The Recount, & Institutional Credibility

Excellent piece by John Ross at The Nation on the electoral situation in Mexico; it'll bring you right up to date, and it clarifies much. But I want to highlight a point here:

The TRIFE's decision to open some ballot boxes is a stinging blow to the IFE's integrity. Under fire since July 2, the Federal Electoral Institute, backed by a leading business federation, has been airing prime-time spots in which actors impersonating citizens object indignantly to the suggestion that the presidential election was anything but pristine.

Saw one of these spots last night, and found it just as unnerving as it sounds. Earnest, well-dressed "people next door" poll-worker types kept saying how the votes had been counted carefully, repeatedly using the phrase AMLO's supporters have taken as their primary rallying cry: "voto por voto." There was ominously truthful music floating around in the background, and lots and lots of montage of hands signing forms--presumably, these were the hands of the different party representatives present at polling places to certify that nothing suspicious had happened there. They kept saying that the poll workers were Ordinary People, like your neighbor, your sibling, your grandmother. The actors playing the poll workers seemed stung--though they never came right out and said so--they seemed positively hurt that someone might accuse them of participating in electoral fraud.

Everybody knew there were at least some irregularities in the election here (tossed-out ballot boxes in poor D.F. neighborhoods, for example), but I had been wondering if we weren't better at electoral fraud in the U.S. However, this television spot--which I watched for at least ten minutes, not realizing it was longer than the average infomercial--left me with the impression that those irregularities were profound and widespread.

When has hiring actors to assert one's innocence ever worked?