Trump is laying the groundwork for challenging the results of the November elections if the results do not go his way. Unfortunately, circumstances are such that we might well face a confused and chaotic situation on election night that he can, and undoubtedly will, exploit to his advantage.
The head of a Democratic political data agency is warning that with a record number of Americans expected to vote by mail in November, it is very likely that early election results will appear to show that President Donald Trump has won in a landslide, even if he ultimately loses after all outstanding votes are counted.
Josh Mendelsohn, CEO of Hawkfish—a data analytics agency founded last year by mutli-billionaire former presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg to support Democratic candidates—sat down for an interview that aired Monday on “Axios on HBO” in which he predicted “chaos in America” after the polls close on November 3.
“We believe that on election night, we are going to see Donald Trump in a stronger position than [he] actually is,” Mendelsohn said, calling this phenomenon a “red mirage.”
Mendelsohn said he is “sounding the alarm and saying that this is a very real possibility, that the data is going to show on election night an incredible victory for Donald Trump.”
“Twice as many voters intend to vote by mail,” Mendelsohn explained, pointing to surveys showing that 40% of ballots will be cast by mail. Among Democrats that figure rises to 48%, while for Republicans it’s just 23%, although studies have shown there is no evidence that voting by mail favors either major party, or that it results in fraud.
That is a disturbing possibility indeed since it can lead to widespread unrest, egged on by Trump and his supporters.
I think the best we can hope for (and a slim hope it is) is that with more than 40 or 50% of the votes still uncounted, the networks will show some reluctance to call things early in his favor. IF they can show any reasonable restraint in their mad rush to be first to call the election, then maybe the Dumpster-stoked perception of fraud in mail-in votes and late tallies can be blunted enough to avoid the predicted chaos. Again, I emphasize I am not sanguine about this coming to pass.
My wife and I are planning to vote in-person to help forestall just such a situation; in fact, we are signing up to be poll workers. The fact is, given the aspersions that the president will be throwing at mail-in votes, each in-person vote will simply have more value than a mail-in vote for precisely this reason. It’s sad that that’s the situation we’re in, but the signs are clear.
Early voting starts on Oct. 17th here. We will definitely participate in that. If it’s possible to do where you live, I’d encourage everyone to vote early; I do realize that not everyone can. I admit we’re very lucky: our state allows and encourages early voting and we live way out in the sticks. There is normally no line or anything like that for us. I think once we had to wait about ten minutes to take a turn.