Written by: Deborah Boyd, Blowing Rock
We all want free, fair and open elections, but recent events have raised concerns about whether that goal is attainable. For instance, in 2020 a Florida lawyer temporarily moved to Georgia for 30 days and registered to vote in the Georgia US Senate runoff election. He planned to re-register at his Florida address afterwards and he advised thousands of Floridians to join him.
This is only one of the numerous tricks used to influence an election outcome and they are employed more often than many of us realize.
Another example is a push poll asking if you would vote for candidate “A” if you knew he or she had been arrested for drunken driving. Of course, there was no such arrest, but it influences how you think of that candidate, nonetheless.
Or imagine an election where your ballot gives you four candidates’ names for three positions. After the polls close the winning candidates are announced and one or more of those elected were not named on your ballot.
Could that happen? Yes! For example, if enough registered voters privately agreed to “write-in” the names of three members for the local school board who were then elected, those persons would come to office without campaigning, without sharing their positions and without having their names on the ballot. If that were to happen, many voters would not have had the opportunity to assess those candidates’ fitness for office. Whether the newly elected candidates would operate in the best interests of all voters or only for the benefit of those who elected them would be unknown. Any issues or policies desired by those who orchestrated the “write in” campaign should be placed before all voters for proper consideration.
The unwillingness to openly declare intentions to run for office and answer the same questions and undergo the same scrutiny as other candidates is far from standard fare for open and honest electioneering. The strategy may seem clever but is it ethical? People who volunteer to run for office should state their position before the election, not after. They should be willing to dedicate the time and effort to do the required work… and that should include campaigning publicly. Any person running for office, whether it is county dog catcher, town council member, or legislative representative should be willing to put themselves before the public and trust the voters’ decisions. We need candidates who are honest about their intentions, their motives and their actions.
Don’t be fooled by any election shenanigans. Stay Alert!
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