As 2020 winds down, I look forward to some light ahead. It’s time to put the election behind us.
Stop stirring up fear over counting absentee and mail-in ballots. Absentee ballot counting is always done after election day.
Legal requirements exist requiring both Democratic and Republican vote counters supervise all absentee ballots. Both must approve a ballot for it to be counted.
It’s time to stop baseless, unsubstantiated accusations of wide-scale election fraud. Republicans who refuse to accept the overall fairness of the national election, represent the worst of partisan politics. Their behavior is what voters reject.
We don’t want politicians who are so partisan they put their party over their country. Neither Democrats nor Republicans get to say an election is fair only when their candidate wins.
Donald Trump’s behavior and those who follow his lead in refusing to accept that he lost is an embarrassment. Their unsupported accusations aim to manipulate people into doubting the election.
Those who want to undermine confidence in free and fair elections are challenging the very basis of Democracy. The silence by Republican party leaders and elected officials, both locally and around the country, is more than sad. It’s un-American.
Will they also be unwilling to cooperate and compromise going forward?
Regardless of which candidate people backed, now is the time to come together. Ending the pandemic, rebuilding the economy and getting our schools working is a job for all parties.
Willa Freiband
Orange County Democratic Women