General Discussion
Showing Original Post only (View all)Thinking that the WI election was "rigged" sets the stage for losing. [View all]
Claiming that an election was fraudulent is an easy explanation for losing, but it's not a helpful one. Yesterday's election in Wisconsin was heavily monitored, both by volunteer Democrats and legal observers. Given the outcome, it seems unlikely that enough "rigging" of the election could have been done to produce that result.
The results are discouraging. No question about it. But if the conclusion reached is that the election was rigged, that discouragement is a road to non-participation in other elections. "Why bother?", some think. "What's the point of voting if the elections are rigged?" It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As far as I can see, given the heavy monitoring, it seems very unlikely that any election fraud was perpetrated in Wisconsin. There was no Photo ID requirement for this election, and voters could (and did) register on election day and vote. Fixing an election to produce the results that actually happened would be almost impossible, I think.
Instead of falling back on the "rigged election" argument and abandoning other explanations isn't going to help in November. Instead, we need to see what messages led people to vote for Walker while saying they were planning to vote for Obama in exit polls. What really happened, and how can we make sure it doesn't happen again? That's the question we should be asking, instead of looking for vote rigging. If we don't ask that question, we're going to see similar results elsewhere.
Money? Sure. That played a big role in this election. That makes logical sense. So, let's donate to our candidates and their campaigns. Negative campaigning? Maybe. Let's campaign harder for our candidates.
Giving up is not an option, unless abject submission is the goal.