Joseph Sabino Mistick: We can have an honest, if not perfect, election

In spite of the dust that is being kicked up, this Tuesday’s presidential election will produce an honest count. If each of us does our part by voting and then showing patience with the count, our election officials will deliver a professional, honest and transparent result that we can all rely on.

We must ignore anyone who says that the final result of the presidential race is not to be trusted unless it is announced Tuesday night. Only someone who figures to lose after all the votes are counted would try to sell you that baloney, because that has never been the way our elections work.

Last week, Donald Trump tweeted, “Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots all over the USA. Must have final total on November 3rd.” That was so untrue that Twitter — his official organ of choice — tagged it because it “might be misleading about how to participate in an election or another civic process.”

It is important to remember that no election result is legally final until the returns are certified at the county and state level, which can take weeks. In recent years, the networks and pundits have tried to call elections based on incomplete unofficial returns — which they will do again — but unless the election is a blowout, it is wise for everyone to await a full count.

After the polls closed in the 2000 Bush-Gore presidential election, a statutory recount was triggered in Florida because the popular vote was too close to call. That recount was hobbled by poorly designed ballots, antiquated voting systems and bad management from the very top.

For 36 days, the recount ground on until the U.S. Supreme Court stopped everything and threw the election to George W. Bush. The court claimed that its action was a one-off with no precedential value, but its closed-door deliberations will always cast doubt on the result.

The power to choose our president belongs to the voters, and if all hell breaks loose this time, it will be because the courts or Congress ignored that principle again, which is the core of our democracy.

There has never been a perfect election anywhere, but in America we usually get an honest election. Barring cyber-interference from foreign players or gutter tactics by those who will do anything to keep from losing power, we will have an honest count this time, too.

We have wisely taken to heart the lessons from the doomed Bush- Gore recount. And there have been serious improvements since 2000 in the way that we conduct our elections

Many counties and states now have electronic voting devices that produce a paper record, allowing accurate recounts. Plus, we now know what to guard against when foreign governments try to influence our election like they did the last time.

The only problem we do face this time, which has to do with the counting of mail-in ballots, can be avoided by transparency and neutrality from those in charge of our elections.

So let’s do this. What President Eisenhower said at midpoint in the 20th century is still true: “The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.”