Kendall Stanley: The ugliness of the big lie
Donald Trump’s big lie that the 2020 election was rigged and unfair — a claim he made before a single ballot was counted — has continued unabated since then and has reached undemocratic levels since then.
What does that mean on the ground?
In Arizona’s Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, armed ballot box watchers have shown up at dropoff spots for ballots, photographing people doing what they should be doing — dropping off their ballots for the midterm election.
Intimidating? Oh yea, especially when one voter was called “a mule.” That’s a reference to a debunked movie that claimed 2,000 “mules” stuffed dropoff boxes in Georgia and other states in the last election.
Down Florida way we have Gov. Ron DeSanis’ election police scurrying around the state looking for election fraud.
What they have done is take aim at what can only be called low hanging fruit.
Let me explain.
The Office of Election Crimes and Security was approved by the Florida legislature at the behest of the governor. Recently the force arrested 20 people for voter fraud, punishable by a $5,000 fine and five years in jail. Most released felons.
Many of the 20 who were arrested in the Aug. 18 dragnet said that they thought they were eligible to vote and that they were encouraged to register by local officials. Their registrations were approved by the state Division of Elections and they were issued voter identification numbers and cards by county elections supervisors.
Their problem? While Florida voters passed a referendum allowing felons to vote, it excluded those with records for murder or sexual assault. Yet the men arrested were confused as to why they were being arrested because state officials signed them up to vote.
Prior to this, DeSantis had the state reject all applicants if they had fines or fees outstanding. Not only did most felons not know that, but in many cases finding out exactly how much they owed the state was nigh but impossible.
It should surprise no one that the majority of those arrested recently were Black.
Another great idea going around is Republicans are being urged to get mail-in ballots and hold on to them until election day, the idea being that Democrats will send in their ballots early and Republicans will know how many they will have to match on election day, theoretically giving the GOP the advantage.
Or as election officials across the country might say, “Oh joy!” Nothing like jamming up the counting process on election day, while some Republicans scream that they want election results on election day. Hand counted no less.
Let me give you a small clue — it’s not going to happen. In a small precinct, probably. In larger districts, not a chance. Voters have no idea the time it takes to process an election, especially absentee or mail-in ballots which, depending on the rules in place, can’t start before the close of the polls. Talk about being in the hole from the get-go.
Unfortunately this election cycle is becoming let the fun and games begin!
Pity us poor election workers.
Say it isn’t so
Facebook users were more than a little shocked this week when Bill’s Farm Market posted on its page that come the 2023 season, the market will grow its flowers and continue with its tree farm, but fruit, produce, pumpkins and squash will no longer be part of the market.
Age, health and climate change were listed by Bill and Don McMaster as the reasons for the cutback in operations.
But with the announcement, trips out Mitchell Road won’t be the same. No picking through the ears of Bill’s special peaches and cream corn — the best around — no fresh herbs to make that dish for dinner special, no produce by the bushel to can tomatoes, or beans, or whatever Mom’s recipe called for.
Farming is a tough business what with the weather being inconsistent, pests looking to attack on all sides, the fickle changing of tastes in produce over the years.
Through it all, Bill’s was always there.
But now it’s time to slow down and we can all say with gratitude, thanks Bill and Don for all you’ve provided for us over the years.
— Kendall P. Stanley is retired editor of the News-Review. He can be contacted at kendallstanley@charter.net. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and not necessarily of the Petoskey News-Review or its employees.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Kendall Stanley: The ugliness of the big lie
