Alarm bells should be ringing for every election observer. The Cook County state’s attorney’s race is a harbinger of election night on Nov. 5 — and its aftermath.
The Illinois primary campaign ended nearly two weeks ago, yet it was only late Friday that Eileen O’Neill Burke declared victory in her super-competitive race with Clayton Harris III. To be valid, ballots had to be postmarked by March 19, primary day, but thanks to our highly efficient and reliable Postal Service (that’s snark), the votes are still trickling in and state law allows them to be counted if they’re received within two weeks of Election Day.
There have been snags. On March 23, at the height of the postelection counting, Chicago Board of Elections officials announced that, “oops,” they had overlooked 10,000 mail-in ballots and failed to include them in the count. There is no evidence that the oversight was nefarious. Human beings operate our electoral system. Humans make mistakes, but that did not stop some people from crying foul.
Fast-forward to November and a presidential race that could be historically close. How do you think that will play out? The optics of extended vote counting could be horrendous.
The nation is divided, and much of that divide centers around allegations of a stolen election and massive voter fraud. Americans, especially Republicans, are deeply distrustful of our electoral system. A recent poll exposes warning signs.
A 52% majority of supporters of former President Donald Trump said they had no confidence that the results of the upcoming November election would be accurately counted and reported, while only 7% had high confidence they would be, according to a January survey by USA Today and Suffolk University. Comparatively, 81% of supporters of President Joe Biden said they were “very confident” about the upcoming election; 3% were “not confident.” And 15% of Biden voters and 38% of Trump voters were “somewhat” confident.
“The findings spotlight the political schism and a deep skepticism among Trump supporters about whether this year’s election results could be trusted and should be accepted — some of the same attitudes that in 2021 fueled the nation’s most serious insurrection since the Civil War,” USA Today reported.
The close tallies could be repeated around the nation, as ballot counting has gone from a one-night affair to a dayslong charade. For some, it’s redolent with the smell of vote stealing and incompetence. As the votes dribble in, an impatient candidate, who can’t stand silently by for the final results, will have a field day.
That would be Trump, who is always ready to charge in with corrosive and inflammatory rhetoric. Trump cannot be trusted to wait his turn in line for the restroom, let alone wait quietly as his political fate, not to mention his get-out-of-jail-free card, hangs in the balance. That man would light a match to the whole shebang.
In Chicago, we know. We have the chops. Chicago’s reputation for voting shenanigans is notable. Remember the presidential election of 1960, when John F. Kennedy squeaked by Richard M. Nixon, thanks to alleged vote fraud in Chicago?
Mayor Richard J. Daley was excoriated by the American polity for “stealing the election,” to help make Kennedy become the first Catholic president in American history. Nixon stood by and accepted the results. Trump is no Nixon.
The stakes are going to be higher than when one person wins the Powerball jackpot. Imagine the howl that will go up from Trump’s pack of wolves if the election night verdict is, “It’s too close to call, and we are waiting for the votes from several key voting areas.” Areas such as Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Detroit, Denver, Atlanta and Phoenix. Big cities that will have thousands of mail-in votes outstanding beyond Election Day, trickling into the ballot counter at a glacial pace.
The extreme drama may boost TV ratings, but it won’t make for smooth postelection sailing. Democrats and Republicans alike will look askance at an election that can’t be called for days, or even weeks after its expiration date.
Chaos.
There are too many quirks in the system. The slow vote counting affects the perception of election integrity. Its integrity and the survival of our democracy are threatened by these vagaries.
Laura Washington is a political commentator and longtime Chicago journalist. Her columns appear in the Tribune each Monday. Write to her at LauraLauraWashington@gmail.com.
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