Slate "Could Matt Bevin Steal the Kentucky Governor's Election?"

[NRaleighLiberal]

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/matt-bevin-andy-beshear-trump-stolen-kentucky-election.html

Will the Kentucky Legislature assist Matt Bevin in stealing the governor’s race from Democrat Andy Beshear, who appeared to have won Tuesday’s election by about 5,000 votes? Ordinarily, I would consider the possibility preposterous. We do not live in ordinary times, though, and on Wednesday Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers raised the prospect that his institution, not the voters, could determine the outcome of the race. If Stivers and Republican Kentucky legislators were to make such a hardball move without good evidence that there were major problems with the vote count, the election would likely end up in federal court, where it is anyone’s guess what would happen. Either way, that we’re even discussing this potentiality one year before Donald Trump—who has repeatedly challenged the vote totals in his 2016 election victory—is set to face reelection is a wrenching sign for our already-damaged democracy.

snip

But Trump’s exhortations apparently weren’t enough. With about all the votes counted, Beshear leads by about 5,000 votes. He declared victory on election night but Bevin did not concede, citing unspecified irregularities. Bevin has since provided just a bit more information, but his claims are still incredibly vague. As Politico reported:

Without providing details, Bevin cited ‘thousands of absentee ballots that were illegally counted,’ reports of voters being ‘incorrectly turned away’ from polling places and ‘a number of machines that didn’t work properly.’ He said his campaign would provide more information as it is gathered, and he did not take questions from reporters.

Bevin certainly deserves a chance to make his case, though so far he has suspiciously refused to provide details of his claims. Kentucky does have a history of voter fraud, though much less in recent years. If Bevin can substantiate his charges, they would warrant a full and fair hearing. Bevin has also asked for a “recanvassing” of votes, essentially just to make sure that the reported vote totals line up with the totals from voting machines. That is also a reasonable request to make.

But Bevin may be doing more than that, and here’s where things can get weird. Kentucky has a set of rules to resolve contested elections, but those rules do not apply to a governor’s race. Instead, the state constitution provides that “Contested elections for Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be determined by both Houses of the General Assembly, according to such regulations as may be established by law.” According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, the last time the Legislature resolved a governor’s race under this procedure was 1899.

snip

A lot of bad things would have to happen for Beshear not to be the next governor of Kentucky. Either the election would have to be so marred by fraud or problems that it fairly calls the results into question, or the Kentucky Legislature would have to abandon democratic values and allow the election loser to become the election winner, with federal courts staying on the sidelines.

We may not live in ordinary times, but if the latter scenario comes to pass, our democracy is in great trouble as we look ahead to 2020.

[Midnight Writer]

1. Republican's stole a Supreme Court seat without consequence, why wouldn't they steal a Governorship?

[DBoon]

3. The Supreme Court stole a presidential election

Republicans have been doing this for decades

[patricia92243]

6. Took the words out of my mouth!

[SKKY]

4. He can, in theory, but it's not that easy, and has been done only once in the late 1880s...

He can request a re-canvasing, no problem. That's just a soft recount by each precinct, and should not take more than a few days. If the numbers change drastically (not likely), they can request an actual hard recount of the votes. But, only a judge can order that, and there must be solid, legal reasons for a full re-count. So, there is a ways to go before we get to the General Assembly.