Cheating at a Rigged Game

It's both disappointing and hopeful to see the vote margin in the recent midterms. 10,000 for Senate in Florida, 50,000 for Governor in Georgia, and 250K for Senate in Texas (but out of 8 million votes). These are all very slim margins. It's depressing that this is what the future of the country hinges upon, but it's also hopeful to know that swinging Red states Blue requires so little.

But perhaps the biggest issue is that these margins all fall within the margins we can attribute to voter suppression. If felons weren't disenfranchised in Florida, 10,000 would be a drop in the bucket considering over a million felons couldn't vote. 50K is another drop in the bucket considering the something like 400K kicked off the voter rolls (not to mention the other voter suppression tactics) in Georgia. And even Beto's 250K loss might not amount to much given how damn impossible it is to register new voters in Texas, where you can't just travel the state handing out voter registration cards, but where every individual who wants to register voters has to themselves register in every single county in which they want to do so.

The American system might contain many undemocratic elements that skew, and were designed to skew, American institutions in a much more conservative direction. But aside from those, which do deserve criticism, I think we're also seeing just how effective voter suppression tactics can be.

And perhaps, also, we're seeing the weakness of the GOP, who can't even win at a game whose rules were written to help them win, but who have to cheat too.