Editor's note: This column was submitted Sunday, before the events that took place Wednesday. Sometimes events have a way of getting ahead of submitted material.
If there were voter fraud in the election, and the media not only didn’t report it but claimed there was no evidence of voter fraud, then was there voter fraud in the election? For the past 20 years, the answer has depended upon which party won … until this year.
Voter fraud has been around forever, though most authorities overseeing elections have believed voter fraud has not risen to the level of swinging an election one way or the other. Since 2000, Democrats have officially challenged every presidential election when the Republican candidate won. Republicans did not challenge results when President Obama won two terms.
No doubt, if President Trump had clearly won reelection, Democrats would have challenged the results as they have continually challenged the results of the 2016 election for the past four years. Was there voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election?
According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll immediately following the election (November 13-17), “Fifty-two percent of Republicans said that Trump “rightfully won,” while only 29% said that Biden had rightfully won.” The poll also found that “68% of Republicans said they were concerned that the election was ‘rigged,’ while only 16% of Democrats and one-third of independents were similarly worried.”
How does this poll compare with a 2016 poll? According to Reuters, “Altogether, 55% of adults in the United States said they believed the Nov. 3 presidential election was ‘legitimate and accurate,’ which is down 7 points from a similar poll that ran shortly after the 2016 election. The 28% who said they thought the election was ‘the result of illegal voting or election rigging’ is up 12 points from four years ago.”
If voter fraud did swing the election for President-elect Biden and against President Trump, how many voters would care about a rigged election? America has become a polarized and politicized nation particularly since 2000. Coincidently, media, academia, and social norms have shifted radically toward the LEFT. Could this shift toward the LEFT be the primary impetus polarizing Americans and politicizing every issue that comes along?
According to Senator Ted Cruz, Republicans in the House and Senate have announced they plan “to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given' and ‘lawfully certified' (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed.”
Specifically stated, “Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states. Once completed, individual states would evaluate the Commission's findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed.”
‘Oh, the OUTRAGE!!!’ So, Republicans in Congress have organized a very specific request to appoint an Electoral Commission to audit election returns in disputed states. About half of us who voted for president in 2020 believe this is a reasonable request, especially considering how reasonable Democrats have been in challenging all the election results when Republicans won. It’s irrational to believe challenges are only reasonable when the other party wins.
If there was voter fraud in the election, and it can be proved unequivocally, reasonable voters would want to know regardless of who they voted for. And, federal and state election officials should want to prove elections they oversee are fair.
Daniel L. Gardner is a syndicated columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.
48 comments:
DL Gardner and others on the right continue to lie to their followers for their own personal gain. It’s pathetic. Grow a pair and tell the truth Daniel. You’ve done enough damage to this country already, but you obviously don’t care about the consequences of your actions. You are a child that needs to be punished or you won’t learn the lessons that your dad should have beaten into your sorry ass.
Bedwetter alert. Daniel just left a puddle that soaked through the mattress all the way to the carpet. Grow up.
I forgive that Mr. Gardner is not a constitutional law expert or even an attorney, but the problem with the entire objection is that we have laws and processes for these sorts of things. The ministerial counting of electors gives Congress no power to legislate during this process. The time to address fraud has long since passed.
- Early in his first Term, Trump created the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. The Commission was unable to find any instances of fraud.
- During Trump's term, the House passed 2 separate election security bills that were never taken up by the GOP Senate.
- The GOP during Trump's first 2 years, where they controlled the Senate, House, and Presidency; did not attempt to pass any election related bills and they took no action on no longer valid Voting Rights Act.
- Republican legislatures in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia passed modified voting measures that were never challenged in Court until after November 3rd. Other states passed modified voting measures, but where Trump won, there were no challenges or allegations of fraud.
The problem, Mr. Gardner, is that when you allege fraud, only when and where Trump lost, your argument sort of loses validity. As Trump calls a Republican SOS in Georgia to ask him to find enough votes or face criminal prosecution, the whole challenge reeks of a sore loser.
