
So...fact check time.
A company I used to work with was called in by the DNC and RNC during the Gore v Bush recount.
We were a consumer data and analytics company who licensed our very clean data to some of the biggest marketers in the world who demanded clean data.
We were asked to take the voting records from the 4 counties being challenged and compare the records against the 'deceased file' we maintained on recently departed people. These records noted the actual day the votes were cast.
We found over 3500 dead people had voted for Al Gore in those 4 counties and less than 400 dead people have voted for Bush in the same 4 counties.
Because the Supreme Court finally ruled as they did..this data was buried in the East River right next to Hillary Clinton's email server.
Fact is...cheating happens by members of both parties and digital voting and access to information makes it all the easier.
Most voting rolls are locked down 2-3 months before an election which means if Aunt Martha died 6 weeks before an election, she's still on the voting roll. All you need to know is her name and address and you can vote for her..without voter id.
Voter ID is a minimum requirement and should be in place for every precinct in the U.S. It's not a means to suppress voter turnout, because these same precincts can deploy web cameras to photograph voters for those who do not have photo id..with the digital photo being attached to the voting record for any future reference and audit.
5
Name the company, name the counties, and provide a link to the study.
Otherwise, it’s a lie.
5
Votes by dead people are just one metric. What about all those hanging chads? What about all those people in liberal West Palm who allegedly voted for Pat Buchanan?'That's what gave Bush the victory that year - not dead voters.
1
Vote Democrat: The Republic depends on it.
It’s a sad state of affairs.
13
Friends do not let friends vote republican.
In fact, what is a "republican" friend? republicans want to cheat and lie their way to "victory". They cannot win honestly so they have abandoned the Constitution in favor of dictatorship.
9
Its that photograph, of the three men in their monotonous black/blue suits and dumb dull silk ties, and their nearly sterile over groomed heads of dyed hair and God knows what kind of toxic perfumed hair products and body products and food products, let alone the toxic thoughts, that make be all too glad to be not "normal;", not mainstream. I am NOT proud to be American, i dont know what "being American" even means? I am happy to be a fairly nice person who tries to be and do good. But proud? Proud? I am proud of my art work, or music, but of my self? Why should i be?
3
@eyton shalom You should be proud to be an American. A lot of people far less fortunate than you risk everything to come to America, to become citizens and have a shot at a better life. Too many Americans take America for granted, and this is a big reason why we're in the mess we're in. From the sounds of it, you probably don't even vote. You don't know how lucky you are.
1
What good is it to have the right to vote if your vote doesn’t count?
Republicans, in the Utah State Legislature, not only seek to suppress voting but to kill voter sponsored initiatives. Citizens in Utah voted in November, in citizen sponsored initiatives, for Medicaid expansion and for liberal medical marijuana laws, among other voter sponsored referendums.
The Legislature, under prompting from the Mormon Church, changed the medical pot law the voters wanted, and The Legislature denied medical coverage to thousands of poor Utahans.
Voter initiatives so frighted Utah Republicans, that as Huff Post reported, Utah Is “considering changing the law to make it even harder to get voter initiatives on the ballot and implemented when they pass.”
Ah, come to Utah to get a frightening sense of what it must be like to be a voter in Putin’s Russia or some dictatorship in South America, where “The Legislature,” like some ogre out of Kafka, knows better what Utah needs than its citizens.
8
Ironic that the party that screams the loudest about voter fraud commits it. Are they that frightened of whites becoming a minority in America that they resort to crime? They must be. George Orwell wrote "Animal Farm" as a satire. The GOP is giving it life.
8
If today's Republican Party had a slogan, it might be:
"When you can't beat 'em, CHEAT 'em."
12
There is no empirical evidence that voter ID laws have ever disenfranchised anyone. Feel free to speculate, if you so desire.
3
They are, although they are the very first ones to claim vote-corruption. Republicans are turning into a cancer, slowly metastasized into every segment of society.
5
’The right to vote, and therefore American democracy, is once again under attack. The violence is quieter than before. But it is equally lethal. The only thing that will save us is a restored Voting Rights Act.’
Unfortunately, we now have Gorsuch and Kavanaugh on the Supremes. Those two illegitimate justices (one occupying a stolen seat, the other rammed through the Senate without proper vetting) have delegitimized our highest court.
There’s no doubt these right wing robots, having been validated by Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, will find some originalist gobbledygook nonsense to underpin an opinion that gerrymandered state legislatures are just the right venue to decide who gets to vote.
Let them eat cake will be right up there with money is speech and corporations are people.
2
Don't forget Clarence Thomas, also not legitimately on the SCt, because of his perjury.
3
Seems like Russian meddiling in elections is the LEAST threat of our worries.
Rather, it's Republican meddling.
5
The modern GOP is a wholly criminal enterprise who's sole objective in the establishment of an impenetrable plutocracy that is answerable to no one.
They do not believe in the Constitution, nor do they believe that the rule of law should apply to them, only to others.
They are a party consumed by greed and the pursuit of power for power's sake alone. A bigger bunch of amoral, self-absorbed liars the world has never seen.
And if they are not thrown out of office soon, they will destroy our ability to stop them via the ballot box, because they will have rendered the "power of the people" impotent.
Make no mistake, these people will stop at nothing in order to gain and maintain power.
Their history is one of increasingly bold acts of political theft and concentration of power. And their 24/7 propaganda machine has abetted them far beyond their expectations.
Even though Donald Trump lost, he won. And the fact that he won shows just how close we are to becoming a monument to a ruined age.
Republican are not your friends. The modern GOP is the worst kind of enemy this country has ever produced. A group who's power is inversely proportional to their ability to wield it correctly, and for the benefit of all.
Wars of choice. Racism. Stolen elections. Fraud. Conspiring with hostile foreign nations. Ever increasing inequality. A know-nothing-know-it-all approach to the environment. Deception. Recklessness. Religious zealotry. Bigotry. And now more than ever - Hate and Lies.
6
We all know that George W. Bush became president because of GOP shenanigans in Florida. Have the Republicans won any presidential election in the last fifty years withouy corrupting the voting process by foreign pilicy meddling, dirty tricks, vote manipulation or collusion with our enemies?
1
@LVG: W. had help from the Supreme Court, which put a stop to the recount in FL. We'll never know whether Gore received more votes than W. in FL--if he did and changed how FL's electoral votes were allocated, then that election was stolen, with the Good Housekeeping seal of approval from the Supreme Court.
There were plenty of shenanigans in FL then and now. I've wondered why FL hasn't gotten its act together, but the GOP controls FL, so that's why. It is too bad that FL is of such outsized importance to national elections--if it weren't, then if they screw up their voting, it only hurts them, not the rest of us.
The anti-democratic train left the station in November 2016, not to mention Bush v. Gore. The only way to remake Democracy in America is to make Presidential Elections direct and abolish the Electoral College—by whatever means necessary.
4
I hear on right wing radio "MS-13 is coming here to vote!" all the time. You might as well be trying to negotiate with flat earthers.
3
I've said it before: Republicans are flushing America down the toilet, and don't know they're being flushed, too.
Trump operates under the divide and conquer model.
"A house divided cannot stand"- Lincoln
I do wonder what all this means to Trump. Does he want, in the end, a gold statue of himself in Washington?
I's like to see him on Mt. Rushmore, with a small head wearing a dunce hat.
2
The ultimate in voter suppression in the U.S. was represented by Jim Crow laws in the Southern states. "And," some insist on screaming, "those states were run by Democrats! The 'Solid South'. So there!"
But folks, they were Democrats in name only. Because of White hatred arising from Reconstruction - which was a set of laws and actions designed to punish the South for the Civil War - a southern politician who ran for office as a Republican was committing political suicide.
With the Civil Rights Act of 1964, southern politicians switched to the Republican party in droves, showing their true colors. Read all about the attempted filibusters and "amendments" offered up by Southern Republicans during the passage of that Act, as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965... now struck down by guess who?
The attempts of the Republican party to restrict voting to "whites only" are clear on their face. Republicans want you to think they're okay... y'know, just "politics".
In my view, their actions are perilously close to an attempt to overthrow our Constitution. Is that treason?
5
Well said. The yellow dog, republican south is a large part of our current sorry situation.
2
What is simply amazing is that the Trump Toadies in the GOP, which is the GOP, have peddled the fiction that every time they lose, someone cheated them, providing the cover - transparent though it is - for THEM to cheat. Their leader’s whine in 2016 that his paper thin victory margin and popular vote deficit were the result of “millions” of illegal votes launched the first of far too many investigations based on nothing more than Twitter spew. Their constituents, groomed for decades to respond to utter nonsense, appear to be fine with trashing any rights, as long as they aren’t gun rights. What is unfortunate is that all this is a two-way street as they’re finding out in the house: “I’ll call your nine Benghazis and raise you 10 Muellers”....Democracy is being tested from within....my whole life I never saw that coming.
4
@walt amses: You're right. I, too, never thought that I'd see this in my own country. This kind of thing was what I read about in banana republics, in evil, corrupt 3rd world countries with greedy, power-hungry despots. The truth is that we're rotting from within, and if we the people don't get more involved soon we're going to be no better than those other countries, with our elections a sham and the rich and powerful running rough shod over everyone else (they're already doing it). When enough people get desperate and disgusted, there will be a revolution. I hope it doesn't get to that point, but we're racing head first as fast as we towards that point. If the GOP truly cares about conservatism and preserving the country (which they don't), they'll check the corporate coup d'états.
Pure gaslighting: Republican election fraud is "voter fraud"
2
"The real theft of American democracy happens through election fraud and voter suppression."
And corporate dollars (along with the roundheeled politicians willing to be purchased by them).
4
@DC
And don't forget the interference by foreign entities on social media platforms....
Easier to blame our loses on Republican dirty tricks than face up to the reality that voter education in this country is stuck at the levelof sound bites, and consequently voter turn out in this country is abysmal. If you can’t outvote an intellectually moribund party of desiccated bankers, try asking yourself why more people aren’t feeling inspired to come out and vote!
4
Don’t forget about what they’re trying to do with census. It’s happening at all levels - local and national.
5
This article is a perfect example from the "No Hate Left Behind" column from Thomas Edsall yesterday where he cited increasingly vicious partisanship between Democrats and Republicans. Ms. Anderson paints all Republicans as evil and engaging in voter suppression destroying our democracy. She indicates, per se, that Republicans are not decent human beings and implies we would be better off without them. As a moderate to conservative independent voter, I am aghast at this tirade and the bile-filled support that she gets from many readers. Where is the America I grew up in, where individuals could differ in their political opinions and still appreciate each other as individual human beings? That America is gone and Progressives are largely responsible.
7
@Alex
Not all Republicans do it, but they all seem to condone it. Was there any backlash from the Republican base at any of the activities mentioned like what happened when NJ tried to implement an anti-democratic (but pro Democrat) gerrymander?
Were Republican prospects dimmed at all when McConnell stole a Supreme Court seat? No.
Are Republicans at all concerned about Russia interfering in our elections and team Trump encouraging and enabling them every step of the way? No.
Do I wish to share a community with people that show no respect for the rights of their fellow citizens? Nope. I'll take any random Latin American immigrant over Republican as my preferred fellow citizen.
3
@Alex
if you truly think that progressives are largely responsible then you're just adding to the divide. the America you remember has been dismantled not by progressives but by those who benefit most from divide and conquer. the 1% of the 1%. the uber rich that actually "run the world", their enablers and hanger-on's. when you're ready to look at things from a neutral POV then a discussion and appreciation of others differences can take place. but i'm not holding my breath on that one. the masses are being manipulated like never before and if you can't see that then it really is too late.
Ah fiddlesticks. America has always been about protecting a minority (the owners) against the fairness encapsulated in the aspirations of the high language of the Declaration of Independence. In a few grand moments we have risen to “all men are created equal” but we overestimate our grandeur commonly. How else to explain Trump or the last 40 years of super wealthy enrichment? We will escape our selfishness only when we stop lying to ourselves with Whiggish histories of American Exceptionalism. To which this essay premises itself in no small part.
4
I keep seeing Democrats complaints of gerrymandering. Then when you look at the House of Representatives, Democrats have almost exactly the right percentage of house seats based on the percentage of overall house votes that Democrats received in 2018. Of course it varies by state but since it evens out nationally, to me that means gerrymandering is occurring relatively evenly between parties. California for instance, has 87% Democratic representation in the house but only 64% of Californians voted Democrat in house elections. If Republicans were gerrymandering more then the National house balance should have favored Republicans. Instead, Democrats got 53.5 % of national house votes and 54% of house seats.
4
But what do we do about the fact one of our two political parties is hostile to the Constitution and actively working in myriad ways to undermine democracy? A comprehensive and sternly enforced voting rights act is necessary medicine, but won’t cure the underlying disease of the body politic.
9
Blame the Republicans........Racial bias at its worst.
5
Thank you to Greg Palest for uncovering the phenomenal level of voter fraud being carried out by both parties but especially by the Republicans, and for staying on this story for so many years.
3
Fixing this will require, first, an end to blatant gerrymandering.
5
The media does a terrible job reporting on local elections. They cover the President obsessively, and pay some attention to Gubernatorial and Senate races and the occasional Congressional race, but they need to focus on State Senate, State Assembly and municipal elections. That's where Democracy is supposed to take place.
7
Why is it that so many have so much difficulty seeing this? It has been obvious for decades. In person voter fraud, ballot box stuffing, and the like are a smoke screen used to conceal the real election fraud that is perpetrated primarily by Republicans and their supporters. No whataboutism, no "both sides do it", the GOP has a record of cheating and manipulating the process to make it restrictive in ways that favor themselves. The GOP is absolutely against free, secure, open elections where as many eligible voters as possible have minimal obstacles to exercising their franchise.
I suppose that the American public really believes that if you are not cheating, you are not trying hard enough.
343
I agree. The Republican party is filled with repugnant people who have sold the country to Putin and other enemies of the people. Vote Democratic 2020.
13
As Li Cindy Yang with chattel at Orchids of Asia, thus DJT / GOP with USA.
4
It has been apparent for over a decade that the Republican party stands outside the democratic consensus. They simply don't believe in democracy as a form of government. They use democracy as a means to the end of producing and concentrating wealth.
12
@Robert F
Correction: They use democracy as a means to the end of producing and concentrating wealth ... FOR THEMSELVES.
11
@Robert F Read "How Fascism Works" by Jason Stanley. It is the republican agenda.
1
@N. Smith
Thanks. I will offer another correction. Decades, plural.
2
The United States does not have a democracy. We have minority rule and autocracy. And the conductor of this perverse symphony? Mitch McConnell of course.
13
@JD, Bernie was saying this loud and clear back in 2015 but media and NYT refused to open their ears or eyes. Our youth heard the truth!
2
Any time Republicans complain about something, anything, you can be sure that they are projecting their own guilt.
10
US has a dinosaur election system, whether the anachronistic electors, voter suppression, gerrymandering, and the irrational Citizen United that unites not citizens bur schemers.
And other countries are tackling direct democracy and otherwise keep perfecting their democracy while America is throwing it to dogs...
5
When the GOP/MAGA folks claim voter fraud, but can't find any, they make sure their argument rings true by doing it themselves. Wonderful! Of course, this is all in the service of racism.
11
Carol,
This should be a scandal on the same level as what Mueller is uncovering with Trump. I’m so tired of hearing that the Republican leadership has gone quiet on this scandal. What a surprise! Have you heard any comments whatsoever on the convictions that surrounds this Presidency? Just crickets.
There are underlying issues at work that need to be addressed:
Citizens United, Voter ID (Jim Crow), Racism, Gerrymandering, Voter Suppression, etc.
The Democratic Party has to go after this scandal like Fox News treats AOC, Green New Deal, Boarder Wall, etc.
They need to bring light to this issue with hearings, marches and everything in their arsenal to show Americans what the Republicans really stand for- White Supremacy!
13
This isn't "Legerdemain" as you state, it is larceny. It is taking advantage of the fact that 40% of the voting public are so ensconced in their right wing bubble that they will believe anything that backs up their preconceived notion that Democrats are evil. I can remember when the word "liberal" was spit out of the mouths of Republicans as if they just tasted something bitter. Then they started with calling us the "Democrat" party as if that school-yard taunt had any basis in fact or grammar. Now, of course we're all "socialists". It's not magic when you take advantage of the simpletons, it's simply immoral.
10
The one good thing about too many of these comments is that they clearly show how much of the right-wing anger at getting as many people as possible is rooted in white racial panic, and that some of the leftist ranting comes out of anger because their Anointed did not get elected.
Sorry, ‘wingers. The country is changing, no matter how much you elect lunatics like Trump and try to King Canute the tide. Sorry, some lefties, there’re always going to be lots of perfectly-decent, educated, knowledgeable Americans who just plain disagree with you.
And all y’all need to think a little about why you spend so much time making up fantasies rather than just looking at material reality.
5
These are hollow little men who choose to live their little lives harassing those who just want to survive with some dignity.
7
It seems the America Mr. Trump is referring with "Make America Great Again" is the America when only wealthy, landowning white males could expect to vote.
241
@Henry Sadly, that is what "America" or the U.S. to be more specific, has always been, regardless of voter fraud. The Republican Party is the much more blatantly anti-democratic of both parites but tp paraphrase Gore Vidal the U.S really has one party - The Property Party- with 2 wings, the Democrats and Republicans. There is not democracy in the U.S. There are some democratic structures and institutions in our constitution that are important and there has always been activism moving towards democracy but it does not come from the parties or from voting, in my view. It has to come from "below", from the streets and the people. But a cursory glance at our history will show that this country was created as you say for "wealthy, landowning white males..."
