Opinion: Many politicians have worked to fuel doubts about elections, despite no evidence

We are fortunate, as American citizens, to live in a country where our rights are guaranteed by the Constitution, and rule of law is an accepted fact. It’s a great formula for building a prosperous nation of opportunity and progress. But all of our rights rely on one thing: the rules of evidence. If the police want to search your home, violating your right to privacy, they have to get a warrant from a judge. And the judge will require that they show evidence that a crime was committed, and that searching your home will help solve it. Without evidence there’s no search warrant, and your right to privacy is upheld. If the district attorney decides you should be in prison, he can’t just take away your right to freedom. He has to show evidence in a trial to a jury of your peers. Without evidence, your right to freedom prevails.

Having a hunch is not evidence. Hearing something repeated over and over on social media is not evidence. Really wanting to believe something because it fits your world view isn’t evidence, either.

Many Republicans tried to claim that Joe Biden was not elected president in 2020. They claimed the election was stolen, and their claims were repeated over and over on social media and cable news. For two months they looked for evidence, had several recounts done and filed over 60 lawsuits, all of which failed for a lack of evidence. There was simply no instance of large-scale fraud to be found.

Still, on Jan. 6, 2021, eight senators and 139 representatives voted to NOT certify the election results. Based on nothing more than hearsay and unfounded conspiracy theories, they voted to violate the rights of American citizens to elect the president of their choice.

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On that day, those senators and congressmen violated their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. The Constitution guarantees the right of Americans to elect the president of their choice, and there was no evidence to justify taking away that right.

But surprisingly, these oath-breakers were not removed from office. Apparently, taking an oath to defend the Constitution and uphold the rule of law doesn’t mean much anymore.

For 200 years, American elections were internationally viewed as the freest, fairest and most accurate in the world. But now, thanks to the unfounded claims made in 2020, some Americans have begun to doubt the integrity of those elections. And many politicians have worked to increase those doubts, even though there is no evidence that American elections are anything but free, fair and accurate. There is plenty of talking about it, and plenty of conspiracy theories, but no evidence.

American citizens have the right to believe anything they want, whether it’s a matter of religious faith or just something they heard over and over on social media. But that belief of theirs should not be enough to take away another American citizen’s rights.

Otherwise, you should be ready to have your home searched against your will, or to have your children thrown in prison for no reason, because no evidence would be required to take away your rights. Hearsay and conspiracy theories would be enough.

Robert Konieczny is a retired systems programmer who worked for the University of Oklahoma for 27 years.