The Moving Hand

How pleasant it would be to walk out alone,
First along by the river and then through the park.
- from The Dead by James Joyce. 

Despite temperatures up in the 90s, I took my walk along the Chattahoochee trail today, but my phone only credits me with 4.7 miles when I know I've done a full 5.0. I think that when I walk a certain distance and then turn around and head back, it doesn't always record the full length before the turn-around. And when my course has several about-faces as it did today, the short counts add up.

But enough about me. The news here in Georgia reports that the state elections board just passed a rule requiring all counties to perform an investigation of the results before they certify the vote.  The person who introduced this rule explained that it's just common sense - how can you certify something if you haven't investigated it? - and besides, it's not like they're requiring a full audit or a forensic investigation. But that person was also recently nominated to the board by Republicans, and during his rally last week here in Georgia, Trump called out the official by name, praising him for doing "a great job" and vowing that he was going to "keep on fighting." 

Electors are supposed to be neutral and non-partisan. But put yourself into that official's shoes for a moment - if you don't do everything in your power, both legal and not, to flip the election to Trump regardless of the outcome, you're going to be on his Mike Pence List of Enemies. And after the rally, you know that he knows who you are, and what he expects of you. Flip those votes to his favor, or face the wrath of Trump (and possibly mob violence, too).

There's a line in that old 1980s Psychedelic Furs song, Forever Now, that goes "He isn't very honest, but he's obvious at least." It wasn't written about Trump, but it could have been. If the press knows about the partisans on the electoral board, and if I know about it, then surely the Democrats and the Justice Department know about it as well. But I haven't heard anything about a counterstrategy in the likely event that local election boards in Georgia and across the country refuse to certify the results. Go to court and face the appeals until it winds up in the corrupt and partisan Supreme Court? That's not going to work - in fact, I suspect that's exactly what the Republicans want. 

It makes sense that they have a counter strategy - they must have some plan! - and it makes sense that they're not leaking the strategy to the press.  But all of this recent groundswell of enthusiasm for Harris and Walz and Trump's fall in the polls is meaningful only if there's fair elections, and all reporting indicates it will be anything but fair.