Crying voter fraud: The collapse of the American republic

The entire theory of a republic is representation, and representation relies entirely on the ability of people to have their views represented, rather than directly expressed.

The only way this can take place is through fair selection of these representatives – in our case, through a majority vote by the eligible citizens. Without such selection, representation cannot take place, and without representation, there is no republic.

We’re closing on the critical midterm elections – risky because they will determine the control of policymaking in the House and Senate for the next two years. The elections will determine whether or not we live with the current Congressional agenda or change the equation. For both sides of the aisle, there is massive investment in the outcome. But by actual count, over 200 Republican party candidates for major office, including candidates whose success or failure will determine the control of the US Senate, have either avoided the question of accepting the outcome, or stated plainly that they will not commit to accepting them.

As noted by Politico, Republican Senate candidates in Arizona, Ohio, North Carolina, Alaska and Michigan are unwilling to commit to accept the results (it is not universal: to their credit, neither Oz of Pennsylvania nor Walker of Georgia have any issues with accepting the results).  For over 240 years, the wide acceptance of the vote count has been the pivot upon which leadership selection – representation – has turned.

No more.

At the conclusion of the 2020 election, our own Governor DeSantis (who has never jumped onto the “election denial” train) characterized the Florida electoral count – and the processes that led to it – to be some of the fairest and tidiest in the country. I agree, as did most Floridians. Of 67 counties in Florida, only two have had egregious issues with the election process, and it is the same two every time. Even there, the election issues were not issues of fraud, but rather sloppiness and delay (likely due to large populations rather than gross incompetence?).

For 65 counties in Florida, the election was fairly counted, quickly resolved, and cleanly run from start to finish. We stand as an example to the rest of the nation in terms of how to efficiently and effectively run an election. Elections Supervisors in Florida are some of the most trusted public officials in the state. Yet, even here, we are now paying for an agency to “police” our elections, though what it is supposed to do is unknown and undefined.

While solving problems that do not exist is hardly new, the notion of running around with our hair on fire, half-wittedly screeching about election fraud in Florida, is not only disingenuous but preposterous.

It is also a symptom of just how embedded this invention of election fraud has become.

According to FiveThirtyEight, the political science site for all things numeric, 60% of Americans will have an “election denier” on the ballot – someone who did and does believe the elections lost by Republicans are somehow “rigged.” None of these people are Democrats. There is no “on the other hand.” Not all Republicans are saying it, but those who do say it are all Republicans.

It is now somehow legitimate to question the outcome if it did not go your way. No.

It is not legitimate. It is a lie. Those that push this lunacy are not mistaken, they did not misinterpret matters - they are liars. Because they know the truth, and they choose to tell us something that is not true. And they are fatally, and intentionally, and apparently with purpose, undermining the central structure and processes of this republic and damaging it more seriously than they could in almost any other way.

If we lose an election, we temporarily lose political power. If we lose confidence in our elections, we can lose the nation itself.

R. Bruce Anderson is the Dr. Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay Jr. Endowed Chair in American History, Government, and Civics at Florida Southern College and Miller Distinguished Professor of Political Science. He is also a columnist for The Ledger and political consultant and on-air commentator for WLKF Radio in Lakeland.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Crying voter fraud: The collapse of the American republic