I hate to say that I beat him to the punch, but…
=============
Earlier this week, I posted:
To quell tensions & suspicions, President-elect Biden should promise that he’ll convene a bipartisan Commission on Election Integrity … or better yet, name another Special Counsel to investigate election “irregularities”.
Well, that view is now being shared by law prof Jonathan Turley.
In a USA Today opinion piece, Turley sets the context:
I hate federal commissions. I have always hated federal commissions.
Federal commissions are Washington’s way of managing scandals.
They work like placebos for political fevers, convincing voters that answers and change are on the way.
That is why it is so difficult for me to utter these words:
We need a real federal election commission.
Here’s the essence of Turley’s reasoning…
===========
Turley argues that there three reasons why a real commission is needed:
First, and most important, this was an unprecedented election in the reliance of mail-in voting and the use of new voting systems and procedures.
We need to review how that worked down to the smallest precincts and hamlets.
=====
Second, tens of millions of voters believe that this election was rigged and stolen.
The integrity of our elections depends on the faith of the electorate.
Most of the cases challenging the election were not decided on the merits.
Indeed, it seems they haven’t even been allowed for discovery.
Instead, they were largely dismissed on jurisdictional or standing groups or under the “laches” doctrine that they were brought too late.
Those allegations need to be conclusively proven or disproven in the interests of the country.
=====
Third, there were problems.
There was not proof of systemic fraud or irregularities, but there were problems of uncounted votes, loss of key custodial information and key differences in the rules governing voting and tabulations.
But, Turley warns:
A real commission will take a couple years to fully address these allegations.
It will be meaningless if it’s stacked by the same reliable political cutouts used historically in federal commissions.
It should be formed on a commitment of absolute transparency with public hearings and public archiving of underlying material before the issuance of any final report.
That way, the public at large can analyze and contribute to the review of this evidence.
The stakes are too high to allow even a dust particle to tip the difference on the ultimate findings.
Otherwise, the public will be the loser.
So, let’s have a commission, but let’s make it a real one.
Maybe, with Turley’s prodding, Biden will take this bold step to unify the country.
But, for now, I’m betting the under.
The Homa Files 
January 8, 2021 at 10:11 am |
An election commission would address the immediate concerns and the announcement might help calm the waters. Longer term the country needs a cabinet level position (secretary of election integrity?) to address 4 areas: general election integrity (process and rules), campaign finance reform, voter suppression and gerrymandering. These are root cause problems that drive distrust in elections on both sides of the political divide. The announcement of THAT might help the country heal and restore faith that there will be focus and change.
It was determined by many separate entities (state and federal courts, justice department, state election boards…) that there was NOT widespread election fraud in 2020. And after 60 legal attempts, insufficient evidence was produced to persuade the courts to act. There were some small instances and there were situations of ballot count timing that created deep distrust. The outcome for this election would not be different though and it is time to accept and move forward. And a violent attack on the capital is not an acceptable way to address or even begin to solve.