By Carl WeinschenkThe end of the summer is creeping up on us. One way we know is that we are seeing more back to school specials at stores. The other is what seems to be an increase in news related to the midterm elections, which will occur on November 3. Here is a recap of some important recent events and insightful commentary.
CNN has posted a long and interesting story on efforts to secure the midterm elections. The upshot of the piece is that the federal government has to a great extent exited the scene but now is making noises about working with the states to ensure the sanctity of their votes. The feeling is that a lot is happening on a sort of ad hoc basis. There are thousands of experts out there who can and want to help. Whether it all comes together – or whether it does for some states but not for others – seems to be up in the air. This isn’t where we wanted to be less than 100 days before election day (and a whole lot shorter for early voting).
A survey by Gallup suggests that the idea that there are threats to our elections has broken through to the general consciousness. For instance, the results show that 67% are concerned about election integrity and 57% worry that ballots won’t be handled correctly.
It is a very good sign that so many folks are worried about these issues. It’s been proven over and over that finances are the utmost concern of voter concerns. When this election actually occur, pocketbook issues may again be the big issue. That’s especially true considering the sorry state of our economy. But this level of awareness is likely to make funny business harder to pull off and the public more skeptical of claims of voter fraud once election day passes.
Dr. Witmer makes three important points: The midterms are a half-term job assessment of the president; folks have more comparative influence in the midterms because fewer vote and the subjects on the table tend to be more local and likely to impact voters’ day-to-day concerns. Title bloat or not, Dr. Witmer is right on the mark.
Vox writer Astead Hernon offers an interesting interpretation of what is happening in the Democratic party. Most people, he writes, are assuming that victories in New York, Colorado and elsewhere are a sign that the left is in the ascendency. He offers another take: That the left is gaining because the party is “rudderless.” This midterm is a prelude to an ideological reckoning, which will occur 2028.
I have a related but slightly different take. Joe Biden was a centrist Democrat. He took over after Donald Trump clearly tried to overthrow the elections (and committed other crimes). He was an obvious clear and present danger. The Democrats failed to adequately pursue the Trump gang and to put measures in place to ensure that the nation was not put in danger again.
The Democrats failed. I am not a Merrick Garland basher. He seems like a good man and has had the courage to not respond to the endless assaults on his actions and character by Democrats of all types. And his reasons for not going harder after Trump may have been solid. But the fact remains that justice was not served. Not confronting Trump while they held the reins of power I believe is a key factor that has driven the party to seek new answers. To many, the moderate Democrats did not stand up when they had to.
Alaskans will get a chance to end ranked choice voting in a referendum in a ballot measure, according to the Alaska Beacon. Ranked choice is a method of voting in which participants list their favored candidates in descending order. As candidates are eliminated their second, third or more choices are added to candidates’ totals until one reaches “50% plus 1” and wins the election.
Ranked choice is controversial. It is seen as a panacea by some and an overly complex approach to voting invites finagling by others. The fact that it is on the ballot in Alaska is more proof that very important issues, and ones that significantly impacts voters, occur during the midterm elections.