There are four years between presidential elections, but it seems like we have been hearing about the last one for a decade or so.
The controversial election involving Donald Trump and Joe Biden swirled around Georgia as one of the states former President Trump was sure he actually won. There was a probe done through Atlanta on whether the president or his staff meddled in the election and tried to “find” votes.
Whether any of that was ever true or not, we cannot unhear it. That kind of back-room finagling is directly the opposite of what our country was built on.
Did it happen? Who knows? But the mere suggestion of it is enough to cast doubt for some that our elections are legitimate.
To the credit of our governor and legislature, they sprung into action in 2021 by passing laws to enhance the security of our electoral process. A major piece of that legislation was to require identification to be shown to vote.
Despite the blowback on that point – including the loss of the NFL All-Star Game in Atlanta over it – there is nothing wrong with requiring identification to vote. We need identification to do almost everything else in our world today, and thank goodness with all the fraud out there. We need to give our social security number to get a cell phone plan, and most people have one some way or another.
There also are more dates for early voting, eliminating the argument about standing in lines on Election Day.
In 2022, our elections had a strong turnout across the state, and no one seemed to challenge their validity. That is the bottom line goal that we need to carry forward into March of 2024, when Georgia will help select the two candidates who will vie for the presidency for the next four years.
Belief in the system is far more important than petty political differences. In order for our democratic republic to function the way our Constitution intended, we have to trust that our votes are being counted properly and that the man or woman whom the people have selected to represent them gets that proper chance.
We applaud our local legislators for getting involved in the process of securing our elections, and we will all be better for it as we step into the voting booth next year.
Let us not forget that municipal elections are coming this fall, too, with the qualification period just 12 days away.