And lastly, as Congress convenes to count electors, already certified by the states, they do so as a final certification. Even Mike Pence recognized that, Constitutionally, the election is over. Challenges on January 6th are nothing but grandstanding, and ultimately, the entire charade gave a mob false hope that the election was still an open question.
It would behoove the scores of "Constitutional Conservatives" to read the actual Constitution.
You are a child that needs to be punished ...
Punished? What do you suggest? Put up.
Spoken like a good troll.
The "cra-cra" is strong with the demonrats this morning.
If Trump and his staffers had any proof they would have been shouting it from the mountain tops. Instead, he’s only been shouting. When all you have is internet conspiracies, you’re going to get laughed out of court again and again and again. Just because someone heard something from somewhere or read something on an online forum or heard it from a radio shock jock doesn’t make it true. Nothing but rumors, conspiracies, and crazies. Survived 8 years of Obama unscathed, but good grief I am sick of Trump after just 4 years. At this point we should be able to handle 4 years of Biden in our sleep. Sore losers should put up or shut up.
So no court found the “evidence” credible? Even the ones appointed by Trump?
This type of commentary leads to the mob mentality that we saw on Wednesday. Enough is enough.
Trump lost a fair election. That’s reality. There’s an election in 2024. Vote how you want!
@10:41 - he should be put in timeout in a corner until he is ready to apologize to all the people he lied to. If that isn’t sufficient to fix his behavioral issues, I would think a good spanking is in order. Children like Daniel must be made aware of their unacceptable behavior or else they will continue spreading rumors and lies for their own gain.
I find it hard to dismiss claims of national voter fraud when we locally see Jackson and Canton have rather blatant shenanigans almost every election. I have no idea if the fraud is on a scale requiring a new election but to say there is no organized fraud at all in our system is just ignorant.
The standards in court are much different than the standards in Facebook conspiracy groups. Facebook tends to be a echo chamber where irrational ideas are continually reinforced, while the court system requires actual proof that will convince an independent justice of its truth and reliability. Guess which one Trump's followers failed in? That's right, providing actual evidence in court.
The election was as fair as it could be. There are certainly isolated instances of fraud, but even Giuliani knows it isn't enough to flip the election. Instead they are trying to throw out real votes based on the idea that mail-in votes are not legal votes, and that isn't getting anywhere.
Trying to destroy faith in the election process is just hurting America. You want to argue states should require in-person voting then go ahead. That's your right. But to take the stance that every absentee or mail-in vote is illegal no matter what the states actually allow is asinine and has been summarily rejected by even the conservative majority in the Supreme Court.
What this gentleman fails to note is that for the first time, We had a President/candidate state emphatically BEFORE the election that it was fraudulent. He campaigned on the assertion that his opponents were rigging the election against him and that his defeat could only be achieved by fraud. This was part of his platform and if you supported him, you naturally accepted this claim. He never cared about elections in the past or any other Republican's assertions, his focus was, and remains, his own victory. Both parties have questioned close defeats, but never before have we had a presidential candidate make his victory the litmus test of democracy. There are certainly problems with our system of national elections and they should be addressed, but reasonable people realize that this man is not concerned with any of them, only his pathway to continued power. Thank you.
We have a flawed system. It's been true for a long time, and fraud has flourished (see Nixon v Kennedy 1960). It has only grown since then, and the covid game served as fuel for the flames. We've long had both parties decrying fraud and warning that this was coming (see the Carter-Baker report of 2005). Neither party wanted to rock the boat as long as they were in power. So this is now where we are - a country that constantly hectors other countries for having elections that look exactly like ours - fraudulent.
Nothing to be done at this point about it, other than rest assured that democrats will overplay their hand and the public will react to that in 2022. But if the GOP installs more of the same swamp that we have now (looking at you Romney, Graham, etc.), I'm not sure that it does much.
As for me and mine, we'll follow the rules, hunker down, play the game, hope the storm passes us by. We'll also continue to pray for our leaders and this country, knowing that in the end, the river flows only one way.
The senate needs to expel all who voted not to certify the election.
