May 5, 2019
I have been reading and hearing a lot lately about election interference, and how outside influences are trying to rig our elections in favor of one candidate versus another. The Russians favored Donald Trump per The Mueller Report, but the interference goes much deeper. Since 2010, 25 states have seen their elections rigged. In 2016, Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin had rigged elections. In 2017, Arkansas, Missouri, and North Dakota were influenced. Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, and New Hampshire have joined the list. It looks like a real national emergency. Is it the Russians, the Chinese, or some 400 pound guy sitting on his bed in New Jersey? Regardless, we need to mobilize all of our resources to counter this threat despite the president’s denials and reluctance.
Except for one thing. The above does not describe foreign influence over our elections. It describes Republican attempts to impose harsher and more restrictive voter ID laws to make it more difficult for Democratic constituents to cast a ballot. How is this any different than Russians trolling our elections? Isn’t this a more effective form of voter suppression than “a couple of Facebook ads?” Republicans and Russians aren’t conspiring because they don’t have to.
