I'll come out and admit that I believe voter supression did indeed affect the outcome in Florida in 2000. Whether or not it was done as a part of a wide Republican conspiracy is immaterial — it could have been a gigantic mistake or a simple conincidence that blacks and other minorities seemed to be singled out and mistreated at the polls, as improbable as that may seem (especially with new documents and information emerging that seem to suggest direct Republican involvement in suppression efforts this time around.) What I am most concerned with is that democracy itself is upheld, which is something that transcends partisan leanings and should cast an inquisitive light on everything that occurs at the polls both Republican and Democratic.
The Republicans are crying that Democrats are planning to attempt massive voter fraud come election day, while Democrats are already pointing to what they consider to be Republican attempts at minority voter suppression. I think both charges are rather outlandish in cementing an idea that the parties themselves are sponsoring widespread attacks on the democratic process — it's not as clear cut as that and making electoral legitimacy a strictly partisan issue is highly dangerous. Partisan lenses can obscure and even apologize for certain problems that occur at the polls. Democrats will ignore any problems that occur that can be attributed to other Democrats while Republicans will downplay anything that can be traced back to Republicans — basically, the election will enter into an unmitigated spin mode of blame deflection that does nothing but weaken traditional democratic institutions. It is this concept that scares me more than these early reports of voter suppression since this spin game can cause breaches of democratic protocol and hurt the Republic at its very core.
Frankly, it matters little to me which party is doing what to alter the vote illegally. I am more concerned with the fact that the true vote is being altered, whether Democrats or Republicans are behind it. If there is one issue that should remain non-partisan, it is what happens on November 2nd and if, for any reason, some Democrats do commit voter fraud I will be the first to denounce it and call for a recount since democracy is more important to me than who actually wins. I just hope other Democrats can say this, along with a majority of Republicans, who, for all intents and purposes, still seem totally fine with a president who may have won the last election illegitimately.
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