DOJ should and will prosecute the Tommy bahama terrorists who helped kill 5 people. The felony murder rule can be applied sweepingly and it should be.
Donald should be executed after a trial.
All states should all have the same laws concerning elections.
No mail in ballots except for those who apply for them for a reason, a good reason. Trying to steal an election should not be a good reason.
The media should not report anything without giving the name of the person supplying the information. The media should not try to help either side win an election. Their job is to inform only.
The proof was in literally thousands of sworn affidavits from witnesses, but the media and establishment stooges didn't want to see it. The process was fouled up to begin with in key swing states because they didn't follow their own laws. What really happened was the entrenched government class didn't want Trump to win, so they refused to see any problems. Article II Section 1 Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution was violated, so that should've been addressed by the US Supreme Court. But they didn't want to offend the liberal wing, and they now may have an issue when the DemoRats try to pack the court.
If you can’t tell Rudy Giuliani and Trump are lying to you, then you are helpless. Just because you want to believe it, doesn’t make it so. There needs to be some adults from the less radical of the right step up and explain to their base that they have been lied to and the focus of their rage should be the people doing the lying.
Kingfish, why did you publish this in light of the disgrace that these lies inflamed?
It’s now been announced that the cowardly president will be in hiding during the inauguration. What a spoiled brat.
11:42: Nope, the Senate should not expel them. They are not the first Senators to vote against certification.
Expelling Senators for how they vote is what they do in totalitarian countries such as Venezuela and Russia. If such happens, then Congress will have lost all legitimacy. Those of you advocating such are true enemies of the Republic.
Now for equal time: Pelosi actually rejected the efforts by Iowa Democrats to overturn a Congressional election. Good job. Some of you made Nancy Pelosi look like the adult.
I'm sick of hearing "the media claimed," and the like. When the media reports a direct quotation from a source, that's not the media "saying" anything. Yes, direct quotations can be manipulated according to one's bias. But, "the media" really only "says" something when a member of it writes and publishes an opinion piece, such as that by D.L. Gardner.
I'm not a Democrat or Republican and proud of it. I will support anybody's effort to guarantee that we have fair elections in the future but I will not waste one second of my time or one drop of sweat to bolster the ego of a selfish spoiled brat who puts his own obscene ambitions on par with the good of this nation. Let's straighten it out but not in the name of Trump!
Not the first election that was stolen. How do you think BHO got in? And they tried to shave it too close with HRC and came up short. This time they threw the kitchen sink at it against the most popular president in our lifetime and that's why it was so noticeable. This will be the norm going forward under the now obvious American oligarchy. The curtain has been pulled back on the thieving, treachery, and evil. God help us.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/world/europe/us-capitol-ukraine-post-soviet.html
Dan Crenshaw had a great take on all of this. Some people thought they wanted a fight, that is, until the fight started. Then they all scattered. See link below.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/capitol-riots-dan-crenshaw-violence-cruz-hawley
Clearly there was election fraud. The legislation in six key swing states tried to sue because election officials changed election laws they had no authority to change! Laws can only be changed by the legislature of the states. Exactly what part of that do you morons not understand? Because of covid shady election officials decided to allow some of most fraudulent and lax vote counting ever see in a third world country!
And of course the courts refused to get involved because courts don’t like to be seen as someone who changed an election result whether there was fraud or not. Democrats have pitched a bitch in every election loss they’ve had for the last fifty years. You clowns truly take the cake!!
One of the problems with our election process is that each state has it's own way of conducting elections. A nationwide standardization should have been put in place long before now instead of each state making up their own rules on how voting is conducted in Federal elections. Now that Democrats are in charge it is too late. Given the opportunity they would pass laws that would allow anyone to vote and use their personal electronic device to do so.
1:13 And don't forget that circus in Florida when the minions of GWB lifted
that election from AG. Hanging chads, yeah right. it's only cheating when THEY win. God help us ALL.
