EDITORIAL: In the quiet of the election aftermath, hope for a bulwark of democracy

Notice the quiet?

No one is shouting about rigged elections and voter fraud. The din had been going on since 2020, but now, after last week’s election—silence.

Some will assume this is explained by the fact that the man who promoted the idea that voting was crooked after he lost the presidential race in 2020 won this time around. A cynic might say that winning seems to be the instant fix for election fraud in America. But there is more to the calm following the four-year storm than the result of the 2024 presidential election.

There is the Nov. 5 election itself, which was a showcase for the workings of democracy, a reassuring reminder that voting in the U.S. is a safe and protected right and a repudiation of those who attempted to corrupt the process to reverse a previous election outcome.

It was a tremendous undertaking. The votes of more than 148 million people were processed in thousands of polling places in 50 states. A total of 3,415,306 people, the most ever, voted in Wisconsin. In Ozaukee County, an incredible 94% of eligible voters cast ballots. No voter fraud of any consequence or mischievous interruption of the process anywhere (save several fake bomb reports from foreign hackers) were reported. Few endeavors of any kind, including military and industrial operations, go as smoothly as voting in America.

A generation from now, assuming the U.S. is still a democracy, American history students will read the chapter covering the 2020-2024 period in disbelief. They will wonder: How could citizen participation in government through voting, the foundation of the republic, have been under attack?

It will be a colorful chapter, reading somewhat like a scandalous novel, opening with the false claim broadcast by the loser on the day after election that he was the rightful winner.

It will describe how, in spite of recounts, audits and court judgments that found no evidence of election tampering, the election lie grew into a malevolent force that brought about an assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob determined to overthrow the election by, among other outrages, threatening to kill the vice president if he did not violate the Constitution  and refuse to certify the election.

There will be references to fake electors and death threats to election workers and a few paragraphs about the strange manifestations of the election-overturn movement in Wisconsin.

The bumbling though malicious investigation by a former state Supreme Court justice bent on exposing voter fraud will be mentioned. It will be noted that the fiasco ended with no findings whatsoever and a $2 million bill for taxpayers to pay.

In an ironic aside in the historical account, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos will appear as the archconservative Republican who was a target of two recall attempts by other right-wing Republicans because he did not lead an effort to impeach the state’s top election official for fictional offenses.

The chapter will point out that there were consequences for some who conspired to overturn the election, that scores of participants in the Capitol insurrection were sentenced to prison, and that lawyers seeking to discredit election workers were disbarred for lying in court, including Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York and personal attorney of the president. A week after the 2024 election, Giuliani was in court being chastised by a judge for hiding assets he owed to two election workers, a mother and daughter whom he had libeled so viciously that a jury ordered him to pay them $146 million.

How does the chapter end?

Last week’s election offers hope that it will conclude that the campaign to overturn the 2020 election was an anomaly never to be seen again.

Whether they approve or disapprove of the outcome of this year’s election, all Americans can take heart that the 2024 election showed that the institution of government chosen by voters is sound and remains a bulwark of democracy.