Me, every day, reading about something Trump said.
Once again, the Trump Train has figured out a new way to make our heads explode with outrage. News outlets have taken the bait. Reporting on Trump’s insane speech in Wilmington, NC yesterday (September 2, 2020), the New York Times blasted this headline: Trump Encourages People in North Carolina to Vote Twice, Which Is Illegal.
I firmly believe that Trump is a witless, clueless puppet — but the ones pulling his strings have already read this:
If someone has voted an absentee ballot and then shows up to vote in person, the check-in system will alert the poll worker that the person has already voted. (From the NC State Board of Election FAQ on mail-in voting — What prevents someone from voting absentee and then voting again in-person? ).
Please don’t flame me for defending something Trump said (God, I’m going to vomit). Yes, Trump is an asshole; and, yes, he’s aware that people will take his words at face value and attempt to intentionally vote illegally; and, yes, some of them are going to jail. Still, it’s too easy to read a headline (NY Times, for example, and run with it without looking at it objectively).
Look, I understand the implication of what Trump said (and often stirs up), but this is another “inject bleach” and “shove UV lights up our asses” kind of thing. On its face, the suggestion is childishly ignorant, shit logic, but otherwise harmless (unless received by an idiot). Disinfectant kills the virus, the virus is in the body, is there anyway to get disinfectant to kill the virus in the body? Then comes the well-deserved ridicule. It’s alarming only because we know stupid people will interpret those words as, “you should inject disinfectant into your body.”
“Let them send it in and let them go vote, and if their system’s as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote,” the president said. “If it isn’t tabulated, they’ll be able to vote.”
*For the purpose of further discussion, I’m going to assume “their” means NC BoE. “Them” and “they” are voters.
To take that statement and proclaim that it is encouraging fraud is a bit of a reach — at least in a technical sense. It’s reasonable to assume that his words are a sideways encouragement of double voting because it’s reasonable to assume Trump’s supporters are, generally, delusional morons. Will Trump’s words encourage people to try to vote twice? Probably. Will it make any difference on the outcome of the election? Probably not. For the past couple of years, the North Carolina Board of Elections has been hiring programmers with strong security experience and network security specialists. For all the other right-wing gerrymandering and various insanity that occurs in this state, the one thing I truly have confidence in is our electoral process.
N.C.G.S. § 163-275 (7) states: “[It shall be unlawful] For any person with intent to commit a fraud to register or vote at more than one precinct or more than one time, or to induce another to do so, in the same primary or election, or to vote illegally at any primary or election.” (Emphasis mine)
To follow through with Trump’s reckless and absurd advice isn’t necessarily a crime if the intent is to ensure one’s absentee ballot was recorded. People mail in ballots, forget they did and show up at the polls. It happens. Although we do have some draconian, suppressive laws on the books, North Carolina isn’t completely in the Stone Age and we’ve got some of this figured out. However, there is a scenario that could allow multiple votes. I’m not going to detail that here (or anywhere) for obvious reasons, but the gist is that it comes down to timing.
It’s seriously unlikely that multiple votes wouldn’t be caught, as there are multiple levels of checks to ensure election integrity. The in-person vote is the one that counts. The mail-in then becomes “spoiled” and is not counted. All instances over double voting are noted and will likely be investigated. I would imagine that this would be a particularly bad election year to play around with and I expect that North Carolina District Attorneys will vigorously prosecute election fraud or tampering.
The net effect of Trump’s ludicrous advice is likely to simply delay the results for a day or two to ensure all votes are counted properly and Boards of Elections deep dive into the counts. His attempts to undermine confidence in our elections is putting North Carolina and other states in a corner. To fight their way out, they’ll have to rigorously ensure the validity of the vote, which will ultimately hurt Trump, not help him. I have no doubt that there will be some repeat of the 2000 dangling chad debacle and the presidential election will be dragged into court. I’m not sure, though, how much power the judiciary actually has over counting and certifying. Courts have ordered states or districts to toss out votes, but what actually prevents the state or district from telling the court to fuck off? To quote another rancorous piece of shit — Andrew Jackson — “the court made the ruling, now let’s them enforce it.” In this instance, the courts seem a toothless tiger — but for the will of the States to uphold the rule of law and constitutional norms, our democracy may be headed for a free fall. This is, of course, what Republicans want, but that’s a topic for another discussion.
What this says, though, is that Trump’s campaign is pretty worried that he’s already lost North Carolina. He’s sowing seeds of doubt to give credence to lawsuits his campaign is sure to file should he lose the election (regardless of the margin). Trump’s campaign (and by extension Trump himself) are counting on public outcry to encourage throwing out swaths of ballots. But Trump’s camp is horribly myopic and underestimates this state’s aversion to being manipulated or coerced from without.
As for the NYT headline, it was intentionally inflammatory. US News & World Report (Uproar After Trump Suggests Voting Twice in North Carolina, an Illegal Act) did a slightly better job of following up.
"The president is not suggesting anyone do anything unlawful," White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News Channel on Thursday. "What he said very clearly there is make sure your vote is tabulated and if it is not then vote."
Of course, Kalyeigh McEnany (barf) is a dissembler’s dissembler — but the “out” she provided for the President sort of works. Trump’s statement is, of course, absurd, redundant and relatively benign. Not because of Trump’s intent — which is surely malicious — but because the suggestion is strictly nonsense. Why would you go vote in person after you mailed it in? If you’re going to do that, then why send in the mail-in ballot? Just go vote in person. There are solid reasons why voter fraud is exceedingly rare: it’s exceedingly hard to get away with and nearly impossible to do large scale. It’s a simple process with simple solutions. Voter registration number — voter rolls — vote associated with voter number. You can do this on a spreadsheet and it’d work out fine. It isn’t that complicated and fraud or irregularities are pretty easy to spot. Just ask McCrae Dowless and Mark Harris.
Trump is a feckless moron, and his supporters are, by and large, also morons. This diary entry is me taking a breath and a couple steps back and relaxing. I don’t wish harm on anyone, but if someone is foolish enough to take Trump’s advice, then perhaps the best education is the consequences that follow. Perhaps someone enamored with Trump losing their franchise by felony conviction of voter fraud is an appropriate remedy.
