By
MARSHA MERCER
Ah, Labor
Day, the last unofficial weekend of summer, the return of pumpkin spice latte
and start of the sprint to the presidential campaign finish line.
We can
hope.
Election
Day is less than two months away, but like everything else in 2020, election
night may not be what it usually is: the end of the election.
There’s a
growing consensus Americans need to get ready for a long goodbye to this election.
“We may
have to prepare for election week or even election month,” Democrat Elaine
Kamarck of the Brookings Institution wrote. “There will be more absentee
ballots than ever before and it will take longer to count them.”
“This
election will feature days – possibly weeks – of indecision, which invites
chaos, and chaos invites greater division,” Republican Karl Rove wrote in The
Wall Street Journal.
Traditionally,
the presidential candidate ahead on Labor Day could expect to carry the
election. No more. In 2016, Labor Day polls showed Hillary Clinton running
ahead of Donald Trump, but Clinton learned the bitter lesson that winning the
popular vote is no guarantee of an Electoral College victory.
This Labor
Day, former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Trump by 7 points – 49.4%
Biden to 42.3% for Trump -- in the latest Real Clear Politics average of
national polls. But polls are tightening in battleground states.
Meanwhile,
Trump is again provoking distrust in the electoral process. As he did four
years ago, Trump claims the election may be fraudulent and rigged against him.
“The only
way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged,” Trump says.
That’s
nonsense. He can lose fair and square, but will he accept defeat?
Trump says
the election will be rife with fraud because of mail-in voting. It’s true more
voters than ever will be casting ballots by mail because of COVID-19, but
mail-in ballots are not new and need not be risky.
One in every
four Americans cast their ballots by mail in the last two federal elections. In
Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington, mail balloting is the primary
method of voting – and reports of fraud remain “infinitesimally small,” reports
the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, a nonpartisan law and
policy organization.
“It is
still more likely for an American to be struck by lightning than to commit mail
voter fraud,” the Brennan Center says.
But Trump wants
to up the confusion ante. He urged voters to try to vote twice – absentee and
in person – even though it’s illegal to vote more than once in an election.
“Let them
send it in and let them go vote,” Trump said Wednesday in Wilmington, N.C. “And
if the system is as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able
to vote” in person.
“Today, President
Trump outrageously encouraged NCians to break the law in order to help him sow
chaos in our election,” state Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, tweeted.
“Make sure
you vote, but do NOT vote twice! I will do everything in my power to make sure
the will of the people is upheld in November,” Stein said.
Biden
Wednesday accused Trump of “trying to delegitimize” election results and urged
people to “vote as early as you are permitted.”
By now,
most Americans see Trump’s claims of voter fraud as an attempt to fire up his
base to vote in person while egging Biden voters to stay home. Why bother to
vote if the election is rigged?
Trump’s
steady drumbeat casting doubt on the election results could have consequences
beyond Election Day. There are signs the winner of the presidential contest –
whoever it is – will be considered illegitimate by a good chunk of voters.
Some 28%
of Biden voters and 19% of Trump voters say they’re not ready to accept the
result if the other guy wins, according to a new USA Today-Suffolk University
poll.
The
last thing we need is more distrust and division, so do what you can to make
your vote count. If you don’t want to risk
your health by voting in person Nov. 3, vote early or request and send in your
mail ballot early.
Don’t
procrastinate.
©2020 Marsha Mercer. All
rights reserved.
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