It didn’t have to be this way in Pennsylvania.
Seven of the state’s 67 counties announced they would not begin counting mail-in ballots until the Nov. 4, the day after Election Day. During a press conference on Election Night, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf declared that all ballots would be counted by Friday in order to give all ballots postmarked on Election Day a fair chance and count toward state totals.
On Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump announced he was suing to halt the count of votes in Pennsylvania over concerns of transparency, according to CBS. His end goal in taking such action, presumably, is to have the U.S. Supreme Court decide on the legitimacy of the mail-in ballots across the state that were granted an extension, which most likely were Biden-concentrated votes.
The ethics behind pausing, counting and holding ballots is incredibly immoral and goes against our own American ideals. We pride ourselves on being a country that practices free and fair elections, but the current president will do anything in his power to thwart votes away from his opponent and attempt to win unfairly. Acting with the intention to delegitimize citizen’s votes goes against not only our principles as a nation, but also speaks to the character of our current president.
No president should ever attempt to delegitimize an election’s voting practices or its results. As former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton tweeted earlier this morning, “We’ll know the election results when every ballot is counted. That’s how democracy works.”
We don’t distinguish how a vote is cast. A vote is a vote. Counting them isn’t a political issue.
Pennsylvania allowed for this extension on ballot counting to allow the counters enough time to manage the unprecedented number of mail-in ballots due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While this may delay the finalized election result, at the end of the day, our nation values that every last citizen be heard. In order to do so, we must count every last vote.
Throughout the course of American history, there have been numerous elections in which the final popular and Electoral College voting results have been finalized after the actual Election Day. While this year that final number may come slightly longer after the day itself, it is completely normal for counting to continue into the following few days.
While we recognize that Pennsylvania has a large number of Electoral College votes compared to other battleground states this election, our concern is not about who wins the state itself. Our concern is that what should be an apolitical act has become a terrorizing of one side versus the other.
The principle of withholding ballot counting itself is wrongful and dishonorable.
Every single election cycle, every single mail-in ballot is counted. Just because this year there are more mail-in ballots does not mean that we should take them any less seriously. If anything they should be taken more seriously as more of the population has voted in this format.
We understand how frustrating it can be to await the results of a highly contended election. So much of what has happened this past year has been heightened in severity in regards to how current or future politicians may handle such issues in the coming years. As much as we want to know the outcome, we have to be patient.
By being patient, we enable the most fair and accurate counting procedures to take place, giving us the most fair and accurate answers we so desperately want. We cannot let the actions of one president and his staff deter us from focusing on the bigger picture.
No tweet, no legal action, no claim can hold real estate in our minds until we know the facts.
We preach truth, fairness and accuracy in our reporting day-in and day-out. The same applies to how this election is conducted.
Given Pennsylvania’s postmark extension, we were not going to know the results of the state’s votes until Friday at the earliest regardless. Do not let outside forces cloud your vision of the future truth.
We all know that the validity of this election cannot be confirmed until every last vote is counted. Until every last voice is heard. Until every last American who chose to participate in this election — in whatever format — is accounted for.
These are the principles that are supposed to make our country great. Stay patient. Stay aware. Stay hopeful.
1 Comment
Agree, be patient. We did this. But fairness and accuracy for all voters should mean that all votes have a signature verified -if you vote in person you have to sign, why does a mail in ballot not require a signature??. We need to learn from this and plan better for the next time, consider adding people, altering the process (but not the deadline) to improve security and efficiency. Election day should be the deadline to cast and receive a vote -period.
We encouraged voter turnout and allowed mail-in voting, but failed to plan for the result of having more ballots to count and counting by hand. We knew since we delayed the primaries that we had issues and might be overwhelmed. Ever hear “lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part?”
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