Massive fraud has massive footprints. I've no aversion to scrutiny of voting practices, nor am I asking for negligence. If you've got a fraud that's beaten every recount and lawsuit, every double-check in one of the loudest, scrutinized elections of our time, negligence doesn't begin to scratch the surface of the failure of democracy you're proposing. We don't get any further away from that failed democracy by putting up walls that stop more right, lawful voters than catches fraud.
I don't buy this airy 'both sides need to watch out' when one is overtly damaging the vulnerable in order to catch the rare exception. Sitting on your hands and tutting about the threats of the orwellian police state fraudulently running the country doesn't stop the suppression that is happening now.
Really sorry for the late response. I thought this was a good response though so I wanted to respond late rather than not at all.
I don't mean to be airy about my statement I'm sure both sides are doing a lot of hard work that care about these issues and there is a lot going on in their lives at the same time. I meant it as a more unifying statement, not to push blame, but the push of left vs. right is unavoidable in politics.
And no I know you weren't asking for negligence. Some machiavellian side of me wanted to point out that even if voter fraud is hardly negligible today that can change very rapidly, some people plot and push for power no matter how much regular people want peace.
Voter suppression from the civil war, (and perhaps from the beginning of the country) till today definitely is an issue to strive against. The confederates of the south supported Jim crow laws, racial and educational suppression, and even before that significant advantages to land-owners, and some have told me though I don't know how much stock to put on it, ah, that even today some Citizens have more rights and privileges than regular citizens, because of factors like birth, race, wealth, family, etc..
It's a devastating blow to anyone whose been raised to think on "land of the free, home of the brave" and aligns more with old countries and old caste systems that pretty much everyone immigrates to get away from. I try not to get too upset about it, it makes sense that every country, and the world, has a protected class, but it really depends on how much stock we put in it. The general public, the masses outnumber the protected class to a huge degree, the way we dress, think, and live today puts us closer to equality than we ever were in history, and perhaps we are at risk of putting that back at where it started someday.
I don't think one side particularly pushes for voter suppression as an actual goal but if you think they are being manipulated to or they do it out of some misled form of racial, social, or cultural discrimination, well, that could be possible, but I respectfully believe that more American citizens today want equality for all more than yesterday.
Personally, I'm not completely sitting on my hands. I'm working hard daily at essential work (though not medical work) and my interactions with the public has given me a small anecdotal peek at the situation at hand. I sympathsize with nurses, workers at the dmv, government workers, grocery store workers, etc. that are also interacting with the public.
I've seen a lot more paper trails of death than I have ever seen in my line of work, not even mostly from the coronavirus but from the side effects of negligence, fear, and panic. I've met widows, bereaved family members, the local cemetery is expanding its grounds. I've also noticed some people display the grim reaper for fashion and joke about it.
A little more diligence from the American people in general couldn't hurt and that's what I try to practice at my own work as well. It's not at the top of the list of priorities right now but for people the diligence of countermeasures against voter fraud + push back against voter suppression will still be important. It's crossed my mind more than once or twice that these deaths, they are the indirect doing of people who do not care, want chaos, make light of the death of people who are important and cherished loved ones. If people like them exist in this world and it is evident that they do, and you are not one of them, anyone reading, do not let them rule over you and be vigiliant to not fall for their lies. It does not matter that they lie the whole point of it is that you screw yourself over, just don't do that and guard yourself.
As for massive footprints check out the keywords 'political science, election fraud, paper forensics' and if you doubt it can happen in our country look at the evidence of election fraud in other countries it is more politically correct to acknowledge evidence of fraud in, and draw relations, though no conclusions, at the very least, keep up with it and I will too.