When Denisha Mitchell was asked why she filled out paperwork to serve as an Arizona elector for the independent presidential candidate Cornel West, her first response was “What?!” Her second: What’s an elector?
“I was shocked and surprised by it all. I didn’t even know what an elector was,” Mitchell told The Associated Press on Friday. “The crazy thing is it was all forged. None of it was my handwriting. It was definitely not my signature. My email was wrong, my address was wrong.”
Mitchell’s case is the latest example of dubious tactics used in an effort to qualify West, a left-wing academic, for the ballot in states across the U.S. It’s also among the more egregious. It’s an effort that West himself apparently knows nothing about. His campaign did not immediately respond for comment Friday evening.
But as the presidential election enters a critical three-month period, there are efforts around the country to subvert the integrity of the ballot, many of them coming from a collection of conservative activists and Republican-aligned operatives pushing West’s candidacy.
I never suggested it was a conspiracy.
True. It just seemed to me that wanting a quote right away wouldn’t give the campaign time to research it themselves. Which is fair, especially in light of what the AP found.
All I can say is that, in my experience, they give these places a good 4-6 hours at minimum to respond. In general it was a good 12.
For one thing, it takes time for these articles to pass from writer to editor to “print.” Less time now that it’s all digital, but we’re not talking 10 minutes.
How many hours is “immediately”?
I literally just told you.
Half a workday is “immediately”?
In journalistic terms, yes.