How can you prove voter fraud when you could never get access to the ballots to validate the totals? I read at least one hundred affidavits across the various states. There were legitimate concerns raised that deserved much deeper scrutiny. Witness testimony is used as evidence in a court of law every day. If you don't believe there was serious voter fraud concerns, you need to seek out information on your own instead of lazily allowing media pundits to make up your mind for you.
The President's team lost its way when it allowed the path of the ballot machine conspiracies. Now, don't get me wrong, there were some very large decremental totals that need thorough explanations of why it occurred. We also need answers about why the original ballot images were "overwritten" once the original ballot was flagged for adjudication. In one of the counties(maybe Maricopa, AZ?), there were 190k mail in ballots and slightly over 100k were adjudicated. Why did that many ballots get flagged for adjudication? Who adjudicated them?
The President's team had very valid arguments concerning:
1. The Article 2 arguments in WI, PA, GA, AZ, NV, MI. State legislatures make election laws - not State judicial and executive branches. The Constitution is unambiguous on this matter. Courts cowardly punted or delayed on this subject.
2. Poll observers were not allowed to do their duties in Fulton County, GA; Philadelphia, PA; and Detroit, MI. There has to be real consequences to this action, else it will continue.
3. Historically low mail-in ballot rejection rates.
4. 14th Amendment arguments. Why were some areas allowed to cure ballots when others didnt? Why were some area allowed to have ballot drop boxes paid for by oligarchs?
5. Voters who have moved still voting in old States or old precincts per the national change of address database.
How to fix it:
1. State legislatures take back the power to award electors - giving themselves the power to even call a special session.
2. Go back to paper ballots made in America by approved American owned companies.
3. Narrow down ways to vote by mail and/or absentee and must be requested.
4. Voter ID shown no matter which method a ballot is cast(yes, I work with the poor on a daily basis; they have IDs)
5. Reform laws concerning poll watchers(put teeth behind punishment of abuse of poll watchers); reform chain of custody of ballots/ballot data
6. Allow candidates suspecting fraud to audit county level ballots, at their own dime of course and under the eye of opposing candidates and state officials
7. Voter rolls laws need updating.
2:30 "...Democrats have pitched a bitch in every election loss they've had in the last fifty years." And of course they have overturned...how many elections?
It wouldn't be expelling a Senator for how they voted on an issue. This was not anything that should even have been voted on, thats the point. The six made baseless objections to give fodder to the nutjob wing of the party that DL subscribes to.
All that said, they won't expel them....But they will likely censure them and that is more than deserved. And for the residents of MS, having six years of a weak, censured CHS doesn't help us at all.
To ask the question is to answer it.
In the courts Trump lost over 60 cases. I am going to tone it down and say no more. Give them a chance, the Republicans had theirs and we survived.
This is the most cucked I have ever seen Kingfish with his censorship. You apparently can’t even quote Thomas Jefferson.
I guess this is the new new normal Democrat narrative.
Trump had a commission study the voter fraud after the last election also because he claimed millions of undocumented immigrants voted against him. They found nothing. Another commission into his newest whack job claims will prove just as fruitless. He is a loser and can not accept that so he lies about the reasons to hide his own failures.
Oh my how I miss the chicken little crying about Covid. Why worry about voting, we won't be around in 2 years never mind 4.
You can only have a say/control of the elections in the state you live in. If Texas decided to choose their electors by rolling dice, Mississippi has no business with it. Each state has a right to set their laws. I don’t like the fact that there is no early voting here in Mississippi, when I lived in Louisiana I had that option. I have to live with it. It’s called “States Rights”.
Funny how when it was Russian interference in elections it wasn't disinformation, when blm people were burning cars and smashing shops it wasn't an insurrection, occupy wall street wasn’t a riot but the tea party was. The media is completely biased towards one side and it's obvious. I'm not really a conservative, I'm not even very political, however the devil shows its horns. The left have always been quite pathetic and plays real dirty. These last 4 years have been a real eye opener.
Never forget that her name was Ashli Babbit.
She was a veteran.
And she hasn’t received a fraction of the publicity that Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, or George Floyd received.
If there was election fraud, why did Rudy and Sidney refuse to present the evidence to the Judges. What are they waiting on?
