Republicans are showing themselves to be so fearful of the people that "cheating" is the only way they think they can "win"

 

The continuing joke-a-thon that is the Maricopa County “recount” in Arizona has been so badly mishandled that the final “report” promised by the absurdly partisan and conspiratorial “Cyber Ninjas” and their Trumpist paymasters is bound to be the subject of outrage no matter what that final “determination” is. They have all but promised election conspiracy believers and their Republican handlers in the Arizona State Senate that they will find some sort of “fraud”—or at least enough to claim that the election “could” have been “stolen,” and giving the Republican-controlled legislature an excuse to enact onerous voter suppression laws.

Not surprisingly, given the Cyber Ninjas’s amateur status and the use of untrained “inspectors,” there have been reports of ballots being mishandled and going through ridiculous “testing.” No Democrat is going to accept any result that claims “fraud” as anything but a sham, and there is great suspicion that Biden votes are being “scrutinized” a lot more “carefully” than Trump votes. Not helping to alleviate this suspicion is the fact that the fly-by-night company hired to inspect voting machines, Cyfer, claimed that they had “discovered” that entire data files had been deleted, but after county election officials told them where they were supposed to look for them, the company CEO covered-up the incompetence by falsely claiming that the “deleted” files had been “recovered.”

And if the Cyber Ninjas actually don’t find significant issues suggesting “fraud,” then of course the claims of incompetence and ballot mishandling are going to work against them with the Trumpists. Let’s face it: the intent of this recount in a majority Democratic county is not to assuage fears of “fraud,” but to undermine faith in the system. No matter what they “discover,” a substantial number of people will find fault with the result; it was better not to even have given credence to false election claims in the first place.

Political parties have only themselves to blame for election losses for not adapting themselves to changing circumstances. The British conservative party doesn’t believe in anything but power, and to keep it they “adapt” themselves to circumstances to maintain power; "cheating" is bad form. The “conservative” party in this country however, doesn’t “adapt”: it uses the hammer fist of voter suppression while doubling-down on extremist rhetoric that appeals to racist paranoia to maintain the loyalty of an extremist core.

The cynicism of Republicans is none more obvious than in Florida. Republicans have won the state in 13 of the last 18 presidential elections, including both times for Trump—which probably explains why no is claiming that election fraud occurred there. Yet Florida has followed Georgia in passing onerous election laws whose intent is to make it more difficult for certain future voters to be a “threat” to their power. The old adage “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” applies in Florida more than most states; Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed the Florida vote was the “most secure ever,” yet insists “more” can be done to make it even more secure.

But why? Although Trump easily won Florida, there were apparently some “concerning” developments for Republicans, mainly the fact that black and Hispanics voted in record numbers. Of course white people also voted in record numbers, but Republicans tend to ignore things like “context.” If Republicans assume that minorities “all” vote Democrat, then they must assume all whites vote Republican, because that is the only way the numbers can “crunch” in their favor. This obviously does work in states like Alabama and Mississippi, since that is the way voting usually shakes out by nature. But that isn’t entirely a clear line in most states, and in Florida, they have had to be more “creative” in their approach. Republicans did intend to eliminate all ballot drop boxes and ban using the Post Office for ballot delivery, but apparently this was discarded as hurting too many of their own voters.

One of the most bizarre of Florida’s new election laws is demonstrative of this “creativity.” Not only are the number ballot drop boxes being reduced—particularly harmful in heavily-populated urban areas, but they are only to be used during “business hours.” This means that unlike retired people who vote heavily Republican, or business people with a lot of time on their hands, working people have much less access to drop boxes or even the Post Office during their work day. Further, the Florida law restricts “ballot-harvesting”—meaning people who work during the day and are not allowed to take time off to drop off their ballots cannot give them to a “third-party” to drop them off for them, unless they are a family member.

Voters now have to request a mail-in ballot for every election. Voters cannot change registration data—like a new address or phone number—without first providing an “identifying” number. The law cynically creates a “no-influence zone” of 150 feet (that is, half a football field)—meaning offering water to people standing in line—yet allows candidates and their “observers” to interfere with the ballot-handling process from closer range.

DeSantis also signed into law a provision that will allow the governor the power of appointment of even local officials who normally would be elected to fill vacancies to replace those who resign office to run for another post; this is clearly aimed to reduce Democratic representation. He also supported a controversial “anti-riot” law which is vague and subject to “interpretation” of what constitutes “mob” intimidation, as well as the likely unconstitutional provision of making “cyber-intimidation” a crime. Three or more people “standing on or remaining in the street, highway or road” is now criminal “unlawful assembly.” Even Republican critics admit that this is yet another “solution in search of a problem” that nobody asked for and could harm their own supporters; others see this as benefitting DeSantis by limiting protests against his increasingly autocratic behavior.

What we are seeing is cynicism “run riot.” In a state that Republicans always expect to win, but lose for once, they don’t try to change their message to attract more votes—they try to suppress the vote and game the system just enough so that it tilts in their favor. In the case of Florida, it is the arrogance of power that drives them. And if that means continuing with a deliberate misinformation campaign to convince the weak of mind that there is something “wrong” with this country’s election system, then they will do it if no one stops them. 

The simple fact is that if anyone is guilty of election fraud, it is Republicans—deliberately acting by trickery, cheating and fabrication to “steal” the right to vote from as many citizens as they can. And they do this even when the Constitution already has a built-in mechanism to "game" the system in their favor, the Electoral College.