Donald John Trump and Vote Fraud 🐴

Often I think partisans and the media turn elections into too much of a horse race, thinking that every little vote or action is significant and that any little thing that could change the outcome of a race is important. And while winning versus losing is important to the politician and staff themselves, to the American people and public policy over the long run not so much so. Elections occur every year, and power is divided into many different levels of government. One candidate or party in a closely divided country isn’t likely to have a long legacy.

Let’s say there is a theoretical race where candidate “A” gets 49% of the vote and candidate “B” gets 50% of the vote. Candidate “B” is the winner, whose ideas represent the majority of the electorate? Not really. When a race is that close you might as well flip a coin because either candidate in practice represents a majority of the electorate. Particularities like random error, minor mishaps or fraud, weather or even the location of polling sites or hours might define the winner. Chances are on a race so close the next election things might flip the other way.

Elections shouldn’t be seen a precise measurement of public opinion but more of an estimate of public sentiments.

A lot of people don’t vote and there are all kinds of rules and procedures that distort the outcome of elections. State, county and municipal lines rarely represent communities of interest – often instead they’re historical conglomerations that lead to certain voices not being heard. Legislative districts are subject to gerrymandering and little things like locations of polling places and absentee ballot rules can effect who votes and how much weight their vote gets.

That said, elections do work and do represent a significant amount of the public opinion even if the results aren’t always a strict numerical majority of public opinion. Elections force politicians back to the middle and to be responsive to the public’s interest. Even if a particular candidate or party might not win a certain election, their competive presence makes the winner more accountable to the public by putting fear into them that they may lose the next cycle around.

Was there enough voter fraud in 2020 to make a difference in the presidential election? Probably not, most of President Trump’s claims have been debunked by the media. But regardless, either candidate as winner represents a close approximation of contemporary public sentiment – the split was quite narrow, especially under the rules of the Electoral College which create further distortions in the process.

And if you don’t like the outcome of the election, thousands of local and county officials will be on the ballot next year and ultimately there will be state and federal elections in 2022 and 2024.