9
Of course the Republicans, true "patriots," will use their own voter theft as evidence of the need for more voter suppression laws.
5
Every attempt to prove 'voter fraud' has ended in failure, because it is rare to nonexistent. Yelling voter fraud is a classic projection by the GOP to cover up its massive election fraud and voter suppression. It is that simple.
7
It would seem that the major job of a Republican who has been elected is to hang on to their job. How they do it is now apparent.
3
In today's Times there is an article about the legislative achievements of the late Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, which a quick read will show you are considerable; he actually had two of his projects turn into Constitutional Amendments. But the big disappointment was his failure to pass the one which would have replaced the electoral college with a direct popular vote. It was stopped by Southern segregationists, led by Strom Thurmond. Same thing is happening now with voter suppression. It's all about Southern racists preventing fair representation, particularly of black citizens. These people despise the very idea of democracy, always have.
10
GOP is silent for fear of attracting attention to their own election!
Republican's textbook theft of elections? Old news - as was proven back with the W Bush and SCOTUS election - even if they keep rewriting the their text book to add foreign American foes for assistance.
No wonder Republicans broke the Constitution to appoint two more SCOTUS justices and are packing the courts everywhere with party loyalists.
Republicans would have been successful this time around too had they managed to steal and hold on to the Governorship in 2016. Voter ID would have no affect on the theft and would only reduce legitimate forms of voting - as the GOP intends.
The rich decide who runs for office for the rest of us to vote on. Indeed, it's one dollar one vote in America's democracy. The one with the most dollars wins. Given that more small voter donations are closing the gap with the Kochs, Mercers, Adelsons, Saudis, Emiratis and Israelis of the world - all have meddled in our elections - voter fraud by Republicans is necessary to continue winning with fewer votes.
At least trump isn't lying about rigged elections- he's the ultimate beneficiary of one, then laughs at us by grabbing and strangling the Stars and Stripes on stage in his incitement rallies that worship him and disparages all Americans who have not fallen inline.
Voter fraud, theft and suppression should be a jail-able, treasonable offense. Indeed stealing elections enables income inequality we have under their government.
7
@PAN
Most government attempts to reduce income inequality are morally equivalent to theft. Preventing non-taxpayers from voters is essential to protect property rights and thus prevent theft.
3
@Joe Public
You have that backwards Joe Public. Government working to increase income inequality is morally equivalent to theft. Government is there to protect theft by the elites from the rest of us - why do you think Republicans and financial institutions hate the Consumer Financial Protection Agency? Indeed, trump as our government leader is looking to steal land from Republicans at the southern border with Mexico, in addition to stealing votes in Texas.
You're certainly a MAGA person, longing for the day when the ownership class or the only ones with capital had the power to vote.
All voter pay taxes of some form - especially the poor - sales, property, income taxes. The poor pay the most in a tax on behalf of the wealthy who shortchange them with sub-livable wages, bad schooling, bad health care, bad housing, bad (taxing) living standards - and the theft of their right to vote.
Maybe, just maybe, when we get through investigating Trump's likely campaign finance crimes, we can begin the reform that is so badly needed.
First, eliminate individual/corporate donors. Instead require citizens to pay a nominal yearly fee to finance all elections. Think of it not as some poll tax, but as part of your civic duty to ensure the democratic process. Reduce the campaign financing costs by having candidates stick to the basic issues, and they and their positions could be broadcast on public media forums. All candidates would get equal time. Much of the cost of promoting candidates today comes from endless currying favor of special-interest groups and from relentless, vicious personal attacks against opponents.
This would bring us closer to what politics should be.
Boring? Simple-minded? Naive? Maybe so, but we already know what the alternatives get us.
4
The Republican Party and 45 consistently persist expounding and promoting the facetious charade and infectious façade of suspected mass voter fraud to strategically conceal and stealthy advance voter suppression of racial and ethnic minorities through election fraud. The North Carolina House debacle culminating with the official vitiation of the race originally called for the GOP is emblematic of this sordid experience. Buoyed by 45's repetitively caustic attacks upon minorities exercising their franchise as supposedly changing clothes and hair styles in order to vote multiple times in multiple places, of course Mitch McConnell gladly trumpets the clarion call of the devoted to blindly follow. When confronted with irrefutable evidence of election fraud, McConnell, 45, and the Republicans suddenly revert to a warped Wizard of OZ myopic mental state to deflect and district, "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. The great and powerful Oz has spoken." Unraveling the falsehood and exposing the lie to bright sunlight, the active suppressors of minority voter participation have no wear to go. They fervently believe MAGA followers hang on their every word just because they so and quickly trash the media as peddling fake news. This pathetic display materially exacerbates effective efforts to address and eradicate election fraud. The Republicans prefer voter suppression to greatly limit minority participation to maintain their white nationalistic policies. Race matters.
4
Any group claiming to be a political party that depends of vote suppression and voter harassment to win elections is obviously bankrupt of ideas. The Republican party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower was taken over and has been increasing run as a criminal enterprise for the last 50 years. Thomas B. Edsall, take your head out of the sand and read your colleagues' work once in awhile...the "lethal partisanship" you decried yesterday only exists in one of the two, major parties.
2
As some others have ointed out already, there are several other factors that detract from the effectiveness of our democracy in terms of equal access an the creation of a level playing field:
1) The Citizens United ruling from the Roberts Court as well as its gutting of the Voting Rights oversight mechanisms
2) Gerrmandered districts
3) Highly restrictive state level Voter Id laws targeted to supress the minority vote
4) Rabidly partisan Secretaries of State practicing electoral malfeascence with impunity
5) The Electoral College that has resulted in two recent presients elected with a minorit of the popular vote
6) Lack of a public funding system for elections which has distorted the influence of money in electoral politics
7) Lack of a system to provide equal access of all parties to media
8) Timid media that seems compelled to show a false sense of being balanced and incapable of calling out lies
9) An education system that doesn't teach students to think for themselves and seek out authentic information sources and avoid getting "played" by bad actors on social media and false sources
11) Public fascination with celebrities and apathy towards voting and civic engagement
3
Another theft of democracy occurs in our public schools: we are turning out graduates who know little history and little about democracy: the natural followers of Sarah Palin (herself a blaring example of the failure of public schools, and Donald Trump (despite his education in business). Ignorant leaders and ignorant constituents go together, and are a genuine threat to democracy. The states and the country have left public education in a shambles, teachers report being unable to control their students, and it is partly because a sector of them are hungry. Yes, hungry. Savage capitalism leads to the decline of democracy, as obscene incomes soar for a tiny segment of the population, who are draining the wealth from the working public, and shrinking the lives and educations of others.
3
@Monica Yriart
The Koch brothers have a hand in this as well. They have decided that the younger generation does not "appreciate capitalism" enough and are undermining this country's education system:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/07/arizona-fight-koch-brothers-school-vouchers
All the Sweet Rose cologne in the world can't mask the stench and the flies around Trump, Mc Connell and the synchophant GOP. Brazen do or die - trying to put in laws where they can control the masses, and resources of the American population.
Many Repubs are up for re-election. These include McConnell who has only a 33% percent approval rating in Kentucky. These corrupt men are like Trump - they say in their hearts, "We are near our goal! So what, you cannot stop us! We will lie, cheat, steal and claw our way for power. We will rule by hook or crook!"..........................Our Constitution insures Our Voice and power to dump Trump and his like minded abetters. I say We The People take the House and the Senate. Neutralize them. Serve harsh penalties or imprisonment to deter those who refuse to yield to law and order in Our elections. Create fail safe laws to restore and protect voters rights. Election fraud and voter suppression, are an insidious evil. And Dr. Anderson is correct, it never went away but has been lurking in the wings waiting for the opportunity to strike. I really wonder what Justice Roberts mullings are after these revelation have come to light from shore-to-shore? Corruption like water flows to the lowest place. It has yet to hit Trumps base, but it is inevitable.
1
You can lay the blame on lamestreet media who does not report the differences. Voter fraud/ voter suppression has never been clear for most Americans? Why? It does not get that much attention except for republicans shouting out voter fraud over and over and over again. Lamestreet media follow up - NONE>
1
Winning ugly. That’s what Republicans are all about. They support Trump by nearly 90% who stole the 2016 election after getting less than 3 million votes. Then it was the nefarious College Electorate that hand-picked him. Look at the close race in Michigan or even Florida for example and you will see election fraud. And there were many voters purged from voter roles. The Republicans stole it again in 2018.
As such, If the Democrats are foolish enough to sit back again in 2020 Trump and the Nationalist will steal it again. We need poll watchers. Lawyers. Third party observers and man-power on the front lines ready for more theft. Don’t count on Pelosi to help out in that important task. Remember 2000. It will happen again. Note: I was working on the Kerry Campaign in 2004 in Toledo Ohio and observed the mischief with provencal ballots and intimidation led by the Republican State party and the Secretary of State that rigged a win for Bush. So Democrats, and any honest Republican left: Be forewarned. Be brave. Be alert. Trump can’t win without stealing.
We need 12 Million votes above the Orange Menace (Trump) to cushion the win. I believe Obama knew this in his run and looked for 10 million plus voters and that diminished any theft done by Republicans.
3
I certainly agree that our democracy is broken and that the reasons in this column are part of the problem. However equally as important is our election process where we are always in the midst of a campaign. Both political parties and the public are to blame. We spend an inordinate amount of time and money leading up to the vote and an inadequate amount of time and money effectively governing. I for one plan to withdraw my attention to the election that is 600 days in the future for few months and use my energy for more productive and enlightening pursuits.
2
To Dr. Anderson & Comments - So what?! Once the choir here has agreed thre's a problem, what's your battle plan, what's your plan of action to counter this GOP damage done? What concretely, consistently, communally are Democrats - from Tom Perez on down - either doing or jointly adamant to accomplish given the legislative opportunity?
2
The GOP regularly loses the popular vote in the presidential elections, six straight to be exact. So how do they manage to gain the WH and Congress? Gerrymandering and voter suppression. The backdoor. Corruption is the storyline whenever you mention the GOP. They must cheat to win.
7
Actually, because we don’t show up.
2
Just going through the comments below makes it quite clear how we ended up with someone like Trump.
This op-ed raises the crucial question of voter rights, and shows how the GOP deliberately attacks them.
The response of GOP voters is that they won't punish their elected officials for doing so, because they believe that Democrats "do so too". So apparently GOP voters became too cynical to still have the moral courage to fight for fundamental moral values, and now encourage to adopt the lowest possible behavior of the politicians belonging to the party that they hate (and then we're not even talking yet about the fact that most stories about Democrats' voter fraud are purely fake news ...).
The response of progressives, on the other hand, is to completely ignore what the GOP is doing here, and to instead focus on their own, ultimate voter rights ideals, to then point to examples of where the DNC doesn't entirely implement those ideals yet. And then they conclude that "both parties are equally corrupt" (a factually false statement). Result? They too end up merely cultivating cynicism, rather than engaging in a real debate about the problem that this op-ed so clearly points out, and trying to work together to solve it.
In a democracy "we the people" have the government we deserve. With so much cynicism among ordinary citizens, it's no wonder that we just elected (by voting or staying home ...) the most cynical president in history ...
4
Election process & procedure concerns are certainly warranted, but deeper concerns underlie our motivation.
We want responsible national, state, and local leaders because we need to trust someone who will facilitate the larger decisions that affect the everyday lives of all of us.
Our national motivation is the aggregate of all the concerns of all the families who make up this country, from small towns to major cities.
Success doesn’t rest on manipulations by 3-letter agencies or 4-letter services. It's deeper.
Arnold Toynbee spent a lifetime trying to discover what motivates successful civilizations. His conclusion: "Man's quest for an ultimate spiritual reality."
Our motivation derives from our love of family and longing for home. We belong to a nation but are not owned by it.
"You are Accepted" are words every person wants to hear. Despite being mortal, we contribute to the continuity of life; we contribute because we have faith.
Volunteers work, conscripts don't.
Ancient Egyptians supplied "hotep", a word that means "food & peace".
Native Americans offered "caucus", a word that means respectful listening.
The Kama Sutra is an ancient book that tried to inventory all forms of pleasure.
It describes a woman's excitement after sharing a shoplifted item with her lover.
So much chaos has been sown in the US, that we are in danger of losing our means to distinguish between contributors and shoplifters in government.
The Constitution guides our will -- if we will apply it.
1
Professor Anderson concludes that "The only thing that will save us is a restored Voting Rights Act." I'm all for that but, sadly, it won't be enough to "save us." Because voter suppression is just one of the two heaviest thumbs the Republicans can put, and have been putting, on the electoral scales.
The other thumb is an invisible one, applicable to the scales in the partisan pitch-dark of cyberspace (yes, the right-wing, for all intents and purposes, produces and programs virtually all of the voting and vote-counting equipment used by this country). There's plenty of evidence that that thumb has indeed been laid on. But, even if we ignore that evidence, the reality that we can't observe the vote counting and just have to trust outfits like ES&S and individuals like GA SoS Brian Kemp should be more than enough to make us demand a change in the way we count the votes - the restoration of some species of public, observable vote counting, even if it takes a little longer and a little effort.
With HR-1 (federal election reform) DOA in McConnell's Senate, that restoration will be possible only state-by-state, and in many states (like GA, FL, TX, WI . . .) only by ballot initiatives. We'd better get on the stick - especially if we ever want to have the control of Congress, the White House, and the federal courts necessary to restore such vital measures as The Voting Rights Act.
3
@Jonathan Simon
Hand marked paper ballots. Hand marked paper ballots.
Hand marked paper ballots.....
2
Which party wants fewer, rather than more American citizens to participate in elections?
The answer should tell anyone with a even modicum of intelligence which party can't win truly fair and democratic elections and make it easy to understand why there’s so much furor on the right over the alleged but actually almost nonexistent problem of voter fraud, and so much support for voter ID laws that make it hard for the poor and even the working class to cast ballots, and for gerrymandering that assures that a minority party can rule.
8
The word 'democracy' does not exist in our Constitution. Ours is supposed to be a representative constitutional republic. The author here completely misses the point -- what keeps one person, one vote from being a possibility is the fact that, since 1910, when Congress voted to freeze the number of members of Congress at 435, rather than continually increasing its number with each 10-year census, we now have one member of Congress per apx. 720,000 constituents. If our republic, as our Framers intended, was genuinely representative (the Constitution they endowed us with gives us the right to have one Representative per 30,000 constituents), election fraud and voter suppression would not be able to occur, mark my words.
5
This needs to happen. Then we can be represented.
1
@ChristopherP
A democracy is defined by the separation between the three branches of government, a separation of church and state, each citizen being equal before the law, each citizen having the right to vote, and freedom of expression and gathering.
As you might remember, all those values belong to the very core of the US Constitution.
So that's why the entire world counts America among history's greatest democracies, you see?
That also means that if you believe that democracies are bad things, you have to explain why you opposite these basic Constitutional facts. Any concrete ideas?
As to being a "republic": the opposite of a republic, obviously, isn't a democracy, but a monarchy. A republic is defined by a head of state who is chosen by election, a monarchy by a head of state who gets his job because of heredity laws.
The opposite of a democracy is a dictatorship (= no separation of the three branches of government but the head of the Executive branch controlling the other two branches, no constitutional freedom of speech, etc.).
It's because GOP voters today completely ignore these basic facts that they are so easily being brainwashed by GOP fake news, rather than actively defending the US Constitution.
Why is no one ever talking about block chain based voting? it is an existing relatively inexpensive unhackable technology that's ready to go. In one fell swoop we can eliminate voter discrimination and allow every citizen to vote via an app. It's 2019. A transparent, secure, and private system should be the standard.
2
The problem is too few voters. American citizens should be automatically registered to vote as soon as they are born and/or get citizenship - just as they are registered for Social Security numbers.
They can get their voter ID and update their information the first time they are eligible to vote.
One person - one vote. That is what make America great and, as the article points out, fraud by voters is VERY rare and often by accident. It is also usually republican voters.
4
@njglea
One person - one vote. What better argument is there for getting rid of the Electoral College?
3
The "Real theft of Democracy" happens every time there is a vote.
It happens when any person has to take time off from work to go vote.
It happens when a voter needs to hire a baby-sitter.
When it rains.
Or is 105 degrees.
Or a voter must have a car to get to the booth.
It happens when old people must be bused to the booths.
It happens when there is not automatic enrollment at age 18.
It happens when overseas ballots are not counted.
It happens every time a prisoner serves their sentence and is not automatically re-instated.
It happens when a person must produce a driver's license or a passport when, in their daily life they always take the bus or walk and have no plans to ever travel to a foreign land.
It happens when there is no Vote By Mail, as in 4 states.
It happens when there is no Election Day Holiday, with pay.
There are dozens of more ways to enable voter suppression.
These are just the favorite ones of the Republicans.
15
@rosa
The only places it's 105 in November is Death Valley and Arizona.
1
@Benito
That's why I didn't specify a local election, a state primary or a national election.
It's 105 F, somewhere, sometime.... and, given climate change it could happen in 600+ days....when we vote for the next President.
You registered, ready to go?
