Screaming “Rigged!” Is Bad Politics, Worse Civics — and It’s Costing Republicans Votes.

Election integrity matters. Convincing our own voters the election is already rigged is not election integrity. It is electoral suicide.

With ballots in voters’ hands and Election Day approaching, Republicans in Oregon have something we have not had often enough: opportunity.

After nearly four decades without a Republican governor, voters are frustrated with affordability, housing, taxes, homelessness, education and the general direction of this state. I have spent much of this year arguing that Republicans can compete when we make the election about Oregon and give voters something worth voting for.

Unfortunately, Republicans are often exceptionally talented at becoming our own opposition.

Some on the far right seem determined to spend the closing weeks circulating every suspicious screenshot, anonymous allegation and recycled claim that Oregon elections are hopelessly rigged. Then, almost in the same breath, we wonder why Republicans do not vote.

A recent public trust breach was once again made by the Secretary of State when they revealed internal testing data publicly leading to a number new conspiracy theories about rigged Oregon elections.

We are selling the “why bother?” message to the “why bother?” generation.

Alex Tarascio and Republican strategist David Kochel recently addressed exactly this problem in Commonplace. Their warning should get our attention because it isn’t coming from Democrats lecturing Republicans about election integrity. These are people who work to elect Republicans.

Their conclusion is straightforward: telling voters the game is rigged does not empower them. It makes them feel powerless.

Their polling identifies a group they call “Republican Fatalists”—people who recently voted Republican but increasingly believe their participation makes little difference. They represent roughly one in five voters on the Republican side in their national research, and only 31% believe their vote makes a difference nationally.

Think about the message we send when our own activists insist the outcome is predetermined. If the system is hopelessly rigged, why donate, volunteer, knock doors, persuade a neighbor or even return a ballot? Eventually, “the election is rigged” becomes “my vote doesn’t matter.” This is more like voter suppression with an elephant logo not campaign message.

We Have Been Down This Road Before

I have written repeatedly that legitimate election-integrity concerns deserve scrutiny. Accurate voter rolls matter. Chain of custody matters. Transparency matters. Election laws matter.

But facts matter too.

In January I wrote “The Most Dangerous Myth in Oregon Elections Isn’t Fraud — It’s Misinformation.” The point was never that Oregon’s election system is perfect. It was that screaming “fraud” whenever someone misunderstands voter-registration data actually damages legitimate election-integrity work. If everything is evidence of cheating, eventually evidence means nothing.

There is an enormous difference between identifying an actual problem and declaring the entire contest illegitimate before the votes are counted.

I made a similar argument in “Tina Just Turned Up the Volume.” Oregon Republicans have won statewide before. Oregon voters have rejected major progressive ballot measures. Conservative ideas can win here. Complaining that Democrats have built a powerful political machine is not a strategy for defeating it.

Competing with it is.

And when I wrote “RINO or MAGA?” this summer, my concern was the same disease in another form. We finally have an opportunity to expand Republican support, yet some Republicans seem more interested in inspecting everyone’s ideological credentials at the door.

We narrowed Reagan’s big tent while simultaneously complaining there aren’t enough people inside it.

That math isn’t particularly complicated.

Reagan Sold Optimism. We Are Selling Fatalism.

Ronald Reagan didn’t build a national Republican coalition by telling Americans the country was doomed, the system was hopeless and anyone who disagreed with him 20% of the time should leave the party.

He offered optimism.

He persuaded people who weren’t already Republicans.

Today, too much of our political culture does the opposite. We demand ideological purity from newcomers while feeding our existing voters a steady diet of suspicion and defeat.

The gate gets narrower while the message gets darker.

Then we act surprised when independents stay independent and discouraged Republicans stay home.

I wrote about political apathy years ago because apathy is dangerous. A free society depends upon citizens believing participation matters. Yet now some of the loudest voices supposedly fighting apathy are manufacturing it themselves.

Election integrity should produce confidence through verification, not hopelessness through speculation.

Find fraud? Prove it.

Find an administrative failure? Document it.

Find a bad law? Change it.

Become a PCP. Watch ballot processing. Examine public records. Challenge bad policy. Volunteer. Donate. Persuade somebody who doesn’t already agree with you.

But stop telling Republican voters their ballot doesn’t matter and then complaining when they don’t return it.

Oregon Republicans have spent nearly four decades waiting for an opportunity to change the direction of this state.

The opportunity is here.

For once, perhaps conservatives could spend the final days of an election giving people a reason to vote Republican instead of giving Republicans another reason not to vote.

That’s my Viewpoint.

Sources & Related Reading

Alex Tarascio & David Kochel — “Calling Elections Rigged Is Bad Politics and Worse Civics,” Commonplace, October 15, 2026
Their polling and analysis examine how “rigged election” rhetoric affects Republican confidence and turnout.

Ben’s Viewpoint — “The Most Dangerous Myth in Oregon Elections Isn’t Fraud — It’s Misinformation”
Election integrity requires accurate information, verifiable evidence and participation rather than fear.

Ben’s Viewpoint — “Tina Just Turned Up The Volume”
Republicans can win in Oregon, but competing requires organization, money, messaging and persuasion—not simply blaming the voting system for losses.

Ben’s Viewpoint — “RINO or MAGA?”
Oregon Republicans have an opportunity to attract voters outside the party’s hardest ideological edges rather than shrinking the coalition.

Ben’s Viewpoint — “The Tytler Cycle — You Are Here.”
An earlier warning about political apathy and what happens when citizens disengage from representative government.