The Emerging “I”

‘I’ for intervention, ‘I’ for insurrection

December, 2020, Lansing, Michigan: Republican self-appointed ad hoc state “electors” denied entry into the State House where the Michigan Electoral College met to count their votes. Pictured above, Republican Party Chair Meshawn Maddock and her husband, State Rep. Matt Maddock. Photo Rebecca Cook/Reuters, courtesy The New York Times.

“I” was called out or rather it was called out for me that a recent election analysis I presented about how two Republican leaning counties, might vote in November was flawed. (1) I had ignored that a majority of voters in Michigan, one of the critical states to a Harris electoral college win, had voted for an independent commission to redraw the congressional district map of their state resulting in Democrats winning a majority of seats in 2022. (2)

I acknowledge the oversight.

Image courtesy FiveThirtyEight.com

However, my critic and I are addressing two different election stakeholders. He is talking about voters in Congressional districts; I am talking about Republican efforts to change the course of statewide vote tallying and administration. Those efforts are channeled through counties— not through congressional districts. America’s brand of democracy relies on county administration of the voting process and final vote outcome certification residing with the US Congress, through the mandate of the Electoral College, or if ‘no decision’ is rendered by state certification, by a majority vote in the House. (3)