a few decades ago when I worked at the Iowa Capitol, I asked my grandfather about the fairness of elections. This was ~95/96, I think. He replied "I don't think there has been a fair election ever", quite candidly. I had brought it up because of some voter fraud allegations that were in the news in the late 90s.
I don't think this election is at an increased risk for tampering and manipulation. I am sure there are abuses in the voting system, complaining about them is like complaining about a mother with 8 kids exploiting welfare. What the fuck you going to do about it? Tie each vote to a SSN and then follow up with each person after they vote to make sure you recorded it correctly? Give the mom of 8 some money then check her balance at the end of the month to make sure she spent it correctly... we do that through WIC and other programs that have had to add overhead to legitimize.
The real risk is this kind of rhetoric that gives people the 'the Fix is in' perspective. The fix isn't in. The problem is the populous is not voting for their own interests.
You're voting for their interests.
What they envision the country's future.
The rich and powerful have too much influence. And the only way we take back influence is by showing up and fighting them at the ballot box. While the yuppies have manipulated the game and the middle has slept on it because they're watching their shows every night for 2-3 hours.
Why in a society that has become more efficient with service work and more effective with production labor, are we still working the same number of hours with eroding vacation and PTO than they 'allowed' us to have over the last 50 years?
Think about the pension plans your grandfathers and fathers had, you think your kids or your neighbors kids will ever get back to the financial independence and security?
You think voting for the same corporate interests is going to help? You think voting for a product of all those self-interests is going to help?
IMO, I see the GOP elite as a group of self-interested and absorbed cretins that are more interested in what you do with your vagina or your personal time than helping improve your quality of life. Economically they are more concerned with protecting old money than they are educating a modern workforce and producing new money.
I see the Democrats as the party of the corporate elite that want to enable ever increasing profit margins for their entities. They have a structured vision of the castes in the Unites States of America and while they build ladders up they obfuscate the ladder with pitfalls for those they do not morally agree with.
We faced a similar challenge at the start of the 1900s and the Whisky Rebellion was the only way we were able to get out of it. I never want that dark period to be revisited where a labor force was first pitted against their scab replacements and then cornered into a guerrilla war against their oppressors to fight for a fair labor deal and basic worker's rights.
Anyways, just fucking vote for whoever you think represents you and your families interests and stop beating a drum and blowing the horn of propaganda for these fucktards that could give a shit less about you.