Ari, you are asking some really good questions and making some great points.

I said "tacit" agreement, which means "understood without being openly expressed". Definitely hard to prove. But when looking at the two-party hegemony, one has to wonder. And the D's have had many years to fix things, but chosen not to fight for these changes.

It's always easy to point to instances of voter fraud, poor administration, and intimation at the polls. Has this happened in the past? Yes. I think both parties realize that they have zealous workers trying to find ways to give their party an edge. But there has been a limit to how much edge these workers can find. Has it made a difference in the final outcome? Probably not.

https://medium.com/politically-speaking/all-elections-have-fraud-905c233941dd

But this "tacit" arrangement is going to disappear in the next election. The cheating is going to be more rampant in 2022 and will make a difference in the final outcome. Instead of a few claims of cheatings, there are going to be hundreds. Both sides will claim close elections were rigged. And, unfortunately, both sides will be guilty.

I will give you the ground that the R's have historically been worse than the D's and so too will 2022. But to say the D's are angels, no, I won't say that.

It is the system that is at fault. Until USA understands it really needs to change the system, blaming the R's is not going to help.