Of the many troubling things that Republican candidate Donald Trump has said during this U.S. presidential election campaign, the most worrisome may be his claim that the November vote will be “rigged” and that he might not accept the results when polls close. At the first presidential debate last month, the moderator had to twice ask Trump before he said that he would accept the outcome if defeated by Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton. Four days after the debate, he reversed himself, saying instead, “We’re going to have to see what happens.” It is hard to imagine a statement more corrosive for U.S. democracy. The authority of the president ultimately rests on his (or her) legitimacy as the winner accepted by all electors, even those that did not vote for him (or her). A loser, and especially one who has decried a political system that systematically disenfranchises significant parts of the public, who refuses to accept that verdict undermines the very foundation of the American political system and the individuals who exercise power through it. This disrespect for the democratic process is the most dangerous element of the Trump candidacy.
There have been four U.S. presidential elections when the loser could claim that the results did not truly reflect the will of the people. In 1824, 1876, 1888 and in 2000 the eventual victor did not win a majority of the votes cast. Instead, they won because they amassed the electoral votes needed to claim the White House. And, most significantly, even when the results literally were hanging in the balance, as in Florida in 2000, Vice President Al Gore accepted defeat precisely because he understood the stakes and recognized that the country’s future depended on acceptance of the legitimacy and finality of the electoral process by winner and loser alike.
Trump’s claim is different. He is asserting that the actual process of casting and counting votes is flawed, and that the will of the majority will be flouted because of illegal or invalid votes accepted as legitimate. There is no evidence of any fraud in the electoral process, much less enough to “steal” a result. But that has not stopped a vocal and determined group of officials and advocates from claiming that fraud is a threat to U.S. democracy and demanding (and in some cases imposing) restrictions on voting; it is no coincidence those efforts weigh most heavily on voters that back the “other” political party.
The absence of evidence of fraud and the prospect of significant disenfranchisement prompted courts to block many of those efforts, but voting rights advocates charge that the instigators of the new restrictions are engaged in rearguard actions to slow and frustrate the rulings. Trump’s recruitment of individuals to “watch” polls and prevent cheating is yet more tinder for an already flammable situation.
Full Article: Troubling claims of ‘rigged’ election | The Japan Times.