Georgia, once again, will be a state to watch in this year’s presidential election.
The state’s voting record in 2020 became the subject of a nationwide controversy when Joe Biden pipped Donald Trump to the state’s 16 Electoral College votes by a majority of just under a razor-thin 12,000. The close result led to a nationwide debate over the integrity of elections in the U.S., as well as a completely bogus and politically motivated indictment against Donald Trump.
Trump’s dispute over the result saw constant criticism from the mainstream media, including the New York Times. Many brushed aside legitimate concerns as unevidenced claims – something which Georgia’s election board has now sought to rectify ahead of the upcoming election.
Effectively, the board has introduced new measures to ensure that repeat of the 2020 controversy won’t happen again. Going forward, they’ll be including a mandatory 3pm deadline on the Friday after an election to ensure a fair ballot, and also giving increased power to audit the vote. In a 3-2 decision on Monday, the board voted to expand the powers of county election boards to investigate vote tallies before certifying them – which is controversial only to those in favor of cheating.
The New York Times, however, described the board as a “far-right takeover” with “new power to influence results in 2024.”
There are two issues with such rhetoric.
The first is that effectively mirrors the criticism aimed towards Trump in the aftermath of 2020; if you don’t like the result, you can claim it was rigged. The other, perhaps more prudent, is that the NYT is effectively accusing the Republican-controlled board of manipulating the process in favor of a candidate – something it ridiculed Trump for doing three years prior.
It’s ironic that Democrats can call anyone “election deniers” – when it’s evident that everyone is aware elections can be rigged. The only difference is who is believed to be doing the rigging.
Social media users also offered their own insight on the story.
Another noted the NYT’s use of the term “far-right”.
