Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Defeating Trump's Plan For Election Night Sabotage


Being the intemperate dolt that he is, Mango Mussolini Donald "COVID Donnie" Trump has made his election sabotage plan very transparent:  bollixing up mail- in voting in the midst of his pandemic. Here's Jamelle Bouie on "How to foil Trump's election night strategy":
If Trump is leading on election night, in other words, there’s a good chance he’ll try to disrupt and delegitimize the counting process. That way, if Joe Biden pulls ahead in the days (or weeks) after voting ends — if we experience a “blue shift” like the one in 2018, in which the Democratic majority in the House grew as votes came in — the president will have given himself grounds to reject the outcome as “fake news.”
The only way to prevent this scenario, or at least, rob it of the oxygen it needs to burn, is to deliver an election night lead to Biden. This means voting in person. No, not everyone will be able to do that. But if you plan to vote against Trump and can take appropriate precautions, then some kind of hand delivery — going to the polls or bringing your mail-in ballot to a “drop box” — will be the best way to protect your vote from the president’s concerted attempt to undermine the election for his benefit.
Bouie offers a number of variations on this defensive strategy, and the entire article is a thought- provoking read.

Our state has early voting starting about 10 days before the election.  Due to the loss and likely non- replacement of election judges, the state is moving toward "voting centers" statewide in all of the high schools rather than in local precincts, where you can vote in any center that's within your county. Right now, that's the option I plan to follow, though by the time requests for absentee ballots start showing up, there may be new considerations in play that would change the calculation.

But Trump and his regime have made it very clear they will do everything they can to short- circuit election results after November 3.  That's why we need a Biden-Harris landslide to forestall any premptive claims of victory by the neo- fascists.  As Bouie concludes,
... To head off the worst outcomes, Trump must go down in a decisive defeat. He’s on that path already. The task for his opponents is to sustain that momentum and work to make his defeat as obvious as possible, as early as possible. The pandemic makes that a risk, but it’s a risk many of us may have to take.
Please give thought, as we will, to the best, safest way you can help achieve that end.

BONUSVote.org has specifics on each State's procedures, etc. Check it out and pass along to family and friends. GOTV!

No comments: