American democracy and electoral process stained with controversy

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Although for decades, the United States has been lecturing the world about democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and electoral transparency, during the recent years ruling elites of this country are continuing to behave as ruthless dictators, while human rights, freedom of press, freedom of expression are being systematically gauged with its electoral process dirtied with allegations of rigging, fraud and extreme manipulation. At the same time, particularly from 2020, intelligence establishments in the US are being almost openly used in running worrying censorship on media and forcing social media platforms in removing contents that expose high-profile corruptions and misdeeds of influential families such as that of US President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, there is growing doubt in the minds of Americans about transparency in the country’s elections. An October 2023 Public Affairs Council/Morning Consult poll found that only 37 percent of Americans believe the 2024 elections – which is scheduled to take place on November 5 will be both honest and open to all eligible voters. Although Democrats are showing more confidence in the integrity of the election process where 50 percent say the upcoming election shall be honest and open, Republicans do not give ditto to such claims. Only 35 percent of Republicans and 24 percent of independent agree with what Democrats said about the November 5 election. In 2020, the number of Democrats believing America’s elections to be free, fair and credible was much higher.

There is also doubt in the minds of the voters about honesty and transparency in counting of votes.

According to a press release, on April 19, 2024, Donald Trump’s campaign and Republican National Committee (RNC) announced a 100,000-person strong election integrity program to “stop Democrat attempts to circumvent rules”.

According to the release, so far this cycle, the RNC has engaged in 82 election integrity lawsuits in 25 states.  Every single battleground state is operating its own “Election Integrity Hotline”. In addition, attorneys will be stationed at every target processing center where mail ballots are tabulated, focusing on the battleground states.

An April 8 the Washington Post piece “New voting laws in swing states could shape the 2024 election” analyzed information from the Voting Rights Lab on how voting law changes could impact certain battleground states. Michigan Democrats pushed for nine days of early voting, all mail ballots will have prepaid return postage, and every community will have at least one drop box.

According to Daily Caller, North Carolina Republicans pushed for voters to show identification and a new absentee ballot deadline. Courts will also decide whether to allow a law to go into effect that would reshape the state’s election boards and could result in fewer early voting sites.

Georgia Republicans passed a law to limit handouts of food or water to those waiting in line to vote. It also limits ballots where ballot drop boxes can be placed while expanding early-voting opportunities in most counties.

During the 2020 election in Pennsylvania, mail ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to three days after that were counted. In 2024, they must be received by Election Day. Pennsylvania’s law requires voters to write the date they return their mail ballots on an envelope, and an appeals court recently ruled ballots could not be counted if they came in undated envelopes or had the wrong date on them. That will mean more ballots will get rejected this fall.

In Wisconsin, after 2020, conservatives on the state Supreme Court concluded that state law does not allow the use of drop boxes and barred their use for 2022 and beyond. However, last year, liberals took control of the court, and they recently agreed to revisit that ruling. A decision is expected by the summer.

In Arizona, Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs has resisted efforts by state Republican lawmakers to schedule a ballot measure this fall that would greatly restrict mail voting for future elections. Voting by mail has long been popular in Arizona, so whether such a measure could pass remains to be seen.

In 2020, Nevada officials used emergency provisions in response to the pandemic to facilitate early voting. They sent mail ballots to all voters, established at least one drop box in every county, allowed third parties to collect ballots from voters, and counted absentee ballots that election officials received after Election Day if they were postmarked by then.

In 2021, Democratic leaders in the state made those policies permanent, meaning they will be in effect during November 5 elections.

Meanwhile, a large segment of the international media accused Donald Trump for spreading rumor centering voter fraud during the 2020 elections. Still three-in-10 Americans still believe President Joe Biden won his 2020 election only due to voter fraud, a new poll shows — a durable number that highlights the disconnect on one of the foundational issues facing American democracy.

According to a large number of analysts, for Joe Biden, now the toughest hurdle is Israel’s ongoing military offensives in Gaza and lately in Rafah. American media says, “Joe Biden’s constituency is split over Israeli support, and his lack of a stance might cost him the presidency.

“The news coverage of nationwide campus protests in the US has largely been about the behavior of the protestors and their profiles, but the events have highlighted a very stark reality for the current President and his campaign, a fracture that we are witnessing in real time within the Democrat party”.

It said:

Those who are the strongest of the anti-Israel protesters often state, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free”. In short, it’s a veiled way of saying they wish for the State of Israel to be wiped off the map.

… After the State of the Union speech on a hot mic, the President said he told Prime Minister Netanyahu that he needed to “come to Jesus moment” about the bombing occurring in Gaza, seemingly indicating that he would strong-arm the [Israeli] Prime Minister.

Biden’s vague statement was followed up by Secretary of State Antony Blinken vaguely warning of a “change in policy” that would result if the Administration did not “see changes” they wanted to see. But just three weeks later, the President signed the historic aid package that included $26 billion to Israel.

… Multiple polls, like a recent morning consult poll, have shown five to 10 percent of Biden’s 2020 voters considering either voting for Trump or someone else. And young voters in swing states like Michigan are considering casting third party votes to voice their displeasure of the President’s handling of the issue.

According to analysts, those Democratic Party voters who are openly expressing dissatisfaction at Joe Biden for supporting Israel are those who do not believe the State of Israel should exist. Most importantly, none of the governments in the United States would like to let terrorist organizations like Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad establish exclusive control over that part of the world by eliminating the existence of Israel and driving Jews out of the land. In this case, for any American president, including Joe Biden, siding with those groups supporting elimination of Israel from the world map shall be a real catastrophe.

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