Claims of voter fraud and increased violent rhetoric continue as recounts for the Arizona, Florida and Georgia governor and United States Senate elections take place.
Since election day, Democrat candidate Krysten Sinema took the lead in Arizona the week after the election and won Monday, according to multiple reports, while Republican candidates Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott and Brian Kemp continue to hold the leads in Florida and Georgia, despite narrowing margins.
As numbers continue to come in from both remaining states, some are claiming the massive change in results from the mail-in ballots during the past week is proof of voter fraud.
Otis Sanford, political commentator and journalism professor at the University of Memphis, said he thinks claims of voter fraud are hearsay and detrimental to a person’s safety.
“You already have an election coordinator who is being threatened, and we haven’t even finished the recount yet,” Sanford said. “This is dangerous stuff. You have people on edge. You have families that are trying to protect themselves. We have leaders who are acting irresponsibly here and creating frenzy with this kind of stuff.”
Sanford said President Donald Trump should be blamed for increasing violence as a result of his pushback on the recounts.
“If there was (voter fraud), somebody would be screaming bloody murder other than the president, who sees anything that he doesn’t like and brings up fraud,” Sanford said.
Republicans such as Trump and DeSantis have claimed a possible tampering within Florida ballots without having evidence. However, the Florida Department of State has not received any reports of the crime.
Joe Hayden, a U of M journalism professor, said unfairness is the ultimate fraud in the election.
“There is almost no voting fraud in the U.S.,” Hayden said. “That’s an established fact for people who believe in things like evidence and data. Where the fraud does take place is by political crooks trying to reduce voting sites, trying to increase restrictions on voters or by wholesale purging of registration lists.”
Hayden said politicians intentionally prevent many eligible voters from voting so they can be elected.
“It’s not voters you have to worry about,” Hayden said. “It’s unethical politicians who are so desperate to win, they’ll do anything.”
Although Hayden said those who are running for office are committing the crime, he thinks the Nov. 6 election was a “blue wave” for Democrats.
“Six million more people cast votes for Democrats than for Republicans in the House, and twelve million more cast votes for Democrats in the Senate,” Hayden said. “Were it not for gerrymandering and voter suppression, the wave would have looked like an absolute tsunami.”
As for the upcoming 2020 presidential election, Hayden said both parties must overcome campaigning towards certain areas.
“The Republicans have an urban problem; Democrats have a rural one,” Hayden said. “But the Republicans’ is the bigger liability because they’re losing a demographic battle: half of all Americans live in just nine states, and statistically, the average American is a person who lives in a city or suburb—not out in the county.”
