How Republicans win Elections
In San Diego’s mayoral race,
Donna Frye won the election, but her opponent has already been sworn in, as Avedon Carol at the Sideshow discovered. Because that’s how Republicans win elections; by not counting the votes for their opponents:
As anyone with an IQ over seven knows, the only thing you really need to require of voters is that they be legally qualified to vote and that they make their intention clear on the ballot. Any time you see any rules or laws introduced into an election that demand more than that, you know they are trying to disenfranchise people. And Republicans persistently introduce requirements that raise the bar – but enforce them only against people who vote for their opposition.
In this case, the Republicans are banking on the fact that people will do what people always do whenever filling out any sort of form – make mistakes. They’ll tell you the errors are proof that these voters are “stupid”, but what any smart person knows – from experience – is that sometimes being smart is precisely why you make errors that others wouldn’t make. But what people who have been following elections for the last four years are acutely aware of is that Republicans have found other ways to make sure that certain voters have more trouble than others, such as sending out correct instructions for how to vote to registered Republicans, and arranging to disseminate misleading instructions to everyone else. This is particularly helpful if you first arrange to change the balloting method in your county at every single election, as has happened in San Diego for the last three cycles.