The press, the people, and process

News organizations report the vote and states certify elections; a simple process that somehow requires explanation

The press — or media — is powerful, but it has no constitutional or legal authority with respect to our elections.

But if you watched the news over the last week, you would think “the media” had this power and it was absolute.

For our sanity, let’s work a hypothetical.

A journalist attends a city council meeting. The council discusses a complex and controversial issue. Because of it’s controversy, it was predetermined that a provisional vote would precede a final vote that would occur a week later.

The provisional vote is taken, recorded and reported by the journalist. Afterward, and leading up to the final vote, the journalist asks if any council member plans to change their vote. All say “no.” So the journalist reports the “projected” final vote.

Of course, the final vote hasn’t yet occurred. Official minutes have not been taken. Nor have any resolutions or other documents related to the vote been signed and affixed with the seal of the city.

The final vote is subsequently cast by the council, recorded, etc., and reported by the journalist.

Now, take that times a few thousand and what you have is the media reporting the projected final vote of the election on election night.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that in the coming weeks, counties and states will start certifying the final vote totals. Nearly all states at the time of this writing are still counting their ballots. Why? Because absentee votes are usually set aside or allowed to be postmarked by the day of the election. And there are day-off provisional or affidavit ballots that have to be reviewed, verified, then counted.

Eventually, the final totals and certifications will be reported by the media.

This has been the process for decades. Nothing, with some COVID-related exceptions, has substantially changed.

What has changed is that the current/outgoing president refuses to follow a rather traditional process. This is a process built on trust in a system and ultimate power with the people.

Now, let’s say that a legitimate claim exists and deserves review by a court. A normal president would first call the other candidate to state clearly that the matter will be brought to the court and any concession will be held until reviewed.

A similar statement would then be made publicly and reported by the press.

Assuming the court review was in favor of the leading candidate, the projected loser would call his opponent and concede. Everyone would make their speeches then the mechanisms of government would begin the process of peaceful transition.

The media did not determine this election. It has merely reported the publicly available results and made a projection for a winner. And since we are a nation governed by the people and not a dictator, the people and its institutions follow a series of peaceful democratic norms.

An election is the ultimate process story. The drama is there because it’s politics. But what we endured all of last week was the media reporting five days of election process.

That’s a lot of words to explain something that we should all understand, right?