1
The GOP is playing a numbers game and the conservatives on the Supreme Court are their enablers.
The court to declared that discrimination in the enforcement of voting rights was so insignificant that states covered by the act no longer had to get pre-clearance from the Justice Department.
Within months of that decision states like North Carolina began passing voter ID laws and similar statutes to suppress the minority vote.
In many red states the minority vote is synonymous with Democrat. Civil rights groups have been suing, but without the pre-clearance requirement these cases can take years to reach a resolution. By then a dozen elections have been stolen.
And our Supreme Court acts as if this is an adequate remedy! They know you can't undue the harm done by voter suppression. But they claim that it is acceptable because the Voting Rights Act was designed at a time when minority voting rights was suppressed by Jim Crow practices and laws and they no longer exist.
This courts approach to all civil rights is their isn't a problem, and when there is, it's just a few individual incidents adequately addressed by our civil rights laws.
In other words, the solution to civil rights violations is to pretend they don't exist!
3
Debbie Wasserman gifted Hillary Clinton the Super Delegates, making it impossible for any one to even come close to catching up.
Then a sham race was had where she had heavy competition from Sanders, but he had no chance from the beginning as she was gifted the race by the DNC and DWS before the race begun.
Then Democrats and their Liberal backers like the writer here complain the GOP steal elections.
Both sides are just as rotten and corrupt, deal with it.
Why are you not investigating who has the super delegates secretly in their pocket for this race?
You know some one has them, but who?
That would be the news we all need to know, that is the corruption you should be exposing.
Can you start doing your job as a journalist please?
4
@AutumnLeaf
It's because of confused thinking like that that the GOP can destroy this country on such a massive scale in the first place.
ANY political party, in a democracy, vets and selects its own candidates. That it benefits people it has worked with and who have worked with it for decade, compared to outsiders/Independents, has nothing to do with corrupt but with a transparant and perfectly logical choice.
It also has absolutely nothing to do with actively trying to suppress voters.
And you seem to forget that Hillary was winning in the primary polls anyhow, regardless of how Super Delegates voted ... ?
And then we're not talking yet about the fact that Democrats don't lie on a massive scale, whereas the GOP does, and don't cheat on a massive scale, as the GOP does (declaring false national emergencies, shutting down the government when they don't entirely control Congress anymore and as a consequence can't get their campaign signature issue through Congress anymore, refusing to allow a vote on crucial bills such as the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that Obama got through the Senate in 2013 and that would have strongly increased REAL southern border security, etc.).
Anybody who gives in to cynicism and still imagines that somehow there would be an equivalency between both parties here, hasn't been paying attention. And THAT, of course, is exactly what the GOP hopes will happen ...
5
@AutumnLeaf
Please remember that Bernie Sanders is not and never has been a Democrat. He is a Socialist. The Democrats are under no obligation to give their parties Presidential nomination to an outsider.
If the GOP had super delegates, they might have stopped Trump.
5
@Fourteen
My point is that Bernie Sanders is not a member of the Democrat Party, so its was perfectly fair for the party to work against giving him the nomination. It would have been fair for the GOP to oppose nominating Trump considering his views on Tariffs, Social Security, Medicare and Immigration (in fairness party was divided over illegal immigration before Trump).
2
After reading this early this morning, I wanted to punch my monitor. Why is it that Republicans yell incessantly about voter fraud, and yet, are the only party to actively pursue it for their own ends.
In other words, Republicans have to cheat their way to victory. I wish there were some way to wave a magic wand and learn what the real results would have been if every legal voter could vote.
This same party is against making voting simpler and easier, through expanded voting hours, more polling stations, and easier voter registration procedures.
One can only conclude they only want their supporters to vote, out of fear they will lose if they don't manipulate voting access.
Worst of all, they have absolutely no shame in doing so. Isn't our democracy frayed enough without active measures of one party to ensure they win at all costs?
12
The two examples of voter suppression that galled me the most this last election, were in the Heartland: Deadwood and North Dakota.
In Deadwood, there was ONE voting place for 13,000 voters.
So, just to show the largely Hispanic population how they REALLY feel, the white hierarchy shut down that one voter station and moved it out of town, where there was no bus service..... The e-mails between the white supremacists started with, "LOL!..."
What a nasty bunch.
The second case was on an Native-American reservation up in North Dakota.
A month before the election, that white supremacists bunch dictated that every voter MUST have a new address.
Post office box numbers would no longer be accepted.
Now, the problem was, of course, was that highway numbers and P.O. boxes was all that there was.
No one had a "Joe Doe, 12345 Willow Lane..." address.
So, the entire reservation was shut out of voting - as they had always done.
This was Democratic territory.
The Dem Senator lost.
Which was exactly the point, wasn't it?
Well, the Supreme Court decided that we didn't need any oversight on voting rights anymore and, sadly, Obama never screamed bloody-murder, so this nasty piece of work by Republicans will continue and will be upheld by this now-greater conservative Court.
There is "Voting against your own interests", and then there is, "No vote at all".
Republicans have eared my revulsion the old-fashioned way: By being revolting.
9
Simple, Don’t do business in N.C.
2
Carol, your observations are minor next to the weaponizing of the FBI and blatant disregard of the law by the one and only Hillary R Clinton. The GOP is really a product of the the times,no pun intended. Questionable actions need to be examined by both parties !
1
@ceh65
Too much Fox, ceh65. Hillary Clinton's campaign was not one of deceit or voter suppression. And you should know that the Bengazi hearings and the e-mail issue was essentially meritless but worked to frighten voters who otherwise would have chosen her.
You should know, too, that it was the FBI, via James Comey, the same FBI you refer to as being weaponized...that reopened the e-mail investigation less than 2 weeks before the general election, at which point her lead disintegrated. You do know this, don't you?
Thank you, Carol! Exactly! Last year’s voter suppression by Republicans especially in North Dakota where they literally STOLE the senate seat held by Heidi Heidkamp was sheer...corruption and criminal! For those, that do not know the secretary of sate of North Dakota, along with the Republicans decided that they would change the rules and prevent Native Americans from voting! They insisted that Native Americans give a “street address” when they live in rural reservations where there are NO streets, per se! The ACLU used, but a judge ruled in favor of the GOP!
In Texas, college students at an all Black college had to sue to be allowed to vote in the county where the college resides! The Republicans were attempting to keep them from voting!
In Missouri, a group of Latinos, from one county had their polling place moved by the woman in charge of elections in MO! They sued to have the polling place moved back, but lost!
And of course, there’s North Carolina where a Republican was caught literally stealing votes!
America, this IS the Republican Party, they are liars and cheats! They know that they can win, only when they suppress the vote! THIS IS UNAMERICAN! And goes against everything our Nation stands for! Vote Republicans out of office!
7
Dr. Anderson:
Despite your academic credentials you seem to know next to nothing about Dem voter fraud in big cities like Chicago or the tales of JFK's staff handing out tens of thousands of dollars in cash before the 1960 election especially in places like West Va. Or you forgot the corruption of Joe Kennedy to pave (pay) the way for JFL. Dems now whine about gerrymandering now but didn't care so much when it helped them.
Bottom line, if you want equity (or sympathy) come with clean hands.
2
@James
Really? You have to go so far back in time to come up with an example?
Granted. Your points about the 1960 election are valid. But it wasn't Democrats who came up with the "Southern Strategy" and every other effort to abrogate the Voting Rights Act.
They also didn't come up with Kris Kobach,
Don't know who he is?
Google it.
2
@N. Smith
I go back that far to show just how long Dems have been using the tactics that the author pins on republicans as thieves. She has a very short memory.
The republican party is one big criminal operation. They have nothing to offer except for greed, selfishness, ugliness, cruelty, hate, and ignorance.
8
Fake news.
The only difference between what happened in one district in NC and in the entire state of CA is that in NC, “ballot harvesting” is illegal – as it should be. In CA, the Dems used to spectacular effect, because it’s perfectly legal. Think on that: what constitutes vote fraud in NC is the express policy of the State of CA.
The author, likely inadvertently, points out the main issue with vote fraud: absentee ballots.
And, curiously, the Dems advocate for doing essentially all elections through mail, where illegal fraud, like that in NC , and legal fraud, like that in CA, is must easier.
The delusional left has never been able to identity a single actual person – not one – who has been prevented from voting by voter ID laws or similar, reasonable, common sense security measures. The screams of “vote suppression” are nothing more than lies, employed to gin up the leftist base.
Which, interestingly, is mostly hard-left, white NYT readers. 3/4ths of Blacks support voter ID laws. But white leftists passionately believe the fairy tale that any effort to prevent vote fraud MUST be racist. They actually believe the lies they heard from college profs.
We in NJ know a thing or two about Democrats stealing elections. And there is no reason to believe that today’s Democrats differ from their Mayor Hague ancestors.
2
I’d point out to you that there’s a teeny bit o’diff between picking up ballots and picking up unsealed ballots and filling them out or trashing ballots you don’t like, or I’d point out that the head of Orange County’s GOP said the election was kosher, but I just got word that you’d been seen lwaving the small town of Reason in a cigarette boat moving at a very high rate of speed.
@Brenda
If you knew anything about stealing elections, you would have never voted for Chris Christie.
By the way, what is your information source when stating: "3/4 of Blacks support voter ID laws."
No. Let me guess...FAKE NEWS.
2
Restoring voting rights won't matter much because the real decisions are made by the 0.01%. As we all should have learned in Civics classes:
If elections could really change things they'd be illegal.
We need MUCH MORE than the restoration of democratic rights. We need a restoration of democracy. This requires taking money out of elections and shortening campaigns. It also requires breaking up media monopolies and restoring honest and professional journalism so that campaigns are covered in ways that inform us about the candidates and the issues. It requires press coverage of the candidates and issues as opposed to coverage of the campaigns and polls.
2
I don't understand this objection to voter ID laws. If someone is so dysfunctional as to not have a photo ID, they clearly can't take care of themselves. I have no desire for them to have any part in making laws that impact me and my life in anyway.
That said- I stopped believing in democracy back in 2012 when I learned that 47% of eligible voters don't pay any Federal income taxes. If you don't contribute any funds to the Federal government, why should you get a say in how it's run?
I believe in the consent of the governed- if you don't pay taxes, you are not governed as much as those of us who do.
I believe in the Golden Rule- He who makes the gold, makes the rules.
"Democracy is two foxes and a chicken deciding on what to have for lunch."-Benjamin Franklin
@Joe Public How is it that you get to decide who should and who shouldn’t be allowed to vote?
2
That’s called an “oligarchy,” actually. And be careful what you wish for: we go back to Plato’s Republic, I will get to vote and you will not.
@Seldoc
Simple. First you have to pass a basic civics test, something like the citizenship test. Then show a copy of your most recent tax return to prove that you are a taxpayer. Maybe it could be something like having paid taxes in 3 out of 4 years or so. The current system where moochers and looters vote for politicians who promise them free stuff, stolen from taxpayers (producers) is untenable and creates massive boondoggles like the "war On Poverty".
One of the clearest signs of the GOP's moral decay is the way its supporters defend GOP voter suppression today, as illustrated in the comments below.
Instead of opposing ALL voter fraud and asking their politicians to do something about it, they answer that they're more than happy that the GOP is doing this, because, they claim (without ANY evidence to back up such claims) ... Democrats do so too!
The GOP and Fox News have actively cultivated a "when they go low, we go low too" attitude that is destroying this country - AND they had to invent story after story about Democrats going low, in order to convince their own voters to start accepting the immoral behavior of GOP leaders and rank and file Republicans.
THAT is typical for a mafia-like worldview.
It's the exact opposite of the worldview promoted by Democrats. And it's also why all the real legislative progress on issues that a majority of the American people (including, most of the time, a majority of GOP voters) support, these last two decades, has been made by Democrats in DC.
You can't make any real progress or honor America's greatness by giving up moral ideals and values, as the GOP proposes. That's why Trump's only legislative victory has been (and probably will be) a tax bill for the wealthiest (= GOP politicians' donors and the current GOP cabinet).
8
Republicans are the professionals of election fraud.
Ivanka Trump gets initial approval from China for 16 new trademarks—including for 'voting machines'
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/06/ivanka-trump-gets-initial-approval-from-china-for-16-trademarks.html
5
An even greater problem for America is low voter turnout as compared to other developed nations. I think that unfortunately very little of this low turnout is because of voter suppression. Instead it is simply because of lack of interest. American democracy is currently on life support and the prognosis isn’t good.
3
It doesn’t help the dollars equal free speech. More money more freedom, even for entities that do not have voting rights. So, I can see why there is voter apathy. In addition, there are a lot of voting barriers in urban areas. Long lines etc.
@JRoebuck
The wealthy need to be able to spend more to protect their own self interest.
If there are barriers to voting in urban areas- then blame the Democrats, since they control virtually all urban areas in the USA.
@Hubert Nash R
Just for the record. EVERY vote suppressed is an attack on Democracy.
1
It is clear that the Republican party now cherishes only two things: power and wealth. They have found their savior in Trump.
8
The Republican Party is a real irony. It can be said that the Republicans benefited from the 1964 and 1965 Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act passing such that the solid Democratic south became the solid, Red, Republican south. Even so, that was not enough, and after capitalizing on the new southern strategy in 1968--they have worked non-stop to turn back the laws that got them there in the first place. Shelby County v. Holder (2013) was only the latest Supreme Court chapter in an effort that must be ultimately aimed at total reversal of the Voting Rights Act. The mind reels at a political party so devoted to injustice. Voting rights in a democracy should be a "no-brainer." Make it easy; make it fair; make it a model of justice. As it turns out, winning elections--especially in the south--has become an existential test for Republicans where there is no way to hide from the fear driven racism, which remains a poison in our democracy still today. On the day we remember the work of Senator Birch Bayh, it is critical that we also listen to Carol Anderson. As she says, the violence today is "equally lethal."
2
Since "Citizens United" America has no longer been a democracy.
Recently, during a White House press conference, Donald Trump told a newspaper reporter, that how he runs the country is none of the reporters business. In a republic, how the country is run, is public business. That is what RES PUBLICA means in Latin.
What Donald Trump said, is that America is not a republic.
5
Democrats are not interested in democracy, they want one party rule. They manipulate the laws to allow non citizens to vote. They want to eliminate the EC so that CA and NY decide all national elections.
All this while making cities and states untenable for the middle class and throwing thousands out on the sidewalks.
They are theocratic, not democratic.
1
@Liz
Wake-up call. Until the Democrats recently won the House in our midterm elections, all THREE BRANCHES of this country's government was controlled by the Republican Party.
THAT is not what Democracy looks like.
Another thing.
We all know that Donald Trump wouldn't be sitting in the White House if not for the outdated Electoral College.
They both need to go.
4
I see. So the vote of an American who lives and works in New York or California shouldn't count as much as the vote of an American who lives in North Dakota or South Dakota.
Makes a lot of sense.
3
@Liz, non-citizens don't vote, that's a lie put out by R's in the face of overwhelming evidence that there is no real voter fraud. Abolishing the EC only means one person, one vote, including yours, mine, and the guy in Alaska, no vote is worth more than another. Something like real democracy.
1
June 21, 2017 Dr. J. Alex Halderman, election security expert, testified before Senate Intelligence Com. (Can be viewed on c-span or youtube)
His team was hired by DC to test the security of their voting machines, can they be hacked? The team easily hacked the system, changed every vote, and were undetected....even though DC knew they were in the system.
Unless and until we have secure election infrastructure our democracy can be easily hacked. Could be as easy as 77,000 votes in 3 states that can "elect" the person who got 3 million fewer votes. Exploitation of 2 major flaws in the system, unreliable machines and electoral college.
2
@DEBORAH The machines in my district went back to paper ballots that are scanned so there is a paper trail. I think most places have moved away from digital only.
What would even be the point of requiring a photo ID for absentee voting? There's no one to look at it!
2
Thank God for this!
Please, let's get behind it! Its two decades overdue.
Republicans, the smart ones - not the ones you actually hear/see on cable TV - know that the numbers are against them. Their base is white, older, overtly religious, xenophobic and intolerant. The base is not sustainable.
The younger generation has multiple avenues to collect data and form opinions not just Faux news. They are unconcerned about sexual preference and they are not very religious. They also see that healthcare in many other developed nations costs less and is a right of citizenship. They have less and less in common with the Republican party every day.
The only way Republicans (the smart ones again) know how to stay in power is to manipulate the system, including elections. One party rule often is not always obtained by violence. It is gathered through the ballot box, supplemented by suppression of the other side. We are seeing this in our country. If we don't stop it soon, there will be one, autocratic party ruling the United States.
5
Republican Party voter suppression laws are truly damaging to democracy. How long can GOP cheating go on? Why do we, the people, tolerate this type of criminal behavior by a major political party?
4
Plain and simple, the Republican Party is unable to advance its agenda without resorting to underhanded means.
6
This op-ed is the perfect answer to Thomas Edsall's op-ed yesterday.
No, partisan hatred is NOT a "both sides" thing. It's a Republican thing.
Liberalism and conservatism are two equally respectable political and anthropological philosophies. That's why by definition, imagining that someone is inherently a bad person because he's opting for a different political philosophy than yours, IS cultivating partisan - and dangerous - anger and hatred. And ONLY GOP politicians and media (and as a consequence voters) are cultivating this kind of hatred on a daily basis.
