# THe IMportance of A "Legitimate" Election Result

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-importance-of-a-legitimate-election-result/272344>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [November 1, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-importance-of-a-legitimate-election-result/272344 "2004-11-01T16:14:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-importance-of-a-legitimate-election-result/272344/1 "2004-11-01T16:14:25Z")

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I find myself very concerned that the eventual winner of this election will never be viewed as "legitimate: due to all the potential election fraud and honest screw-ups. I hope I am wrong, but I think I would rather see Bush re-elected with no doubts than to have Kerry elected with a huge cloud of suspicion over him, and the office, while trying to run the country.

Does anybody else feel this way, that they would rather have an election absent any controverset and doubt, if it menat their preferred candidate lost?

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-importance-of-a-legitimate-election-result/272344/2 "2004-11-01T16:21:23Z")

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Bush has lived under the “illegitimate” cloud for his whole term, but he still has managed to govern effectively, in the sense of getting done what he wants done most of the time.

Furthermore, the thousands of lawyers and poll-watchers involved in this election will ensure that any possible shenanigans are immediately hauled out into the light of day and resolved.