You can’t say there is no evidence of election fraud. The evidence in fact is accumulating and will be tested in formal proceedings, including courts of law.
Apart from that, evidence of election fraud is the wrong question to be asking. It is far more important to know whether the election was conducted fairly or in such a way as to produce a reliable result that voters can be confident of.
Outright fraud is only part of that more important question. For example, errors in the voter registration database can prevent valid voters from voting, or allow invalid voters to vote, neither of which may be an instance of fraud. Assuming procedures exist to minimize, catch or correct such errors, the question becomes: Were the procedures effective? If they were not effective, then the election did not produce a reliable result that voters can be confident of.
Those who say there is no evidence of election fraud are both simply wrong as a matter of fact, and missing the point.
There is also the question of violations of the Constitution.
The Constitution states that a State’s electors are to be chosen in the manner specified BY THEIR LEGISLATURES. In WI, MI and PA, and maybe others, the governors and Sects of State changed those procedures, purportedly to make voting safer due to COVID. Those changes may or may not have been necessary or wise, but unless those legislatures authorized the executive to adopt emergency procedures, some of the votes cast under those changes may be invalid. That is tragic as it is in no way the voter’s fault, but the law is what it is.
Perhaps it would be a good idea for State legislatures to make such arrangements for future elections, but absent acts by the legislatures, it is too late for this cycle.
I don’t know if enough votes are affected to make a difference in the outcome, but the law must be followed and interpreted as written, not to achieve a particular outcome, even if that outcome is desirable.
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Your expertise as a Constitutional scholar notwithstanding, your analysis is not persuasive. Here is a more nuanced view of the issue.
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII_S1_C2_1_2_1/#:~:text=Each%20State%20shall%20appoint%2C%20in,Profit%20under%20the%20United%20States%2C
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Your cite explains cases in which the FEDERAL govt can place some limits on the rules made by the states if they infringe on protected rights, but there is nothing there permitting the State executive branch to usurp the powers of the legislatures.
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The point of the article is the BROAD decisions to be made by the Legislature. The minutia of how those broad decisions are administered within a state and the role of the state’s executive and judicial branches is not a Constitutional question that SCOTUS needs to adjudicate. As the article points out, in Bush v Gore SCOTUS declined to set precedent in that area.
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The Constitution says nothing of ‘broad decisions’ It says “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,”
Unless the legislature explicitly empowers the executive branch to make adjustments, the manner directed is the law.
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Unless the courts of the state find the “adjustments” to be in conformity with the law in question. That is what courts do. All the time.
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RE: “Perhaps it would be a good idea for State legislatures to make such arrangements for future elections…”
I think so. We should be asking, What would a fair and transparent election look like?
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“We should be asking, What would a fair and transparent election look like?”
Other than . . .
Republicans purging so many voters from the rolls in “error”,
Republicans putting up pointless obstacles to the franchise,
Republicans cutting back on voting infrastructure in minority neighborhoods,
Republicans underminining the flow of mail,
Republicans bring back poll taxes,
Republicans deliberately preventing a timely counting of all the votes,
And Republicans “losing” 150,000 ballots in the postal system
We just had a fair and transparent election. Imaginary “fraud” and imaginary “illegal” votes do not change a thing. Tens of thousands of patriotic Americans of every political stripe helped administer the polling and helped count the votes. It was a great success.
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RE: “It was a great success.”
As far as I’m concerned it was an unproved success.
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From your link:
“During a press conference Monday, GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel presented evidence of alleged voter fraud in Michigan that Republicans think could have tipped the scales for Joe Biden …”
Well, then by all means, I need to call a sh!t-load of lawyers.
Because I contend that many millions of scales actually WERE tipped FOR TRUMP when the Post Office mail boxes started disappearing to keep Americans from voting-by-mail and protecting themselves as a raging pandemic crept across the country. That’s just one example of suppressing legal voters that related to Post Offices.
Sorry, but it’s time to suck it up! The large majority of Republicans thumbed their noses at mail-in voting and followed Trump’s SCREAMS of ‘do-anything-you-must-to vote-at-your-precinct-on-election-day!’
Now, he’s whining like a toddler because his supporters did what he told them to do.
Too bad that he has no clue as to what he really wants, except not EVER being a loser.
Well, sorry, Bud – that ship has sailed and is only waiting to go under and sink to the bottom. For good
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RE: “Sorry, but it’s time to suck it up!”
Why? There are no official tallies.
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As I understand it, projected winners don’t usually have to wait for “official tallies” to start the ball rolling. ‘President-elects’ have always started getting their ducks in a row once we were at this point. Well, not all President-elects, if we are going to include Trump. As I recall, if Chris Christie had not popped over to give Trump’s little gang an assist, we’d still be waiting for Trump to realize he needed people besides Avanka and Jared in the White House with him.
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RE: “As I understand it, projected winners don’t usually have to wait for “official tallies” to start the ball rolling.”
That’s true. At present, however, only the media is projecting a winner in the presidential race. That’s not enough for the transition to proceed.
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No, don’t suck it up. Far better for everyone if Trump, Moscow Mitch and followers like you keep up this pitiful sore loser routine right through January 5th when the fate of the Senate will be on the ballot in Georgia. These unpatriotic antics helps drive the message that we do not need Republicans blocking the government action that is sorely needed to clean up after the Trump disaster.
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RE: “These unpatriotic antics…”
It is hard to see how adhering to the rule of law can be described as “unpatriotic.”
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The rule of law is a good thing.
But, spreading monumental lies about non-existent voter fraud and speaking of the election having been “stolen” has nothing to do with the rule of law. It is very damaging to the core principle of “government of the people, by the people and for the people.” That is what makes it is unpatriotic.
Shame on Trump and shame on all the unpatriotic sore losers who will not accept the will of the people and continue to spread his lies.
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RE: “The rule of law is a good thing.”
Good of you to say so. If you believe it, you will avoid speculating about the outcome of the election, which is being challenged by entirely legal means.
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The means may be legal; it is the basis that isn’t. ZERO evidence from state officials of fraud.
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“Come on now,” Michigan Judge Cynthia Stephens said while looking over the evidence presented by the president’s lawyers, which alleged a poll watcher had been instructed to back-date late-arriving mail-in ballots to make them count. “What I have, at best, is a hearsay affidavit.”
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“TThe Pennsylvania whistleblower who claimed that USPS supervisors were tampering with ballots mailed after Election Day has recanted his allegations, the U.S. Oversight Committee said Tuesday.”
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I just posted that story with a link to The Hill for more info.
I suspect all this “Sturm und Drang” by Trump will meet similar fates in all the frivolous suits.
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Uh oh, now 100s of military spouses, permanent legal residents of Nevada, who were identified by the GOP lawyers as fraudulent absentee voters are saying, “Hey c’mon! Wait a minute!”
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This election challenge is like a child’s tantrum in a supermarket.
Shoppers are a mix of uncomfortable, disapproving and judgmental but the people still go about their business. When they get home the conversations may include some “tsk, tsk” about the parenting and the spoiled kid.
Life goes on.
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