William Hale Thompson, who served as Chicago’s mayor from 1915 to 1923 and from 1931 to 1935, famously said, “Vote early and vote often.”
The phrase was repeated by gangster Al Capone and later by Richard Daley, Chicago’s mayor from 1955 to 1976. Some say that Mayor Daley was responsible for Jack Kennedy’s victory over Richard Nixon in 1960.
Will there be voter fraud in November’s presidential election? Safeguards are in place, but questions remain. Both the Biden and Trump organizations have, allegedly, hired teams of lawyers to contest the results. This done before the election was even contested!
There can be no doubt, this year’s election is considered to be one of the most important in American history. Both sides are predicting national disaster if their opponent prevails.
A Biden presidency would, according to one Trump spokesman, usher in an era of socialist policies which would cripple the country. Bloated government, higher taxes, burdensome regulation, skyrocketing unemployment.….disaster!
Victory by Donald Trump would, according to the progressive left, be the death of democracy in America. They cite……well, the list is endless and covers every imaginable transgression. You have heard it all. There is no need to repeat it here.
Yet, voters in the United States have a dismal record. There were 126 million voting age citizens in 2016, but only 55% of them went to the polls. That was the lowest turnout since the 1996 election when just over 53% voted.
Excuses abound: “It was too cold (hot) to go outside. My candidate was way ahead in the polls; so why bother to vote? My candidate was hopelessly behind in the polls; so why bother to vote? The dog ate my ballot.”
We ought to do better this time. No, we need to do better this time. If you don’t vote, you forfeit your right to complain for the next four years.
The signs are encouraging. Early balloting is running dramatically ahead of what we saw in 2016.
One political expert, noting the passion and energy emanating from both campaigns, predicted that turnout would exceed 65%. That would be impressive, but a liberal friend of mine said that he was shooting for 120%.
Vote early and vote often.