"Rigging"

[wyldwolf]

Haven't seen much, maybe not any, allegations of rigging the primary process by the DNC this time around on DU. But damn is my facebook feed full of it. Here's a response.

Link to tweet

For a moment, may I please opine on the allegation that the Democratic primary has been "rigged?"

As someone who has studied and observed elections in countries where election rigging is very real, it offends and worries me.

Friends who ran for local office in Russia were denied a place on the ballot because their forms were stapled, not paperclipped. Election officials scrutinized signatures they had painstakingly collected.

This is election rigging.

Russian election observation group Golos was declared a "foreign agent" by the Kremlin after uncovering systematic inaccuracies in the 2011 Duma elections. That label made their work uncovering election disruptions much more difficult.

This is election rigging.

In the 2018 Russian Presidential Election, opposition candidates were denied media coverage by Russia's state-owned media, and leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny wasn't allowed on the ballot.

That same election had some notable instances of ballot box stuffing. Others in recent Russian history had instances of carousel voting.

This is election rigging.

In other countries in the post-Soviet space, ruling parties abuse administrative resources to which they have access, privileging incumbent campaigns.

This is election rigging.

What is not election rigging: having a historically diverse set of candidates winnowed down by a democratic process. Having those candidates endorse other candidates with whom their positions align.

Don't get me wrong: there is DEFINITELY ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT in how we run primaries and elections in this country; many of those criticisms have been particularly strongly felt this primary cycle, particularly for minorities and women.

But decrying the process as "rigged" is an incredibly serious accusation that could potentially have ripple effects up to and including the peaceful transfer of power between administrations.

In Ukraine last spring, after a particularly contentious campaign, Volodymyr Zelensky unseated incumbent President Petro Poroshenko after one term. The international community held its breath, but power transferred peacefully. No accusations of "rigging."

All I'm asking is that people using this terminology understand its seriousness. Election rigging is real in the countries I study, where voters yearn to have their ballots counted and voices heard. Amassing fewer votes than another candidate is not evidence of rigging.

[world wide wally]

1. Some reporter with access to Trump

needs to ask him how an election can be rigged.
The orange minibrain will probably tell them how he did it last time or is going to try to rig in this time.

[LisaM]

2. I generally agree, though I can give you some homegrown examples.

Ohio demanding voter registrations be sent in on a certain weight paper in 2004 and rejecting those that weren't (Ken Blackwell).

Knocking people off the rolls in Florida in 2000 based on faulty data from ChoicePoint (Jeb Bush)

Knocking 100,000 people off the rolls in Wisconsin in 2016 (Scott Walker)

Refusing to replace broken voting machines in Detroit in 2016 (Rick Snyder)

Closing down polling places for the 2016 primaries in Phoenix (Arizona GOP)

Making voter ID a requirement in Georgia, then closing all places to get voter ID where POC lived (don't know which Republican was responsible for that)


THAT is rigging too.

[wyldwolf]

3. yes, it is!