Baseless Claims of Voter Fraud Are a Disgrace to Democracy

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The 2020 general election had the highest voter turnout in recent United States history, with votes still being counted. Both President Trump and President-Elect Biden received more votes than any other president in history. Yet, despite the increase in interest in voting and the clear victory of President-Elect Biden, President Trump has still refused to concede, claiming that he has actually won the election due to the “rampant voter fraud”.

The Trump campaign has filed multiple lawsuits in key swing states, making baseless claims of fraud. In Pennsylvania, an attorney for Trump asked a judge to issue an emergency order to stop the count, alleging that all Republican observers had been barred. However, in the litigation the attorney conceded that Trump in fact had “a nonzero number of people in the room,” prompting the judge to ask, “I’m sorry, then what’s your problem?” Trump’s request was promptly denied.

In Michigan, the Trump campaign claimed that a GOP poll watcher had been told by an unidentified person that late mail ballots were being predated to before Election Day so they could be considered valid. However, the judge threw out the case as it was clear hearsay. In Georgia, the Trump campaign claimed 53 late ballots were predated so they could be counted. However, two witnesses they called acknowledged under oath that they did not know whether the ballots were received after the deadline, with two others on the local board of elections testifying that they were, in fact, received on time.

While in all three cases Trump’s attempts to stop votes from counting was prevented by the courts, it is deeply concerning that the current President of the United States is undermining our election process. The basic pillar of a democracy is that the people chose their leaders and representatives. By attempting to nullify the clear voice of the people, President Trump is edging away from democracy and heading towards autocracy. The election process in the United States has been trusted for centuries, and mail-in ballots have been around throughout our history. Absentee ballots were trusted for college student votes, military votes, and even the votes of many politicians. While this year witnessed a drastic spike in mail-in ballots, it does not mean that they are suddenly a less reliable way to cast a vote. In order to preserve the integrity of our democracy, we must stand up to the current President’s rhetoric and actions.

This blog post was inspired by the article “Trump Lawyers Suffer Embarrassing Rebukes from Judges Over Voter Fraud Claims” by Aaron Blake in The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/11/trump-lawyers-suffer-embarrassing-rebukes-judges-over-voter-fraud-claims/