Jay Evensen
  • Front Page
  • Opinions
  • Second Thoughts
  • Portfolio
  • Awards
  • About

How to restore trust in elections

2/12/2021

0 Comments

 
It should have been a routine committee hearing about an innocuous resolution. 
State Rep. Joel Briscoe, a Democrat representing part of Salt Lake City, wanted to recognize Utah’s success in holding the 2020 election, from its secure vote-by-mail procedures to its lack of fraud, to its hard-working county clerks and volunteer election workers, and to its voters, who showed up in numbers not seen in at least six decades.
And yet the resolution had to withstand attacks and an effort to table it before finally passing favorably, by a vote of 7-2, out of a committee last week. 
“I think it sends a message that we don’t necessarily want to send,” Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, said in opposition. He objected to parts of the resolution that declared Utah’s vote-by-mail a success and that proclaimed there was no fraud. “That kind of implies there was none. We don’t know that.”
The taint on the 2020 election, a theme pushed by former President Donald Trump long before the actual election was conducted Nov. 3, has created an unusual dichotomy. A January poll conducted for the Deseret News and the Hinckley Institute of Politics byScott Rasmussen found that 41% of Utahns believed the election was fraught with “widespread fraud.” Slightly more, 49%, did not believe this, and 10% were unsure. 
Yet, despite the calculated warnings about a stolen election, 90.09% of registered voters cast ballots in Utah, according to state figures. That was better than any turnout in the modern era, eclipsing even the 1960 election, in which 89.47% of registered voters, spurred by the close Nixon-Kennedy race, showed up.
Nationally, the election attracted the highest turnout in more than a century, according to a Washington Post analysis. Once you go that far back, comparisons become tricky because women weren’t allowed to vote and Blacks and other minorities often were illegally prohibited from doing so.
For years, politicians, political scientists and pundits like me have fretted over how to increase voter participation. This issue was particularly important in Utah, where turnout had dwindled alarmingly. In the 2014 midterm elections, only 46% of registered voters showed up. If you look at eligible voters, which includes those who never bothered to register, it was 30%. 
That meant less than a third of the people were making decisions for the rest. Back then, I wondered if the poor turnout was “a sign of not caring, or of cynicism.” That seems naive, now that cynicism is at unmatched levels and nearly every registered voter showed up.
So, did we win the effort to increase voter turnout? That depends. In terms of sheer numbers, yes. But what about in terms of public engagement and civic duty?
The only real difference I can see between today and 2014 is a higher level of anger, and even rage. 2020 was a refutation of the notion that motor-voter registration, public service announcements or any other official get-out-the-vote schemes held the answer. All we needed was something, or someone, to get our blood boiling. 
However, anger is a poor substitute for civic duty and engagement. It can’t be confused with serious inquiry and debate. 
If a distrust in election integrity becomes ingrained in the wallpaper of American life, it could lead to a feeling that elections don’t matter. Then, once a favorite candidate is gone and passions subside, turnout will again drop.
Political science professor Lonna R. Atkeson, the director of the Center for the Study of Voting, Elections and Democracy at the University of New Mexico, may have stated the obvious recently when she said, “Perception of integrity is fundamental to democracy — that people believe in the process itself and that it is producing a legitimate outcome.” She was quoted by The GroundTruth Project on voting rights in America, in a post that highlighted claims from both the right and left about various aspects of elections problems.
The United States has survived plenty of election troubles in the past, including allegations that John F. Kennedy illegally won that 1960 election and that hanging chads confused the outcome in 2000. However, it has never had to deal with such widely held notions of fraud with so little evidence. 
But it is astounding that in Utah, where, by all indications, ballots were counted with integrity, including in the razor-thin Fourth Congressional District race, some lawmakers would hesitate to declare success. 
We won’t know whether we won the war on voter apathy until the next relatively quiet election comes along. But we shouldn’t be confused about lauding a state that did things right.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Search this site


    Like what you read here?

      Please subscribe below, and we'll let you know when there is a new opinion.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

    The author

    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campaign 2012
    Congress
    Crime
    Culture
    Iran
    Oil And Gas
    Poverty
    Steroids
    Taxes
    Utah
    Washington
    World Events
    World Events

    Links

    Deseret News
    Newslink
    Marianne Evensen's blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.