Many democrats, anti-Trumpers, and active supporters of American democracy will be giddy by the time that this article hits the streets. The Democratic Party will have just concluded the national convention wherein delegates and the nation will have heard all of the good and optimistic things in store for them as a result of the anticipated victory in November. Furthermore, the opinion polls are likely to have them so high until they feel invincible, that nothing bad could happen, that the election is in the bag.
Rather than becoming a victim to that fallacy, everybody needs to remain vigilant lest bad things happen. History has shown that they can and sometimes do happen. Among the things that can happen before Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democrats are swept into office are: (1) voter suppression activities in key cities and neighborhoods, (2) confusion and intimidation at polling places, (3) vote tampering and misplacement of ballots, (4) refusal of elections officials to certify elections, (5) Supreme Court intervention, and (6) the presidential selection being made by the House of Representatives due to the failure of either candidate to secure a majority of the electoral votes.
We are not saying that these things are likely to occur or that anybody should remain home and not vote because of what could happen. We are saying that we should all be vigilant and not allow our victory to be had because of the bad that could otherwise happen. The matters of suppression, confusion, and intimidation – as well as vote tampering – can all be addressed by volunteers working in conjunction with local officials and assigned justice department personnel. Such volunteers, however, need to be knowledgeable, reliable, and courageous in carrying out their assignments. The voter intimidation, confusion, suppression, tampering, and misplacement have all been done many times before, which means that the volunteers can be trained based on past models.
The matter of officials refusing to certify elections requires legal action and should be initiated by civic and civil rights groups who are contacted by citizens. Like the volunteers at the polls, these groups depend upon donations and memberships. This means that we as citizens need to already be gearing up to support them. The refusal to certify elections is not new but was greatly advanced by Trump’s supporters and is being prepared for as we speak.
In the matter of the Supreme Court intervening, the most recent case in history was Bush vs. Gore during the year 2000, wherein the majority of the court who had been appointed by Republican presidents proceeded to award the presidency to Republican George W. Bush. This teaches us that maximum effort must be made to keep any decisions regarding the presidency from getting to the Supreme Court in the first place. If it does happen, however, the most prepared legal minds need to be employed to argue the case.
Finally, there is the matter of the Trump Republicans who feel that they are likely to lose at the ballot box and therefore jockeying to get the election thrown to the House of Representatives if it is not decided by the Supreme Court. If it goes to the House of Representatives, as the House is currently constituted, Trump would have the advantage and likely be selected as president. This means that every effort must be made to have the electoral vote decided by the people in November.
Again, we discuss these bad things that could happen not to discourage voters but to say, be vigilant and be prepared to defeat the bad things that could happen. The first four – voter suppression in the local area, voter intimidation and confusion, voter tampering and misplacement, and the refusal to certify – can be handled locally and around the election itself. We must do our part in order to keep democracy alive while it is still in our hands.
The more potent anti-democratic threats – Supreme Court intervention and the House of Representatives selection of the president – require the involvement of legal and political experts and favorable political winds. Furthermore, if and when the supporters of democracy gain control of both bodies of Congress and the presidency, they can and should fix the problems by expanding the court, proposing to do away with the electoral college, and tightening up other aspects of the current electoral process.
Meanwhile, stay vigilant!