You will never convince me there was no voter fraud until you, you know, convince me. Just saying there was no voter fraud doesn't do that. I've never seen the results of an audit of any of the specific areas in question. I have only seen press articles about supposed audits of areas not in question, and only one of those. Never the actual audit report. I think people want something besides "nothing to see here," which is what democrat lawyers have provided.
1000s of affidavits signed upon penalty of heavy jail time for perjury, Pulitzer literally showing in a hearing how it was done in Georgia (and likely other states) and video evidence of fuckery in Atlanta and all cases thrown out of court on STANDING, not merits. So no, courts have NOT tried this NOR have they said “no evidence found.”
There is no serious dispute that Trump's allegations regarding election fraud are true. All such allegations have been proven totally false in more that 60 court cases and various legislative hearings. President-elect Biden received more that 7 million votes than the losing candidate. Biden's electoral college victory, certified by all 50 states and the District of Columbia and both houses of Congress, was (to use Trump's statement from his 2016 election) a landslide. The attempts of the seditionists (including the Mississippi congressmen and Ms. Smith) to overturn the results of a fair, free and democratic election are appalling and such action has placed our nation in a very poor light in the world. Trump has been documented to have made more than 30,000 false and misleading statements since his election in 2016. Yet his loyal followers continue to believe whatever he says. Only those who hate America and its institutions have supported this assault on our democratic values and traditions. I thank Almighty God that the most unfit, immoral, ungodly, corrupt, criminal, incompetent and dangerous person in history to ever hold the office of President of the United States will leave office on January 20, 2021. All of the lies, seditious politicians, and the attempted insurrection could not overturn the results of our election. The fact is Trump is a loser and all of the damage and harm he has done will take many years to overcome, if ever. God bless America.
In response to the comment at 9:561 p.m.:
False Equivalence: An argument or claim in which two completely opposing arguments appear to be logically equivalent when in fact they are not. The confusion is often due to one shared characteristic between two or more items of comparison in the argument that is way off in the order of magnitude, oversimplified, or just that important additional factors have been ignored.
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/False-Equivalence
7:11 and 10:20 a.m., So William Bar is now a flaming liberal, in cahoots with the socialists? Or was he just misquoted, and failed to issue a statement correcting the errors?
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-biden/barr-sees-no-sign-of-major-u-s-vote-fraud-despite-trumps-claims-idUSKBN28B5UK
May 28, 2020 Colin Kap stated on Twitter:
When civility leads to death, revolting is the only logical reaction.
The cries for peace will rain down, and when they do, they will land on deaf ears, because your violence has brought this resistance.
We have the right to fight back!
Rest in Power George Floyd
June 3, 2020 Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responded on Twitter:
$3mm to Colin @Kaepernick7’s
@yourrightscamp
to advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization to elevate the next generation of change leaders.
Will Twitter donate millions to Trump?
Although this garbage was written prior to the terrorist’s assault on our government, it still occurred after the call from the President to the Georgia officials asking them to find him 12,000 votes. I’m sure Daniel will plead ignorance in his next opinion piece, but we should not forget the attacks on the constitution that people like Daniel gloss over. He is pure anti-American scum and his deranged writings should enrage all true American patriots.
@ 7:11 am
That’s not how this works. They can’t allege fraud, present no proof, and then demand proof there was no fraud. The people making the allegations of fraud need to show proof, not the other way around. “I read it in a tweet” is not proof.
Still living in denial Danny, or just lying? There were fifty cases heard by judges, many of whom were appointed by the current occupant of the White House (COOT). Not one shred of evidence was, or has been presented by the henchmen of the COOT. Not one. If there was any fraud, don't you think the henchmen would have produced it. The republican officials in every state affirmed no fraud, the U.S. Attorney General (no enemy of the COOT) affirmed it in the strongest language. The U.S. Congress certified the election after a violent insurrection led by the COOT Cult caused five deaths. They wanted to hang the Vice President but couldn't find him, thank God. Shame on you and your lies.
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