Dodgy electoral process inflames tensions amid Trump rhetoric

WASHINGTON: A letter written by the 41st US President

George H W Bush

to his successor

Bill Clinton

after a fiercely fought election in 1992 is being invoked to showcase the grace that has characterised the peaceful transition of power in America -a tradition that critics say Donald Trump is now challenging.

The handwritten Inauguration Day letter wishes “great happiness“ to Bill Clinton, after offering encouragement and some basic advice for dealing with critics. “Your success now is our country's success. I am rooting hard for you,“ Bush 41 tells Clinton42 in a “Dear Bill“ letter whose affectionate tone belies the bitterness of their campaign.

Trump supporters are insisting that he did nothing wrong in withholding his acceptance of the results in the upcoming elections till he has had a chance to examine it, noting that Bush Sr wrote the letter after the results, just hours before he demitted office.

They have also argued that

Al Gore

declined to accept the results of the 2000 elections, although pundits point out that the results of that election was subject to a legal challenge that went to the supreme court, and

Gore

eventually accepted the verdict.

But Trump seems to be challenging the conduct of the electoral process at the very outset. Inasmuch as the process is widely accepted as being flawed, is broadly accepted by the American public. Among the many challenges and imperfections in the process is incomplete or fraudulent voter registrations, lack of access to polling booths, faulty electronic voting mechanisms and fears of hacking, and in many places with old manual systems, poorly designed ballots.

The electoral process is so decentralised that 13,000 independent local entities manage elections (to elect executive, legislative and judicial officials for more than 500,000 positions at the federal, state and local levels), without uniform procedures, there being no national election commission.

With no record of having spoken of, much less campaigned for electoral reforms, Trump is threatening to throw a spanner in the works by highlighting the dodgy process where infractions are exaggerated both by right wing conservatives (who say Democrats stuff ballots by bussing in people to substitute for dead voters) and left wing liberals (who say Republicans disenfranchise and prevent blacks and minorities from voting.) The Trump campaign this week seized in an undercover video shot by a conservative group called Project Veritas which shows Democratic operatives discussing how subversives can infiltrate Trump rallies and cause mayhem. There are also discussions about fraudulent voting and ballot stuffing.The

Democratic Party

has disassociated itself from the operatives and said “deceptive editing“ is involved in making of the video.