RECLAIMING DEMOCRACY: ELECTION FRAUD
CRIMINALIZE
ELECTION FRAUD & DISENFRANCHISEMENT
By
Jack Random
“The range of
voter suppression efforts has been more widespread, intense, and brazen this
cycle than in any other since the modern-day assault on voting began.”
Zachary Roth
and Wendy R. Weiser
Brennan Center
for Justice, November 2018
The year 2000
and the subverted election of George W. Bush reactivated my outrage at social
injustice and motivated a barrage of political commentary. Before then my political consciousness
had all but gone dormant. I was
aware but not engaged. Until then,
politics served only as backdrop and undercurrent for my written works.
For me that
election changed everything. I was
incensed at what happened in the state of Florida. I witnessed the stealing of a presidential election and the
spectacle of media belittling criminal activity as the “shenanigans” of the
political class. It was far more
than shenanigans. To anyone who
believed in the democratic form of government it was nothing short of
treason.
And the closer
we looked the worse it got.
Not only did
an army of political operatives subvert the recount in Florida with staged
demonstrations and orchestrated disruptions, not only was the democratic process
preempted by the judicial branch, but the story of a deliberate and massive
disenfranchisement campaign was ultimately revealed. Yet no one outside the far left seemed to care. We didn’t have time for a valid
election. We didn’t have time to
right the wrongs of the partisan political operatives who stole the
election. Instead of going to jail
those same operatives went to the White House for the next eight years, reaping
the rewards of their misdeeds.
The modern age
of disenfranchisement had begun and virtually no one noticed.
But I
noticed. And others like me
noticed. We did what we
could. We sounded the alarm. We pleaded with the American public to
demand electoral change.
Then came
September 11, 2001. President
George W. Bush proclaimed it the day that changed everything. It was the day that transformed an
illegitimate president into a self-proclaimed war president. On false pretenses he launched the wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq and the pro-democracy movement – along with the
environmental movement and every other progressive cause – receded into the
backdrop as we turned our attention to war.
That is the
nature of war. It tends to
dominate public consciousness and overwhelms all other issues and
concerns. Maybe that is one reason
our presidents are so inclined to engage in war. Any war will do.
Nearly twenty
years later the so-called “global war on terror” goes on and the problem of
mass disenfranchisement remains.
In the election decided by the Supreme Court an estimated four to six
million legitimate voters were disenfranchised – many in the deciding state of
Florida. At that time Florida
prohibited those convicted of felonies from voting in perpetuity. The state of Florida used that law –
recently repealed by referendum – to purge the voter rolls in predominantly
minority communities. They hired
Database Technologies to compare the list of felons and ex-felons with the list
of registered voters. It was
ingenious. The operatives knew
that the felon list included a disproportionate number of minority names. If your name was identical to or even
similar to anyone on the felon list you were eliminated from the voters list
and denied the right to vote.
There are many
methods of disenfranchisement, including unreasonable identification
requirements, inadequate voting facilities in minority districts, changing the
polling place at the last moment and failing to notify voters, providing false
information and providing an inadequate number of ballots as well as purging
the voter rolls. Were it not for
disenfranchisement it is highly probable that Bush would have lost not only in
2000 but in 2004 as well. Those
who are old enough might recall the long lines of African Americans in the
critical state of Ohio in 2004.
That was not a coincidence.
It did not happen in the precincts where the white upper middle class
voted. It happened in the poor
neighborhoods where minorities voted.
After the
debacle of 2000 you would have thought there would be a wave of reforms to
prevent disenfranchisement. The
reality was precisely the opposite. [1] Political operatives realized they
could steal elections and get away with it. Even if they were caught with their hand in the ballot box –
or on the voter roll – the worst that could happen would be a scolding by the
talking heads on CNN or MSNBC. In
short, the rewards far outweighed the risks.
As the 2020
election looms the operators deserve kudos for creativity in denying the right
to vote. In North Dakota
Republicans passed a requirement that voter identification include a
residential mailing address, knowing that Native Americans often lack that
requirement. Texas and Wisconsin
also passed new identification requirements designed to repress the minority
vote.
An appellate
court temporarily struck down a sweeping voter suppression law in North
Carolina but the authors and sponsors of that legislation faced no real
consequences – or rather no negative consequences. Thom Tillis, the speaker of the state house responsible for
guiding the bill to passage was elected to the United States Senate. Moreover, provisions in that law will
be in effect during the next election cycle.
In New
Hampshire the legislature passed a bill designed to suppress the student vote
by prohibiting student voting in the precincts of their college or
university. In Georgia the senate
passed legislation cutting voting hours and restricting early weekend
voting.
It seems the
battle for voting rights has become strictly partisan and is being waged on a
state-by-state basis. Is this any
way to run a democracy?
We have no
recourse at present but to continue the battle in the state legislatures. But the goal and the only long-term
solution is to pass federal legislation that upholds voting rights and
criminalizes attempts to obstruct those rights.
What would
happen if the operators who design and promote disenfranchisement schemes were
subjected not only to severe financial penalties but also to criminal
prosecution? The executives that
ran the great disenfranchisement in Florida should have faced prison sentences
for defrauding the election of a president. Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Secretary of State Katherine
Harris should have faced criminal conspiracy charges.
How different
our electoral system would look today if those who attacked the very heart of
the republic had paid the consequences.
The Karl Rove’s and Corey Lewandowski’s of the world should have lost
their livelihoods and fallen into the pit of disrepute where traitors, cheaters
and frauds belong.
Instead of
looking for ways to cheat the system, the Republican Party would have been
forced to expand its franchise to include minorities. Who knows?
Maybe they would have passed a comprehensive immigration reform
bill. Maybe they would have sacrificed
some small fraction of their loyalty to the wealthiest of Americans to help the
little guy. Maybe they would have
found a way to throw an occasional crumb to workers – like passing a $15
minimum wage.
But who needs
to expand the voter base when you can manipulate the voter roles, suppress the
minority vote, harvest and alter absentee ballots, promulgate false information
through election day robocalls, hack voter registration lists, alter ballots or
find as yet untried ways of winning elections without a majority of votes.
Until there is
a stiff price to pay for defrauding democracy, disenfranchisement and voter
suppression will continue to be accepted practices in the fine art of
politicking. As long as political
operatives face minimal consequences for cheating the ballot, we will continue
to have illegitimate representatives in both congress and the White House. Until we stop rewarding anti-democratic
practices, American democracy will fall short of the mark.
“How the 2000
Election in Florida Led to a New Wave of Voter Disenfranchisement.” By Ari Berman. The Nation, July 28, 2015.
“This is the
Worst Voter Suppression We’ve Seen in the Modern Era.” By Zachary Roth and Wendy R.
Weiser. Brennan Center for
Justice, November 2, 2018.
