Q&A of the Day – How many voters only vote for President?
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Twitter: @brianmuddradio
Facebook: Brian Mudd https://www.facebook.com/brian.mudd1
Today’s entry: @brianmuddradio The swing vote in this year’s presidential election appears to be ballots where only Joe Biden was checked off. If that doesn’t strike anyone as odd then idk what to tell you.
Bottom Line: Except it’s not odd. It’s just that you’re aware of it now. Let me start by saying I have concerns regarding the credibility of the vote in five of the six states the Trump team is attempting to legally challenge (Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin). I sincerely hope we have transparency and legal vetting of the votes in question so that whatever the outcome is, we can have confidence the election wasn’t “stolen” one way or another. Having hundreds of sworn affidavits by individuals, including poll workers in some cases, expressing irregularities across these states lends credibility to the rhetoric of alleged voter fraud. These concerns need to be vetted before votes are certified. There is a but which must be addressed here, however. Just because something sounds odd to you doesn’t mean it is, and even if there is something odd, that doesn’t inherently equal voter fraud. As always, I establish facts and informationally go where they take us. What I can tell you based on your specific account and numerous others I’ve investigated going back to the morning after Election Day...almost all claims have legitimate explanations.
One of the many allegations of potential impropriety in Michigan and Pennsylvania is that tens of thousands of ballots contained only votes for president, and those broke overwhelmingly for Biden. Is it possible this is fishy? Yes. Is this practice unusual? Not at all. I’ve never studied an election in which this didn’t occur. To rephrase, in statewide elections, there have always been many voters who only vote in the highest profile race. I’ll use the two most recent election cycles in Florida to illustrate the point.
- In the 2018 election cycle in Florida there were 30,556 voters who voted for governor but didn’t vote for the U.S. Senate race (with most leaving the rest of the ballot blank)
- In the 2016 Presidential Election 118,219 voters voted for president but didn’t vote in other races
What candidates most commonly were supported by these voters who choose to only vote for governor and president? Gillum and Clinton. Even in a cycle which featured evidenced voter fraud in Broward resulting in the ouster of the Supervisor of Elections as a result – these ballots – these voters, weren’t part of it. It happens every cycle, and not just in Florida, legitimately. It’s also logical. Turnout is generally 30% higher for Presidential election cycles. It's logical many voters who only vote when there’s a Presidential election – wouldn't to vote in other races. They don’t the rest of the time either.
Here’s the point. I never deviate from the facts. If you listen to me because you generally agree with me but aren’t happy because you aren’t hearing me bite on every allegation; I can’t help you. If you listen to me because you want well researched truth with analytical analysis from a Constitutional conservative, here I am same as I’ve always been. Perhaps because of the concern over Fox News’s handling of the election, which I agree was/is deplorable, some have alleged I’ve changed as well. I’d retire before I’d sellout. Ironically, in these moments, it’s likely the inconsistencies in your emotions rather than my presentation of information. There remain two sides to stories and one side to facts.
Photo Credit: Getty Images