Pointing out that the GOP systematically tries to suppress the votes of those who don't share their political philosophy, means pointing out how today GOP politicians are indeed, as Carol Anderson says, "thieves".
From a liberal philosophical point of view, even thieves aren't "inherently bad" people, they just happen to behave badly and should not have access to political power but face the consequences of their bad behavior instead.
Pointing this out, however, has nothing to do with partisan hatred, and everything with trying to restore basic democratic values.
And systematically cultivating lying about immigrants, as is now part of the GOP's and Fox News' daily activities, is morally wrong too. It's as simple as that, and has nothing to do with philosophy or partisan hatred. It means standing up for the Constitution and for those values that made America great in the first place.
7
Nonsense !
The Real Theft Of American Democracy began at the very beginning of our new country that was formed by business and the wealthy for their benefit . It was solidified by only giving the people a choice of representatives who are wealthier and more like each other and far different from the voters who they can barely understand or empathize with .
" A Government By The People For The People " is one of the most powerful lies ever told . Party differences are much smaller than promoted and essentially they debate and choose only from the like minds of each other .
They don't know where we live . They don't understand the financial or other concerns of the average American or Americans who differ from the average . If they did events like shutting down the Government and causing financial difficulty for millions of people for no good reason would have never happened .
Forget about all of the unnecessary wars they felt free to start and continue because their kids did not have to go , and all of the other obvious harms to us they allow or cause .
America is not a Real Democracy and never was ! .
@VB
Moreover , if we had a representative democracy they would be focusing on getting rid of Trump and preventing such a calamity again instead of discussing who will run with him next time .
That picture says it all two of them are happy to be supporting an unfit , sexual harasser and degrader of women ( who bragged about being able to kiss strange women who you don't know and grab them by the pussycat if you have enough money and fame ) . lying , spewer of hate and leader of racists . The acceptance of Donald Trump as President is all of the proof we need .
1
It seems to me that, whenever Republicans make accusations regarding....well, just about anything, it might be taken as an indication that it is they themselves who are doing the dirty deed that they attribute to others. Their accusations ought to be taken as indication of the need to investigate them for whatever they're accusing others of.
3
Since the Republican Party chose to shut down our government twice, to enter a war based on lies, to try and obstruct and destroy a president for 8 years, to steal a Supreme Court appointment, to vote to repeal the ACA over 50 times with no back up plan, to give numerous tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations why would anyone be the least surprised that they would work relentlessly to suppress the vote.
6
I believe that the results of these attempts at suppression reveal an awareness and motive behind them. The awareness is of the trend in demographics showing increases in people of color, and the motive is white supremacy. The white supremacists (a.k.a. Republicans) are thereby grabbing for all they can get while they can, as they also favor their largely white cohorts, the 1% and .01%, in increasing the wealth inequality. There is really no mystery behind this scheme, which is being pushed by Republican stooges of the ultra-wealthy bigots no matter how dangerous it is, at least as known by those aware of history. ("Après nous, le déluge"!) The sooner that dedicated leaders with integrity can rally the numbers of *people*, as opposed to the numbers of dollars, against this impending horror, the better.
1
And let's not leave out the recent instances where, after losing governorships (e.g., Virginia, Wisconsin), Republican-dominated legislatures (assisted by their gerrymandering) quickly passed laws in lame duck sessions to seize power from the new executive. It's happening on every level, folks.
4
I see the same old "get rid of the electoral college" comments here. Well, what if Trump had won the popular and lost the electoral in 2016? Would you still be calling for those changes or would every liberal be proclaiming the "wisdom of the founders." Every time the left loses an election their solution is to change the rules or have results overturned in courts. Try winning according to the rules. I can almost see the hysterical hypocrisy if the electoral was abolished and the above scenario happens in 2020. Then the left would be screaming "bring back the electoral college!" Like little kids on the playground asking for a do-over.
2
@peversma: The Electoral College was created to give the Slave South more political power that its free citizen population warranted. The Constitution allowed the counting of slaves as "citizens" when allocating the number of US Representatives and Electoral college votes. Hillary Clinton won the Presidency according to the rules: She got the highest number of actual votes. But Trump became President because the Electoral College, using the slave vote from the South gave the presidency to Trump.
1
@Jeff
Agree. And just to be clear -- Slaves could be counted, but slaves could not vote.
The 3/5 Compromise saw to that.
And it was the "Southern Strategy" along with the Electoral College that got Trump the votes.
Both are an abomination to Democracy.
2
Trumpublicans and their predecessors, the Republican Party, have wanted one thing over the last 30 years or so--power. Without regard to the Constitution or the country, they have focused on power. Mitch McConnell is perhaps the most treasonous senator to hold office since the time that senators walked out to swear fealty to the Confederacy. And Lindsey Graham right beside him. Paul Ryan mistakes parsimony for intellect and seems to have half of Washington's reporters convinced he is right.
What is wrong with Americans that they embrace authoritarianism and call it patriotism?
3
Thank you. As a citizen of North Carolina, several years ago I investigated the lie of voter fraud and found it to be what you say and what it is. A phony story. I even tried to get records from courts as to how many persons were prosecuted for the fake crimes. None could be found!
Think about that whole possibility of that crime of voter fraud. A person first has to be motivated to do it. Why would they do that and why would they not know they could be arrested? One gets "checked off" of a list when you vote sos there is a built in feature there for control. It is highly unlikely that a normal person of sound mind would even think of trying to make believe they are someone else. I suppose a person with Alzheimer's might forget and try to vote twice. How rare would that be? It is definitely a phoney Republican attempt to take over the polls. It must stop. This shows you that the Republican Party is in decline that they must go through all these horrid, illegal acts. They will keep trying -- just vote them out.
3
One of the ways the GOP deliberately cultivates racism among its voter base is by telling them that immigrants vote for Democrats and as a consequence reduce the power of "real" American" to obtain a government that truly represents them.
Polls indeed show that immigrants, like most minorities (Jews, ...) or groups that are discriminated against (women, ...), tend to vote for Democrats. Or rather, they vote for Democratic political agendas (from "centrist" to progressive).
When asked why, they come up with explanations about how Democrats' common ideals (from the center to progressives) such as universal healthcare, a solid social security, equal access to education and decent jobs, a fair and effective criminal justice system, and of course equal rights, would concretely improve the lives of the American people.
What is crucial, however, to understand the constant and systematical GOP attempt to suppress voters and hollow out our democracy, is that if you ask GOP voters what they want, on those issues, they actually come up with the exact same answers, as poll after poll shows.
So the critical division that the GOP tells its voters to exist between them and immigrants, is ENTIRELY made up and completely false. When asked about policies regardless of party affiliation, a majority of GOP voters wants the EXACT same things as what immigrants vote for.
The day the GOP finds the moral courage to tell the truth, it will implode. That's why they need a tweeter-in-chief.
1
There is a crisis of confidence and credibility in the highest bodies of the Republican government from the state level to the Senate, Supreme Court and the White House.
When will those perpetrators be held accountable?
If there is no accountability and fairness, there is no law and order. The cancer must be removed before it metastasizes and destroys the country. This cancer must be removed before it is too late!
Why has Mark Harris not been arrested since he was the one who hired the person to hide the absentee votes? His own son even told his father not to hire the person.
Mitch McConnell remains one of the biggest threats to American democracy along with all his gaslighters in Congress. Deplorable all.
1
You know what the creepiest thing about this is? The Republicans have known this demographic problem was coming for a long time. Just six years ago Lindsay Graham was quoted as saying that Republicans were in a "demographic death spiral." Now obviously normal American politicians would adjust their political views to meet these new realities. Like the old southern Democrats who were racists to their core. They had to change to move forward and they did or they did.
But the current GOP has made the conscious decision not only to not adjust their political views but to go even farther right. Their plan is happening right in front of our eyes.
Make the courts a tool of the Republican party/Rich people.
Gerrymander districts to the point that you own the seat.
Use the courts to legalize voter suppression.
Engage in Election fraud when necessary.
Use all tools including foreign help to undermine Democracy.
2
The Koch brothers got more than their money's worth with Traitor Mitch McConnell. For instance, "Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who has repeatedly articulated his contempt for voting rights, laid the blame for the election fraud debacle on Democrats and their refusal to back voter ID laws."
The idea that one democracy-hating man can have such an impact on OUR U.S. Government and OUR lives is ludicrous. OUR U.S. Senators must remove him from the leadership positon he is abusing.
They MUST elect a person who will protect 99.9% of us. That is their job. That is what they pledged to do and they must do it NOW.
4
Tell everyone you know to urge their representatives to support H. R. 1! Talk it up. Make sure people know about it.
It's the only way we are going to get back to sanity and voting integrity.
I don't remember the date but I was listening to NPR back in Nov 2018 when the congress had come up with a joint bill on immigration but Trump rejected it. One of the analysts mentioned that the only reason Republicans keep stalling keep postponing finalizing DACA status is because they fear that a path to citizenship would give democrats a boost in the votes. The republicans assume that all DACA legal residents will vote democratic as soon as they are eligible to vote. Because the democrats have been sympathetic to their cause. Yet, nothing has happened, millions are still waiting to be recognized, these are hard working tax paying individuals who stay in school, get a higher degree, work in every field from medicine to science to finance to computers. Can we please help them already!!
2
Yet another article on debunking the already debunked exaggerated claims by Trump and Republicans of voter fraud. How does the Left respond?
With it's own exaggerated claims of voter suppression!
The number of black people who voted increased in North Carolina between 2014 and 2018 midterms by 20 percent, to a six percent increase in voter turnout versus a nine percent increase for whites? Is this three percent disparity the "new Jim crow"? That someone doesn't own a car, or have the money to put gas in the tank to get to a voting location isn't suppression: That's a separate problem that needs to be addressed communally. Laws will not fix that.
Make no mistake, let's expand the ways and times people can cast a ballot, but to lower the bar such that any year-to-year change in racial voter registration and turnout gets cast as voter suppression is at least as cynical as blaming immigrants for voter fraud.
90 million people - black, brown, white didn't vote in 2016 - and God bless them! - they did for lots of different reasons: the candidates were poor, they didn't want to wait in line, or believe it or not, some people don't put politics and government at the center of their lives.
@R.P.
Those are no excuses for allowing the GOP to actively suppress the votes of those who do want to vote ...
1
@R.P.
it sounds like you're missing one VERY IMPORTANT part of the picture you're trying to paint here.
It's called the "Southern Strategy" -- and it appears to have worked on you.
1
And if this editorial had done that, you would have a point.
Enjoyed the way you completely skipped any mention at all of a right-wing preacher rigging an election, though.
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” Shakespeare
One of the koch bothers recently said that they have achieved more towards their goals in the last 5 years than in the previous 50. Why? McConnell is one of the reasons.
The major reason, though, is US.
In 2008 a huge wave of Democratic voters turned out and elected Barack Obama with a Democratic Congress. Two years later we stayed home. Couldn't be bothered to get out and vote. republicans did not stay home. They took over a lot of state legislatures in a census year and got to write the rules for the next decade of voter laws.
Maintaining a democracy takes several things that were noted by Thomas Jefferson: An informed electorate and a vigorous free press among them. Until the election of the crime family that squats in our White House we had neither an informed electorate nor a vigorous press.
Have We the People awakened in time?
Because we and the Planet are running out of time.
2
@Bob Laughlin
well said Bobby
In todays electronic world there is no excuse in most modernized nations to still have a manual decision-making system in government. In many countries like the US a secure electronic system should have been in place years ago. It should no longer be necessary to spend hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars to elect and send warm bodies to Washington where their decision-making is subject to the special interest lobbyists.
Why are we not moving in this direction? Because such a true democracy, by the will of all the people, threatens the control todays power elite have established.
1
@Greg We wouldn’t need Republicans or Democrats if we moved to direct democracy. The people could vote on legislation instead of electing representatives.
1
Just like Brexit
How do individuals who believe in preventing this in the future, or if possible undoing the imbalance work towards reform?
What civil actions can be taken on an individual basis?
What type of activism can one partake in that can move the needle to more balance?
My health, personal obligations, and commitments makes being active in community politics not an option, but watching this situation from the sidelines (and from a blue state) is bewildering and frustrating.
The voting rights act is just a Democratic canard. There are several problems with voting these days which DID NOT exist in the 50's and 60's
Sure there was funny bunny actions in voting back in the days of machine politics.
But the modern voter fraud is the result of the Motor Voter law where people of DMV personnel will mark "I am a citizen" without bother to query the individual. So once the box is checked even if the person is an illegal alien, they will be registered to vote and nobody will stop them at the polls.
Getting an absentee ballot is way too each. No effort is made to check as to whether or not the person is entitled to vote.
In an overwhelming effort to make voting easier we have at the same time made voter fraud easy.
When it is so easy to get on the voter rolls it is imperative that these rolls be cleaned up annually before election day. Early voting is another bad idea - too many days are allotted to it and the longer it goes the easier it is to have ballot boxes stuffed or disappear etc. It is easier to have one day set aside for voting and simply to have longer hours.
The rage for electronic voting is another really bad idea. Sure it is quicker when tabulating the vote, but machines can have errors, paper ballots are ultimately the way to go. It is so much safer with paper ballots as you have no idea if the machine read you ballot correctly or not.
1
@judyweller: Indeed. All legitimate concerns... if you’re living in a paranoid parallel universe of ‘alternate facts.’ Just keep fishing; no doubt you’ll find that Great White Whale known as ‘massive voter fraud’ one of these days. In case you missed the memo: it ain’t there. It’s a right-wing hallucination.
2
@judyweller
Here's a suggestion. Look up the "Southern Strategy".
And if it's a "canard" -- it's not a Democratic one.
1
@chambolle It's not actually a hallucination: a Trump voter was caught in Iowa voting more than once. The excuse she used was that she had to because she believed her vote was going to be stolen (ironically, given her candidate "won" the election with 3 million fewer votes than her opponent).
So yes, there most certainly is criminal voter fraud. Committed by Republicans.
1
There are many issues of legitimate disagreement among patriotic Americans. The right to vote is not one of them. So long as the Republican Party plainly and cynically attempts to erode this right, it would seem to me unfit to play any role whatever in our experiment in democracy.
I ask my Republican friends: how can you pull that lever?
7
The greatest chance to save our democracy is to eliminate the electoral college, as soon as possible. The electoral college keeps us in a two party system in which there are only two platforms to stand on. Analyzing the top donors to both parties, you will find that the same major corporations are contributing to both. Why not? Breaking out of a two party system will require collaboration and compromise, something our nation needs to embrace emphatically. Otherwise, we are under the illusion of choice in a system rigged for the wealthiest of our communities. I fear the struggles we have to endure to enact the change necessary to reinstate a true democracy.
4
As David Frum explained,
"If, conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy."
And this is exactly what we're witnessing. They've had 40, 50+ years to perfect their strategy. With a mighty assist from Fox, talk radio propaganda, millions upon millions of $$ green lighted into the system by Citizens United, I'd say they've been wildly successful as we've been complacent, finding it hard to believe the depths to which they've gone to solidify permanent rule (not governing).
If we don't get off our duffs, open our eyes and deliver a resounding Waterloo to a republican party that is party and power first, America last, the theft they've engineered could become a permanent, irrevocable reality.
2020 will decide - all the chips are on the table.
27
It must be so terrible not to be able to trust in your democracy.
Although we have faults and there are elections where i loathe the results. I am confident that the votes were cast legitimately and that voter fraud was non existent. I appreciate the neutrality of our Elections Commissions, that work with our censuses and our populations to create fair and reasonable electoral districts.
I appreciate my paper ballot.
I appreciate the voter ID laws, and the fact that vouching is still valid.
I appreciate my Canadian democracy.
I hope you are able to change your system to be fairer for all citizens.
3
Republicans are existentially scared of voter participation. They support steps that reduce voting, particularly by those who tend to vote Democrat, while ignoring the ways in which elections can actually be illegally swayed (ref. North Carolina). Meanwhile they oppose steps that would increase voting, like automatic registration and an election day holiday.
Their true intentions are obvious and provable, and the courts should find their body of suppressive actions unconstitutional.
15
The problem is clear but its solution is problematic. So long as Republicans have enough political power they will continue to play the game of voter suppression, a game that has boosted their political power at every level of government. Let's hope that enough voters become aware of this game and makes their voices heard in the ballot box.
8
It happens through CLOSED PRIMARIES. Closed and semi-closed primaries and caucuses likely suppress more voting participation than all the fraud and redistricting claims, combined. And the impact is as profound as is Donald Trump's election. In 2016, few could sincerely claim that Bernie would not have won the nomination if the democratic primaries/caucuses were open to newly registered democrats, independents, non-affiliated, and others wishing to participate.
The PRIMARY process is where this country's (and the world's) leader is selected. By the time the general election comes, it's only between two, establishment candidates that were largely hand-picked by the political parties and the corporate media. The party faithful in the first few states of this over-reported 'horse race' give us our candidates. It should be no surprise why there is so much disaffection and so little voting participation in the country - and why there are far more Independents than there are Democrats or Republicans.
2
@carl bumba
It's not a given that Sanders would've won the Democratic nomination -- not when he couldn't even galvanize the majority of the Black and Latino vote.
That's why he's so desperate to go after it now.
But I agree with you that the Primaries and Causes should be open.
