The Voters Speak!

 

One of the best things about a democracy is when we listen to what the voters say, freely and fairly without coercion in election after election. In autocracies, voters may have a chance to vote, but no one really cares as the results are preordained.

That is why I was so happy to see the results this week from a special election in Ohio and a statewide contest in Virginia. True to form, Republicans in both states tried to place their thumbs on the theoretical scales as they purged voters from allowable lists close to election day. Ohio went even further. Once citizens had petitioned the abortion measure onto the ballot, they tried to change the rules, and in the middle of a hot summer called a special election to change acceptance from a simple majority to 60%. An extraordinary effort by women’s groups and others, along with millions of dollars, defeated this measure in that election by 57% to 43%. But - wait- just like those bad TV commercials, wait there are more dirty tricks to be played. The Ohio Secretary of State experimented with the wording of the ballot measure to make it read opposite to what it should have said. The Governor of Ohio, and his wife, cut an ad against the constitutional measure claiming that it would allow abortion up to the time of birth, a blatant falsehood.

Although I tend toward being an idealist, I would like to believe that issues such as ballot measures enhance our democracy. Some states are now trying to curtail these measures.

Despite all the dirty tricks, bad wording, and lies, the voters saw right through them and approved the Constitutional issue this past week with a margin (56.6%) similar to that from the summer. No matter what some politicians think, voters are not dumb. They do not live in a Wonderland where ‘up’ means ‘down’ and ‘no’ means ‘yes’!

Virginia was a different story. Two years ago. then Candidate Glenn Youngkin propelled himself into the Governor's office with a campaign of demagogues, parents' rights, anti CRT and more. He stayed away from the MAGA crowd, presenting himself as a gentler, kinder candidate. He also stayed away from the abortion issue, until he was caught on an open mike saying he could not go public on that until after the election.

Once elected, he was no longer the gentle giant, but a leader who set up a hotline to rat out teachers, supported book banning, replacing elected school boards, and attacked trans policy. The legislative election this year was the first time he had a chance to redo the state legislature. He had a divided power structure and wanted both houses under his Republican Party so he could enact his proposed 15-week abortion ban. (Virginia is the last state in the South with abortion rights.)

The two parties ran ads from parallel universes. Republicans emphasized rampant crime in the streets, claimed Democrats wanted to defund the police (So last year!) and would not prosecute crime.

Democrats claimed Republicans would take away a woman's ’right to choose’

Once the voters had their say, Democrats controlled both Houses of the State Legislature and abortion rights again seemed safe in the state. Rumors that were murmured about Youngkin stepping into the 2024 race as a consensus candidate, as soon as his victory was complete, disappeared.

Elsewhere in the US, Moms for Liberty ran for office; all but one lost their contests.

Tuesday was a good day for Democracy.