Yes, there's still a point to voting in the Georgia runoff

By Walter E. Block

It is by now far more than obvious that the presidential vote was massively altered in at least five states, among them Georgia.

At the very least, the Republican-controlled legislatures in these states should be legally obliged to refuse to confirm any electors at all, thus allowing the next president to be selected by the House of Representatives, as is required by the Constitution. Article II, section 1: "[I]f no Person have a Majority, then ... the said House [of Representatives] shall ... chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote[.]"

Suppose these legislatures refuse to do so, thus becoming accessories after the fact to fraud, or even treason, given that there is strong evidence that China was a partner to this criminal swindle.

If the Georgia Legislature refuses to do its legal duty, and becomes an accomplice to the Great Presidential Election Robbery, then some may argue there is no point in Georgians voting in their Senate runoff in January. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock will prevail no matter what.

In all of the states, the fraud has been massive, and the Democrats made little effort to hide it. In effect, this party has announced that it will similarly "adjust" the vote in all future elections so that its favored candidate will "win." Democrats may allow a "Republican" to "win" on occasion, but only those "Republicans" whom they can count on to vote for their policies will be permitted.

So however many legal votes the current Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, garner, the Democratic machine in Georgia, it may be claimed, will generate as many fraudulent votes as necessary to elect their Democratic opponents — unless the Democrats are assured that Perdue and Loeffler are secret RINOs who will vote with them as needed.

If either is the case, why should Georgians bother to vote?

The Republicans heretofore have been engaged in kabuki theater. They have been playing the Washington Generals to the Democrats' Harlem Globetrotters. Republicans have been engaged in professional wrestling with the Democrats.

Unless and until the Republicans now show the voters they will not allow voter fraud, unless the Republican Georgia Legislature does its duty and elects the Trump electors or, at the very least, refuses to send any electors to the Electoral College, many will think Georgia voters needn't bother to vote in early next year's Senate runoff. Nor should they merely stay home on January 5. Rather, they should publicly announce their boycott. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Democrats! There's simply no point in voting.

That is one strategy. It has been employed upon numerous occasions. According to one expert, Emily Ann Beaulieu: "From 1990 through 2002, opposition political parties in 44 countries boycotted a total of 66 national-level elections." But apart from Spain, twice, all of these initiatives took place in underdeveloped nations. Do we really want to tread down that garden path offered to us by such as Lin Wood and Sidney Powell?

Another possible way to demonstrate against the massive ballot box theft of the Democrats is to threaten an embargo on voting but not carry through on it. According to Matthew Frankel, "electoral boycotts rarely work, and the boycotting party almost always ends up worse off than before; a threatened boycott, on the other hand, can pay dividends, especially in high-profile cases. In short, you can't win if you don't participate."

Yes, it may well be impossible to embarrass the Democrats, but it sure will be fun to try. And, maybe, just maybe, it will pay some dividends.

Walter E. Block, Ph.D., Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics at Loyola University New Orleans, is author of the Defending the Undefendable series.