3
Nonsense, and nonsense I never saw lying around when Bernie packed the Washington caucus, declared ringing victory among maybe 2500 delegales, and then blissfully swept past getting hammered in a statwide nonbinding referendum among 250, 000 a few weeks later.
Bernie got whupped pretty fair and square. He got whupped because Democrats got tired of being yelled at, black folks didn’t like being lectured about how they should think about voting much at all, and because—leftist fantasies to the contrary, and I are one—his politics simply don’t line up with those of most Americans.
Sorry, and I even wish it were otherwise. But lefties have got to get over being sanctimonious about politics even as they play politics, and have got to stop lying to themselves.
Bernie’s hemming and hawing after the primary was over, and YOUR lot’s endlessly shooting at your own side, helped elect Trump. Stop pretending otherwise.
Oh, and try this: go back and identify the Big Policy Diffs between those two candidates. Good luck. You get bored with that, give an honest account of what MFA costs. None of the Republican, “waste, fraud and abuse,” sleight-of-hand, mind.
2
@N. Smith
I could probably name ten primaries/caucuses he would have easily won with open primaries. Maybe not SC or GA, but way more than enough to win (and includes NV). The candidates Democrats offer to the general public in November have been prisoners of the southern, i.e. black, i.e. party insider "requirements". Fortunately, this juggernaut has been broken!
The problem is that it is this same corrupted "democracy" that the US is pushing on other selected nations around the world. The objective is to open opportunities for the big corporations to plunder those nations of their natural and human resources..
2
As the minority party, ever since its inception, the Republicans have always relied on fixing elections to obtain, and retain, power. But over the past few decades their dishonesty and rigging elections has become even more blatant. They're the force behind allowing money to equal "free speech", thereby offsetting the "one person, one vote" principle that underlies our election system. Citizens United was the result of a conservative SCOTUS after all. Then there are the more blunt instruments of voter suppression like purging voter registration rolls. What is yet unknown, but likely to have an even bigger impact, is the role of Russian sabotage invited by the Republicans, as well as the hacking of computer voter machines. There is literally no bar low enough that they couldn't slither under it.
We need a massive and immediate election overhaul, overturning Citizen's United, ending the silly judicial opinion that money = "free" speech, government-funded elections and campaigns - no private money or donations allowed, completely independent mapping of congressional districts and electoral boundaries. We also need to re-examine whether the Electoral College is still useful, since it has transformed from a means to prevent "tyranny of the majority", whereby the most populous states dominate the less populous ones, to its present form of "tyranny of the minority" where the less populous states dominate the majority.
Election reform must happen now!
8
If there is one thing I’m proud of in my state of Washington, it is it’s 100% vote by mail process. Ballots are only given to registered voters once. All ballots must be signed. All ballots can be dropped off or mailed back for free. You can personally track your own vote. While not 100% infallible, it eliminates long voting lines, duplicate voting, absentee vote manipulation and hacking into voting booths.
5
Of course instead of gaming the system the Republicans could work to help their constituents, thereby actually winning elections on merit. After all, all my conservative friends are always screaming "meritocracy" at me.
What does it say about political party that has essentially given up helping most Americans, and chooses to try to cheat instead?
This is a lesson in how deeply unpopular conservative policy actually is.
641
@Aerys: What a radical notion.
5
@Aerys - Exactly!
Just a glance at the national polling on a whole host of GOP hot-button issues reveals that they are moderately to drastically unpopular with the voting public.
Yet, oddly by some sort of magic, GOP candidates keep getting elected, often by wide margins. Some of this is the fault of the democratic party which laid down and played dead in 1,000s of national and state elections over the last 10-20 years, though this appears to have changed in a big way in 2018.
But hyper-gerrymandering, voter suppression and outright election fraud plays by far the biggest role.
23
@Mike Republicans get themselves elected via voter suppression and outright fraud and gerrymandering as you write. One of their other tricks is to gloss over their program, the most prominent part of which is to lower taxes and bill this as a giveaway to the middle class, but these lower taxes really benefit those wealthy Americans who finance their political campaigns. As if these methods were not enough, they also spread division among Americans with their hints of white supremist sympathy, hostility toward women and attempts to make abortion difficult or promises to ban it outright, and open prejudice toward gays and lesbians.
22
Naturally if the Republican Party has a future it must protect against minorities voting, and reduce naturalized immigrant voting, since both groups favor Dems. No wonder the party is increasingly making unholy alliances with the white supremacy and alt-right strains. Back in the 1980’s when Congress members and staffers from both sides of the aisle actually respected each other and socialized together, the DC think tanks had a softball league. After games, we actually went out for beer and pizza. At one such after game event I sort of interviewed a couple of blokes from the Heritage Foundation who were enamored with the tactics of Lee Atwater (mentor to Manafort, Stone, and other present day luminaries)—I just asked them questions about voting rights and democracy and listened to their answers, not arguing. I recall walking home that evening realizing that these young men had no belief whatsoever in Democracy. They believed in in two corollaries and one overarching principle: lowering taxes and shrinking government were the subsets. Holding power at all costs was the paramount value. Democracy was sneered at as much as singing Kumbaya around a campfire. Nothing has changed, except that among the right—from billionaires to staffers—such views have become more popular.
827
@Michael
thanks for sharing this anecdote. You met two "true believers" who are foundational to the Republican Party's body of workers that carry out the will of the GOP leadership and those behind it.
The Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society both, I think, really got going in the 1970's in reaction to the seemingly liberal policies of Richard M. Nixon such as occupational health, and environmental policies.
Unless the Democratic Party can match the Republican machine with a body of its own workers who can detect the fraud, catch it and get it prosecuted (like what happened in North Carolina), then as the author indicates, fraud and election ripoff will continue to occur.
As the first comment remarks, and the author poses, our country needs the Voters' rights Act restored, but also ranked choice voting and a paper ballot that can be recounted would take us much closer to a fair electoral system.
87
@Michael
Those fellows sound just like the Republicans of Thomas Jefferson's day who wanted to cut taxes and shrink government which was Jefferson's philosophy. President Madison even voted a bill for internal improvements.
5
@Michael
It may be true that a majority of immigrants votes for Democrats, but when you look at what political agenda a majority of GOP voters support today, you cannot but observe that on most issues, it's Democrats, not the GOP who are fighting for that agenda.
A majority of GOP voters wants Medicare for all, higher taxes for the wealthiest, a lower deficit, real, fact-based national security, the Dream Act, no cuts in Social Security, etc.
The only reason why they still vote for Republicans anyhow is because of two decades of Fox News' fake news, which created an "alternative facts" bubble that allowed the GOP to obtain voters who don't even think about fact-checking anymore, and to merely blindly believe all the GOP rhetoric out there.
That's why the GOP vitally needs racism (including white supremacy), even though it makes them loose the votes of conservative immigrants.
It's also why they need to turn against democracy itself.
I do believe though that most Republicans in DC today don't even care about "lowering taxes and shrinking the government" anymore. The GOP entered a totally new stage now, where corruption and enriching yourself through massive lying has become their default mode of operating, rather than merely being a strategy to hold on to power, as it was originally designed to be.
90
The national Republican Party has been systematically dismantling democracy for decades. It has taken time for the rest of us to believe this is actually happening.
When Hillary Clinton stated there was a "vast right wing conspiracy" however many years ago, I dismissed it as sour grapes. HA! She was/is correct.
It is one big power grab. After the New Deal shut Republicans out of the majority for decades they decided on hatching a plan to get power back. Tax breaks that don't pay for themselves no matter what Republicans say. Gerrymandering, Citizens United, Hobby Lobby, continually disputing Roe v. Wade and Choice, and more.
When Mitch McConnell stated that the only goal of the Republicans was to make sure President Obama served one term marked the naked abdication by the Republican Party to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
Now all we have are partisan fights, gridlock and an angry electorate.
To those who say the Democrats also commit voter suppression I say show me the proof. While I'm not naive to think Democrats are perfect, I do believe that we are not attacking Constitutional rights of voters in a systematic way.
Otherwise, we need to engage EVERYONE and must promote voting to effect the change we want to see. Voter participation in this country is pathetic, it must improve!
If every eligible voter cast their vote, it would be interesting to see what we really look like, what we really support.
424
@Linda You're SO right! Way back in Reagan's era, the Republican Party deided there would be a peranent Republican majority in Congress-- and elsewhere, like SCOTUS. They have been steadily working toward that objective ever since --broken by a few reverses. The objective was attained in 2016, but the backlash from some citizens newly awakened from their selfish torpor, MAY -- I say MAY have opened the door to reviving what was left of our democracy. Voters have been lazy, disinterested, ignorant of history, too busy selling their identities to Facebook and its ilk to bother researching the issues and the candidates' track records.
From the grave, Benjamin Franklin reminds us of his famous reply to a questioner after the Constitutonal Convention: "[you have] a Republic -- if you can keep it."
28
@Linda Let's not forget which democratic politicians helped the republicans to finish off The New Deal.
3
@Linda Let's not forget which democratic politicians helped the republicans to finish off The New Deal. Read Barbara Ehrenreich'"Nickled and Dimed" and "Bait and Switch."
9
Actually, Republicans are playing catch-up with Democrats who pioneered “ballot-harvesting” tactics. During the mid-term elections California Democrats took full advantage of a new California law that permits partisan operatives to collect mail ballots directly from voters. Republicans candidates who had comfortable leads when the polls closed ended up loosing to Democratic opponents when the harvested votes were counted. The Washington Post quoted Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee, who it said told donors, “We got our clocks cleaned. While the Democrats had an operation on the ground that was actually doing the ballot harvesting, we did not have a corresponding organization that was doing that. That won’t happen again.”
Ballot harvesting will determine the outcome of most future congressional and presidential elections, and the temptation to cheat will prove irresistible to harvesters of bot parties.
2
@William Case
There is a difference: there is no proof in what you say that the Democrats actually frauded and altered, lost, or did anything with the ballots they harvested.
In North Carolina, they have the proof.
This equivalence between hearsay and proof is clearly dishonest. What are you trying to hide?
3
@fxt
I did not say that there is proof California ballot harvesters cheated, but as ballot harvesting grows, so will cheating. Both parties have been guilty of cheating; that indisputable.
1
@William Case
Problem: there is no evidence whatsoever to back up these claims ...
Question: your president even lies about calling someone who's name is Tim Cook "Tim Apple" by first claiming to have said "Cook" in between VERY quickly (recordings prove that idea to be false), to then claim that he did NOT say "Cook" in between, but did so deliberately. Why? To "save time". A third of a second, that is. So if he even lies about such petty things, how can you so blindly trust non-proven GOP claims about Democrats' voter fraud - knowing that Trump's own voter fraud commission had to dismantle after two years of ... founding no evidence whatsoever to back up these claims ... ?
Just askin' ...
1
The author is obviously not familiar with the theft of a congressional seat in Indiana when the Democrat held House disregarded the voters in Indiana and gave the seat to Frank Mccloskey. The Republican had won the initial count and every recount. Leon Panetta led the 3 person panel of Two Democrats and one Republican to overturn the voters will. This theft was so profound it led to the House Republicans winning back the House for the first time in 40 years. But I ask too much from the author.
2
I wonder if most readers know that the event to which this commenters refers happened almost 35 years ago. They may not, since it wasn't mentioned. (Probably just an innocent oversight). The subject of the Times author's article happened less than six months ago, which seems *just slightly* more relevant than something that happened in Indiana in 1984. But we ask too much of the commentator.
Sadly, in red states, election fraud is very common. In 2002, Diebold promised George Bush Ohio in 2004: he delivered. Nobody bothered to prove it but the urban vote was diluted: polls that showed Kerry a clear winner by a huge margin in Columbus and in other cities showed a close race.
Then, there was the old trick of sending out requests for contributions to the GOP to houses that poll democratic. When no contribution was received, GOP election officials took these households off the rolls. Investigations were threatened but never carried through; just like North Carolina.
Recently, people who voted early, at least in Ohio's 16th district were forced to use absentee ballots. At the bottom of the form I requested a printed copy of my ballot by mail: I haven't seen it yet --- I don't expect to.
7
Until those discovered to engage in election fraud are aggressively prosecuted and jailed this will continue. It is ironic the BASIS for democracy is ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE, when this type of election stealing occurs. Where are the strong laws or enforcement to assure our democracy survives?
5
Yes. And also egregious gerrymandering following the 2010 census. And the unequal playing field that benefits the rich and corporations as a result of the "Citizens United" decision that year.
173
@David in Toledo
You do realized that in 2016 Clinton spent almost 2X as much as Trump and still lost, right?
@Joe Public You are right wrt clinton's campaign spending vs trump but that is in expenditures ... trump's campaign was brilliantly calculated in terms of media exposure which he did not pay for ... but this is a red herring, as it is the gerrymandering that is at play and while both parties are guilty of this the GOP has used its gerrymandering as a benefit to the 1% ... I have no intent to endorsing the neo libs as their hands are covered in blood but I strongly feel the Dems are more about solving long term issues that will ultimately benefit humankind ... again that is not an endorsement of most politicians right or left rather a recognition of which group is more likely to pull us out of the abyss ... maybe :)
5
@Joe Public It isn't about who spent the most, it is about the influence and control of our politics that the unrestricted corporate and dark money buys.
6
Republicans knew from the famous Autopsy of Mitt's 2012 loss that their old, white patriarchy would be difficult to maintain as demographics changed.
It was advised they build a bigger, kinder tent to compete with the far more diverse Democrats.
Instead, they stuck to their old methods of reducing the voice and power of minorities with voter suppression.
But the GOP went from racist to evil in letting Trump take over with his promises to wall and ban the US off from non-white immigration while attempting to divide and conquer the rest of the population.
Trump is slowly grinding us down with his overwhelming gaslight campaign.
Please, Don't give up. Don't let the Trumps steal any more from us.
271
The other two (Republican) elephants in the room along with voter suppression are, of course, electoral redistricting (gerrymandering), and unlimited campaign finance spending (per the so-called Citizens United case).
We rubes here in Canada are so behind the times. We vote by marking a piece of paper with a pencil (tabulated by machine, but there is a record).Electoral districts are redrawn every ten years with reference to census data by an independent commission (not by politicians).
And corporations and trade unions are not permitted to make campaign contributions.
1128
@Peter Alexander
You also require ID at the polls...but the list of acceptable forms accommodates virtually any Canadian with a legal right to vote.
48
@Peter Alexander Having a commission to redraw districts doesn’t make the process more representative. Take California for instance. Only 64% of Californians voted for a Democrat in 2018 but 87% of house seats now belong to Democrats. That’s fairly obvious gerrymandering to me.
@Peter Alexander
Many, MANY of us here in the US look to Canada for how things should be done these days.
Not so behind the times after all.
110
Make no mistake, for decades the Republican party has vigorously pursued an agenda of denying the vote to the poor, the dark skinned and anyone else they don't like.
Mostly the effort is through unconstitutional legal approaches like district gerrymandering, requiring expensive and inconvenient ID, etc. but outright fraud is always an option, as recently seen in North Carolina.
They can be quite ingenious in their tactics; but ALWAYS, it is about party over country; rich whites over poor and/or black.
Paul Krugman, among others, documents this pretty thoroughly in his highly recommended book "The Conscience of a Liberal".
2
For a decade I was a prosecutor in the largest county in Oregon, and was in charge of arranging grand jury investigations relating to voter fraud, prosecuted by the state Attorney General. And every election cycle there would be a handful of fraudulent voter prosecutions. This wasn't happening in Cook County, Illinois, but in one of the least corrupt states in America. Had law enforcement been more aggressive in investigating these matters, there would have undoubtedly been a slightly larger trickle of these cases. It happens because when 130 million people do anything involving the law, some of them will be breaking the law. That is reality.
The upshot is Democrats are absurdly claiming that voter fraud doesn't exist and that illegal aliens don't vote, and Republicans are absurdly claiming that it's a rampant phenomenon. The real problem here is the gross politicization of an inevitable and unavoidable annoyance, from both sides of the aisle, and this editorial is a prime example of that phenomenon.
4
@Chuck French I don't believe anyone is saying it doesn't exist, either willfully or in error. What is said is that it is insignificant and doesn't deserve the attention and actions Republicans propose, which calls into question to motivations for those proposed actions.
1
@Chuck French
You don't offer any hard evidence here. This is just speculation based on a "trickle" in Oregon. Why should we believe there is a widespread problem of voter fraud in this country when every reputable study has concluded that its an extremely limited phenomenon?
"So many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome: good government. They want everybody to vote.
I don't want everybody to vote.
Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."
Paul Weyrich
Republican
Cofounder The Heritage Foundation
Remarks to the Religious Roundtable (August 1980)
9
Mitch McConnell said it all: Republican leadership firmly believes that making Election Day a holiday, and other reforms that would allow more working people to vote, is a “Democratic Party power grab.”
That’s it, in a nutshell. Anything that would enable our government to represent the will of the majority of the nation’s voting adults is anathema to the Republican Party. Because the Republican Party represents a minority of Americans; yet it has a stranglehold on our federal government and on the government in many states.
Gosh, is that how a democracy is supposed to work?
28
These are the fundamental threats to democracy that worry me: Congress' decades long surrender of its responsibility to provide a check on the Executive branch, even when the current occupier of the WH breaks all norms of decency, the castigation of mainstream news as "enemy of the people," the failure of the mainstream press to provide trustworthy news (e.g. supporting the WMD rationale for war), the corruption of Congress even before Trump (e.g. that revolving door, dominance of lobbyists). And that's just for starters.
