Inconceivable. Obliterative. Mind-numbing.
Those are the primary adjectives that come to mind this afternoon as I survey the wreckage — national, state and local — of yesterday’s election.
I don’t intend to dip into despair, however. It’s still great to be an American and enjoy the personal freedoms we have…at least for now. In addition, the quality of our individual lives should continue to be good…at least for now.
In short, I’m not moving anywhere, not now, not ever. Bury me (naturally) in Prairie Village.
But, man, yesterday produced as big a bombshell as 2016, don’t you think?
Two overarching reflections
:: The fact that the presidential race is so tight is very bad news for Democrats. Even if Joe Biden should prevail on the basis of post-Election Day counting, I fully expect a Supreme Court majority to rationalize its way to throwing out enough ballots to flip the result (yes, Bret Kavanaugh, flip the result). If RBG had held on, I think Chief Justice John Roberts would have voted on the side of democracy to uphold a close Biden victory. As it is, Trump’s Gang of Three, plus the other two Republican-appointed justices, will surely have their way.
:: Polling — soliciting the pre-election preferences of voters — is shot. Some of it may have to do with voters not leveling with pollsters, but I think it mainly has to do with cellphones having displaced landlines. The pollsters just aren’t getting adequate samplings, and I have no idea how that can be fixed. I’m not blaming pollsters; I just think it’s a lost art. On the positive side, it has made elections more predictable and, depending on your affiliation, more exciting. (I’m sure Republicans around the country are jubilant today, and you’ve got to hand it to to them, they really turned out yesterday.)
The Senate, which, it appears, Republicans will continue to control…
- I thought, from polling, Susan Collins was toast. Instead, she is eating Sara Gideon’s lunch.
- I thought, in my home state of Kentucky, Democrat Amy McGrath might give Mitch McConnell a scare. Instead, he delivered a frightening beat-down, running up a 20-point margin.
- I thought Jaime Harrison might unseat Lindsey Graham. Instead, Lindsey is sitting in the catbird seat, still wearing that shit-eating grin.
- I thought, in the next-door battle of the doctors, Barbara Bollier might wrap Roger Marshall in surgical tape. Instead, she ended up in the E.R.
Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao on Tuesday in Louisville, KY
State (Missouri) and local (Jackson County)…
:: Every Republican running statewide creamed his Democratic opponent, including Mike (wear-a-mask-if you-wanna) Parson, who trounced Nicole Galloway. The only good news here is that term limits will knock him out in 2024 because he served more than two years of Eric Greitens’ term before being sworn in June 1, 2018.
:: Passage of Amendment 3, which overturned the Clean Missouri amendment voters approved in 2018, is a crying shame. I figured this was going to be close because the ballot language was deceptive and unclear. Amazingly, two of the three Missouri Court of Appeals judges who wrote the ballot language — Lisa White Hardwick and Karen King Mitchell — were appointed by Democratic governors. They should be voted out of office next time they are up for retention, which, unfortunately, is only every 12 years. Because of Tuesday’s outcome, Republicans will continue to have an iron grip on redistricting, which will extend, seemingly in perpetuity, their control of the Missouri House and Senate.
:: I was surprised that 59 percent of Jackson County voters voted to continue displaying the Andrew Jackson statues outside the Kansas City and Independence courthouses. I thought a majority might vote to toss Jackson. But, as I’ve said before, I am proud to be a Jackson Countian, and it’s okay with me if he continues to sit tall in the saddles.
:: Jackson County Question 1 asked voters to assess a tax of up to $1 a month (you can bet it won’t be “up to;” it will be the full buck) to help fund the 911 call system. Currently, the system is funded by a 7-percent fee just on landlines. I recommended a “no” vote on this because I have zero confidence in Jackson County government. On the other hand, I fully recognize the unfairness of letting cellphone users off scot-free…We can end this post-Election Day rumination on a somewhat hopeful note, then: By a margin of 52 percent to 50 percent, Jackson County voters opted for fairness, meaning we cellphone users will be putting $12 a year into the muddy trough that supports a worthless County Legislature and an in-over-his-head county executive.
Now, back to watching the calendar. 2024 is hurtling toward us, and if Texas should go blue, it’s a whole new game.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Yes, I sure was hoping that McConnell would be shown the door by Kentucky voters, but for me to even be thinking that that was going to happen, I must have been under the influence of some serious Kentucky bourbon. I also was pulling for Bollier in the battle of the doctors and was disappointed to see her come up a little short. Agreed. The passage of Amendment 3 in the Show-Me State is a real disgrace. But the most important takeaway from this election is that we’ve just got to clean up these elections so that we have more consistency in regard to what ballots are going to be counted and how long after Election Day can they be received and still be counted. Agreed: The Democrats have to be disappointed with some of the results last night.
Jim, while I do not necessarily agree with everything you stated above, I do agree that there needs to be comprehensive ballot reform (I know I am a Kansan sticking my nose in Missouri elections). In Kansas, mail-in ballots, pre-voting at selected locations and delivering ballots to ballot drop-boxes at libraries has worked in the past and worked well this year as well. Missouri needs to adopt the same plan. I know the main reasons that Missouri is so skittish about absentee ballots and resistant to mail-in ballots. It dates back to the bosses of Kansas City and St. Louis days, and the widespread voter fraud (deceased persons voting, etc.), Also, in the late 1970s or early 1980s, there was a man in Kansas City, a Republican, (I wish I could remember his name), who was notorious in going to nursing homes and persuading the residents to sign absentee ballots.
I don’t think a notary was always present, and if not, he went to a notary who did not see the person sign their name. I believe he was eventually convicted of election fraud and either was on probation or served actual time. I do not agree for any state to automatically mail ballots to everyone on the voter rolls. That does open the door to fraud. Many people have moved, are deceased, lost their eligibility to vote (convicted felons, or felons still serving their sentence and parole). Someone can easily fill in the voter certification and forge the deceased person’s signature, or forge the previous resident’s signature by the current resident.
I don’t think that voter fraud is anywhere near the level of the Boss days nor what Kobach, Trump and Company claim. I worked for the Jackson County Election Board the summer of 1978 for the primary, checking to remove convicted felons, deceased persons from the voter rolls, preparing to mail absentee ballots, checking returned ballots for “hanging chad,” etc. Unless things have totally switched and it is corrupt through and through, I do not see then, nor now that it is easy to commit widespread voter fraud.
It took me a couple of minutes, Bill, but I remembered the name of the man who was so good at mining absentee votes. He was Bill Redpath, and he worked in concert with a woman named Lydia Miller, who, I believe, was also his domestic partner. I did not recall him getting convicted, but a Google search turned up a case in the 1980s where a jury convicted him of “knowingly delivering a fraudulent absentee ballot.” The file I saw didn’t indicate what the penalty was…He was actually a pretty nice guy in person. I remember his as smiling a lot and very accessible. I’m sure he and Lydia are both deceased by now.
Thanks, Jim, for the names! Yes, they were the two. Yes, they seemed nice, but intended to run afoul of absentee ballot laws or were ignorant (didn’t check the laws before doing their “collecting” routine).
And there is Aaron Coleman, a completely different train wreck. Oh, what God hath wrought.