Any nation where mail-in ballots exist cannot be taken seriously. The United States is in desperate need of election reform.
You can read my 2-part essay on the current state of our elections here and here. This post will deal with pragmatic, real world solutions. Sadly, I don’t think we have the political will for true election reform in the current political climate. To summarize my two-part essay, those with the power to make changes have a vested interest in preventing the very changes required to reform the system. Instead, those in power work to “fortify” our elections.
I’m convinced the “elites” find the idea of a free-wheeling electorate openly debating and exchanging ideas horrifying. To them, when the citizens vote beyond the margin of fraud, things like the icky Donald Trump tend to happen. The solution for them isn’t to present better ideas. Their ideas are just fine – it’s the Great Unwashed who are just too stupid. Their solution is to simply increase the margin of fraud.
We have our work cut out for us.
Get Rid of Mail-in Ballots.
The very existence of Mail-in Ballots is proof of election fraud on a massive scale. I am choosing my words very carefully here. You may have thought you just read something to the effect of “Mail-in Ballots open up the elections for massive fraud.” That’s not what I wrote. I will repeat myself. The very existence of Mail-in Ballots is proof of election fraud. It means that fraud is occurring on a massive scale. It is baked into the cake as surely as the grift goes though Nancy Pelosi’s front door. There is not an accounting firm in the world that would sign off on the gaps in the chain of custody that are systemic to mail-in voting.
A sound election system requires a pro-active electorate. IOW – you need to show up.
Get Rid of Drop-Boxes.
Same reasons. A chain of custody system for which you would summarily fire your bookkeeper just for suggesting it.
Get Rid of All Electronic Systems.
For reasons no one can explain to me, we now have to wait days, and sometimes weeks for election results. This insistence upon automation has ironically slowed down the process. For decades, the use of paper ballots served this nation adequately.
Every state, every precinct converts to an analog system. Everyone gets a paper ballot with either a fill-in-the-blank, or a punch card option. It worked well for close to two centuries.
Partisan Observers Up and Down the Process.
Every side gets to audit. If one is truly interested in “fortifying” the election process, then this should not be an issue. Kick observers out? You go to prison.
Purge The Rolls.
Do election boards ever purge the voter rolls? People move, people change voting precincts. Ever hear of anyone sending an affidavit to the election board to the effect of ‘this is my new address, please take me off the rolls.’ Neither have I. New rule: You get to skip two election cycles. If you go six years without voting, you need to re-register. Not perfect, simply better than allowing people to vote from the grave.
Mandatory Voter I.D.
If voting is so precious, then bring your driver’s license. Don’t have one? Get yourself over to the Department of Motor Vehicles and obtain a state non-driver I.D. Yes, that’s a thing. Don’t give me excuses. If you are too stupid to figure this out, then you have zero skin in the game and you have no business going anywhere near the voting booth. Like mail-in ballots, the absence of Mandatory Voter I.D. is proof of fraud. Bonus reform: eliminate motor-voter registration. Again, if one has skin in the game, then one should be proactive and register as a pro-active process.
The Ballot Box Get Locked at Some Point.
No more inexplicably “found” caches of ballots in the trunks of Buick LeSabres. Once a ballot makes it into the ballot box, it’s in sanctuary. Concurrently, that ballot has to make its way into the box by a fixed deadline. Otherwise, it’s not counted. Recounts are fine. You simply can’t add to the existing trove of ballots.
Can We Still “Vote” Out Way Out of This?
In a sane world, none of this would be the least bit controversial. That is decidedly not the world in which we live. We live in a world of “preferred” pronouns and empowered deviants. Bob Hope of blessed memory once quipped, “California just made homosexuality legal. I decided to leave before they made it mandatory.” Prophetic. In a single generation we went from the deviants claiming ‘we just want to be left alone,’ to ‘you will participate with us enthusiastically.’
Selah.