Across the United States of America, ballots are still being counted. Election results are being finalized, recounted and in some instances, changed.
Politicians of both major political parties have called into question results in different states. President Donald Trump has called for the results in Florida to be certified from Election Day so Florida Governor Rick Scott can be declared the next Republican Senator from Florida and Rep. Ron Desantis to be named the next Governor. Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says that if the elections were “fair,” the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Stacey Abrams, would be the governor-elect.
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill was asked about these issues on “The Dale Jackson Show,” and called them “an embarrassment.”
“I’ll tell you exactly what it is. It’s an embarrassment,” Merrill stated. “It’s an embarrassment to that individual community, it’s an embarrassment to that region of the state, it’s an embarrassment to that state and it’s an embarrassment to the nation as a whole.”
Merrill said he sees these continuing controversies causing people to question the legitimacy of elections.
“When they allow people to make up their own rules, make up their own laws and make up their own procedures and don’t follow the standards that are set aside, that’s a problem for everybody. It puts people in a position to lose confidence in the process. And whenever people begin to have their confidence erode in the process, then people quit participating because they don’t think when they cast their vote that their voice is going to be heard for the candidate of their choice. That’s a problem,” he warned.
As for Alabam’s issues, Merrill says they were overblown in the leadup to the election.
Partial transcript as follows:
JACKSON: You have voter issues across the state that I’m sure came up on Election Day. We’ve seen them come up in other states, as well. Anything of note happen in the state of Alabama that we should know about?
MERRILL: No, sir.
JACKSON: None?
MERRILL: No, sir.
In 2000, the Bush/Gore situation cause half the country to believe the election was stolen. The 2016 Russian collusion story has been going on for over two years later with no end in sight. And now in 2018, we have a slow rolling blue wave that appears to have changed at least two Senate results and numerous House seats from the announced results on Election Night. Rightly, or wrongly, this does not cause people to trust the results.
If we all lose faith in our elections, there could be serious consequences in the future.
Listen:
@TheDaleJackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a conservative talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN
