As we currently stand, the presidential election happened yesterday, but we don’t know who won it. Many thousands of mail-in ballots were still uncounted on election night in states like Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan and Georgia. For some of those states, the counts were halted overnight. We are told that they had to stop counting so that the counters could sleep, leaving the nation in limbo as they rest soundly in their beds. Apparently these states have never heard of novel concepts like working in shifts.
Nevada election officials have already said that they will not announce any more updates until November 5. In Pennsylvania, incredibly, mail-in ballots will be counted up to three days after the election, and ballots that are not clearly postmarked from before the election will still be counted. Meanwhile, Arizona, which some outlets called for Joe Biden last night, was put back in play after an “error” made it seem like 98 percent, rather than 86 percent, of the vote had been tallied. On Twitter, President Trump suggested that his lead in key states had “magically disappeared” overnight. This tweet, along with several others of his from today and election night, were censored by Twitter and labeled “disputed” or “misleading.” My own tweet, expressing my personal opinion about the vote count, was also censored after Trump retweeted it.
I cannot say whether there is any sort of voter fraud going on. But I can say two things:
1. Democrats, along with subscribing to an ends-justify-the-means, morally relativistic worldview, also believe that Trump is evil incarnate, literally worse than Hitler. This outlook creates, at least, an enormous incentive to cheat, and removes any moral compunction a person might feel about it. That alone doesn’t prove that fraud is happening, but it heightens the need for transparency, efficiency, and oversight. The Left will tell you that they fear for their very lives if Trump is re-elected. What if people who have this (insane, irrational) fear are in charge of counting the votes in key battleground states? Is there not now, at minimum, a severe temptation toward potentially dishonest behavior?
2. Mail-in voting and early voting create more opportunities for things to go wrong, either through intentional subterfuge, human error, or other circumstances. This is largely why I hold the scandalous view that all voting should take place in person, on election day. Voting should end when that day ends, and begin when it begins. Of course any ballots cast during that period should be counted, no matter how long it takes. But accepting ballots that could potentially have been cast after the conclusion of voting, as Pennsylvania is currently doing, is madness. And it is almost as mad to allow voting for many weeks before the presidential election really begins.
Exceptions could be made for active duty military and perhaps a few other very limited and carefully selected groups. But the vast majority of people should be expected to show up, in person, on the day of voting to vote. This may require more resources to be made available and more polls to be opened, and it may mean longer lines and more inconveniences, but we only vote for president once every four years. It seems to me that we should be able to adjust our schedules and make the necessary sacrifices to get ourselves to the polls and vote the old fashioned away. For those who can’t be bothered, voting clearly isn’t a major priority for them. It is probably better if those types don’t vote anyway. Everyone else should be expected to do it in a way that facilitates efficiency, transparency, and will not leave the nation in the state of uncertainty that it is currently enduring.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.