When my children were growing up, they played sports. Like most parents, we spent a lot of time at soccer fields, high school gyms and swimming pools. School sports programs have lots of benefits for kids and their families. The rules of the game provide structure. Coaches and referees must be respected by players and fans. There’s the discipline of training your body and mind to play, and then challenging yourself to play a little better next time. There are lessons in good sportsmanship that teach you to compete with all you’ve got, but then to win or lose with grace.
All those contests ended with one ritual: the teams and coaches lined up to shake hands at the end of the game. Sometimes, as in the Hope-Calvin basketball games, the players knew one another, and the friendship was clearly evident. Other times, those handshakes were a little less hearty — more like an obligatory stiff-handed touch than a real handshake. But the ritual was important: it signaled that the game was over, that winners and loser could walk away with dignity, that there would be other contests and other chances to score.
Professional athletes carry on this behavior, though sometimes egos — and lately even COVID precautions — get in the way. Most tennis players meet at the net at the end of a match. Most professional coaches shake hands at the final buzzer. But oddly, when I was writing this column, I learned that the end-of-contest handshake is becoming less common. Sports writers attribute this to post-game emotions, the tendency of some players to make nasty comments, and the general insincerity of telling your opponents “good game,” when you feel more like crowing over your victory or burying your head in your locker.
The midterm election is next week, and so thinking about competitions, rules, dignity, and sportsmanship is timely. What can we expect to see on and after Nov. 8?
First, expect the results to come slowly. Election Day might well become “election week,” or “election month.” In 2020, more than half of Michigan’s votes were absentee. This year, more than 1.8 million absentee ballots had been requested two weeks before the election. Because counting absentee ballots is labor intensive, and can’t begin until election day itself, some districts will be slow to report. No contest will be decided until all the votes have been counted, no matter what a campaigner claims, or what trends are reported on media.
Second, expect races to be close. That makes challenges and recounts more likely. In Michigan, if the margin between candidates is 2,000 votes or less, a recount is mandatory. A candidate can request a recount within 48 hours of the election. State law says the recount can take up to thirty days.
There are also some red flags to watch for.
To begin, beware of candidates who start complaining about election fraud or cheating, even before the counting is done. Be especially careful about believing that elections are rigged or corrupted only in areas where the population is racially or ethnically diverse. Be skeptical about claims that ballot drop boxes or voting machines have been tampered with. Look for hard evidence supported by fact and verified by election officials, not someone’s TikTok or tweet. Remember that all but three of the 64 election challenges filed by the Trump campaign in 2020 failed. That alone should inspire more, not less, confidence in American election procedures.
Beware also of selective acceptance of election results — that is, when candidates are fine with the results when they win, but unwilling to accept it when they lose. Here in Ottawa County, there were no election challenges when eight county commissioners were swept from office by Republican Ottawa Impact challengers. If the vote was fair in August, why wouldn’t it be fair next week?
In monarchies, men like King Charles take the throne by virtue of their birth. In authoritarian regimes, men like Vladimir Putin jail those who would run against them. In those systems, the outcomes are more certain.
However, the bedrock of democracy is this: voters decide elections; candidates accept the results. It is in the best interest of every citizen, regardless of party, that we hold to this truth. We can have faith in election results because the 2020 challenges to election integrity were found by the courts to be baseless. Those who persist in “election denial” do a disservice to democracy.
Just like on the athletic field, winning and losing are arts. Good players demonstrate sportsmanship, follow the rules, respect the referees, and accept their calls.
— Community Columnist Barbara Mezeske is a retired teacher and resident of Park Township. She can be reached at bamezeske@gmail.com.
