Early Voting Campaign Threatens Representative Government

Thousands of Americans gathered Saturday in cities and towns nationwide to promote early voting, escalating a long-running dispute over whether citizens should be permitted to influence the government before the government has finished influencing them. The “No Kings” events featured marches, canvassing and voter-information tables, all components of an alarming decentralized operation in which eligible adults read instructions, form opinions and select candidates without first obtaining executive approval. Organizers further encouraged participants to bring friends to the polls, exploiting the notorious constitutional loophole that allows more than one person at a time to participate in democracy.

Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond urged attendees to persuade neighbors and relatives to cast ballots, confirming official fears that civic participation can spread through ordinary conversation. President Donald Trump denounced the campaign with the modesty traditionally associated with leaders whose names appear on buildings, airplanes, steaks and commemorative merchandise. “Nobody has ever seen voting like this, where people vote before I tell them what the result should be,” Trump said. “It is very unfair, probably unconstitutional, and a president should personally approve every ballot, especially the ones from people who did not vote for him.” Constitutional scholars responded by studying the ceiling and recalling that universities have budgets.

Republican officials warned that widespread turnout could establish a dangerous precedent in which elected representatives become accountable to constituents at regular intervals. Such instability could require members of Congress to learn the price of groceries, answer telephone calls from residents or visit their districts when no fundraiser is scheduled. Election administrators also cautioned that unchecked voting may produce numerical totals, which activists could then cite when claiming that one candidate received more support than another. No Kings organizers maintained that their objective was merely to increase participation, but authorities remained alert for related democratic extremism, including checking registration status, comparing policy positions and expecting certified results to determine the winner. Early voting is therefore a coordinated attack on the nation’s sacred tradition of allowing politicians to choose which voters count.

* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.