SAFETY OF NUMBERS AJ EARL In recent days, voters around the country have been bombarded with threatening emails, purported to be from the Proud Boys but ultimately attributed to Iran. Identifying the voters as registered Democrats, the emails demanded that the recipient vote for Trump, or else. This dire situation seems to suggest that voting right now is a dangerous act, but the only danger right now is stymied access. Burdened by laws and court rulings, voters around the country are still mailing ballots, still visiting drop boxes, still lining up, sometimes for hours, to vote in this year’s election. Despite our collective anxiety, this surge in participation suggests even in these divisive times, voters are still committed to casting their ballot, come hell, high water or adverse court ruling. As a rule, these kinds of scenes—of voters lined up by the thousands, waiting for hours—would be treated as a breach of democracy and justice by the government, were this happening in another country. That these conditions are here and worsened by the current administration is a testament to the threats to basic rights that exist, yet this supposed uniqueness is a testament to the fundamentals of political participation that exist all throughout the world, American exceptionalism be damned. It may be jarring to see, but the tenacity of the voters we see here is the kind we see elsewhere, our democracy as fragile as those nations we look down upon. Those nations, however,
prove one thing that is evident from our own ongoing election; there’s safety in numbers. A prime example of this dynamic is apparent in the recent elections in Bolivia. Having survived a coup and attempted suppression of all human rights by Christian fundamentalist Senator Jeanine Áñez, voters turned out in large numbers and handed Morales’ political party Movement for Socialism (MAS) an outright win in the first round of elections. Turnout tipped the scales at a hefty 88.42%, election observers from numerous international agencies noted no evidence of fraud and the interim coup government seemed inclined to accept the results. Imagine if this were the norm here in the United States. In spite of fears to the contrary, elections are largely safe, albeit suppressed by various forces of disenfranchisement and the outcome of a large turnout would at the very least activate more people in this country, making them politically active when they might not otherwise have been. “Yes. Official Ballot Drop sites are safe,” stated Multnomah County Elections director Tim Scott in an email, who noted that they “are monitored by security patrols regularly.” Scott added that ballots are collected daily, stating that if anyone sees anything unusual they can call Multnomah County Elections at (503) 988-VOTE. These reassurances are good, and yet fears of voter intimidation, fake ballot drop boxes and general lack of safety have led
some voters to be particularly vigilant in their efforts to cast a ballot. At one ballot drop box in North Portland, voters allegedly questioned the affiliations of the posted security guards and the safety of the drop box itself, according to one source. In California, this fear has manifested in dueling conflicts over unsanctioned ballot boxes and ballot harvesting, the latter the practice by organizations to collect ballots and deliver them on behalf of voters. The California GOP has admitted to creating the unsanctioned ballot boxes and although they have been warned about the legality of these, the boxes remain. There is no evidence of this currently here in Oregon, and the messaging from voters seems to be they trust one method, in-person delivery of ballots to drop boxes, or another, the returning of ballots by mail. Multnomah County Elections Division, for its part, is suggesting mailing ballots by the end of Tuesday, Oct. 27, no postage required. After that point, they suggest using ballot drop boxes.
REASSURANCES FROM HISTORY
Voters are justified if they fear for their ballots given the evidence toward partisan violence, exemplified in the constant intrusion into Portland by outside far-right forces like Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys. Even here, however, there is no evidence of a threat to voters by these groups, or the leftist and anarchist organizations protesting police violence in the
OFFICIAL BALLOT DROPBOX
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OPINION
PSU Vanguard • OCTOBER 27, 2020 • psuvanguard.com