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I don't know how the mechanics works in America, but observing the count in Barnet in December taught me something important; and it gave me an almost awed respect for democracy....
I don't know how the mechanics works in America, but observing the count in Barnet in December taught me something important; and it gave me an almost awed respect for democracy....
... President Trump's incontinent accusations that his opponents are stealing the election is poison to our democratic cultures....
... I had been a Trotskyist, then a clever-clogs commentator and an 'intellectual'. I had thought of myself as somebody who was very keyed into politics, but I had never really participated in the democratic process, I had never been present at a count...
... Luciana Berger asked me to be at the count. I said I'd rather watch on tv like a consumer. She said no, there's work to do.
The count was under the main stand at Copthal stadium. There was a table the length of a Rugby pitch for the count of the 3 Barnet constituencies...
The count was under the main stand at Copthal stadium. There was a table the length of a Rugby pitch for the count of the 3 Barnet constituencies...
... On one side of the table were the counters. Local civil servants, I think also people who work in banks, used to counting money. People who took their job seriously....
...On the other side of the table were party activists observing the count. They sat 4 feet away from the counters, watching.
The ballot boxes were announced & opened under the gaze of the observers. They were counted. We sat counting with them. They were sorted under our eyes...
The ballot boxes were announced & opened under the gaze of the observers. They were counted. We sat counting with them. They were sorted under our eyes...
...I caught three mistakes. Ballot papers which went in the wrong pile. I said so. The mistakes were rectified.
But, as I sat there and concentrated, and focused, I saw the result slipping away from us....
But, as I sat there and concentrated, and focused, I saw the result slipping away from us....
... I watched ballot papers being counted. I saw the counters flip through them; I saw that there were more for the other guy than there were for our guy. I concentrated for hours, watching these paper warrants for the new MP fly past my consciousness....
...I was confronted by the material reality of voting. I was miserable because we lost but I was awed by the truth of democracy. Each paper was a person & a person's will. And more people willed the candidate who I didn't will. But there was no arguing with what happened....
...So this 'intellectual' learnt something that people who had been brought up in real party politics already knew. That the count is straight, it's open, it's transparent, it reflects the will of the voters at that moment.
I was awed by it...
I was awed by it...
...I don't know if the President of the USA has ever been to a count, and I don't know how counts work in America.
My bet is that the people responsible for the counts are every bit as committed to finding the actual result, transparently, as they are in the UK...
My bet is that the people responsible for the counts are every bit as committed to finding the actual result, transparently, as they are in the UK...
... from the clerks in charge to the thousands of people who are concentrating hard and long to count right.
Perhaps the President has never participated in democracy before, close up and personally. Perhaps he doesn't know. Or perhaps he does know and but doesn't care...
Perhaps the President has never participated in democracy before, close up and personally. Perhaps he doesn't know. Or perhaps he does know and but doesn't care...
...President Trump said:
"This is a fraud to the American public, this is an embarrassment to the American public.... We did win this election. This is a major fraud on our nation."
He's telling a profound and corrosive lie - and that lie is that American democracy is fake.
"This is a fraud to the American public, this is an embarrassment to the American public.... We did win this election. This is a major fraud on our nation."
He's telling a profound and corrosive lie - and that lie is that American democracy is fake.
