Last we knew, every vote counts.
But according to President Donald Trump, only certain ones should. On Wednesday the Trump campaign launched legal efforts to halt the voting of mail-in ballots cast days earlier.
That’s a problem. And it violates the 14th Amendment protecting a citizen’s right to vote.
Throughout Wednesday, Mr. Trump declared victory over Democrat Joe Biden.
Mr. Trump initially did so in the wee hours of the morning because he was momentarily leading in several closely contested races.
“This is a fraud on the American people. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.” he claimed.
The fraud Mr. Trump is alleging is the marathon of tabulating mail-in ballots.
Our term for that laborious process is democracy.
On Wednesday, Trump’s campaign filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan to stop the count. They also filed suit in Georgia alleging shady tactics at the polling stations.
Mr. Biden has taken the opposite tack, saying he has confidence in the system.
“Here the people rule. Power can’t be taken or asserted. It flows from the people. And it’s their will that determines who will be the president of the United States, and their will alone.”
“Every vote must be counted,” Biden said.
WHAT MAKES this election unique is the high volume of ballots — 64 million — mailed in because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. That’s double the early ballots cast in 2016.
By Election Day’s end, millions of votes had yet to be counted. That’s because in many states — including the ones we’re waiting on — their legislatures and others stepped in with court orders to prevent them from getting a head start on process by opening envelopes, verifying signatures, etc., forcing poll workers to wait until Election Day to begin the tedious process. As of Wednesday evening, Pennsylvania workers had whittled more than 3 million ballots to half that.
Mr. Trump may, in fact, win the election.
But the votes must be the determining factor.
It’s crucial that Mr. Trump give the election the legitimacy it deserves.
We are a country of laws. If we don’t respect them, it’s a slippery slope to anarchy.
