Trump’s election fears threaten democracy; let’s make sure KY’s election plans strengthen it
The most pessimistic among us have always been slightly worried that if President Donald Trump lost the November election, he and his band of enablers would attempt to stay in office anyway. It’s been a kind of worst-case scenario, the shivery, horror movie idea you like to entertain, but still think is fairly unlikely.
But as we keep hearing, when people tell you who they are, believe them. On Thursday morning, right after we got some very bad economic news about the GDP, the President issued a tweet so unbelievable that it could only be heartfelt: “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”
Now first of all, only Congress could delay an election, so it’s a hollow threat from a man who has made clear he has no real understanding of how government works. Mail-in voting and expanded absentee voting are basically the same thing. Even his biggest enablers, like House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and Sen. Mitch McConnell dismissed the idea, with Mitch telling a TV station: “Never in the history of the country, through wars, depressions and the Civil War, have we ever not had a federally scheduled election on time, and we’ll find a way to do that again this Nov. 3.”
But the threat continues to loom over whether Trump and his supporters would accept a possible loss to Joe Biden.
“He is setting the groundwork to contest an election if he loses, and he’s been doing it for months,” said UK law professor Josh Douglas, a voting rights expert. “It’s an extremely awful threat to the legitimacy of our democracy, peddling fears of voter fraud with no evidence whatsoever, undermining people’s faith in the legitimacy of our democracy.”
Pandemic Election
The issue is of particular interest to Kentuckians, whose officials are negotiating another emergency order compromise between Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams amid a global pandemic. Despite some hiccups, Kentucky’s primary successfully expanded Kentucky’s very restrictive voting system to a combination of expanded absentee ballots, some early in-person voting and one centralized polling place in every county.
Ben Chandler, chairman of Kentucky’s Board of Elections, says he thinks the Nov. 3 election will feature up to three weeks of early, in-person voting, including on Saturdays, and more polling places. Adams is balking at continuing no-excuse absentee balloting, which he would like to possibly limit to certain categories.
“The Secretary of State has raised legitimate concerns about the capacity of the system to handle the volume,” Chandler said, as the general election could mean as many as 1.8 million votes cast. It will also require more federal funding from the next COVID-19 relief bill, the HEALS Act. “But several states have used vote by mail including the reddest state, Utah. This is not a concept considered fraudulent by anyone who knows anything about it.”
Adams told me this time around, Gov. Beshear was being “more ideological than practical” in his support of no-excuse absentee voting, although he thinks they are pretty close to an agreement, which could be finalized in the next two weeks.
On Tuesday, Beshear said he opposed scaling back no excuse absentee voting.
“I believe that with the virus more dangerous now than it was during the primary election, we ought to have no-excuse absentee voting,” along with early and election day voting, he said. “We should look back at the primary and say it was one of the most successful elections we had ... why would we back off of it?”
So the compromise discussions may be more fraught. Adams wants to prune no-excuse absentee voting to broad interpretations of what’s already in statute. So for example, the law says you can request absentee ballots for age and illness; so if you’re at risk from COVID-19, say age 60, or care for someone who’s at risk, you could request a ballot. If you have a pre-existing condition, or if you’re a first responder are other examples that Adams used.
“I’ve communicated with 70 of 120 county clerks and fully half of them say they cannot process a two and a half times multiplication of absentee ballots,” Adams said. “We agree this has to be a three-legged stool, you have to have absentee ballots, early voting, and voting in person. We need people to vote early to take the pressure off election day.”
Adams said the agreement on early voting would need to be appointment-free, as that requirement in some counties in the primary, appeared to discourage early voters.
“We’re trying to calibrate this to make it work,” he said.
Adams’ big legislative achievement this year was something high on Republican wish lists— a Voter ID bill— but he said accommodations will be made because the issuing agencies have been closed due to COVID-19. “We will figure out how we ensure we don’t disenfranchise anyone.”
Adams said he wasn’t worried about Trump’s comments.
“We’re going to have a legitimate election,” Adams said. “His comment is aimed at states that have a different process than we do, he’s fine with absentee ballots, and I don’t think he’s questioning Kentucky’s process.”
Trump probably won’t question Kentucky’s process in November because despite flailing in several battleground states, he’s still projected to easily win this one.
Peaceful transfers
We’ve normalized so many of Trump’s outrageous words and actions that his tweet may fade away too. But with these words, and a politicized Justice Department at his bidding, one of our democracy’s most important features — the peaceful transfer of power — could be in jeopardy.
Trump questioned the legitimacy of the election results when he won, so it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t balk at losing.
“A landslide (win by Biden) would make it easier, but I’m hopeful that Republicans would come to their senses in terms of sustaining democracy with a peaceful transfer of power,” Douglas said.
He’s heartened by what happened when former Gov. Matt Bevin, who lost to Beshear by 5,000 votes and immediately began questioning the results, raising the specter of voter fraud.
“State Republicans said ‘give us the evidence or go into that good night,’” Douglas said. “That’s a good model that happened just a year ago, so I’m hopeful they would come to their senses and not enable this kind of action.”
Let’s hope national Republicans will also hold the line if necessary. Let’s also hope that the federal government gives Kentucky more money for the election; that Beshear and Adams come again to a sensible compromise that expands, not restricts, access to voting, and that Kentuckians, whether by mail or in person, show up to vote.
As Douglas said, “what’s more important than sustaining our democracy? Everything else flows from fundamental right to vote.”
This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 10:30 AM.