BTW, myself and thousands of others hit the streets in northern California's Central Valley to register citizens, encourage the completion of paper ballots and get out the vote. We worked hard and each canvassing session began with the legality of what we could/could not do or say. We flipped two seats in Republican strongholds. Yet we heard accounts of misinformation from local Republicans (e.g. their publicizing fictional Dem town halls, then claiming the Dem candidate failed to show up." We also heard considerable disgust with the Republican positions on the poor.
As for voting, only 60% of us turn out for presidential elections, 40% for midterm elections. A common reaction is "Why bother?" So a major threat to democracy is simply the failure of winners to deliver.
2
The real theft of American democracy does not happen on election day or have anything to do with the electoral process; it happens for the entire rest of the year as lobbyists bribe congress for the laws that their clients want written. This is what happens when the members of a closed, two-party system believe they are operating with legal impunity.
2
David From, a former speechwriter for George W Bush, said it succinctly:
"If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy.”
37
I couldn’t agree more with this enlightening article .
Our democracy is in perils, Republicans favor a plutocratic regime making the majority of Americans slaves of the big corporations.
Our founding fathers are in disbelief that this cynical outcome in our society could happen .
Everyone must register to vote and protect and demand that the rule of law must be applied to protect our democracy in this fragile moment .
7
Of course. This has been going on for years. Why have the democrats done nothing to stop it? Especially under President Obama. The only institution standing in the way of this election fraud has been the courts.
4
@Van Owen During the Obama administration, it was the Supreme Court that struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act. Immediately after this decision, new voter suppression laws started springing up in states that no longer had to get permission to make changes to their voting laws. The US Congress and Senate were in Republican hands and they weren't interested in doing anything about this. This situation is part of what energized Democratic voters and, I hope, citizens in general, to flip the House in the mid-terms. It will take one more election to finish that job. Maximum voter participation should be encouraged .
3
@Van Owen
Standard reply. Trying to pin it all on the Obama administration.
But do you remember who was in charge of a Republican Senate that vowed to obstruct Obama from Day 1?
It was Mitch McConnell, who continues to do the same thing today.
3
@Van Owen: "especially under President Obama". The democrats? Really? Who had control of the house and senate? Who refused to consider President Obama's pick for Supreme Court? YOUR guy, the poster geezer for Republican obstruction and corruption: MITCHIE. ALL of this is on republicans. They hate democracy.
2
Requiring ID at the pools resolves all of this. The days of "not everyone has ID" is baloney. Funny thing is all the people the left claims don't have ID can instantly produce it when claiming benefits.
3
@peversma
I agree with voter ID. I have a very hard time believing that a country can have a good voting system without voter ID.
Having said that, government should open a administrative offices where people can get voter ID in every town of every county at least 6 days a week and 10 hours a day. So that everyone eligible can get one.
1
There must be simple systems which constant through out the country...
Gerrymandering is one that can easily be changed! We have computers the now to rig those results... the same programs can redraw a fair distribution.
These clumsy systems are kept because they serve someone's interests.
Education is the same... some people are kept ignorant which supports their voting to undermine their own interests but supports the ruling class.
Soon, I expect to hear that those in charge have agreed that the earth is flat and we need guards at the border to keep people from falling off! These borders will of course be protected by a private army which we will pay for and we will be firmly back in the dark ages!
This voter mess is a symptom of a much bigger problem in the United States — laughably poor education. The right wouldn’t be able to spread these myths of voter fraud. The left wouldn’t have to play the turnout game. Attack the root cause with investment in the future - world class k-12 education for all!
14
@Cycle Cyclist Then I guess it's no wonder that Republicans attack public education, too. Oh, yeah, the "free market" is supposed to fix everything.
@Cycle Cyclist
Everyone says this, but the reality is that most people in this country don't want their tax dollars to pay for public education. Or, at least, no MORE of their tax dollars!
Cheating in elections destroys legitimacy, the most important element of a functional society
Republicans don't care.
Cheating proves 2 things about Republicans
1. They know their party aspirations and platform is not what Americans want and need
2. They do not believe in the foundational ideals of a democratic republic.
So they cheat instead of changing
15
The GOP has nothing else left in their toolbox. Supply-side economics is never going to work; health care and the social safety net is all that stands between living and dying for all but the wealthy; without collective bargaiing, labor is a commodity. The list goes on.
Democrats want and need more voters. Republicans survive only by allowing fewer.
4
Over the last 75 years both Democrats and Republicans alike have engaged in voter fraud . But lately with his “crime boss” modus operandi, Donald Trump has set the tone for other Republicans, giving them permission to behave the same way organized crime thugs do.
The leader sets the tone, and the followers do indeed follow, but the price of following Donald Trump will be paid by the Republican Party for the next 20 years .
In essence, we are witnessing the end of the Republican Party as we have known it .
4
Why are there only 58 comments on this article? If voting rights prevail, and everyone GETS OUT and VOTES, the Republicans would never hold a majority again. That is why they cheat. Stand up for your rights and walk to the polls. Stop the larceny.
11
Republicans, especially conservatives should not be in positions of public policy. Seriously. Why? They unconsciously prioritize the fear they inherited from evolution over the well-being of the people, country, and even the planet.
1
It is so incredibly refreshing that Carol Anderson did not blame Russia for US election results!
Big money is the biggest thief of US democracy.
And the US election apparatus is often pitiful.
Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, New Jersey and Delaware have NO paper trail. Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, all have counties with NO paper trail.
The US, the richest country in the world, with the most outrageously huge military to protect its so-called democracy, refuses to afford decent voting equipment.
Voter suppression and gerrymandering also contribute greatly to a sublimely imperfect "democracy".
7
The 2019 Republican Party is a criminal political syndicate which under normal conditions would be prosecuted and incarcerated under RICO for widespread racketeering, conspiracy to defraud America, massive civil rights violations, hijacking and incinerating the will of the people.
They can't stand democracy and abandoned it a long time ago since it doesn't fit their corrupt business model, which is Greed Over People.
And for those who choose to cast a vote for the Republican Party, they should consider what good will come from an organization that rejects democracy and the will of the people ?
Was America better off when Bush-Cheney stole the 2000 election, handed out 1% welfare tax cuts, invaded Iraq, prevented Medicare from negotiating drug prices with PhRMA and drove America off a catastrophic cliff in 2008 with Republican nihilism and recklessness ?
Is America better with the Trump's corrupt Administration, his 1% welfare tax cuts and his abandonment of infrastructure, healthcare, our allies and civility ?
Like us, Russia also has a fake democracy and an oligarchic state.
But theirs is different because it lacks any checks and balances for its czar.
It's fine for Americans to support Republican policy if that's one's preference, but the support of right-wing cheating and the rejection of democracy and the one-person-one vote principle is an act of sedition against the United States and the will of the people.
Decent patriotic Americans no longer vote Republican.
133
@Socrates
I have never voted Republican because I believe in government by the people, not by the rich. By the majority not the minority. Our election process has long been perverted by the electoral college, gerrymandering, and outright fraud by those who are determined to have their way by any and all perverted means.
Morality no longer prevails.
8
Great letter.
The Republicans have zero integrity left.
I just hope they are stopped before they destroy this country.
8
Come on. Only ten percent of Americans vote regularly. The fraud is apathy created by a rigged system run by wealthy whites (sounds just like higher education). There is no need to suppress voters. We do it voluntarily.
5
This may be an opinion piece, but it is not helpful. The Republicans are not thieves anymore than the Democrats are though some would argue that the Clinton Democrats did steal the nomination from Bernie Sanders. Still, instead of a constant drumbeat of recriminations, how about actually trying to work together? It seems that politicians to some extent did that. McCain did work across the aisle. Reagan did work with Tip O'Neal. How about doing some opinions pieces that urge people to work together instead of vilifying the other party? I do not think I am alone in thinking that Americans are sick of the name calling from both sides and the endless but pointless investigations( a new round is starting by Mr. Nadler and it is thought that Justice under the new AG will be looking at what Ms. Clinton did or did not do with the Clinton foundation or maybe even the private server business.) Why not urge that a centrist seek the presidential nomination and that man or woman could set the tone for a national reconciliation in this country. Such a person could win the presidency and unite this country. It is not a pipe dream, but we first have to escape the daily firestorm of over the top criticism, accusations, and bile.
1
The Electoral College, in appointing losers of the popular vote into the oval office, has gravely harmed America.
Their appointments do not represent the American People.
Consider this; Mrs Clinton won the popular vote by more than 3,000,000 ballots over Trump. Those 3,000,000 people, if lined up, would stretch for over a THOUSAND MILES. Yet Trump was, against the Will of the majority of Americans, appointed into the oval office by republicans in the Electoral College.
Government of The People ????? Tell us, and the rest of the world, another one.
8
Voting in Georgia last year was a challenge also. My name was purged, but fortunately I noticed the day it happened, wrote and was reinstated. In the response to my email complaint, I was told I could have voted anyway on a provisional basis.
Come the election, and at least in some areas, there were not enough provisional ballots, and those were doled out to whoever the election officials decided. Georgia's voter databases were hacked by Russians, including down to the county level. I have zero confidence that last year was not a stolen election by Republicans.
The Georgia legislature just passed a bill to acquire new voting machinery, away from the no paper trail electronic voting of the past. Against expert advice and warnings, Georgia has rushed through a barcode machine option.
The new system, like the old one, is hackable. Georgia's voter databases were hacked by Russians, including down to the county level, as well as others.
I have zero confidence that last year was not a stolen election by Republicans. I have zero confidence in Republicans and fair elections.
31
@SMB
Talk about case and point. The recent Georgia election for Governor was an excellent example of voter suppression-- not only because one of the nominees, Brian Kemp was Georgia's Secretary of State, but because his office was responsible for registering new voters and by several accounts, thousands of forms remained unopened and unaccounted for before the election.
It's no wonder he's now being investigated by the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
3
@SMB How do you know the Russians (or anyone else) "hacked" the last election in Georgia? What did they do? What, in your mind, is an "unhackable system.
American Democracy does not exist purely at the national level. All three levels of government including state and local defines American Democracy. The theft of power from the people at these lower levels by activist courts, executive decrees, and a lying congress (e.g. you'll have to vote to find out what's in the bill) is a far larger issue than on the margins of tallying votes.
2
@Eric
Your misquote of Nancy Pelosi is a major symptom of the problem: ignorant and easily misled voters.
What Pelosi actually said was in response to a question by a constituent. Pelosi's answer was rhetorical. It meant that after the vote you'll experience the advantages of the ACA.
Everyone in the government and everyone in the US who follows the news already knew what was in the bill before it was passed.
4
@Jerry Engelbach I think you touch on an important point regarding something else that corrupts our elections. These days it seems that there must be rooms full of people whose sole task is to comb through every sentence ever uttered by an opponent, in search of sentences or sentence fragments that can be quoted out of context in a way that distorts their original meaning. I wish I could only blame one party for the tactic (though I still suspect that one major party uses it more). Individual voters have individual attention spans, the majority of which are shorter than a strong democracy might hope for. Those who don't have the time or resources to fact check such claims often find themselves believing things that are simply not true, and then basing their votes on that misinformation.
the root cause of all these issues we have in politics, in companies, in societies and even in families, is the illusion that we are separate beings who need to account only to self, and any threat that goes against what is the illusory self causes these disorders. We are not separate from each other, we are an ecosystem that can only work if we do for the other, and not for our self. This is the central message of all religions. "What you do onto others, you do to yourself." watch how life would be beautiful if we all think for the other before our self. If you can only realize that the other is also the same as you, and is you, then we have reached the utopia we are dreaming of.
9
The difference between what the Republicans did in North Carolina and what the Democrats did in California? In California, it is specifically legal. Despite the blatantly obvious opportunities for fraud -- collecting and filling out ballots, selective submission of ballots, etc. -- California Democrats made this kind of "vote harvesting" specifically legal.
I point this out, not to justify what was done in North Carolina, but to spotlight the legalized fraud in California elections.
3
There is *no evidence* of illegal voter fraud in CA according to Snopes and PolitiFact. It’s a right-wing myth. Like trickle-down economics. Let’s hope it doesn’t take you 4 decades to figure THAT out.
2
@Kurfco
There is zero evidence of fraud in the California elections. The Republicans claimed fraud because they lost.
Admittedly, it is a bad law, open to possible fraud, and should be repealed.
But don't forget that Republicans also used the legality of it to collect votes. They're just sore losers.
1
@Kurfco You appear to prefer to ignore the numerous check and balances in the California bill. You can read the full text of the actual bill here: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1921
Please feel free to point our where you find specifics allowing for fraud.
Oh, it's simple. The Republicans cannot win popular elections without resorting to voter suppression. I agree with one person, one vote.
15
The question for Republicans concerning their execrable voter suppression policies:
Where does their racism begin - and their desire to simply elect politicians with conservative values end? Republicans would have you believe it's all about electing Republicans. I would suspect it's a blur between the two that polite Southerners and others do not discuss in public.
2
In the wizard of OZ the man behind the curtain was tell Dorothy to not pay attention to the man behind the curtain. In this case the man behind the curtain is trump and his merry men of republicans. The sure way to correct this going forward is to vote them out of office.
2
@Wade
Oh, this has been going on loooong before Trump.
If the Dems tried to point it out, they dismissed as "sore losers" (or sore loosers).
Finally, it has become a widely known, in our face issue.
I notice the Georgia voter scam wasn't even mentioned.
I will never vote absentee again. They are the last ones counted...if at all
Has anyone noticed that anything the GOP accuses the Democrats of doing, no matter how obscure or unproven, turns out to be exactly what they're actually doing.
I guess the dishonest just think everyone thinks like they do.
97
It’s an old Bolshevik trick. Now I ask, is that any surprise?
1
@galtsgultch
It's called "projection." And the republicans have mastered that trick. It is their modus operandi in order to hide their bad intentions. And as the old saying goes:
"honi soit qui mal y pense."
2
We, the voters, need two things:
First, dump the Electoral College that over-represents people in less-populated states like Wyoming or Montana for national elections and under-represents people in highly populated states like New York or California. One person, one vote!
Second, let's do instant-runoff (aka ranked-choice) voting, so a 3rd-party candidate won't throw the election to a bad choice. We have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
42
@Astrochimp Read the James Madison Federalist Papers and his warning against factions. Your proposal would create mob rule through factions. By eliminating the electoral college the small sates you hate so much (only because they're red of course) they would be ignored during and after the election by any president and get next to nothing from the federal gov't. If these small population states were blue and the highly populated red would you still advocate for this? Isn't one of the hallmarks of the left supposedly that they want everyone represented, even people in the minority such as the states you want to make insignificant?
@Astrochimp Ranked choice has been proven to be as fallible as the current system. The only real answer is that a candidate needs a clear majority - 51% - of the vote to be declared the winner, not merely a plurality, which could allow someone with as low as 30-40% of the vote to win.
1
@peversma
States don't need to be represented as such in presidential elections. The Electoral College was a sop to the slave states. It has long since become irrelevant.
There has never been an administration that deliberately ignored the states that did not cast its electoral votes for it. The red states, in fact, have enjoyed a greater percentage of federal largesse than the blue states through every administration, regardless of the party in power.
Your argument deprives the nation of a true one-person, one-vote democracy.
4
I saw a graph that showed that Republicans and Democrats voted in a pretty similar fashion on environmental issues until the mid-1990's, when the red & blue lines diverged sharply. I suspect this happened across the board, irregardless of the issues. When you think about it, there are many forces that intersected in that time period: Newt Gingrich and the start of extreme partisanship, the Internet, talk-show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, the 24-hr cable TV concept, and others. Unfortunately, the Republicans (mostly) have exploited all the bad aspects of these phenomena.
14
So 60% of the 95,000 became naturaIized citizens. What about the 40% that did not become citizens? Did they vote? Just asking. Problem is we have too many under the radar people living for decades in this country. Not acceptable. If we have laws we should enforce them. If we don’t like the laws we have to change them.
2
@Marie Seton
Separate issue.Those people living under the radar may not be "acceptable", but voter suppression is way beyond that as an offence. It is an assault on all of us and on democracy.
5
@Marie Seton -
But the question is DID THEY VOTE? Are they ABLE to vote? Do their names show on the voter rolls at the polls?
Unless it can be proved that ANYONE voted who was not a valid voter, then caution be the excercised when states that practice suppression push statistics showing thousands of illegal votes.
5
@Diane B
"... It is an assault on all of us and on democracy."
Of course it is. It is meant to be an assault on democracy.
Republicans have been basically a minority party since the days of FDR. They know this and therefore know that having too many people vote is antithetical to their policy aims.
For Republicans, anyone who is not a white Christian conservative is not a legitimate voter and therefore fair game.
This isn't just a liberal legend. Paul Weyrich, a founder of ALEC and Reagan era Republican operative is the father of voter suppression. Republican doctrine has been to reduce voter participation as much as possible and in any way they can.
Generally speaking, Republicans don't want democracy: they want oligarchy. Their ideal political model isn't America, but Russia where the wealthy control the government and manipulate the press , dissent and citizen participation to make sure that the deserving wealthy and powerful elite will continue to rule.
2
Yes, making it difficult for people to register to vote is part of the problem. And, poor communication around how to manage absentee ballots is also part of the problem, leading people to hand their ballots to someone else. Some have suggested we deliver absentee ballots to people with a stamped return envelope. Let's not forget the way districts are set up by Republicans, to almost guarantee Republican victories.
