As resident of a state where all the electoral votes went to Donald Trump in 2020, I didn’t have to worry about challenges to our voting system. The challengers who questioned the integrity of our electoral systems were Republicans, after all, and a state that went 100% Republican raised no questions.
Calm as the 2020 race was in Missouri, there was tension during the 2022 (midterm) election. The poll workers at my voting place are neighbors, all women, and they were watchful. I recognized one husband—the guy with the backhoe that digs out ponds—sitting on a lawn chair in the bed of his pickup truck when I pulled into the parking lot. He had potato chips, a cooler and a water bottle and seemed to be settled in for the day. Looking back, I wonder if his wife had been threatened.
This year, 2024, the Missouri situation is even more interesting. While once again I hear arguments for Trump from my neighbors, yard signs are few and far between. Our local newspaper has begun running articles that put the orange guy in a bad light and I take that as a sign that they are more confident in having a few Democrat-leaning subscribers. At the same time, my most strident pro-Trump neighbors are parroting his statements of a rigged jury trial.
And petitioners obtained 10,000 signatures to get Robert Kennedy Jr. on the ballot, running as an Independent. So far, according to a Zogby poll taken in April, Kennedy Jr. was out-polling Joe Biden 52% to 37% and Kennedy Jr. was polling at 42% to Trump’s 45%.
Please note: In April, when the poll was taken, Kennedy Jr. wasn’t on the ballot yet. So, these numbers show he has name recognition and that always pays. And the narrow margins from both parties mean that voters of all kinds might switch to Kennedy Jr. Thus, there’s room for contention on both sides of the aisle. Another note: Back in 1960, when Junior’s Uncle John F. Kennedy was on the ballot, he only squeaked to a Missouri win by 9,980 votes.
How to explain Kennedy Junior’s stealth campaign? At age 70, he’s the youngest candidate, but a more likely explanation is simply that voters are fed up with the dull, predictable, sedentary choices offered by the dominant parties.
Another interesting wrinkle in the Missouri situation is the strong possibility of an abortion rights vote on the ballot. Missourians for Constitutional Freedom collected 380,159 signatures for their initiative petition, more than twice the total needed to qualify for the November ballot. The Secretary of State’s office is still verifying signatures, but if it goes to a vote, we’ll decide on a measure that legalizes abortion up to fetal viability, turning back a June 2022 order that makes every abortion illegal except in medical emergencies. Will that bring out pro-Biden voters?
There are other initiative petition issues that will likely get on the November ballot, promising to create a large turnout. While we would expect initiative petitions to benefit Democrat nominees, the Kennedy Jr. race puts an unexpected new wrinkle in the Presidential vote, and a new way for ballot challengers to complain.
One thing we can do if we don’t trust the election process is to apply for one of those election jobs, and check IDs ourselves. It’s a community service and it pays a little. In Missouri, each poll watcher must declare membership in a political party so each polling place has two Democrats and two Republicans as election judges. Unaffiliated persons may be hired for other election-day jobs, but not as poll watchers. Election day, by the way, can go 12 to 14 hours. Those folks should be treated like heroes.
If you’re not comfortable working at the polls, do your part by getting informed. In my case, surrounded by Fox News watchers, I can watch Fox, and then check the facts. We can expect that Fox will cover all of Biden’s errors and slips while Trump’s will be ignored. To learn more, ask your internet search engine for “Fact Checking.”
As the pundits are constantly reminding us, we are still five months away from the election. Also note that these Zogby poll numbers assume a two-man race in each case and as far as I know there have been no polls asking what voters would do in a three-way Biden-Trump-Kennedy race. It is extremely interesting that the big media hasn’t picked up on the Kennedy Jr. race but there ya go. His team is making noise about getting him on the stage for the so-called debate and that would be (in my humble opinion) a real draw for whatever advertisers, if any, sponsor the program.
At this time, there’s no predicting what will happen in Missouri. And, in your state?
Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. Her latest book is “The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History.” Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, July 1-15, 2024
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