by James A. Bacon
Donald Trump inserted himself into the gubernatorial election today by repeating his endorsement of Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin. Nothing wrong with that. He can endorse whomever he likes. But I draw the line at this: “I am not a believer in the integrity of Virginia’s elections, lots of bad things went on, and are going on. The way you beat it is to flood the system and get out and vote.”
What factual basis does Trump have for distrusting the integrity of Virginia’s elections? What “bad things” went on? What “bad things” are still going on? He didn’t say.
While disputing 2020 election results in a dozen or more other states, Trump leveled no substantive charges against Virginia’s electoral system. I suppose he was referring today to a lawsuit charging that Fairfax County election officials with instituting a last-minute change in election procedures: Absentee voters no longer have to provide the last four digits of their social security numbers.
“We write election rules in advance so everybody knows what they are and everybody thinks it’s fair,” said J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest legal Foundation and the attorney representing the Virginia Institute for Public Poicy.
Adams argues that the measure violates the state constitution. “The Constitution of Virginia has an anti-suspension clause. It was written by George Mason, one of the Founding Fathers, and it said that bureaucrats in the executive branch can’t just ignore the law,” he said. “They can’t suspend the law. They have to follow the law. It’s the rule of law, not of men, in Virginia.”
Adams is a great electoral watchdog, and he makes a reasonable point. He’s availing himself of the legal system to contest the change. The system is full of checks and balances, and it seems to be working as designed.
Even if the courts reject his complaint, it’s not clear to me how that the rule change would bias the election results for Democrats — Republicans are voting absentee in comparable numbers to Democrats this year.
Meanwhile, Republicans are mobilizing and training hundreds (maybe thousands) of volunteers as poll workers and poll watchers to safeguard this year’s election integrity. Good for them. More checks and balances. I have every confidence in the integrity of Virginia’s electoral system. If Trump wants to help Youngkin get elected, he needs to go away and stop muddying the waters.
Update: I should note the fact that the judge threw out the lawsuit on the grounds that the party filing the lawsuit, the Virginia Institute for Public Policy had no standing. A lawsuit can be brought only by an “aggrieved voter,” candidate, campaign or party. (Hat tip: Chris Braunlich.)
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