To me, it is quite
amazing to see our Democracy in action this election season from the
perspective of each of the two main political parties. While both parties
worked hard to register new voters, as we neared the time to vote, actions
changed. Republicans, the attorney general and the president started labeling
absentee voting or mail-in voting as subject to fraud and discouraged its use.
At one point, the president tried to claim there was a difference between the two
descriptions, which made no sense. Democrats were encouraging voters to use
mail-in voting or early voting as much as possible to lessen exposure to the
COVID-19 virus. The president is continuing to hold airport rallies with crowds
standing in hangers, mostly unmasked and without social distancing. In a
few instances, the audience, which had been bused to the remote sites by the
campaign, were left standing in freezing weather for hours when the buses
returns were delayed due to the traffic and weather. Also, in Florida,
crowds of elderly voters stood in the hot sun for hours waiting for him to speak, several were overcome and had
to be transported away by ambulances. Polls have shown that Florida seniors, usually reliable Republican voters, are moving away from the
president.
VP Biden and Kamala
Harris are holding many “car rallies” with supporters sitting in their cars in
parking lots and honking their horns in lieu of crowd applause. Former
President Barack Obama has joined Biden on the campaign trail in some rallies
and has spoken out for him separately in others. They have widened the campaign
to the states of North Carolina, Texas, Georgia and Florida, once thought out
of reach.
Intimidation: In several states Biden rallies have been subjected to heckling
by loud supporters of his opponent. Friday, a Biden campaign bus/car
caravan in Texas was surrounded
by a group of opponents which slowed down the caravan on a major highway and at
one point rammed one of the cars. The FBI is now investigating this incident,
but the president tweeted out approval of these intimidating actions, calling the people involved patriots.
In several states so-called militia groups have shown up at the polls; these
actions have also been encouraged by the president. In Graham, North Carolina,
a March to
the Polls event held by Black
voters was pepper sprayed after police decided their stop for a few moments of
silence to remember blacks killed by police took too long.
Suppression: Republicans have tried to suppress votes in a myriad of ways. One
was to limit early voting by allowing fewer voting days, another was permitting
fewer ballot drop boxes, and also challenging a drive through voter effort in
Harris County Texas where 127,000 plus votes have already been cast (this had
been permitted by Texas courts). Republican operatives in Michigan, Illinois
and elsewhere have been arrested for sending out misleading robo-calls to black voters primarily, indicating that absentee voters will
be subjected to police reviews and other intrusions.
Litigation: The president has announced several times that he plans to declare
victory on election night, even though millions of votes will remain to be counted. Several lawsuits have been filed to prevent
counting of ballots arriving after election day even though they might have had
postmarks prior to November 3rd. Some have gone to the
Supreme Court with mixed results. Military ballots usually come in during the
post election period. In Nevada, challengers are requesting copies of
every registered voter’s signature so they can compare and possibly throw out
legal votes. Apparently there are more than 300 lawsuits making their way
through various courts in preparation for post election challenges.
What to make of all of
this? I do not have the answer to all of these issues, but I do believe
that we need to make major changes in our electoral process.
- First, I would make all Federal elections follow a
standardized process across the country with the same rules for
eligibility, counting of ballots and access to polls (the numbers of
registered voters in a given area would determine how many polls should be
available, such as in precincts). This would lessen the ability to
illegally cut voters from the lists, and suppress voters by limiting
polling places. Local officials would maintain the voter rolls, tally
ballots and set up election machines (hopefully with a paper trail). I am
aware that states would not willingly give up their political powers in
the electoral process, but to achieve equity, this should happen. If
multiple states had not gone out of their way to suppress voting and avoid
civil rights laws, this would not have been necessary.
- End
gerrymandering and the process of the parties
choosing their voters and drawing districts to meet their
demographics. Where I live in Maryland there is an example of some
of the most egregious gerrymandering in the country - and even though I am
a Democrat and will note that this was done by Democrats - it was wrong
and, even embarrassing and I spoke out against this at that time. Other
examples of this have been reviewed by the Supreme Court, such as in North
Carolina. (I understand that both sides do this, but that does not make it
right - so if neither side uses this as a voter tool, then we would have
better districts.) Non-partisan computer generated districts would be the
best for voters and would probably change the face of the Congress, but
from what we have seen from the Senate the last four years, that would be
an improvement, in my opinion.
- Remove
the Electoral College as a factor in deciding
elections. This is no longer a useful tool in actually reflecting the will
of the people and has resulted in a few larger states getting more
attention from campaigns than the rest of the country. In both 2000 and
2016, the candidate collecting the most votes was not declared the winner,
due to totals in the Electoral College. This, too, needs to be changed.
So these are just a few
of my ideas of changes which should be made. It may take some time to get all
of these ideas adopted, but I think there needs to be serious conversation
about each of these concerns. I have other ideas which I will discuss in
future weeks, but these impress me as the most important and urgent changes to
be made. As of today, national polls have Biden leading the president 51% to
44% in one poll, 52% to 42% in another. Of course, due to the Electoral
College, national results do not matter unless as a driver for voters, so all
of the pundits are looking at the upper midwest - Wisconsin and Michigan and
Pennsylvania, along with Florida as the must-win states. Maybe by this
time next week we shall know who won the election, although I do hope it is
sooner as, like most of you, I can barely tolerate this level of uncertainty.
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The COViD statistics this week have been overwhelming as we topped 9 million cases earlier in the week and have streaked up to around 100,000 cases a day by the end of the week. Almost every state has indicated significant upward changes in cases this past week. Cases across the world are also increasing and Europe is again imposing restrictions for dining out, using bars and holding meetings.
Here are the latest numbers from October 31st according to the New York Times:
Total US cases: 9,278,400. Total new cases: 84,285.
Total deaths: 230,879. Total new deaths: 838.
Maryland statistics: Total cases:145,281. New cases: 967.
Total deaths: 4147. Total new deaths 10.
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As of this date, more than 93 million votes have already been cast. In Texas alone, more than 9 million votes have been filed, which is greater than the final vote total in 2016. The Washington Post shows an interesting map which indicates how many early votes have been cast in each state. Perhaps unsurprisingly, deep red states such as Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama and Wyoming show some of the lowest percentages as Republicans wait for election day.. So, if you have not voted yet - in Maryland you may still vote early on Monday - then it is time for Election Day. VOTE!
Til next week - stay calm and carry on as they say! Peace.
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