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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumBernie Sanders and Rigged Elections: Sometimes You Just Lose
Hillary Clinton has a strong lead by any measure, but many supporters of Bernie Sanders continue to believe that its because the primary system was designed to help her. Credit Left, Eric Thayer for The New York Times; Jim Wilson/The New York Times
The 2016 Race
Bernie Sanders and Rigged Elections: Sometimes You Just Lose
By NATE COHN and TONI MONKOVIC JUNE 1, 2016
Each week, Nate Cohn, The Upshots elections analyst, and Toni Monkovic, an Upshot editor, will discuss the 2016 race and post a lightly edited transcript of their written exchange. The Democratic primary season has led to some grumbling from supporters of Bernie Sanders that the primary system is rigged. This week, we start on that subject, and look ahead to the California contest on June 7.
SNIP
Toni: There is a perception among a lot of his followers that the election system is rigged. What about some of the examples they cite, like the Brooklyn voter purge in the New York primary?
Nate: Well, I think the first thing thats important to acknowledge is that the American election system is a disaster. Its administered at the local level, by thousands of jurisdictions across the country. Its often grossly underfunded. Voter registration systems are truly a mess. Put it all together, and we have a very ineffective voting system that always produces a steady stream of errors.
That said, these errors are not really signs that our elections are rigged.
With Brooklyn, the Board of Elections purged more than 100,000 voters just ahead of the election. This shouldnt happen: Purges should happen well ahead of an election.
But did it affect the race? Not really. The people who get purged from voter rolls are inactive voters people who havent voted in two straight elections and didnt return postcards seeking to verify their address. These are generally people who moved, or have died.
SNIP
So realistically, most of the people who were purged were not going to vote. They probably dont live in Brooklyn anymore.
And the people who were purged in Brooklyn were probably likelier to be supporters of Clinton than Sanders. Brooklyn voted for Clinton by 20 points. Most inactive voters are older (after all, a 20-year-old hasnt had the opportunity to skip two consecutive federal elections).
NYTIMES
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Bernie Sanders and Rigged Elections: Sometimes You Just Lose (Original Post)
BootinUp
Jun 2016
OP
Listen to Bernie and his supporters long enough: the only fair election is one Bernie wins.
CrowCityDem
Jun 2016
#1
and if Bernie loses the election, the election should be overturned becaues birds and stuff nt
geek tragedy
Jun 2016
#5
didn't hear much outrage from certain people about Scott Walker's vote suppression in Wisconsin
geek tragedy
Jun 2016
#4
CrowCityDem
(2,348 posts)1. Listen to Bernie and his supporters long enough: the only fair election is one Bernie wins.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)5. and if Bernie loses the election, the election should be overturned becaues birds and stuff nt
bkkyosemite
(5,792 posts)2. The primary was rigged for Clinton.
BootinUp
(47,141 posts)3. Why don't you read the artilce?
brooklynite
(94,508 posts)6. How many of those 100,000 "voters" showed up at the polls on Primary Day?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)4. didn't hear much outrage from certain people about Scott Walker's vote suppression in Wisconsin
since it disproportionately hurt Clinton voters.
Funny, that.
LizetteWest
(42 posts)7. There is always a stench around the establishment.