Election 2020: resolve and restraint

Bill Knight column for 11-2, 3 or 4, 2020

This week, voters should accept the election results and embrace the democratic idea that all ballots cast by U.S. citizens in accordance with the laws are counted, and that we’re all Americans.

Also, of course, whoever wins the final tally, and their supporters, should refrain from gloating and work to unify these United States.

If the outcome is disputed before all ballots are counted, our republic will be profoundly threatened. So patience is also required. After all, mostly because of the pandemic and the health threat it poses to people in line or in crowded polling places, some 70 million people have voted early or by mail, and some states are prohibited from starting to count mail-in ballots until Election Day. (Not Illinois, which can begin counting them upon receipt.)

 Waiting for all legal ballots to be counted won’t “flip” the election because the election won’t be over until they’re counted. Bulletins by candidates or media before that point will be incomplete “our story thus far” reports, like announcing who’s leading a football game after the third quarter.

So prepare to wait for hours, maybe days, for people who followed the rules, did their civic duty, and weighed in on races and issues.

The possibility of political mischief means that some groups are preparing, too.

Already, there have been years of voter suppression, and some campaigns are apparently planning intimidation schemes at polling places and working to invalidate ballots (the New York Times last week reported 7,700 North Carolina ballots and 11,900 Florida ballot face rejection). However, as I previously reported, a Reuters/Ipsos poll last weekend showed that most Trump voters (59%) and Biden voters (57%) support accepting the results. But President Trump has stated that he may contest the election if he loses, or he could declare victory before all the ballots are counted. There also are court challenges in the works, claiming “voter fraud.” That’s so baseless even the conservative Heritage Foundation found fewer than 1,200 instances of voter fraud in the last 30 years, and even limiting that number to just presidential elections since 1992 (with some 800 million ballots cast), means about 1 possible fraudulent vote for every 615,000 ballots.

Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal (no pro-worker or radical publication) said if the election results aren’t recognized, it will be a crisis for the country.

So national unions including the Communications Workers of America, SEIU, AFT and the UAW are connecting with local “protect the vote” groups to make sure every vote is counted. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said the federation “categorically rejects all threats to the peaceful transition of power. The labor movement simply will not allow any breach of the U.S. Constitution or other effort to deny the will of the people.”

Another effort, “Labor Action to Defend Democracy,” involves the Chicago Teachers Union, the Teamsters’ Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way, and leaders such as Carl Rosen, president of the United Electrical Workers, and Sara Nelson, president of the Flight Attendants union.

Regionally, labor councils in Seattle, Rochester, N.Y., and Western Massachusetts all have vowed to call for a general strike if there’s an attempt to prevent a fair and complete counting of ballots, and in Illinois several grassroots groups plan “Protect the Results” events if necessary.

Expecting the worst is smart, but hopefully it won’t be necessary.

What is necessary will be the patriotic devotion to voting and setting aside the campaigns’ bitterness – and even bold proposals. There are some who want “law and order” crackdowns on First Amendment rights or who believe widespread COVID-19 infections will result in “herd immunity,” despite the deaths. There are others who want to push for better health care or a Green New Deal. All that’s worth debating, but a wiser course might be postponing those conversations until Spring to let us all take a breath, see our neighbor as ourselves, and listen.

Of course, dealing with climate change can’t continue being delayed, but two things should occur: finally, effectively addressing the pandemic, and compassionately recognizing decades of value by those in fossil-fuel industries by providing compensation as well as training for the future, showing thanks to those in coal, oil, fracking and other damaging practices just as we should show respect to those with whom we disagree on politics.

Take a breath. Safely. Wisely.