With the U.S. presidential election ( as of 6th November 2020) , hanging in the balance, we are reminded of the
extraordinary and bizarre process this purportedly 'exceptional nation' has to find its new exceptional 'president of
the free world'.
Not only do United States citizens only have a binary choice between two right wing corrupt elderly white males, but the process of the election itself is deeply flawed.
Not only does the U.S. Electoral College process mean that the majority of voters may or may not have the president of
their very limited choice ( No Green candidates, no left-wing candidates - only the candidates of the monied), but each
state's electoral process for counting and accepting votes is different and open to manipulation (and legal challenge)
It is extraordinary that the federal election of the U.S. president and Congress does not have one national federal
electoral process that everyone can understand.
Democrat Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota tweets (11/06/20) 'South Dakota requires voter ID (even for early voting.) Ballots must be received on or by Election Day. All paper
ballots, which are easy to verify. Counting is bipartisan and open to the public. We have an EXCELLENT system. Every
Democrat-run state should imitate it'
What is truly bizarre from this tweet, is not only that its seems to be surprising to Americans to have ballot papers
being 'easy to verify', but that votes are counted by 'bi-partisan' vote -counters-(not independent vote counters), and
that each state clearly has its own system for verifying the validity of voters, and that the type of electoral
processing system will depend on which party is in control of the state legislature.
Even more amazingly, the process by which each state has a declared winner for president is determined, not by a federal
national election office, but by private national media outlets like Fox News, CNN or AP. Hence, as of 6th November, we have different national figures reported of Electoral Office delegate totals for Trump or
Biden depending on which media outlet is making the call.
Jo Biden however can assure us though (6th November 2020) that the American voting system is 'the envy of the world'. 'Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience as well. But that patience has been rewarded now
for more than 240 years with a system of governance that has been the envy of the world.' !!!
As a country which purports to be the model of democracy for the rest of the world, and which continually makes calls
about other countries 'lack of democracy', it is time to consider whether future US presidential elections require
independent foreign observers to ensure their fairness and accuracy.
Combine this bizarre electoral process with extraordinary levels of ignorance and a consequent monochrome view of their
own U.S. world, let alone the outside world; by both candidates and electors, and you have a recipe for disaster.
The level of systemic incompetence demonstrated by this electoral system to elect the "leader of the free world" is a
salutary lesson to us all.Links