The Jury Will Disregard that Remark

Growing up I used to see a lot of courtroom dramas on television and in the movies; and if there's one thing I learned from all those viewings is that some of the more astute lawyers out there will sometimes make a statement or claim that they know an opponent will object to but by then the jury will have already heard it and despite the fact that the judge would likely ask the jury to disregard the offending statement, the seed of doubt has already been planted. I think this is precisely what's happening in this election season as well. After two previous presidential election where there was much doubt spread among people as to the legality of certain actions taken during the actual voting phase, election day has come under such close scrutiny that it seems almost insane not to want to protest misconduct even though the conduct has yet to be done.

At the debate earlier this week, Senator McCain raised issue with one of the topics that has been getting more press time in these recent days and that's the issue of whether or not the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is guilty of voter fraud. In a nutshell, what the whole stink over ACORN's actions are is the fact that many Republicans are claiming that the liberal-leaning group has been filing thousands of new voter registration cards and many of them are for people who don't exist. What they are implying is that I could go up to an ACORN agent and register as Luke Skywalker and Clark Kent and then get two additional voter cards in my name so that I can vote three times. Now granted I've only ever voted in two states (Maryland and Virginia) but never in the same election and never more than once per election. In order to even be allowed to vote I had to show my driver's license and prove my identity by either rattling off my phone number and address or provide some other form of proof. Plus I couldn't just show up at any polling place, I had one assigned to me. So despite all these safeguards are we really to believe that Luke Skywalker and Clark Kents across this nation are going to have their say?

Now perhaps it's misguided and foolish of me to be so naive as to think that the election process in this country is a bit more organized and fastidious in its actions to prevent such blatant fraud but for the sake of arguement if it isn't, then why are we bringing this subject up now? Well I think it goes back to what happened in the last two elections. In 2000, the election was so close that it came down to votes in one state that had tremendous electoral vote totals. I don't think I have to mention that it was Florida but in case you didnt' know now you do. At that time there were allegations of voter fraud and voter intimidation flying all over the place. Accusations that Republican party supporters drove van loads of people to their polling stations so that they could vote while polls in poorer Democratic controlled areas were occupied by voting booths that had been around since George Washington's time. What that meant was that there was greater propensity for the whole 'hanging chad' debacle to come to the fore.

By the time the smoke cleared in 2000, the Supreme Court stepped in to announce the final decision and Gore withdrew his protest and so George W. Bush became our President. Flash forward to 2004 and again the votes were close in some states and again, accusations of voter fraud and voter intimidation came up but this time in Ohio. Though there were cases where there were clear indications of voter misconduct, John Kerry withdrew his objections fairly early and announced that he would not contest the results that had come out. Many Democrats decried his actions but I think the entire mood of the Kerry campaign was that it would be wrong to subject the country to so much uncertainty in the wake of another election. Plus the fact that it would smack of sore-loser-ism if this sort of protest was to happen again. So how do you stave it off? By starting your sore-loser-ism even before you lose.

It seems to me that a lot of the hubbub around ACORN's actions is that it's helping lay the groundwork for a protest by the McCain campaign if they happen to lose the election. Rather than coming out then and accusing the organization of fixing the election through fake votes, they are already implying that there could be tons of fake and duplicate votes all over the country thanks to groups like ACORN. So then if the case they fear happens and Obama wins the election then they could start proclaiming, "See? I told you so I told you so! Fix fix fix!" Now granted they may not say it in such a childish manner but you see what I'm trying to get at? Now when John McCain mentioned ACORN, I'm sure that the majority of people out there were wondering if McCain was referencing the coming winter and was thinking of squirels getting ready for hibernation during the winter but that clearly wasn't the case. Perhaps he's already thinking of his endgame strategy to set up for a protest should he not win the election. Somehow I don't think we've heard the end of this debate.