There are many things about our election system that could be modernized. Technology could be our friend if we used it properly. When I watched the 2018 recount stories it seemed like many of the election commissions were not properly funded to address election irregularities.
13
Remember Bush vs Gore in 2000? What about the fact that Ohio took a month to figure out that Kerry had lost it in 2004? Meanwhile after about a day or two of headlines the recent stolen election for Governor in Georgia became a mute issue — but why? One of the reasons can be seen from the fact that this article is presented as an OpEd and not an Editorial — media moguls across the country are afraid to anger Republicans, or worse they mistakenly think that to remind voters of these stolen elections or continue to demand answers for past shenanigans would "undermine faith in our democracy." It wouldn't. We need a comprehensive election oversight agency on the FEDERAL level. with standardized practice for all 50 states and standardized methods for every county and municipality. We can pay for it by simply eliminating Bush's bureaucracy boondoggle — Homeland Security which simply duplicates services already provided by other agencies and worse is being used as a weapon against our population by the executive branch.
24
@Arthur
Hear! Hear!
1
" The Real Theft of American Democracy " began with the Founding Fathers creating a divided limited different power constitutional republic of united states that was and still is the antithesis of democracy.
The collective worshipful delusional invocation of " Our Democracy" shows how well we have been " bamboozled and hoodwinked."
In the beginning the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant male founders who owned property only intended that members of their caste/ class were divinely naturally created equal with certain unalienable rights of life and the pursuit of happiness. Yet even those select few were trusted to only vote for and directly elect their member of the lowest legislative Representatives in the House for a mere 2 year term.
While Senators were initially elected by states legislatures fir six years. A Constitutional Amendment was necessary to allow direct elections of Senators. But each state from a half million Wyoming's to 39.5 million Californians has the same number of Senators.
While the Electoral College stands between Americans and their vote for President. Along with the fact that votes cast in one state do not count nor matter in any other state. While the President can only be elected for 2 four year terms.
Federal judges are nominated by the President for life with the advice and consent of the Senate. And the size of the Electoral College and House is capped to the disadvantage of more populous states.
Pining for democracy is chasing shadows and smoke.
10
Criminal enterprises thrive on chaos because it enables that marvelous defense of 'plausible deniability'. That Trump and McConnell both embrace confusion, subterfuge and outright lies to win an election is revealing because without it their chances of success are greatly diminished. For a nation of laws this form of entropy is pure poison and is destructive as Dr. Anderson accurately points out. Entropy is Trump's business modus operandi - someone else is always to blame for his failures; it's how Manafort avoided being caught for so long and how Cohen was able to operate unethically as Trump's fixer for as long as he did... and now that strategy has become a part of the GOP's election machinery.
How do they get away with it? Plausible deniability.
7
I do not understand the resistance on the left to voter ID laws. You have to have one here in CT, or some sort of ID. If you don't have a driver's license how about (for the small % that don't) -- why not set up a photo ID device at registration points?
While the left gets its hackles up over this issue, I'm not sure what is wrong with ensuring that only citizens vote, that people can only vote once in an election and that the person who votes is that person and not someone pretending to be them.
Protecting the integrity of the voting process is essential. The left hyperventilates over Russian interference -- which did nothing to change the election -- yet resists any efforts to make the voting process as legitimate as possible.
There is no way that non citizens who obtain a drivers license should be allowed to vote. Nor should people who move or die be left on voter rolls where they once lived.
We can argue about how often voter fraud occurs. The dems claim (as in this article) that it's low. But those are the people who are caught. Let's just tighten the process up. Who can argue against that.
And by the way -- the biggest and most important voter fraud instances in the US were LBJ winning the senate in 1948 with the help of the Duke of Duval. It is also likely that voter fraud helped JFK win in 1960 (Illinois and Texas) -- so let's not blame Republicans. After all, we've just seen the dems undermine the nomination process in 2016.
5
@Ralphie Republican voter ID regulations have been used to diminish opposition wherever there are legions of the poor or fearful. Statistically they (GOP) consider it is to their advantage to do whatever they can to limit the voices of people of color or immigrants -- demographics that know Republicans leadership is bad for their interests. It is sad that this has to be pointed out.
7
@Ralphie - 126,000,000 folks read and shared bogus misinformation about Hillary provided to them by thousands of Russian trolls working their little Communist fingers to the bone to get Trump elected. Only a partisan with their head buried deep in the sand could pretend Russia did not tilt the outcome of the election. Propaganda works - especially when tons of misinformation is then echoed on Fox News over and over and over and over and over again. Instead of talking about LBJ in 1948, look at the blatant CHEATING that is happening right now. If Republicans have the best ideas, then allow EVERYONE to vote on those ideas.
8
@Ralphie I'm an election supervisor. I don't need a driver's license or other photo ID to know if the person standing before me registered to vote. He or she has to give me their full name and address, I look it up in a book. He or she then has to sign the book next to their name. I compare the signatures. Done. This system has worked for decades, and continues to work for the simple fact that IT"S EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO KNOW A PERSON's NAME AND ADDRESS AND BE ABLE TO PROVIDE THE SIGNATURE.
4
QUESTION: What's wrong with voter IDs? Other countries have it, so what's wrong with it?
Democrats have consistently thwarted attempts to enact a national ID program. If we had one, the current allegations of voter fraud may have been prevented.
5
Democrats aren’t against voter ID laws. They’re against attempts to make it harder for citizens to vote. Do you know that many proposed laws want to require a special ID that would carry a fee with it? If you’re okay with that, then you support impediments to voting. Just consider stories like Dodge City that moved its only polling place miles out of town or counties that closed DMVs before Election Day so people couldn’t get an ID.
I support a free national voter ID mailed to every citizen of voting age. Do you?
Our process already has built-in checks and balances from registering, to verifying, to voting, and double checking who votes. THAT’S why cases of fraud are so rare.
19
@Jane Re" UR QUESTION: "I support a free national voter ID mailed to every citizen of voting age. Do you?"
As long as their is a verifiable photo ID associated with the free ID, I see nothing wrong with that.
However, I've found that without hearing all of the arguments pro & con, we're just blabbing on, as I sometimes to, without hearing all of the relevant facts. However, that's precisely what virtually all politicians do.
@Enarco
There are no current proven allegations of voter fraud.
The current scandals involved vote suppression, not illegal voting.
2
Voter suppression shows an utter lack of confidence in ideas. It had not occurred to the Republican party that the way to win is through ideas that work.
29
@Deborah
I have also noticed that the Republicans tend to make everything a personal/partisan issue rather than arguing on the basis of ideas. We need to get back to discussing ideas instead of just saying "the left is doing xxx."
3
To undermine democracy Republicans have also set up a right-wing media echo chamber where the truth doens't matter but propaganda confirming right wing biases does. So even if people vote many will be voting based on believing lies and distortions rather than on fact-checked information.
25
A while ago the Republicans must have picked up their secret motto from the late owner of the Oakland Raiders football team, Al Davis, which was “just win baby“.
They saw that to compete they would either have to offer policies that were for the good of Majorities that were people not at all like themselves or game the system.
They tried to compete with specious “Compassionate Conservatism” and “Trickle Down” but at some point tired of lying to win hearts and minds and got down the business of manipulating elections.
17
Voter suppression, gerrymandering, and other tricks are real, but this does not account for nearly all the ~53% of Americans who, on average, have not voted in Federal elections since the 1970s.
Lack of community, selfishness, and belief government is something outside ourselves has built what we have now. Through action, and inaction, a majority of Americans built this and should own it. Because if they don't get that, and keep blaming all and sundry other than themselves, there's no getting our government back to we the people.
Give us 75-80% participation, every two years for the next 20 years at the very least, and we have a chance.
21
@David F
Voter participation is the Achilles' heel of American democracy. We so often get the government we deserve, not the one we need.
2
@TRA
Working people in America never get the government they need.
Both major parties represent the rich.
But those who vote against bad candidates do not get the government they deserve. it's forced down their throats.
1
one can expect the democrats do exactly the same as in N Carolina, they just have not been been reported in the mainstream media. If you search google, you will find many examples of voter fraud; some of these appear to be real if you scrutinize them. New voting regulations in California, that include automatic registration, ballot harvesting of mail-in ballots, no ID that have been approved by the democratic majority legislature are aimed at harvesting a fraudulent vote in California just like in NC. Other states that have similar voting regulations, or are planning to do the same know exactly that they are facilitating a fraudulent vote that sides with democrats.
2
@sh. Perhaps CA is too liberal for your tastes, but that is not the case in the other 49 states, where voter suppression and gerrymandering by Republicans, especially in southern states, has been rising since the voting rights act was scrapped by the supreme court in 2013. The Dems may also be guilty, but are far outdone by the Republicans. Look at sources outside FOX news
I am not an expert but it seems the root cause of such voter suppression lies in the fact that 100k peopple in a singel subdivison town can elect a senator and 2 congressman while a huge big city with millions does not get to elect even 1 senator ! and a few congressman!
Until and unless popular vote gets a percent weightage in the presidential choice we will be getting duped that "my vote counts! "
25
Citizens United is wrong; Electoral college is wrong. But what is wrong with citizenship represented by some sort of official identification.
We have a census. Why don't we use that as an opportunity to identify and register every possible voter.
The undocumented immigrants. We need to settle that first, don't we.
There it is. The crux of the immigration controversy. One group does not want to acknowledge the undocumented people that are here or grant them citizenship and wants to force them out. The other wants to accommodate. The is no capacity for compromise.
And one group does not want to make sure that every citizens right to vote is accommodated.
1
@HT Oh dear, how to unpack this? "Citizenship represented by some sort of official documentation" is already in operation (birth certificates, social security numbers, naturalization papers, etc.) It would be expensive and redundant to set up a whole new system without proof that it is needed (and there is no proof).
Yes, one group seems to want to ignore undocumented people and to force them out. But, rather than simple "accommodation," that other group seeks solutions that reflect the realities of the situation. Don't despair, compromise is possible when open-hearted dialog takes place.
As for that other group that doesn't want to ensure every citizen's right to vote, they obviously don't believe in democracy and aren't patriots. Maybe they should move to some other country, Russia perhaps?
3
There are few things more ominous on the American political stage than what has been happening since Donald Trump was propelled into office by the Republican Party, which used every available means to throw the vote his way.
Not only questionable alliances with foreign entities, millions of dollars in contributions from unnamed sources and through feats of voter suppression and ridiculous claims that MILLIONS of votes were illegal -- but also by their dedicated attempts to repeal the Voting Act, which disproportionately affects the poor and communities of color.
It's no surprise that targeting the Black vote has been Number 1 on the G.O.P.'s agenda ever since they started pushing the "Southern Strategy", which specifically appeals to a white electorate based on racism against African-Americans.
But now they are widening their view to invalidate and disenfranchise ALL AMERICANS who don't subscribe to their
myopic and self-serving political agenda.
This is why the time has come for all citizens to reclaim their right to vote by doing so.
Nothing less than the fate and future of our country depends on it.
29
Suffolk County NY is going Democratic and that's thanks to a lot of second home owners who have decided to register at these homes. Very few are Republicans.
So what does the County do? It goes to the Post Office and gets every forwarded address and removes these voters from the rolls unless they return a post card--if they get the mailing in the first place. First time they have EVER done this on temporary forwardings.
Voter suppression hits New York State and once again it's the Republicans.
26
This article illustrates the problem with Mr. Edsall's "No Hate Left Behind" piece yesterday, which presented a "Catch-22" dilemma - if a person has eminent good cause to hate and distrust a political adversary, to say so impliedly labels that person's opinion as bias.
The "No Hate Left Behind" piece was frustrating in its purity. It simply reported data. It omitted entirely social context and recent history.
The Republicans have been engaged in a long-term, concerted effort to undermine American democracy. They have been aided Supreme Court decisions which split along partisan lines: Bush v. Gore, Citizens United, the decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, Hobby Lobby, and others.
Our elections are gerrymandered down to the local level. The voting purges have all been clearly partisan. The voter suppression efforts have likewise been partisan.
McConnell saying that the job of the Republican Senate was to insure that Obama's presidency would fail conflicts directly with the duty of our elected officials to make our government work.
Ms. Anderson's and Mr. Edsall's articles should be considered together. You're not paranoid if they're really out to get you.
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@Jim Hugenschmidt
With all of the attention on Trump, we seem to be ignoring another, more influential culprit -- McConnell.
9
@Byron Jones McConnell reminds me of a quote from another culprit---Darth Cheney.
"It is amazing how much you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit."
Trump is being credited with placing federal judges (not just SCOTUS) that will affect us for the rest of our lives. McConnell picked and approved judges.
2
I think there is some middle ground on this issue.
As a minority party across the nation as a whole, Republicans reflexively favor restricting the number of voters. High voter turnout across the board favors the Democrats. Not surprisingly, the GOP looks for ways to suppress votes through higher barriers to the ballot box. And instances like that in North Carolina, outright fraud has taken place.
But the GOP does not own the franchise on voter fraud. Big city Democratic machines are notorious for padding precinct counts.
Democrats would be well served to join with Republicans in investigating legitimate voter fraud. Both parties -- and our nation -- stand to gain through genuine bipartisan oversight.
And that will destroy the last shred of credence for Trump's preposterous lie that three million illegal immigrants voted against him.
11
@Civic Samurai Voter fraud has been investigated. Those who want to suppress votes just don't like the answer - that it is almost non-existent.
5
@Civic Samurai
Prove it. In this age of trump where alternate facts abound, it'd be nice to have some proof. The beauty of the NC case, is that you have proof. The beauty of the lies in Texas were uncovered. Have you any tangible proof of "big city democratic machines...padding precinct counts" in recent history?
1
Anderson writes, "The real theft of American democracy happens through election fraud and voter suppression."
Anderson makes the case by illuminating the distinctions of Voter Fraud and Election Fraud.
Voter fraud one by a single individual weighing 400 pounds in their bedroom somewhere casting an illegal vote and an organized machine casting a dark cloud over our democracy slowly obscuring a golden sunrise and darkening blue skies.
So with the Dowless revelation, will other elections in which Mr. Dowless worked be investigated and will those elections' votes be analyzed to derive the same sort of data presented here where Party A wins in Party B district? I'm not ruling out that Dowless could have worked for a Democrat since he seems to work for money, not Party.
Have the Democrats been in the dark (so to speak) about this or are the Democrats just not up to the level of the fight?
I never hear an equivalent railing about election fraud to counter the hollow charges of voter fraud. Nor do I hear an equivalent railing about voter suppression to counter the hollow charges of illegal voters.
As much as I contribute to candidates and their causes, I am tired of being the team whose leaders continue to bring a knife to a gun fight. We need new leaders who have strategies to counter undemocratic tactics.
We need a democratic (small D) strategy, akin to Karl Rove's!
4
I would like to believe that Americans are equity-minded, and support, among other things, free and fair elections. I would also like to believe that Republicans agree with the above, but from the occupant of the White House on down we are practically bombarded with evidence to the contrary. Actions like those mentioned in this fine article portray an increasingly desperate GOP willing to do literally anything to hold onto power. It makes for depressing reading, but not unlike a trip to the Dentist, It is something that has to be done. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
25
My state legislature is about to pass a popular vote option so even if my state votes for one candidate it will be over ruled and the electoral votes will go to whoever won the national popular vote. So why would any candidate bother to visit or listen to a state with less than 6 million votes when they can easily get double or triple that number in a single east or west coast city? Now that's voter disenfranchisement!
6
@baba ganoush Yes, Democrats have been trying to circumvent the constitutionally protected electoral college for quite some time now. I'm hoping they succeed, only to be shut down by the Supreme Court.
1
Half a dozen or so California House races were overturned using the exact same tactic of 'ballot harvesting' that was done in NC but it was legal, via State Law passed by Democrats, so no harm no foul right? It was Fraud in NC and the Bi-partisan Election Board came to that conclusion. Voter ID laws are not discriminatory it is reasonable that any adult today have a photo ID. No reason someone with a cell phone doesn't have an ID is there? Everything the Left is accusing they are guilty of themselves, except they are doing it in spades. Contest after Contest being overturned after harvesting of ballots in California is just the tip of the iceberg.
2
@GregP I honestly have not heard about these election problems. Please tell us what districts in California were affected and point to some news articles. This is an issue that needs to be addressed, whether it is one-sided or bipartisan.
4
@GregP, attentio NYT readers, Greg's claim is baseless, there is no evidence that these elections were fixed. Greg just didn't like the outcome! Orange county has changed in its demographics and its culture. Also, many Californians are disgusted by not just trump but the GOP-- that is why at the state and even local level the republican party is dead. On the other hand, in our tiny counties (IE Alpine-- Conservative) and in the Central Valley (basically full of either non-citizens or old guard right wing folks) the GOP held many of the seats-- including Nunes who is possibly guilty of some conspiracy with Russia in the 2016 election.
4
False equivalence. What happened in California was not “exactly the same” as what happened in North Carolina. It is legal to drop off someone’s ballot in CA, in NC it is not. In CA, Democrats focused on “harvesting” completed ballots from Democratic voters. In NC, Dowless and his paid crew collected incomplete ballots from anyone, filled them out, falsified signatures, and turned them in. They not only “harvested” ballots (which was itself illegal), but they fraudulently voted more than once (for the Republican) using the incomplete ballots they collected. If you are claiming something illegal happened in CA, where is your evidence? On what basis do you make that claim?
