By Marcus Brown
Voter fraud has been propped up by the GOP for years now as a political boogeyman of sorts and has been used as the justification for stringent and discriminatory voter identification and registration laws across the country. There is no statistical evidence to support the idea that widespread voter fraud is a tangible reality and one that requires the draconian measures members of the GOP have pushed in South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and Ohio (to name a few.)
Which is why it is so puzzling to me that at a campaign event this Sunday in Colorado, Donald Trump asked supporters to take to action in a way that amounts to what could be interpreted as voter fraud.
Widespread voter fraud has practically become a euphemism for the practice of establishing laws that would intentionally making voting more difficult for traditionally underserved and underrepresented members of the constituency. The reasoning behind this being that these people would more than likely vote Democrat.
Since discriminatory voting laws have become a staple of the GOP agenda, it’s interesting that Trump would encourage that very same behavior among his own supporters. Trump encouraged supporters to void their mailed in ballots and vote again in person in order to “check on your ballot and make sure it’s counted properly,” except doing so is technically illegal in the state of Colorado.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that this coming election will be rigged, and done so not in his favor, but that does not excuse attempts to even the odds by countering his paranoia with encouragement of unlawful behavior. Just last week a Des Moines woman was arrested on suspicion of voter fraud after allegedly attempting to vote twice for Trump.
According to Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald, the case of Terri Lynn Rote marks “the first time in 12 years” he can recall having to report a case of believed voter fraud. Rote is one of three people suspected of voter fraud in the Polk County area, and if there is cause for concern over voter fraud, it is not the traditionally scapegoated suspects.
It is one thing to bear distrust for the voting system, which is a degree understandable given the controversial election of George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, but even that sense of distrust does not excuse inciting unlawful behavior and disregard for the democratic process.
Simply because one possesses a delusional belief that the world is plotting against them does not entitle said person to take retaliatory action that results in the emulation of the very practices one believes is being projected against themselves.
Trump is free to believe whatever likes about the supposed machinations fueling the voting process, but those beliefs alone are not sufficient evidence for promoting the same kind of tampering.
The outcome of this year’s presidential election is frightening for a variety of reasons, especially following news of the DNC’s intentional sabotage of Bernie Sanders’ campaign. In this sense, what I find to be the most disconcerting result of this election thus far has not been the general lack of suitable candidates, but rather the lackadaisical manner in which the American voter has been treated since the start of the primary election.
While both candidates are unlikeable for different reasons, the one thing it appears that they have in common is an attitude that they are free to manipulate the democratic process in any manner they see fit. This scares me more than their actual policies and ideologies.
