Doubly disturbing
This past week, President Donald Trump, along with two conservative legal groups, filed lawsuits and called on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to overturn the Nov. 3 election. Trump’s lawsuit and a twin case brought by the Wisconsin Voter Alliance argue that thousands of improperly cast absentee ballots gave Joe Biden a sham victory. Another lawsuit filed by the Amos Center for Justice and Liberty more specifically argues that absentee ballots dropped off in boxes erected as a COVID-19 precaution were illegally cast and void. Trump’s lawsuit calls on Gov. Tony Evers to undo certification of the election. The two legal organizations go one step further. They call on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to empower the Republican-controlled state legislature to ignore the certifi cation of the Wisconsin presidential election and to select its own 10 representatives (presumably Trump supporters) to the Electoral College.
All of these lawsuits, which would overturn Wisconsin’s presidential election, are disturbing.
Yet none are as disturbing as a Tufts University poll that indicates that 80 percent of Republicans surveyed nationally prior to Nov. 3 said they supported these kinds of post-election legal shenanigans. Forty-percent of Republicans surveyed said they supported the President “resisting” the results of the election if he lost the popular vote by a percentage point or two. Another 40 percent said the vote should be contested even if Trump lost the popular vote by up to 12 percent.
We support President Trump using the courts to insure a fair vote, to count every vote. We don’t support Trump, however, trying to win through the courts what could not be won at the ballot box. Nor do we support Trump and his supporters abusing the court system only to cast doubt on an election, to whip up a false narrative of a stolen election and lay out the plot lines of a political comeback.
It’s simple. A democracy of free people is the American experiment. A free and fair election is key to democracy. If you don’t support democracy, you don’t support America.