1
The GOP understands their electoral future depends on destroying democracy.
One hopes that the Democrats understand that their electoral future depends on preserving, protecting, and expanding democracy.
Either the GOP survives the 21st century, or American democracy does -- but both won't. Sadly, this isn't even hyperbole; it's what the GOP is actively doing.
53
I feel there are many Republicans who believe it is much more important to keep control of our government then to have fair elections.
55
@Roy Greenfield Control of our government is exercised by a locked seal on choice dictated by money. Pay-to-play is the elephant in the room that no media touches...why? Because the money that owns the pseudo-two party system also owns the media. When elections can be conducted by a consensual restriction of corporate influence and billionaire manipulation, democracy might be recovered.
15
Yes, hence Mitch McConnell’s statements that Democrats efforts to make it easier for Americans to vote amounts to a “power grab.” Increasing voter access gives people more power, which villains like Mitch are trying desperately to avoid. We need to do all we can to make sure McConnell is NOT re-elected and help Democrats gain the majority in the Senate in 2020 and keep it.
7
The Roberts Supreme Court is the champion at election rigging. After Citizens United we lost our democracy.
383
@Al,
Exactly right. And the Roberts court also gutted the Voting Rights Act, for a one-two punch.
47
@richard - Unions have been decimated over the past 40 yrs. (Reagan and republican's doings). Any $$ they might have to contribute is a drop in the bucket compared to Adelson, Mercer's, Koch's, etc. About the most they can do in terms of influence is endorse. The union whataboutism is baloney and it's tiresome.
74
@Al, the democracy is only lost if we allow candidates with no ethics whatsoever to run for office, let alone win elections. Regardless of voter suppression and election fraud, the masses of people who can vote must demand registration and then continue their enthusiasm to vote for people who recognize one right we have is the right to vote. Too many people continue to hold to the opinion, "it really doesn't matter who is in power, they're all the same." That is simply not true. Take for instance Gore v Bush. Does anyone think we would have engaged in Iraq to throw out Sadam when he had nothing to do with 9/11? Do u think we would have continued to back the Saudi govt because of our need for oil, especially with Gore's understanding of the environmental threat? It does matter, and if enough people get motivated to vote in droves, they shall overcome any voter suppression/election fraud. Just show up people!!
149
Great article, Dr. Anderson. Although, anyone who's still a Republican clearly doesn't care about facts and ethics, which do not support their distorted worldview. Challenge a Republican with facts and you will be branded "hateful" or "biased."
151
To me the biggest elephant not being talked about is McConnell’s ability to constipate the Senate by not allowing people or bills to be presented to the senate.
513
@Javaforce
You are spot on. I am looking for the answer as to how the Senate Majority Leader gained such dictatorial power. Certainly that is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind. I favor a first step to correct this would be a requirement that every piece of legislation passed by either the Senate or the House of Representatives is to be brought up for a vote in the other house within a short period of time, say 30 days.
Not often discussed is the issue of denial of "one man, one vote" in the makeup of the Senate. A citizen of a small population state has 88 times the influence in the Senate as a citizen in California or Texas. A Senate majority can be made up by 18% of the country's population. Each state, no matter how small or large, having two senators may have made sense 250 years ago but not today.
22
@Javaforce
I agree with you & XNAV both.
While everyone is distracted waiting for the what the great orange one will say next, McConnell is fast-packing the courts with extremists.
Who could dream up the idea that all it would take to flip our democracy is a megalomaniac president and a Senate with a complicit leader.
Packing the Supreme Court didn't hurt their cause either.
Corporations are people now.
19
@Javaforce. McConnell is the greatest beneficiary of all this election fraud and gleefully rubs it in Democrats faces. I really wish he would be investigated.
18
To the bloviators who claim there is a "need" for voter ID laws, etc., I have a simple proposal: Before mandating that picture IDs be required at polling places, create mobile ID bureaus that can go to every neighborhood. Send them out. And, after we have ensured that all citizens can easily obtain an ID, move elections to weekends and allow the polls to be open all day Saturday and Sunday.
Of course, this would result in increased voter participation, which is not something the pro-ID legislators are after, in my opinion.
287
@B.C. I don’t see government bureaus going out into neighborhoods to sign people up for Social Security, or other government benefits and yet people find a way to get where they need to go. People find a way to get groceries and other essentials. Why is it that getting an ID is so far down the list? I think they should be required for many things like government benefits and bank accounts.
2
@B.C.
What I love about this comment is that you identify the obvious compromise available to both sides here - one side gets to allay their ID concerns, the other gets IDs distributed to those they say cannot obtain them. Win-win.
But you have to then proceed to assume your opponents are acting in bad faith, and its their fault this wouldn't happen. Before you even ask if they agree, you blame them for scuttling the issue.
Just awesome display of the complete and utter mistrust we're up against.
4
@Dan We already know they don't agree. They aren't looking for win-win, just I win, you lose.
16
Guess gerrymandering wasn't included because 'everybody' does it.
6
When a political party prioritizes maintaining power over what is good for the country, our democracy falters. Let's hope the judicial system can save us from narrow minded, greedy politicians.
22
@Ed Mahala
The judicial system has been deliberately polluted by a political party which prioritizes power. We may need to use the legislative branch to clean the judicial system through impeachment. Every citizen needs to make themselves aware of how their vote is gathered and counted and show up at local meetings to discuss it. Know who your county precinct leaders are. Watch to see what is going on! Ask questions!
1
American democracy was stolen by the Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court. Since then Congress persons have been elected and bought by the corporate elite. Congress no longer represents the ill of the American people.
66
@Greg Good point, but wave upon wave of lowering taxes on corporations and millionaires has contributed to more billionaires who bought that ruling with their spending dollars. The courts are as blindly loyal to $$ as are the politicians of BOTH parties who appoint them. When Bernie Sanders states that the system is rigged, this is what he means.
5
@Greg I'm shocked to learn that unions don't contribute millions to their preferred candidates, only corporations do. Should I assume that if union money comes to candidates you prefer, then it's OK?
Or do they?
Republicans know they can't win an election without cheating. Simply put, there are more of us than there are of them.
97
@icohen82
That hasn’t stopped them ruling the roost. The US has a serious, serious, democracy deficit. The Senate is an arcane embarrassment - the 600K citizens of Wyoming having the same amount of political representation as 40 million Californians? That’s a bad joke. That’s worse than the rotten boroughs of old that was dealt with by the Reform Act of 1832. That’s how out of date it is.
That along with rampant gerrymandering, the super wealthy buying executive power with the help of a scurrilous media and voter suppression all point to a long, hard road to recovery. I’ll believe it when I see it, but I won’t be holding my breath. You need another revolution to cure these ills.
6
This is a very important issue and an insightful analysis...but in the NYT it's a bit of preaching to the choir. Can this information be relayed to the country at large so that more Americans are aware of it? Is it imaginable that more news sources including, of all things Fox, might relent and report on the the problem. It does, after all, impact all of us as Americans.
17
@Peter Lobel
The problem is that in opposition to this one-sided, partisan take on the issue, Fox will offer its own one-sided, partisan take. Its very difficult in today's media environment to find actual balanced reporting or analysis - the best we can do is take the two partisan accounts and try to weigh them against one another. Its a sad state of affairs.
4
@Dan That kind of false equivalence is what stokes the problem.
1
@Dan - Try watching the PBS News Hour. They do a great job and seem to go out of their way to be balanced.
1
So many of our political problems can be traced to the Roberts Court, which eviscerated the Voting Rights Act in its Shelby County ruling and allowed for legalized bribery in its Citizens United decision. Chief Justice Roberts, who is not stupid, cannot be unaware of voter suppression and the power of $$$ in our campaigns. And so I can only assume that he supports denying minorities the right to vote and supports enhancing already outsized political influence of the wealthiest Americans.
120
@Chris Rasmussen
The Republican Loyalist Court is deeply flawed at interpreting Constitutional intent.
Much of the Republican coup of democratic government takes place in black robes. The last major SCOTUS error was fixed by a civil war. One wonders if Roberts cited Constitutional or Legal authority for his actions. Legal authority can be overridden but Constitutional authority rests on interpretation.
Republican Loyalists believe in "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Property", whereas democracy demands government to abide by these words: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, ..."
The Republican agenda in the Robert's Court is oblivious of democracy as described in the preamble to the Constitution.
6
@Chris Rasmussen, Roberts like all GOP appointees in the 21st century, is a member of the Federalist Society. They are the chosen because they follow the will of the organization that groomed them and got them appointed. Any thought of judicial independence is just a myth.
7
“In short, Republicans in Texas were poised to purge thousands of American citizens’ names from the voting rolls simply because they had once been immigrants.”
I surprised that Texas Republicans have not yet proposed to give naturalized citizens only 3/5 of a vote.
38
"The Harris County election officials found in their initial review that about 60 percent of the names flagged were of naturalized citizens."
Well?? They weren't purged. They were identified as part of the process so no improper purging occurred.
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@Aristotle Gluteus Maximus Plus, I think they will have learned from their analysis and will better accommodate these in the future.
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@Aristotle Gluteus Maximus
Which misses the point. Whitley tried to have the voters purged improperly. It was only because people chose not to "purge their names immediately that those voters werne't purged.
Just hearken back to the old Paul Weyrich quote (the original founding father of the conservative movement), said,“I don’t want everybody to vote,” he said. “Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now. As a matter of fact our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
That was conservative thoughts and intentions way back in 1980 - and those same intentions are in Republican hearts to this day.
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Voting rights and secure elections should be at the top of the democratic agenda
Your vote really does matter
We have seen a complete abdication of duty by republicans in regards to Trump as he violates every moral, ethical and legal boundary. Money in politics had polluted the process. To take it back your vote must count
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Is it possible that the Republicans realize that, being outnumbered, the only way they can win is by some form of cheating?
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@Anne F.
or follow the old rule in Chicago: Vote early; vote often.
Voter fraud in North Carolina was probably a direct result of the Supreme Court 2013 decision in Shelby County [Alabama] v Holder which overturned 1965 Voting rights Act Section 5 protections involving special oversight for problem states or districts with large minority populations.
The controversial North Carolina case is not just about one bad actor, but has opened the door to voter disenfranchisement and repression in many Southern states.
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@Fran B. Proof?
The GOP leadership understands that it cannot continue to win fair elections.
It's economic policies are supported by only a fraction of the voting public that wants a "reverse Robin Hood" transfer of wealth from the 99% to the top 1%.
It's social policies (racism, xenophobia, and bigotry in many forms) are supported by a significant portion of the public, but one that is dying off (old white people).
Thus, to win elections, the GOP resorts to gerrymandering, voter suppression, fear-mongering, and fraud. To maintain its shrinking base, it has its own 24/7 propaganda arms (FOX, Sinclair, etc) to keep them in a bubble---a nightmare of fear of the terrible"other".
That's why McConnell and his wealthy supporters are filling the judiciary as fast as they can with GOP judges. They know they can't win the Presidency & Congress in the coming decades, but if they control the judiciary, they can continue to roll back progress, and maintain a system of governance by the "Economic Royalists" as FDR called them.
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Suppressing low- or no-information voters who pay no income taxes is no vice.
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@Peter
You're assuming that immigrants are "low- or no-information voters"? How do you know that? My wife and two sons-in-laws are immigrants; they're also PhDs.
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@Peter Agree wholeheartedly. Open polling places only where the voter density is more than 500/square mile.
@Peter - Wouldn't that be a significant portion of trump's base?
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Gerrymandering, vanishing ballots, voter suppression legislation... It doesn't matter what facts are brought to the table on which issue; the Republicans will always supply their supporters with the requisite supply of mythology to counter reality. To paraphrase Newt Gingrich as a Trump surrogate. "I'll go with what supporters feel over facts."
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Whether local, state, or at the federal level, Republicans can presumably only win by cheating. It’s time for massive electoral change, beginning with automatic voter registration, extended voting periods, eliminating the donation of money to candidates (we need a general fund that all candidates receive funds from), or democracy is history for America.
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@Pietro Allar - I agree. I am dismayed that the HR1 bill that is about election reform does not support publicly financed elections. I want to see ALL private money eliminated from campaigns. I believe there is no other way to ensure free and fair elections.
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@Lib in Utah
So you're the one (Lib in Utah)? Next time you run into Mitt, tell him thanks for opening the door to a Trump presidency.
Had Mitt not pulled his little stunt of refusing to release at least 10 years of tax returns (he released one and one amended) Trump may not have gotten away with it. Thanks, Mitt. For nothing.
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@Concernicus - I think there may be more. We live in a college town, so there is a smattering of liberals here. (Not as many as the other college towns I've lived in.) Even some of the Republicans I know here don't like Mitt. He came to campus last year and they didn't want to see him or hear him talk. I was shocked! I thank Mitt for nothing, daily.
This is manifestly the sign of desperation. Republicans began to lose their natural constituency as small farms disappeared and large urban areas with manufacturing drew more and more people to them, not only immigrants but job seekers from decaying small towns and rural areas as well. The corporate and monied elite who benefitted the most from Republican policies cast about for supplemental constituencies for their party's shrinking electorate, whether from a south no longer served by Democrats, Christian evangelicals who wanted more government support for their way of life and ideals, and more recently the fringe of folks on the alt-Right. But even with the constitutional advantages that benefit underpopulated states and rural areas, it is an uphill struggle for Republicans. Hence the "clever" new devices of voter manipulation and the like.
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The ancient Greek democracies struggled with the outsized influence of money in politics and lost. So did the Romans. Before Caesar, Rome was one of the most durable republics in history, lasting almost 500 years before succumbing to elitism and installing an emperor. They still had a senate, but the emperor dominated the political landscape and called the shots. The decadence of the emperors' lifestyles is legendary.
We're watching our republic go through the same process. The mechanisms by which the elites manipulate the democratic process are less important than the fact that they do it. Like the hydra of mythology, when you cut off one head, others sprout to replace it. Hercules finally killed it by burning the stump of each head as soon as he cut it off. That might be a metaphor for jail time. Make the consequences painful and they will be less likely to do it.
We've been here before. Both Roosevelts dialed back the influence of the elite over the process and the economy. We need someone like that now. Otherwise we become an oligarchy with only the trappings of democracy.
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@mlbex
We ARE an oligarchy. We have the ILLUSION of democracy to mask what goes on behind the curtain.
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@mlbex,
Ironically, we have been here before. The record for the lowest turnout is Calvin Coolidge. And, yet, the Republicans called it a mandate. Such arrogance.
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@nicole H: It' s impossible to cover all the nuances in 1500 characters. We are somewhat an oligarchy, and it's getting noticeably worse. A binary solution set ("it is" vs. "it isn't") has the lowest resolution of any description system. We have moved "far too much in that direction, and it might go all the way" is more accurate IMHO. The current electoral climate must dial it back or it will become complete.
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The system we have right now encourages this type of behaviour. We are in a tricky dilemma.
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Paper ballots, the Gold Standard, enabled this fraud by those who gamed the system. But it also enabled accountability, left a trail that could be followed, and rightly led to the nullification of this result and a do-over. So something is working the way it should at the local level.
Now if only...
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Others have already commented about this, and I repeat:
1. Citizens United ruling: were given excessive power with the rights of persons in addition to their existing ability to use their financial clout to influence all aspects of society.
2. this is just another tunnel vision opinion not taking into account all the other systemic corruption.
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In a way I'm glad this happened because when North Carolina and other states enacted their voter ID laws, many people were adamant that they were not racist and were not about suppressing votes. Yet clearly they were.
My hope is that we the people can stop the Republicans from corrupting the system any further.
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American democracy is dying: death by a thousand cuts.
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@Viking NO it's not - this is Democracy in action. It's good for all of us and requires an enormous amount of work and respect on the part of each citizen.
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@Viking - With Republicans wielding the blade.
@Kathleen O'Neill
Did you READ the article?
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Moreover, our fake antebellum Electoral College is STILL comparably based on a white-nationalist economy reducing our hardest workers to 3/5ths of a vote.
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The GOP works hard to prevent people from voting and to make their votes disappear if they do manage to vote.
However, the theft of our democracy is much bigger than that:
1) Corporate and wealthy elite payoffs to legislators and other government officials.
2) Citizens United ruling.
3) Two-party duopoly that shuts out third parties.
4) Lack of proportional representation and ranked voting.
5) Lack of accountability for political corruption--the fact that Trump impeachment hasn't even been started yet is proof of that.
6) Interference in our elections by foreign agents.
7) Rigged voting machines and systems.
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@Steve Davies Ranked voting is just plain wrong and takes away the opportunity for reflection and re-evaluation of candidates in close races. I will resist and work against any suggestion of ranked voting.
Expedience (through ranked voting) is not a goal in the election process.
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@Steve Davies I struggle to see how 3 or more party system is any better than a 2-party system. To me, either approach has strengths and weaknesses.
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@Steve Davies I strongly favor ranked voting. The charge of being "expedient" is specious. Ranked voting reflects the fact that human beings are not simply binary decision makers. Preference comes in degrees, not all-or-none. Ranking is a common process in science, and there is an entire field of statistics devoted to its analysis. These techniques are called nonparametric statistics, and their very existence pays tribute to the importance of nuance in personal choice.
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