Democrats across the country were rightfully outraged when President Trump took to the media and filed multiple lawsuits to declare that the results of the 2020 election were “rigged” and “crooked.” He suggested there was widespread fraud and he was wrong, of course. His primary goal was to disenfranchise urban and marginalized voters – most of whom vote Democratic. Why do we care what Trump did 8 months ago? Because the Mount Vernon Forward candidates have taken a whole bunch of pages from Trump’s playbook and ran to court to invalidate the results of the 2021 City Council primary. They don’t want all of YOUR VOTES counted, and they even want some of YOUR VOTES thrown out.
What are they afraid of? Whatever it is, it’s enough to trample over the rights of Mount Vernon’s voters. Remember these candidates ran on a platform to “end all the in fighting and lawsuits”? Well, They’re not even elected to office yet and we’ve already got the first lawsuit. That’s the textbook definition of hypocrisy. If they make it to the Council, I guess we can expect more of the same, trampling over the will of the people.
The ACLU describes voter suppression this way: “The goal is to manipulate political outcomes, and the result is a severely compromised democracy that doesn’t reflect the will of the people. Our democracy works best when all eligible voters can participate and have their voices heard.” That’s exactly what’s happening here. One of the many things they are asking for is to have the court rule that the Mount Vernon Forward candidates – Caithlin Gleason, Edward Poteat, and Danielle Browne – be named the winners EVEN BEFORE ALL OF THE VOTES ARE COUNTED. If you voted by mail, they want your vote thrown in the garbage and not counted. If you are a military service member, they want your absentee ballot thrown in the garbage and not counted. This is the same lawyer Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard used against Richard Thomas when he tried to sue for election fraud. The Mayor claims there were no voter fraud then, however, the very same people seem to believe there is now. I wonder what has changed? Counting every vote is what Democrats have been fighting Republicans over for DECADES. Blocking the counting of the votes of Mount Vernon’s citizens is not moving Mount Vernon “FORWARD” – it’s moving us “BACKWARD”.
Tell these candidates that Trump’s dirty tricks don’t work in Mount Vernon and this kind of behavior only adds high to, as one of those candidates has stated, the “Fiscal cliff of a declining city”. They don’t care about the PEOPLE of this City.All they care about is giving the administration three rubber-stamps on the City Council.Even if they win, Mount Vernon LOSES.For information on lawsuit