Unless you have been asleep for the past day or so, you know that Barack Obama will be our president for the next four years. This victory for some (and loss for others), was the result of a long and difficult campaign. There was mud-slinging, name calling, and accusations from both sides. In a campaign this heated, many people were concerned about voter fraud.
We have also all heard about the controversy with ACORN. One man from Cleveland claimed earlier this year that he signed up to register over 70 times, and another person claimed he gave his address as an unoccupied house. John McCain said at one point that Obama had ties to the organization — a statement that, needless to say, worried a lot of Republicans. Although I’m not sure exactly what came out of these particular cases, I do know one thing — that voter fraud is the farthest thing from anyone’s mind right now.
Obama won the White House yesterday by 187 electoral votes and 7,446,138 votes. It was a sweeping, honest victory, and one beyond what many people dared to think what would happen. He won by such an incredibly large margin that any thoughts of voter fraud distorting this election are a distant memory. In the last days after the election, there have been no significant reports of voter fraud in key swing states, aside from small and expected irregularities. No one could possibly think that such grand margins of people were simply registered under false or illegal pretenses.
It has truly been a long campaign, and one that we have all watched grow since almost two years ago. Despite watching every debate and following the race as closely as possible, no one knew exactly how Tuesday night would turn out. As with every election, there have been accusations on both sides against either candidate.
The reason Obama came out on top fair and square was not because of his so-called ties to ACORN any more than his ties to Jeremiah Wright. He won not only because of his policies, but because he was able to reach out to people and get them to believe in something. Every person who voted for Obama last night voted because they believe that something can and will be different, and I believe that few, if any, of those people were not honestly registered. In the end, Barack Obama more than proved he didn’t need fraudulent voters in order to win this election.
