Election Integrity at Risk: GOP’s Attempts to Discard Votes

It appears that Republicans will stop at nothing to secure a victory, even if it means resorting to cheating. The recent GOP attempt to overturn a Democratic win in a North Carolina state Supreme Court race faced a significant setback on Monday night. Federal District Court Judge Richard Myers, a staunch conservative appointed by President Donald Trump, rejected Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin’s efforts to discard thousands of votes. Instead, Myers ordered the State Board of Elections to certify Democrat Allison Riggs’ 734-vote victory.

This case raises the question of whether a state can change election rules after the fact and apply them retroactively to a select group of voters, treating them differently than others. Essentially, the Republican state judges wanted to cherry-pick voters to ensure a win.

The state court decisions would have infringed upon the equal protection and due process rights of overseas military and civilian voters. Shockingly, they did not want to count overseas military votes, despite claiming to support our military. Judge Myers found this scheme to be a violation of these voters’ rights, as it required them to go to extra lengths to have their votes counted compared to voters in other counties.

The retroactive invalidation of overseas military and civilian voters’ ballots was deemed a violation of their due process rights. In the end, it is clear that the Republicans are willing to bend and break the law to achieve their goals.