The Democratic Party has a new campaign pitch: Vote in November, or lose that right completely.
Democrats have worked hard over the past year to convince voters that President Trump and the GOP are waging a war against the public’s democratic rights, including the right to vote. Hence the ridiculous conspiracy theory that the United States Postal Service is sabotaging the election by delaying mail-in voting. This also explains why certain Democratic candidates, namely former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, insisted that she had been robbed of the election after losing fair and square. It’s much easier to claim the game is rigged than to concede defeat.
But make no mistake: The Democratic Party knows what it’s doing. If they’re going to win in November, Democrats need to increase voter turnout, and it’s obvious that their strategy over the past two election cycles did not work. So they’ve decided to make things personal by leading voters to believe that their rights are on the line.
This was Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’s message during the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday. She urged viewers to register if they had not already and warned that if they did not do so, this might be the last election in which people can choose their president freely. This is total nonsense, but that doesn’t matter to the Democratic Party. All that matters is that this supposed existential threat is motivation enough to give the party the results it needs.
Trump is guilty of this as well, arguing often without evidence that mail-in voting is ripe with fraud. To be sure, mail-in voting presents legitimate problems that need to be dealt with. But Trump’s real concern is that if mail-in ballots become more widely accessible, Democrats will gain an advantage.
To a certain extent, Trump is right. It’s this advantage Democrats want — even if they have to lie to their voters to get it. The baseless conspiracy theories, the over-the-top hyperbole, and the doomsday warnings: All of it serves a specific purpose. But even if Democrats win come November, will it have been worth it?
