Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly. – John 7:24 (NLT)
What do you think of these questions I’m asking?
As a continuation to Part 1 and Part 2, here are a few more questions that I am pondering about our Nov. 3 election and aftermath. Please note I’m not giving answers, but just asking questions.
- As a teacher, I know that patterns are important and I try to share that with my students. Much of US politics falls into patterns. For example, the American Southeast is a distinct cultural bloc. From well before the Civil War till the 1970s, that entire region was called “The Solid South”–solidly Democrat. In 2016, candidate Trump won the entire region, from North Carolina to Texas. This time, he won the whole region again, except for Georgia. Why was Georgia the sole exception in that whole area?
- In 2016, Trump won Georgia 50.4 to Clinton’s 45.3: a solid 5.1% win. Why would so many voters there change their mind this time?
- In the runup to November, pundits were predicting a close race or even a Biden win in the crucial state of Florida. However, Trump proved them wrong by winning Florida by a bigger margin this time than four years ago. I understand that Atlanta is a growing city with a large population influx from other states, and many of those new residents are Democrat voters. However, the same should be true for Florida, if not more so. How did Trump carry Florida by a bigger margin this time than last, yet lose neighboring Georgia?
- While I was watching the election returns on the night of Nov. 3, some reporters were outside the State Farm Arena in Atlanta to report on Georgia’s returns. They started laughing that a water pipe had broken and that caused the Fulton County officials to have to pause the vote-counting until it would be fixed. Fulton County, covering Atlanta, is Georgia’s biggest county with over 1 million residents. I remember the reporters bantered among themselves how, after years of election-night reporting, they had never seen a count stopped for a water-pipe break. Since then, some attorneys and reporters have asked to see the documentation about the water leak and its repair. To my knowledge, no Fulton County or State Farm Arena officials have been able to produce the work order to fix the leak, or the invoice to charge for the repair, or the receipt showing someone paid the plumber. How can that be? Why do we not know which plumber or plumbing company was called to fix the leak? If you or I call a plumber to fix a leak or unclog a drain, we get a bill plus have evidence of payment. Why is there no such record from the State Farm leak that night? I understand that it is hard for many of us to wrap our minds around abstractions like manipulated algorithms, middle of the night vote dumps, etc., but shouldn’t a burst water pipe be easy to understand and easy to document? If so, why no paper trail?
– Scott Dreyer
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