Nov. 3 might be only the beginning of election

 This post was published in the Wilson Times Sept. 11, 2020

If you’re closely following the 2020 presidential race and eagerly awaiting the results on Nov. 3, you may be disappointed, regardless of which candidate you’re supporting.

This year’s election will be like no other we’ve experienced. It’s not just the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s not just the demonstrations against police brutality, the belated reckoning about systemic racism, the great economic divide between the wealthy (getting wealthier) and the poor (struggling to survive); it’s not just Confederate statues. It’s not just the disrespect between college-educated white-collar citizens and blue-collar citizens without college degrees. It’s not just the deep political divide among the electorate. Some have called this the most divided electorate since the Civil War. Political strategists and candidates vilify the people on the other side. Among many groups, there is genuine hatred for people who are not like them, and that applies to both ends of the political spectrum.

In the age of instantaneous political statements and accusations, voters are being spun at relentless revolutions per minute. Members of Congress would rather make a political point than achieve a bipartisan compromise. They would rather see their party win an obscure election vote than solve the nation’s most challenging problems.

All this makes the 2020 presidential election like no other in American history, a history that has included two elections (1800 and 1824) with no clear winner, sending the election to the U.S. House for resolution. The 1876 election was settled by an electoral commission that decided how to count disputed electoral votes. The Supreme Court resolved another undecided election in 2000.

Nationwide protests are being infiltrated by armed individuals with no authority. Paramilitary-style groups are eager for a fight. Gun sales have gone up again, and many people are taking advantage of a 2008 Supreme Court decision allowing firearms, including military-style, rapid-fire assault rifles, to frighten and intimidate voters who are not accustomed to seeing armed mobs in the streets of America, regardless of whose side they are on.

            The flint that could ignite this volatile mixture is the likely uncertainty of the Nov. 3 vote. Unprecedented numbers of absentee ballots and vote-by-mail ballots are flooding precincts. Many states will not begin counting absentee ballots until after the polls close, so the outcome of the election will almost certainly be in doubt until long after midnight Nov. 3. Some analysts think the presidential race might not be decided until December or January.

            Already, President Trump is raising doubts about the trustworthiness of election results. He has declined to commit to accepting the results of the election if he loses. With presidential authority still in his hands until noon Jan. 22, Trump will be able to sow doubts, rally supporters, command military actions, declare a “national emergency,” fire honest federal workers (which he has already undermined by calling them “the Deep State”). American democracy could be sacrificed.

            If you thought 2020 was bad (pandemic, economic recession, travel bans, etc.), just wait for the final two months of the year.