by Lowman S. Henry | October 25, 2022

Election deniers is the pejorative the Left – a confederation of socialist Democrats, academia, much of the judiciary, and the legacy news media – use to describe anyone who dares suggest fraud tainted results of the 2020 Presidential election.

Rather than track down and disabuse any hints of fraud the Left threw up a stonewall fighting to prevent any serious investigations thus triggering further suspicion. Into that void have rushed numerous conspiracy theories, most far-fetched but some of which may have been worthy of examination.

The real problem is not that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen; rather it was hijacked by changing rules which were and are inconsistently enforced, endlessly litigated, and ultimately confusing even to the most informed voter.

American Spectator columnist Jeff Lord has turned the tables on the Left labeling them “fraud deniers.” Fraud occurs in every election – a former Philadelphia congressman was recently sentenced to prison for engaging in fraud – the real question is was fraud so pervasive that it changed the outcome of the election?

Because of the fraud deniers questions and suspicions linger. The Left would have you believe that only “mega MAGA trickle down” extremists, as President Joe Biden would say, question his election and subscribe to the “big lie” that Donald Trump actually won re-election.

The problem, however, extends far beyond the fervent Trump base.

The Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research recently conducted its semi-annual Keystone Business Climate Survey. Participants in the survey are the owners and top line executives of businesses – large and small – throughout Pennsylvania. They were asked if they were “very, somewhat or not at all concerned that the upcoming November General election will be conducted fairly and that the vote count will be accurate?” The result was stunning: 75% are in fact concerned that the upcoming election will be fair and accurate – 39% are very concerned.

Again, these are business owners and executives more concerned with inflation, supply chain disruptions, and problems finding qualified employees than they are in re-litigating the 2020 election. But, they have seen and heard enough to have lost faith in the fairness and accuracy of Pennsylvania’s election process.

Current circumstances threaten to further erode confidence in the vote count. The Supreme Court of the United States recently ruled that undated mail in ballots cast in a Pennsylvania judicial race could not be counted. This because state law clearly and inarguably states that such ballots must be dated to be valid. In other words the nation’s highest court upheld the law.

That was not good enough for Pennsylvania’s acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman who has directed counties to count undated mail in absentee ballots now being cast in the General election. Let me repeat that: the ACTING Secretary of State (she has not been confirmed by the state senate) has ordered county election bureaus to take an action contrary to a ruling of the highest court in the land.

Chapman’s directive has now been challenged in court and the issue has returned again to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which will likely decide the issue within days. However, in the eyes of many Pennsylvanians the state Supreme Court lacks legitimacy on election issues. The activist justices have repeatedly injected themselves into the electoral process rewriting laws and even redrawing congressional district maps.

This controversy alone guarantees that if either the race for Pennsylvania’s seat in the United States Senate and/or the contest for governor are close the aftermath is going to be ugly. Joe Biden carried Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes in 2020 – this after the state Supreme Court gifted him about the same number of votes by throwing the Green Party’s presidential candidate off the ballot. Recent polling suggests at least one of this year’s races is likely to be decided by a similarly close margin.

Legislative Republicans attempted to address many of the problems associated with the electoral process passing legislation which included reforms sought by county election bureaus. That bill was vetoed by Governor Tom Wolf ensuring the flaws inherent in the system will remain in place for this year’s balloting.

And so, with mail-in balloting already underway and Election Day itself almost upon us the integrity of the process remains in question. Blame goes to the fraud deniers, the Wolf Administration, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for their endless tampering with the process and willful disregard of state law.

We can only hope Penn’s Woods doesn’t once again become the focus of an embarrassing national election controversy.

(Lowman S. Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly Lincoln Radio Journal and American Radio Journal. His e-mail address is [email protected].)

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