Oakland Demands that All Votes Be Counted After Trump Claims False Victory

Photos: Mary Martin DeShaw, Pro Bono Photo.

It didn’t take long for close to 1,000 activists to gather in Oakland to call for every vote to be counted after Trump announced in the middle of the night that he had won the presidential election. Part of a nation­wide grass­roots effort to mobi­lize in defense of the demo­c­ra­t­ic process, they said they had been ready for this, a coup attempt by the President.

Speakers at Oscar Grant Plaza rally said that everyone knows of course that mail-in bal­lots are legitimate. Everyone, that is, except the never-say-die Republicans and people who have "drunk Trump's Kool-Aid." One demonstrator pointed out that more moderate Republicans came out and said Trump is flat out wrong.

Mail ballots have long been used in some states, and are the same thing as absentee ballots, though Trump would have his supporters believe otherwise. It just so happens that this time mail bal­lots are more likely to be for Biden, driving Trump out of his mind. Before the Oakland rally was over Trump was calling this year's election a fraud.

Fearful that the Democratic establishment might not stop Trump’s attempt to steal the elec­tion, activists are insisting that ordi­nary peo­ple must take the defense of democ­ra­cy into their own hands. They said, "we are talking about stopping a coup."

There was a lot of talk about non-vio­lent direct action at the rally because it is yet to be seen what is coming in the next weeks and possibly months. Although they said they don't know what shape their actions might take, because they don't know what they might face from opposition, demonstrators showed they are ready to defend the demo­c­ra­t­ic process on the streets.

Faith speakers who took to the microphone said that they are ready to meet spiritual needs in trying times and called the defense of democracy a moral obligation.