Does the United States still lead the world in transparent, fair and honest elections or have we become a banana republic?
Is there justification for wide spread concern about the integrity of our U.S. elections now that 90%+ of all ballots are tabulated electronically? Using convenience and the elimination of human error as justification for electronic tabulation of votes has led to exactly the opposite outcome.
The voting system has become exponentially more costly, complicated, unreliable, and time consuming despite all the claims to the contrary.
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What was not so long ago a single day voting, hand counted process that was transparent, reliable, and easily verifiable, has become a convoluted mess of sloppily ID'd voters, mail-in/harvested ballots and unsupervised drop boxes counted by electronic tabulators with virtually no legitimate curing process to verify the authenticity of the electors or their vote.
In 2004 the Commission on Federal Election Reform was created as a private, bipartisan group co-chaired by former US President Jimmy Carter and Attorney James Baker, a top official under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.
The Commission was formed to identify and correct the flaws brought to light by ballot abnormalities in Florida in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election and in the 2004 Ohio election. The commission produced a report on the U.S. electoral process with a list of recommendations on maximizing voter access and improving election integrity.
The report indicated a major concern about mail-in absentee ballot integrity and stressed the need for auditable paper ballot verification for electronic tabulation systems. Twenty years later, all of the recommendations still remain relevant.
Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic was used as justification for record numbers of voters who cast absentee or mail-in ballots; causing widespread concern about the security of the 2020 absentee voter process.
The 2004 Carter-Baker report warned: “Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud” which still applies today. Have we corrected the problem……. the one word answer is NO!
We not only failed to heed their recommendations to reduce vote fraud, we have exacerbated the problem with the non-stop promotion of extended voting times, mail in ballots, ballot harvesting, and un-monitored drop boxes; all-the-while reducing requirements for traditional forms of voter ID.
Just about the time that you think the sanctity of our elections can't become more compromised…they do.
That being said, what are our options, and what can we do to salvage the 2024 Presidential/General Election? First we must insist on a level of transparency that has been almost non-existent for at least the past 25-30 years.
We must insist on un-interrupted bi-partisan oversight by certified and trained Election Judges during the entire voting and tabulation process.
Since computer programs are so easily hacked and modified, we must be willing to conduct extensive random audits of machine counts with the ultimate goal of eliminating them entirely by the next general election.
We must make the intentional destruction of any ballots, election records or equipment a prescribed criminal offense with significant jail time and fines that are consistently imposed.
We must make citizenship and legal age of consent an absolute requirement to register to vote. We must make valid U.S. or State identification and timely registration a prerequisite to vote, and we must have a truly bi-partisan procedure to: validate, process, and cure mail-in ballots.
We must not allow voter intimidation or the violation of state voter laws at poling places, and must reassert the right to petition government for redress of grievance when recognized Federal/State laws and procedures have been violated.
Long term goals must be the total elimination of electronic voting/tabulation with a return to hand counted, hand marked, uniform paper ballots executed and counted at the Precinct level on Election Day only.
The exception would be limited to off-shore military personnel and extreme hardship medical causes, but turned in well in advance for tabulation no later than the legally prescribed election day.
In America, voting is a right, but it is also a responsibility of citizenship, and must not be compromised in ways that make those rights and responsibilities meaningless. Making our vote meaningful requires that we put some effort into an understanding of the issues and candidate positions on the issues.
The ignorant and uninformed should voluntarily waive their right to vote, lest they elect some absolute fool or crook to a position of leadership they have no legitimate right to hold…….which might result in absolute tyranny where lawfare is used to eliminate political opposition and silence their detractors.
Gee that sounds somewhat familiar to those 80+ million Trump supporters that (P)resident Obiden referred to as “extremists and domestic terrorists” when addressing the nation from Freedom Hall in 2022.
