‘Rigged’ claims undermine voting process, sow distrust

By Kate Hayden | khayden@charlescitypress.com

There is no single, unified vision going forward for the United States. That’s not new.

What is surprising is how biting this election cycle really is. The cliche I see most often is there’s no historical precedent for two presidential candidates so widely disliked in previous election years. Then the reporter or pollster pauses and adds, “Of course, there hasn’t been an election year like this before.”

If this election cycle has shown us anything, it should be how little value we assign to our words. Actors in all sides of the process — politicians, aides, reporters, voters — have demonstrated shockingly little ownership over the things they will broadcast online and then disown in front of audiences. Let’s make that clear: It’s on all sides of the proverbial aisle.

As Americans, our system is based on a series of checks and balances — both checks between our leaders in Congress, the presidential branch and the judicial branch, and checks between those governing and those governed. We demand transparency on everything from budgets and campaign spending to foreign policy and faith.

The system is based on a human trait: trust. To make decisions about our local and state leaders, we trust that our information is accurate — which means that a third party, often a member of the press, has dug through relevant documents and career histories to identify consistencies and inconsistencies with the campaign’s story. We trust our county auditor’s office and state workers to safeguard the voting process from intentional fraud, intimidation and attack. We trust our candidates to respect the system and work for their constituents. It is far from a perfect system, but it demands integrity to function.

Iowa Rep. Steve King recognized how vital American faith in the process is for a peaceful transition of power.

“I don’t want to say anything on this program that de-legitimizes the elections because I don’t want the American people to lose faith in our electoral process,” King told CNN reporter Chris Cuomo. “If we do, this entire Constitutional republic could come tumbling down.”

Candidate Donald Trump’s ongoing claim that our system is “rigged” reminds me of a damage tour I tagged along with after this year’s September floods. Floyd County Supervisor Roy Schwickerath drove Sens. Mary Jo Wilhelm and Rob Hogg through the county, pointing out damage on a scale from obvious to easily missed.

Our last stop in front of a closed gravel road looked rough on the edges, but not noticeably dangerous until Schwickerath took Sen. Wilhelm and I closer to the culvert. The road’s foundation was actually undermined, carved out from floodwaters and in danger of allowing the surface to cave in. Had heavy harvest equipment been driving over the road, it all could collapse, Schwickerath told us.

Language, when flung recklessly and without supporting evidence, can undermine our system. Trump’s rhetoric carves out distrust in our county and state officials by implying they would benefit from distorting the popular vote’s results. He has inspired distrust in our FBI by refusing to accept the results of a thorough and closed investigation. And although media outlets continue to cover Trump’s campaign — handing over an estimated $2 billion worth of free coverage by March alone, according to estimates reported by the New York Times — Trump consistently undermines the role news media plays in an election. Any poll or story reporting negative news for him is bad, unfair, wrong.

At the debate on Wednesday night, Trump refused to pledge he would accept election night results if he loses. It could be that he honestly doesn’t know how to process failure, even though some election forecasts see only an 11 or 12 percent chance at success for his campaign. That doesn’t excuse his recklessness.

“I’ll keep you in suspense,” Trump told Fox News moderator Chris Wallace.

The United States doesn’t deserve suspense. A peaceful transition of power deserves respect.

In a 1993 letter written on White House stationery, former President George H.W. Bush welcomes incoming president Bill Clinton to his new role.

“I wish you great happiness here. I never felt the loneliness some presidents described,” President Bush wrote. “Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you.”

The letter went viral for a second time in this cycle, after the final debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton. With the level of graciousness President Bush extended in that 23-year-old letter, the appeal is evident.

If we believe in a nation of independence, we have to accept a nation of competition — and fair play. Allowing the U.S. electorate to be undercut will lead to nothing but national wounds. It will take a long time to recover.

Reach Charles City Press reporter Kate Hayden at khayden@charlescitypress.com

— 20161025 —