Time - USA (2020-11-02)

Time November 2/November 9, 2020

DON’T

PANIC

WHY FEARS OF POST-ELECTION

CHAOS ARE OVERBLOWN

By Molly Ball

to a peaceful transfer of power. The COVID-19 pan-

demic has transformed voting procedures, while the

charged political climate has focused attention on

the mechanics of an electoral system that’s shaky,

underfunded and under intense strain. It would be

naive to predict that nothing will go wrong.

But for many people, these reasonable concerns

have hardened into terror that a constitutional crisis

is all but inevitable and that it will make the debacle

in Florida in 2000 look like a walk in the park. That,

experts say, is not the case. There are worst-case sce-

narios, and the President’s conduct has made them

less unthinkable than usual. But the chances of their

coming to pass are remote. Benjamin Ginsberg, who

represented the GOP candidate in the 2000 recount,

cautions against hysteria. “The panic seems to me to

be way overblown,” he says.

What exactly are the worst-case scenarios? They

start with the absence of a clear outcome on election

night. Many states will be dealing with a massive in-

crease in mail and absentee ballots, which take lon-

ger to process than in-person votes: they have to be

removed from their envelopes, flattened for tabula-

tion and checked for signatures and other technical

requirements before they can be counted. Polls show

Trump’s disdain for mail ballots has led to a large

partisan divide when it comes to voting methods:

far more Republicans plan to vote on Election Day,

polls show, while Democrats are more likely to vote

by mail. If the tally is close, the delay could allow

RepResenTaTive maRk pocan spends a loT of
time lately trying to talk his constituents off the
ledge. They’re terrified President Trump is some-
how going to steal the election, says Pocan, a liberal
Democrat from Madison, Wis.
“Literally daily I get this question,” Pocan
says. In anxious tones, they ask about all of the
election-related lawsuits, ballot deadlines, Electoral
College technicalities and state-level hijinks. “People
are so nervous, because they think this guy will do
anything to stay in power,” he says.
Just 22% of Americans believe the election will
be “free and fair,” according to a September Yahoo
News/YouGov poll, compared with 46% who say it
won’t be. The sense of worry is understandable. The
President has sown doubt with groundless talk of a
“rigged” election and repeated refusals to commit

△

Just 22% of

Americans

believe the

election will be

“free and fair”

42