Free and Fair Elections, Anyone?
This is a cartoon I created in 2008. Zero progress on election integrity since then!
A 2019 report published by the Electoral Integrity Project, an independent project based out of Harvard University, found that U.S. elections from July 2012 through December 2018 rated "lower than any other long-established democracies and affluent societies." Each country in the index was given a score out of 100 based on assessments of the quality of each of its elections – including categories such as electoral laws, voter registration and voting process – one month after polls closed.
The U.S. score of 61 – the same score as Mexico and Panama – is the second-lowest among liberal democracies and much lower than other countries in the Americas region, including Costa Rica, Uruguay and Chile.
— Elliot Davis, U.S. Election Integrity Compares Poorly to Other Democracies, U.S. News & World Report, October 7, 2020.
Hi Anne.
The People's Democratic Republic of the U.S. has had 200+ years as a country to wrinkle out the 'glitches' in the election process. If for no other reason than the fact we all begin (or not) the moral growth process from ground zero, I've lost faith in the notion of social progress.
We're up to our necks in clever gadgets and toys, but my guess is that a 'developed' country is a euphemism for how deep the mandelbrot–matryoshka doll of nested corruption lies buried between the will-of-the-people and marionette nominees. Between the podium and the pulpit, I can't help but to gag at the poor acting, and try to re-connect with something more meaningful ... a walk in the woods, a cup of coffee, maybe some good jazz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdl0WPtJF_Q
Japan goes through the same 'democratic' motion, with only the most superficial of differences. I would call it all a kabuki show, if there was more 'art' to it. Will be glad when this noise is over.
Despite it all, keep up the good fight!
Back a few years ago, when the older ladies were manning my precinct, I said, as I fed my ballot into the DOMINION reader, “watch me while I shred my ballot.” Ooooohhhhh! They said all indignant like, that’s not a shredder. haha! How little did I know back then. It REALLY IS A SHREDDER. It shreds my vote every time and switches it to the opposite of what I want. Michigan is all about the BIG CHEAT. If kh wins, it will be fake news. Even the DETROIT MUSLIMS are voting for TRUMP!