"The Vote is Rigged" Perseverating Hurts DEMS Most...

I'm getting bloody sick and tired of seeing every single thread expressing any positive hopes/expectations/etc. about the upcoming elections peppered with the squasher "Well, you're just deluding yourself because the fix is in and the machines are already rigged and THEY are going to steal the election again."

Election fraud is a real issue that takes many forms. Vote suppression (like that filthy letter in Los Angeles-- they learned THAT one from the KKK, we used to see that shit all the time in the South, right after the Voting Rights Act passed,) denying qualified voters the right to vote (paging Katherine Harris and The Lists,) and actual election day fraud in the form of under-reporting, over-reporting, "losing" (stealing) evidence of votes, and, yes, manipulating/hacking/tampering with voting machines.

Election fraud is nothing new. It's been done in virtually every election in my lifetime, and it's been done by GOPpies and (gasp!) Dems alike. Mostly it produces small-scale cheats, especially local and Congressional races, sometimes it extends to state and even Federal races. Yep, there have always been a few low, sleazy critters holding offices they're not entitled to, and yes, We The People should be vigilant and come down like a ton of bricks on the perps when this happens.

While sleazy and even illegal campaign tactics, fundraising methods, etc., can be executed on a broad, carefully-coordinated scale, which can justifiably be labeled "conspiracy," (CREEP, anyone? Ratfucking?) the logistics of actual election-DAY fraud are so complex that they militate against any broad, specific conspiratorial action being universally effective and successful. That doesn't include sleaze like voter suppression "suggestions" passed on "entirely unofficially" from untraceable sources at national campaign headquarters, of course, but it does include actual mechanical fraud in vote recording, tabulating, and reporting. There are simply too many jurisdictions, with too many different methodologies for conducting the vote, and most of all, TOO MANY PEOPLE INVOLVED, for large-scale mechanical fraud to be executed on election day. Do I think some machines will be hacked? Hell yes. Maybe even in "key" and "close" districts. Maybe enough to put the loser, rather than the winner, in office in some places. But if it does happen, it isn't going to happen on a scale grand enough to deny the Democrats their victory solely through active mechanical fraud on election day itself.

What CAN impair the Democratic victory, and/or deny some good Democrats victory in close, hard-fought races, is low voter turnout in key Democratic constituencies, because those voters believe there's no point in voting anyway since everything is rigged and the fix is in. Why bother going to the polls if you "know" that "they" are just going to steal the election anyway?

I would politely ask my friends here on DU to think about this, and to be sensitive to a few factors that don't necessarily come easily to mind, especially if you are comparatively young, and have gathered most of your political experience in your home town in the Midwest or New England or other regions that have a comparatively less lurid history of election fraud.

If you are not a person of color and don't have many people of color in your acquaintance, especially older people, you may not know anyone who has personally experienced some of the really disgusting voter intimidation, vote suppression tactics that my generation saw in the South, in highly polarized urban areas, and in very diverse rural communities in the West. For people who HAVE experienced such tactics in the past, it is very easy for them to get discouraged by the "certainty" that their vote "won't be counted." Because it's happened to them before. And these are people we can't afford to have staying home. We need their votes. Your discouraging words could be the straw that tips the balance for them.

Please be careful about how you express your worry, anger, and frustration about election fraud. It's real, it happens. We need to be prepared to fight it when it does. But in the mean time, loudly and insistently writing off the whole damn' election just HELPS the GOPpies by increasing the possibility that some key Democratic voters will decide it's not worth the bother to fight their way to the polls on November 7th and cast a vote that "won't be counted" anyway.

Here's an excellent article in the NYT that covers some of these issues in detail, more clearly than I ever could, although I don't agree with all of their analysis and conclusions:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/us/politics/27race.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin

Read it. Chew it over. Agree or disagree, try to moderate the pessimism and control the urge to check what you may perceive as others' irrational exuberance over the upcoming Democratic victory. The best way to ensure that victory is broad enough and emphatic enough and complete enough that any fraud can't be pulled off on more than a local, sporadic scale is to get a huge tide of Democratic voters to the polls. And the best way to get Democratic voters to the polls is to get them excited about being part of something important, wonderful, and positive: Democratic victory.

earnestly,
Bright

I have a very good lefty friend at work who told me, "the fix is in John so don't waste your time." I did my best to bring him to reality, however, I'll be showing him your post.

Please pass this on to your buds.

:bounce:

And when we win I will rub it in their faces.

exactly why voters need to go out in DROVES! It is step one in *challenging* the fixed races.

I stand to be corrected if I read it wrong, of course...

whining about the rigged elections. It's more negative than positive. Scolding is not a motivator. So, I counter-scolded. It's not nice, is it?

...about "the fix" being in, for "them" is what DISCOURAGES voter turnout in some key constituencies, people we need energized and hopeful and determined enough to believe their vote WILL count this time, so they WILL go to the polls.

Talking up "the fix is in" could keep them home. Many have experienced not being allowed to vote, or not having their vote counted. They don't really want to experience that again.

The message for 11/7 should be "Yes, every single vote will count. YOUR vote will count. They may TRY to steal the election, but if you show up and vote, they CAN'T."

If that's what you read, you read it right.

assertively,
Bright

tampered with and all the more traditional vote tampering isn't being employed. What's wrong with being honest and hopeful? Hey, we know the ruling party will screw with the machines, etc., but our only initial defense is to overwhelm them with turnout. We can't pretend the "fix" isn't real. We have to say, the fix is real and we have a strategy to counter it.

People have a right to complain about the vote theft. We can't pretend it's not real by ignoring it.

I think we agree essentially, however.

Anything else will stink on ice, not that their last effort didn't, either. And the spread is too great in most races--we aren't talking a whole boatload of fifty-fifty propositions this time. In many races the GOP are wheezing far behind.

You are entirely correct--massive turnout will screw them.

The people behind the fraud are not the minions we see in the White House or Congress, they're of a much higher caste. They may just decide to pull the franchise of the right wing neo conservative circus since at the least it is bankrupting us in financially and in terms of any good will we project to the world, and, at the worst, they've set us on a course that may turn the world in to a place that can no longer support human life. If those with the true wealth got the memo, then this might turn into a route. If not, they the same dirty tricksters will do the same dirty deeds.

How a cause that is so unifying - free, fair, open, transparent, and INCLUSIVE elections - can be so poorly represented is beyond me.

Nice post.

and hang in there.

There have been several already on DU.