Back in May 2003, the party that controlled the Colorado Legislature pushed through what was called "midnight redistricting" at the very end of the legislative session. The goal was to help members of that party get elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

It was thrown out in court as a violation of the state constitution, which allowed only one congressional redistricting after the 2010 Census, and the courts had already done it.

In Texas that year, members of the same party were more successful at redistricting to enhance one party democracy. Partisan gerrymandering is a time-honored way to rig elections. Voter suppression is another time-honored way to rig elections. Just ask African Americans about trying to register and vote in the South before the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.

The updated version of voter suppression is to make it harder for the "wrong sort" of people to register or vote; voter ID requirements that make it harder for some people to vote; reduced early voting days affecting the same group of voters; fewer polling places in precincts that have concentrations of the wrong sorts of voters, so they might have to choose between standing in line for hours to vote or go to their jobs; and rules that throw out ballots cast in the wrong precinct, even if voters were directed to those precincts.

All this is in the guise of preventing "voter fraud," which is code for preventing votes from demographic groups that tend to support the other party.

These schemes in several states were recently thrown out by those pesky courts. A common thread is that all these states are controlled by the same party that tried the midnight redistricting here in Colorado.

I mention this because one of our presidential candidates has proclaimed that He Himself is the ONLY ONE who can save our country from collapse into chaos and violence. Everyone loves He Himself, so obviously, if he loses, the election has to be rigged, or there is voter fraud.

I find those claims rather pathetic, given all the outlandish, offensive and often blatantly and shamelessly false things that He Himself keeps saying and tweeting; and his repeated blame shifting when these things blow up on him. It's the evil media's fault, and now that impending massive voter fraud.

In the real world, that's called voters exercising their right to vote for their preferred (or less disliked) candidate. But He Himself is now putting out conveniently vague messages to the more thuggish of his followers to station themselves at voting sites to discourage that sort of fraud. That's called voter intimidation, and it's illegal - yet another sign that the election is rigged. Right?