Not all Claims of Voter Fraud are Bulls**t

1/12/22

Today’s electorate operates under two very distinct sets of “facts.” In one, Joe Biden won the election — substantially by the popular vote and sufficiently by the electoral college — but in the other, the election was marked by voter fraud; and the election was stolen from Donald Trump. It seems that no amount of subsequent voting audits or court findings will dislodge those living in this second universe from their heartfelt belief that Trump won the election and deserves vindication.

The first group supports the efforts of the January 6th Committee to investigate the insurrection and what led up to it. While generally supportive, however, at least some of us in this group — myself included — had some skepticism about the value of the January 6th Committee, feeling that it was unlikely to tell us anything we didn’t already know: The violent assault on the Capitol was instigated by Trump, who, for months, had been perpetrating the big lies that the election had been stolen and that massive voter fraud had taken place. What else do we really need to know?

It turns out, there really is more to the story, and additional corroborating evidence is coming out, literally day by day. Most recently, we’ve seen details about a well-constructed game-plan concocted to overturn legitimate election results, either with Trump’s involvement or with his leadership, where high-profile Republican leaders were involved in formulating and carrying out this plan. The fiction that the insurrection was a spontaneous development is being dismantled.

Perhaps not surprisingly, even this evidence hasn’t yet dislodged the second group from its fealty to Trump. For them, the Committee is pursuing an illegitimate witch hunt motivated by a deep-seated and unfounded animus to Trump. And besides, what about Hunter Biden?

After about the 50th court case dismissing the idea of any meaningful fraud in the last election, I admit to turning a deaf ear to those harping on the idea of significant voter fraud occurring in the 2020 election; but just recently I’ve been confronted by evidence that I can’t ignore. I’ve come to appreciate that not all alleged fraud charges are specious. The fraud I’m referencing has been reported by Politico and MSNBC, revealing that the National Archives and other governmental entities had received forged certificates of ascertainment from unauthorized bodies in Michigan, Arizona, and Wisconsin. Those certificates declared their respective signers to be duly certified electors (which they were not) and claimed Trump and Pence to be the winners of their respective states’ elections.

These fraudulent submissions are old news, having happened in December of 2020; but they’ve recently come to renewed attention in connection with the January 6th Committee’s request to states officials for information relating to the assault on the Capital. I’m not a lawyer, but if these actions don’t violate Federal laws, I can’t imagine what would.

These examples may not be the kind of fraud that Trumpers had expected to uncover, but here they are, reflecting activity much more damaging than any other fraud — real or imagined — that Trump supporters have alleged. The hypocrisy of committing such odious fabrication to overturn elections — all the while campaigning about the horrors of voter fraud — brings the concept of chutzpah to a new level. It’s like arsonists running to become fire chiefs.

I’d like to say the jury is out as to how all this will resolve, but I’d be getting ahead of myself. We need to start, first, with indictments.