Today I watched the you tube video provided by the Worcester Gop of Mayor O'Brien's remarks in front of the election commission and was appalled. Here was an elected official trivializing the apparent misdeeds of a few over zealous activists by saying, more than once, that 43,000 people voted in the past election in Worcester. I guess he was implying since there are only a few allegations of voter fraud, it doesn't really matter. He even recited the large gap of votes between the winner and loser in the election. I can only infer that he wants us to believe voter fraud is ok in one sided elections. Mayor O'Brien, you missed the point entirely. Voter fraud should never be accepted. Period!
The sixth Worcester District race for State Representative is a prime example of why. That race came down to a one vote win for Peter Durant, even after three recounts. In Southbridge, a Democrat stronghold in the district, allegations of the same type of voter misdeeds as those alleged in Worcester surfaced on the day of the election. It was also in Southbridge where some ballots were questioned which opened the door for a liberal Duval Patrick appointed judge to declare the race a tie, forcing another two elections on the taxpayers. Even if only a couple of votes for the Democratic Incummbent were the result of fraud, it would still be a travesty to all of the voters. As disappointed as I am in the Mayor's reaction to the allegations in Worcester I am sadly not surprised. This type of response to these types of accusations is not new to the Democratic Party. I cannot help but think it is in their playbook for winning elections. Maybe it reads something like this:
If voter fraud is alleged or even proven in a landslide victory, minimize it by declaring it didn't matter anyway. If the election is close and the Democrat wins, negate the fraud by stuffing more ballots into open ballot boxes during the recounts and blame it on "honest mistakes." If the Democrat loses, do the same thing but cry foul at the inept election workers for being wrong the first time. Also confuse the situation by getting the media to go along with any outrageous claim you can come up with. for why the election was loss such as smudged ballots or hanging chads. Never under any circumstances admit or allege that the voters did not want you to win!
As absurd as that sounds, I don't think it's any less absurd for an elected official to stand in front of an election commission and imply voter fraud should be accepted as trivial or meaningless. Mayor O'Brien is way off base on this issue and I hope the voters in Worcester let him know it.
