I again went back to review the record for the 2020 election and the New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today all concluded in their research that there were mistakes that were either corrected or discarded and fraud was virtually non-existent.

Why does this perception continue to linger? I can see why in the 2020 election, because Donald Trump said the only way he was going to lose the election would be due to fraud. Having said that before we even had an election sets the suspicion in motion.

You all do recall that all the claims of fraud were thrown out by the courts with lack of evidence. Our fears let us see things not as they are but as we think they should be.

We remember all the “fraud” people saw happening through the window watching the vote counting.

For years, however, I have had people complain about fraud in elections, and those complaining are White. I was in the Chicago area in the ’50s and ’60s and there was fraud. Democratic aldermen and union bosses would “highly influence” the voting in their precinct.

White people saw the Black voter as compromised and influenced by these powerful politicians. This was seen as inner city corruption and the Black vote was suspicious.

At the same time, Jim Crow was throughout the South and there were very few elected politicians who were Black, much less any sizable Black vote.

Unfortunately, for over a hundred years, White people have been afraid of the Black vote, and the cry of fraud still propels Republicans (it used to be southern Democrats but the same people just switched parties) to cry foul and enact stricter laws to combat a mythical enemy.

Warren Townsend