Election Integrity in 2020
Elections matter. We’ve all heard the phrase “Elections have consequences” and that is very true. In the United States of America, we are blessed with a form of government that allows the people to choose who will lead our nation and have a voice in the lawmaking process.
This election cycle has been quite crazy, to say the least. I personally am not aware of a presidential election that has had as many lawsuits spread across as many states as this election. Allegations of voter fraud and unintentional error have been raised in several states including Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and others.
There are some that say the President should just concede the election. He should take the loss and move on. Their candidate won. They have no apparent interest in the allegations of fraud or error.
But is that how we really want our country to run? That the current President and half of the country that voted for him should just move on with their lives with so many questions about the integrity of our election system left with no clear answers? Would they be saying the same if the shoe was on the other foot?
It’s curious for a party that was so concerned with “Russian interference” in 2016 to now be completely carefree and have zero concern about any of the issues that have been raised in 2020.
We as a nation regardless of which political party you support should want to know that our elections are working as error-free as possible and certainly without criminal activity. We should want credible instances of unintentional error to be investigated and fixed. I hope it goes without saying that we should all want credible allegations of fraud to be investigated and prosecuted where appropriate.
The likely hood that any of the lawsuits or recounts that have been filed and requested by the President’s campaign will change the outcome of the election is low. However, that does not mean they shouldn’t go forward. Americans deserved to know that our vote matters and that all legal votes will be counted. Those that disagree should ask themselves what level of error are they willing to accept in other areas of life? How much error would you accept from your surgeon? What about your car mechanic? Or the cashier at the grocery store? If you are owed $17.37 in change would you be ok with just receiving $2.32?
Americans have high expectations when it comes to our politicians as we should. We have high expectations for many people and professions in our daily lives as we should. Why should our elections be any different? Is it really too much to ask that votes should not be allowed to be counted if they are turned in after Election Day? Is it really too much to ask that states do their job and process all legal votes in an expeditious and fair manner? That they follow their own election laws? Not change the rules in the middle of the game like some have.
America deserves better than that.
