“ The polls were telling us that people didn ’ t care about democracy or abortion . In fact , that ’ s what they cared about ,” said one analyst in a Thursday briefing . “ Our interest [ is not ] in who won this election , but that this country continued to have free and fair elections and that our freedoms continued to be protected … Any other narrative about what happened is going to leave us vulnerable again .”
VOTERS VALUES
It ’ s easy to overlook that these outcomes were possible because the nation ’ s election infrastructure — the multitude of election officials and poll workers , and the technologies they use to verify voters and count ballots — did the job that most Americans have expected over the years . That assumption changed , of course , during the course of Donald Trump ’ s presidency , when Trump started attacking the accuracy of the system before he was elected , and especially after he was defeated in 2020 . Millions of Republicans believed him and still do .
For the past two years , Trump and his allies hoped to create a path for a 2024 comeback by pushing national and state GOP organizations to back candidates for state constitutional offices that had varying degrees of authority to alter the rules surrounding access to a ballot , how votes are counted , and winners are certified . Many of those same candidates also embraced Trump ’ s belligerent attitude and vowed to revive culture wars — led by banning abortion .
That unofficial Republican Party platform , where many current GOP candidates claimed that the 2020 presidential election was stolen , expressed little reluctance to tilting voting rules for the GOP ’ s benefit , and assailed many civil rights , became known as “ election denialism ” in the press and political circles .
The earliest returns on Tuesday night showed election deniers losing key state and federal races in Pennsylvania , Michigan , and Wisconsin . By midday Thursday , only 5 new election-denying candidates out of 94 seeking statewide office had been elected , according to the States United Democracy Center , a bipartisan pro-democracy organization that has been monitoring these candidates .
“ Election Denial as a platform was a new tactic we saw this year , and the results show that it didn ’ t work ,” said Joanna Lydgate , CEO of States United Action , its advocacy arm . “ So far , most of the Election Deniers who have won statewide office were already sitting elected officials in states that voted for Trump .”
“ Election Denial as a platform was a new tactic we saw this year , and the results show that it didn ’ t work .”
“ We ’ re still waiting on results from Arizona , Nevada , and a few other states ,” she said . “ But Americans have already sent a clear message : They believe in our free and fair elections . And they don ’ t want Election Deniers to have power over their vote .” The rebuke was even wider than States United ’ s tally . In Michigan , voters passed a ballot measure with a slate of election reforms to make voting more accessible and transparent . Nevada voters passed an expansive equal rights clause to their state constitution . Voters in Michigan , like California and Vermont , opted to add abortion rights to their state constitutions . Voters in red Kentucky , like Kansas this past summer , rejected proposed constitutional limits on abortion .
Many pre-election polls missed these pro-democracy and freedom sentiments . That conventional wisdom began to crack on Election Day , when the Associated Press ’ Election Day poll of 94,000 voters — a much bigger sample than most preelection polls — reported “ about half of voters say inflation factored significantly in their vote ,” but “ slightly fewer voters — 44 % — say the future of democracy was their primary consideration .”
The economy , of course , always matters . But democracy was on the ballot .
Nationally , at least 42 million voters , a third of the electorate , cast mailed-out ballots , according to The National Vote at Home Institute , a non-profit that assists officials with this option . That usage will set a record for a midterm election and affirms that voters welcome flexible voting options and want to be heard .
Moreover , Election Day voting did not see widespread incidents of threats to election officials , or disputes among election workers and partisan observers , as many election insiders had feared . Nationally , officials administered an orderly process , even though some locales experienced glitches that delayed voters .
What stood out in the final Election Day briefing by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law , were singular incidents where individuals with right-wing sympathies bullied or hurled “ racial slurs ” at voters waiting in line , and problems with voting sites near universities that were impeding students ( which isn ’ t new ). Such intolerance , which predates Trump , still lingers in his base .
But mostly , voters opted for candidates that did not want to subvert elections and to protect personal freedom . And today ’ s voting rules and infrastructure allowed record numbers of voters cast ballots and accurately recorded their choices .
76 x The Trial Lawyer