A bad smell is not conclusive evidence. However, anyone would be foolish to ignore it and not try to resolve whether there is a problem that accounts for it. I am struck by a few features that have become pervasive in American elections and/or were features of this particular election:
1. Democratic strongholds persistently report later than the remainder of their state. This makes no sense to me, particularly in Democratic run states like Pennsylvania where the state is free to allocate election resources wherever they feel they are are needed. There is no reason why large urban voting centers need to be underresourced (on a per ballot basis). Even in Republican run states, election staff in the Democratic strongholds tend to be Democrats simply for pragmatic reasons (location). If I was trying to think of ways to cheat in an election, certainly having my vote come in only after the opponent's vote was fully counted would be in my toolbox.
2. Races that the Democrats won, but were unexpectedly close, got no airtime or comment. Trump is on track to get 44-45% of the vote in New York, one of the most reliably blue states! How did this not merit any mention? Is it just co-incidence that it doesn't fit the narrative that voters in this part of the country don't like Trump? Michigan and Pennsylvania are not far away, and are largely industrialized states.
3. I primarily watched CNN's coverage. Wolf Blitzer was clearly troubled by the disappearance of early Democrat leads in Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, etc. Why? Biden didn't need those wins. Wasn't he super confident, based on the polls, that Biden would get what he needed in the northern states and/or Arizona anyway? There's something wrong when a network touts polls so consistently, and then doesn't appear to have any faith in them at all on election night. That behaviour made them look like frauds in my eyes.
4. While I understand election rules that would prevent announcing any election results before the polls close, I'm at a loss as to why votes can't be counted as they are received (subject to litigation challenging the propriety of those particular votes, in which case they should be segregated), and then promptly announced following the close of the polls. See point 1.
5. The unnecessary lies/distortions about how "normal" everything is during this election. It is NOT normal for mail in ballots to be so substantial that anyone could think that they could upend a 700,000 vote lead. The normal insignificance of mail in balloting is why they've never received much scrutiny in the past, and why they don't impede calling state victories on election night, not because there was never anything to question. There is nothing normal about this election. Further, I did not and do not buy the move to expanded mail in balloting based on public health grounds. The perception of fair and reliable election results is more socially important than the miniscule public health risks of people voting in person voting with masks on.
6. The unnecessary lies/distortions about how "unprecedented" and "undemocratic" it was of Trump to say, in essence, that he believes he won and that his opponents are concocting schemes to deny him his victory. This criticism is hogwash. Anyone who ever challenged an election result by demanding a recount or challenging the process in court was implicitly claiming victory and skullduggery on the part of his opponents. It has happened innumerable times, and was the essence of the Bush v. Gore challenge. Complaining that a state is attempting to manipulate election results by changing voting rules is a democratic, rather than undemocratic argument, Elections need clear rules, or they are subject to manipulation. See point 1, again.
7. CNN wouldn't declare Florida for Trump until he had a 3.5 point lead with less than 5% of the vote to count. WTF was up with that! At 90% of the vote, did they think Biden was going to blow Trump out on the remaining vote? Smelled bad. Smelled bad for hours on end. On the other end of the scale, their reluctance to call Arizona is also fishy. Bigger lead (for the Democrats). What is holding them back? Similarly, what's wrong in Nevada that prevented them from making that call?
Did any of this bother you?
1. Democratic strongholds persistently report later than the remainder of their state. This makes no sense to me, particularly in Democratic run states like Pennsylvania where the state is free to allocate election resources wherever they feel they are are needed. There is no reason why large urban voting centers need to be underresourced (on a per ballot basis). Even in Republican run states, election staff in the Democratic strongholds tend to be Democrats simply for pragmatic reasons (location). If I was trying to think of ways to cheat in an election, certainly having my vote come in only after the opponent's vote was fully counted would be in my toolbox.
2. Races that the Democrats won, but were unexpectedly close, got no airtime or comment. Trump is on track to get 44-45% of the vote in New York, one of the most reliably blue states! How did this not merit any mention? Is it just co-incidence that it doesn't fit the narrative that voters in this part of the country don't like Trump? Michigan and Pennsylvania are not far away, and are largely industrialized states.
3. I primarily watched CNN's coverage. Wolf Blitzer was clearly troubled by the disappearance of early Democrat leads in Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, etc. Why? Biden didn't need those wins. Wasn't he super confident, based on the polls, that Biden would get what he needed in the northern states and/or Arizona anyway? There's something wrong when a network touts polls so consistently, and then doesn't appear to have any faith in them at all on election night. That behaviour made them look like frauds in my eyes.
4. While I understand election rules that would prevent announcing any election results before the polls close, I'm at a loss as to why votes can't be counted as they are received (subject to litigation challenging the propriety of those particular votes, in which case they should be segregated), and then promptly announced following the close of the polls. See point 1.
5. The unnecessary lies/distortions about how "normal" everything is during this election. It is NOT normal for mail in ballots to be so substantial that anyone could think that they could upend a 700,000 vote lead. The normal insignificance of mail in balloting is why they've never received much scrutiny in the past, and why they don't impede calling state victories on election night, not because there was never anything to question. There is nothing normal about this election. Further, I did not and do not buy the move to expanded mail in balloting based on public health grounds. The perception of fair and reliable election results is more socially important than the miniscule public health risks of people voting in person voting with masks on.
6. The unnecessary lies/distortions about how "unprecedented" and "undemocratic" it was of Trump to say, in essence, that he believes he won and that his opponents are concocting schemes to deny him his victory. This criticism is hogwash. Anyone who ever challenged an election result by demanding a recount or challenging the process in court was implicitly claiming victory and skullduggery on the part of his opponents. It has happened innumerable times, and was the essence of the Bush v. Gore challenge. Complaining that a state is attempting to manipulate election results by changing voting rules is a democratic, rather than undemocratic argument, Elections need clear rules, or they are subject to manipulation. See point 1, again.
7. CNN wouldn't declare Florida for Trump until he had a 3.5 point lead with less than 5% of the vote to count. WTF was up with that! At 90% of the vote, did they think Biden was going to blow Trump out on the remaining vote? Smelled bad. Smelled bad for hours on end. On the other end of the scale, their reluctance to call Arizona is also fishy. Bigger lead (for the Democrats). What is holding them back? Similarly, what's wrong in Nevada that prevented them from making that call?
Did any of this bother you?
