Truth, Democracy and The Big Lie

This editorial board opinion was published in the Nevada newspaper, the Reno Gazette Journal: 

By any measure, the presidential election of 2020 was a resounding success. More Americans voted than ever — a full two-thirds of the electorate, the largest percentage turnout since 1900.

Georgia elections board member calls for probe into Trump’s call seeking to pressure Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Despite the burden posed by those numbers, Homeland Security committees tasked with safeguarding the election called it "the most secure in American history." And reviews, at the time, by the then-(former) President Donald Trump's attorney general and Republican and Democratic election officials from every state but Texas (which declined to respond to a survey) found no evidence that fraud or irregularities played any part in the election of Joe Biden.

And all of this success unfolded amid the worst pandemic in 100 years.

Inciting insurrection at U.S. Capitol

Sounds a lot like a democracy that ain't broke. So why have legislators across 28 states offered to fix our voting system with more than a hundred bills this year that would restrict access to the ballot box?

Three words: the Big Lie.

Trump used his baseless claim that the presidential election was stolen to gather his supporters at a rally outside the White House Jan. 6, where he urged them to march on the Capitol, and the result was his impeachment trial for incitement of an insurrection.

Republican legislators for years have used so-called secure voting laws to suppress balloting by minorities, the poor, the elderly and college students who may not typically choose GOP candidates. The Big Lie opened legislative floodgates.

Because Trump repeated it like a mantra for months after the election, the confidence of Republican voters in the nation's election system was shaken to its core — fertile ground for laws to crack down on ballot access.
Mail and early voting

The result? A groundswell of legislative proposals to curtail mail voting, widely expanded during the pandemic; limit ways for people to register to vote; allow voter-roll purges that strip out legitimate voters; tighten voter ID requirements; and ban drop boxes for absentee ballots.

In Georgia, for example, where a record number of absentee ballots were cast in a state Biden narrowly won, proposed legislation would reverse the practice of allowing voting by mail without a specified excuse. Among those favoring this is Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who resisted pressure from Trump to alter voting results and defended the integrity of the state's voting process.

"Georgia had a wildly successful and smooth election," Raffensperger wrote for USA TODAY, in November.
Republican gains in Election 2020

The moves by Republican legislators to restrict voter access come as the GOP — against nearly all objections — picked up a dozen seats in the House of Representatives and gained control of two state legislatures and a governorship. And for his part, Trump received more votes than any Republican presidential nominee in history, incumbent or otherwise.

It's just that Biden received 7 million more votes.

And yet Trump so pervasively insinuated his Big Lie on social media, at rallies and on television that by January, 76% of Republicans were convinced he had been cheated of victory.

How to instill voter confidence

The good news is that the participatory successes of November have created momentum for making it even easier for citizens to vote. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, more than 400 new or carried-over bills in 35 states would, among other things, expand mail and early in-person voting; ensure drop boxes for absentee ballots; allow automatic voter registration in circumstances such as when people interact with a state Department of Motor Vehicles; and reform ways for voters to correct technical mistakes on mail ballots.

And more could be done to instill even greater confidence in the process. The universal implementation of paper balloting would guard against computer error. Comprehensive post-election audits could be more broadly implemented, along with greater opportunities for citizens to observe ballot counting in person or through livestreaming. Reforms to the way mail-in ballots are counted could provide more accurate election night results.

Most important, truth needs to prevail over the Big Lie. The lesson of Nov. 3, is that the world's oldest democracy has the potential for an even brighter future.

Maine Writer- Unfortunately, I must disagree with this editorial board conclusion.  Although democracy survived the 2020 US election, the Big Lie continues because the perpetrator continues to stoke fear by refusing to concede the obvious.  Where is the fear?  Donald Trump has fueled fear about people of color. His dog whistle is this:  "Had 'they' not voted, I would have won".  In my opinion, the Big Lie lives in the minds of the Trumpzanistas. 

Truth will save democracy.  Here is the truth:

President Joe Biden:

• Received a majority - 306 electoral votes
• States won by President Joe Biden that had voted for the former guy in 2016: Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
• No states were won by Donald Trump that Hillary Clinton won in 2016