The presidential elections in the US of 2020 are the most intriguing ones; it seems that the whole world watches them. Unfortunately, I have not voted because I am on a green card since I am from Brazil, and the law prohibits noncitizens from voting. Nevertheless, I am immensely willing to express my civic position at the elections held in 2024. According to the comments of American friends, who participated in the elections, they face no challenges or impediments while voting. Even though the elections were complicated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the social unrest, it is nice to know that there were no accidents at the polling stations.
American two-round system of elections is somewhat complicated because, at first, the citizens individually vote for the preferable candidate. Then the electors vote for the candidate who won in the state. To become the president, a candidate should gain 270 votes out of 538. Since the process of the elections is repeated every four years, it is debugged, and nothing could go wrong at this point. Still, there are certain doubts about the fairness of the elections. However, it is currently impossible to claim that fraud indeed took place because the Court has not officially proven it.
The US is known as a country that values the opinions of its citizens and democratic freedoms. Despite this fact, some evidence impugns the fairness of the elections. Numerous times, Donald Trump accused Joe Biden of fraud and the “stealing” the elections. The problem with the claims of the ex-president is that they lack evidence that would prove that the opponent indeed has undertaken some illegal activities (Subramanian and Jackson). Therefore, such claims create an impression that Trump predicts his potential loss and, by all means, tries to hinder the elections.
At the same time, a more precise investigation of the elections process shows that the concerns of the representative of the Republican party about the fairness of the elections might be reasonable. This way, a couple of days ago on the Internet appeared information that more than 20.000 dead people voted in Pennsylvania. This news sounds disappointing and undermines the trust in the quality of the US electoral system and the government. However, later, it was announced that the dead voters was a rumor that has no prove (Alba). Nevertheless, the claim of the spokesman for the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office that there is no evidence that explicitly demonstrates the fraud makes think that the proves were concealed.
Apparently, it would be wrong to state that the results were counterfeited grounding on the evidence above. At the same time, it seems fair to claim that ordinary citizens are highly unlikely to be told that there were numerous frauds and the manipulation of votes. The fact that Trump goes to the Supreme Court on the issue of the presidential elections, in my opinion, indicates that there were problems that should be more precisely investigated. What is more, several news resources inform that Trump faces challenges with making the Supreme Court intervene in the procedure of votes counting (Gresko and Sherman). This seems suspicious because if there were no frauds, then why the Court does not merely tell that Trump is wrong in his firm beliefs in fraudulent activities of the Democrats and the results of the elections are lawful.
In terms of security, there are any censures towards the presidential elections of 2020. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has developed a thorough plan to ensure the security of the elections (CISA 1-3). The security is guaranteed by establishing “robust relationships with community organizations and leaders” (CISA 1). These relationships are used as “vital communications channels” and imply that CISA is informed of any accidents near the polling stations (CISA 1). Another security measure was to “train election workers on de-escalation tactics, identifying and reporting suspicious activities, active shooter scenarios” (CISA 1). Finally, the Agency representatives “encourage election officials, poll workers, and voters to report suspicious behavior” (CISA 2). It should also be noticed that the CISA particularly was concerned with the protection of the elections from the interventions of foreign governments. The absence of accidents and casualty at the places of voting shows that the security measures developed by CISA were efficient.
Talking about the transparency of the elections, it could be suggested that doubts about the number of votes came not because of fraud but rather resulted from the lack of transparency. In one of the speeches after the end of elections, Trump warned Americans that they deserve more transparent elections (NDTV). At this point, it should be noted that this issue is actively discussed in the scholar community. For example, as Green puts it, the present rules on elections do not meet reality and are not adjusted to the modernized and highly technological world (1). Thus, it becomes evident that specific changes should be made because the current election system is outdated.
Works Cited
Alba, Davey. “No, 21,000 dead people in Pennsylvania did not vote.” The New York Times, 2020, Web.
CISA. “Election security – Physical security of voting locations and election Facilities.” CISA, 2020, Web.
Green, Rebecca. “Transparency rules in U.S. elections need updating to reflect 21st century realities.” 2014.
Gresko, Jessica, and Sherman, Mark. “Trump faces tough road in getting Supreme Court to intervene.” AP, 2020.
NDTV. “Americans Deserve “Full Transparency” On Vote Count: Donald Trump.” NDTV, 2020.
Subramanian, Courtney, and Jackson, David. “Trump levels baseless claims about effort to ‘steal’ the election as Biden’s lead grows.” USA Today, 2020.