In 2016, with the aid of a willing media, the left pushed one Russian-boogie-man trope after another to mislead the masses and manipulate the election. Then, following their defeat, they retread the narrative to thwart the will of the electorate.

Only this week, Americans definitively learned that Russiagate was a contrivance to void an election result. While Democrats failed to impeach the president, they are again working to rig an election.

This time, the left is relying on fear and litigation, weaponizing a disaster to meet their goal of winning at any cost or, barring a win, undermining the election.

Abuse of a Crisis

Last week, while endorsing Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton said the coronavirus would be a terrible crisis to waste.

Clinton was speaking specifically about expanding Medicaid, but the same sentiment is animating lawsuits and local power grabs to expand balloting by mail.

In Texas, voters who are 65 or older, disabled, in jail, or outside their home county during an election can apply to vote by mail. This isn’t newly established law, and it’s been followed without confusion for years.

Texas Democrats last month filed multiple lawsuits contending Texas election law is vague on the topic of who is eligible to vote by mail (it isn’t) and that it allows healthy individuals who are afraid of contracting the coronavirus to apply for a mail-in ballot (it doesn’t).

The initial lawsuit to reimagine all Texans as disabled was filed in an Austin district court, a venue where a friendly outcome was predicted and delivered by Democrat Judge Tim Sulak.

That ruling has been appealed, and Attorney General Ken Paxton is actively advising local officials, campaigns, and third-party organizations not to encourage healthy individuals to apply for mail-in ballots as disabled or they might be prosecuted.

Still, if Texans want to see prosecutions, they may need to act. More on this a bit later.

Bad Actors with a False Premise

Currently, three counties have moved to circumvent the rule of law. The counties that have taken action to support universal balloting by mail—Dallas, Harris, and El Paso—are controlled by Democrats. More will surely follow.

Underpinning this push to expand balloting by mail is the notion that coronavirus spread will be rampant on account of in-person voting, unduly exposing Texans to harm.

Participation in everyday activities undermines the notion that rampant spread at polling places is inevitable. Responsible citizens have been going to grocery stores, banks, and the post office for the last two months without contracting the illness en masse.

What’s more, in-person voting during the pandemic in multiple jurisdictions hasn’t ended in calamity. Wisconsin and South Korea are prime examples of in-person elections being safely conducted.

Two weeks after Wisconsin’s election, there had been no spike in new cases. Even the 50 or so cases involving individuals who voted in-person haven’t been linked to Wisconsinites in the act of voting.

Elections in person are conducted in spaces large enough to ensure distance and the objects that are touched (choke points) can be sanitized between use.

These cases should be at the ready for those defending against power grabs, but keep in mind: the crisis isn’t the only excuse that Democrats are employing to blow up Texas elections at the 11th hour.

The latest lawsuit filed in Texas by the Eric Holder-affiliated National Redistricting Foundation suggests that Texas mail-in balloting is a form of age discrimination.

While the suit has a call for expanded balloting by mail because of the pandemic, this is the type of suit that was anticipated in 2019 when conservatives were calling on lawmakers to tighten election law ahead of an onslaught.

All of these lawsuits are part of a comprehensive and coordinated plan to manufacture a win with a sack-of-potatoes-candidate at the top of the ticket and a stale platform.

Time to Step Up

Conservative leaders discussing the coronavirus this week agreed citizens calling on elected officials is the only way to ensure appropriate action is taken.

When it comes to safeguarding Texas elections, Texans must call on Gov. Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton to rigidly defend laws as they are on the books and, as soon as the opportunity presents itself, fortify our elections against fraud and frivolous litigation.

This is a commentary submitted and published with the author’s permission. If you wish to submit a commentary to Texas Scorecard, please submit your article to submission@texasscorecard.com.

Daniel Greer

Daniel Greer is the Director of Innovation for Texas Scorecard.

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