Inside Democracy

July 12, 2021 ☼ nycvotinggoppropaganda

Source: Steady - Link

The count began ignominiously. There are no phones allowed in the ballot-counting room, but word spread quickly last Tuesday after the NYC Board of Elections mistakenly included 135,000 test ballots when releasing the results of the first round of ranked-choice voting. Republicans across the country were ready to pounce on one of their favorite topics: the supposed “dysfunction” and “hubris” of big cities like New York. They were eager to play the game of false equivalence —  highlighting their cynical and disingenuous campaign against “voter fraud.” Headlines such as “Trump: ‘Nobody will ever know who really won’ NYC mayoral vote — just like presidential election” led some of Wednesday’s newspapers. But this wasn’t a version of The Big Lie, just an imperfect Board of Elections.

It was a bad time to make a mistake like this, but this in no way even comes close to confirming the fraud lies put forth by GOP pundits. For one thing, it was caught and rectified quickly.