From the moment that Jill Stein requested a presidential recount in Michigan, Donald Trump and his Republican cronies have tried to thwart it at every turn. Despite their obstructionism, the recount began earlier this month but was stopped a few days later. The recount opponents prevailed after an onslaught of political maneuvers and lawsuits that finally found favor in the Republican bench of the Michigan Court of Appeals. It’s a sad day for our democracy when politicking prevails over ensuring the integrity of our election system. And in the media’s coverage of the political play-by-play, we missed the forest for the trees. Throughout this election, voters have endured implications, rumors, and outright accusations about a “rigged” system—vocalized frequently by none other than the president-elect himself, who then did an about-face and fought tooth and nail to prevent the verification of the vote.
Even before this election, previous recounts have shown that the voting technology most states use is antiquated and susceptible to malfunction or infiltration. This has unsettled our sense of security in our electoral system.
It was a ruling from U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith that permitted the recount to begin in a timely manner. In his ruling, Goldsmith laid out a vital argument about this process that underscores the necessity of transparency in upholding the basic rights that serve as the most essential underpinning to our nation’s government.
In his judgment, he underscored that voters not only have a right to vote, but to know that the process by which they cast that vote was fair and unobstructed.
Full Article: Column: Verifying vote should be norm.