About Connections: Love it or hate it, history is a map. Those who hate history think it irrelevant; many who love history think it escapism. In truth, history is the clearest road map to how we got here: America in the 21st century.
In 14 days, America votes. I have less doubt about the will of the people than the outcome of the vote. There are many reasons why the popular vote might not reflect the popular will. Voter suppression, gerrymandering and voter fraud are old news. To them, add a new element: foreign interference.
Voter suppression began with the Constitution. While our founding document spelled out the rights of citizens, until amended, it also made clear who could not vote. Today it has been raised to a fine art. Voter suppression schemes target specific populations, generally nonwhites, and make it onerous or impossible to register, get to the poll and cast a vote.
Gerrymandering — a practice that redistricted to give more weight to voters in one party than another — might have been called Henry-mandering. In 1788, Gov. Patrick Henry of Virginia was the first to redraw districts to force James Madison, whom he loathed, to face James Monroe. However, the ploy failed — Madison won.
Less than 30 years later, in 1812, it succeeded. At the behest of Gov. Elbridge Gerry, the Massachusetts legislators carved out an odd-shaped district that looked like a salamander. The practice was called “gerrymander” — a combination of the name for the reptile and the governor.
In New York, Tammany Hall saw the way and the wisdom in committing voter fraud. The wave of immigrants into New York City in the 1850s was overwhelming. It was before government social welfare programs, and Tammany provided the only relief. The practice generated intense loyalty and, in exchange, the immigrants were instructed to “vote the Tammany way.” A population potentially unable to read the ballot were never unclear where to put their marks. If immigrant votes did not tilt the outcome sufficiently, Tammany workers stuffed the ballot boxes.
In Massachusetts, the 19th century imperative was “vote early and often.” Any confusion about how exactly to vote more than once was dispelled by political operatives combing graveyards for proper names. In Massachusetts, you could be lifeless and still not useless. Luckily, voter fraud diminished markedly and is not considered statistically significant today. Significant today is foreign interference.
On Oct. 19, 2018, a rare joint statement from National Intelligence, the Justice Department, the FBI and Homeland Security was issued, warning there is an “Ongoing campaign by … foreign actors to undermine confidence in democratic institutions, influence public sentiment and public policies, and influence voter perception and decision making in 2018 and 2020 elections.”
It is not difficult to understand why “foreign actors” interfere. They are our enemies and see advantage in weakening our democracy. It is harder to understand why American citizens would undermine elections. Yet, in American history, the movements to be inclusive have been balanced by the movements to remain exclusive. Efforts to amend the Constitution and grant rights more broadly have been met by efforts to suppress the vote. Why?
The easy answer is, “they want to win.” Perhaps that is accurate, but is it a sufficient reason to undermine democracy? Voting differentiates our form of government from all others. When the people vote, they are forming the government, supporting some policies over others, and putting into action the words a “government of, by, and for the people.” When anyone attempts to undermine the vote, they undermine our form of government. Is winning reason enough to weaken our democracy? Or is there more? Consider our history.
