America has weathered another election and the Democrats are putting a positive spin on the outcome. First, the Dems are celebrating what appears to be an affirmation of their policies for the past 2 years by the voting public. Second, according to the Dems, Democracy has been saved because the much anticipated “Red Wave” did not materialize.
All this celebration is occurring while a number of races are still undecided. In fact, the Georgia Senate race will not be decided until December 2022. As I look back at the Midterms and do a postmortem, a few questions arise from the 2022 experience.
How much longer will we accept an electoral system which increasingly resembles a Third-World country struggling for legitimacy with its first attempts at democracy, instead of the Republic we actually are with over two hundred years of electoral experience?
Some pundits and political figures are even calling for election oversight by another country. This is embarrassing, maybe Russia or China could make sure our elections are legit? If these two countries’ schedules won’t permit them to provide assistance we could ask for help from any number of African or Middle Eastern “democracies.”
Whether our voting problems are the result of fraud, corruption, vote rigging, or simple incompetence it is time to get it right. When half of America has doubts about the validity of an election that goes beyond the normal “sour grapes” associated with being on the losing side, it is way past time to fix it. Faith in our voting system is at the core of our Republic’s legitimacy and the cornerstone of our way of life.
When are we going to hold elections free from questions of legitimacy? Once again, as in the 2020 election, the public waits to find out the results of critical races. Delays in counting give birth to conspiracy theories, and accusations of fraud.
Election officials respond to accusations with assurances of voting integrity. The officials claim they are simply undermanned and overwhelmed by the large number of ballots received from early voting and mail-in ballots.
Technology failure with voting equipment is given as the second reason in addition to the lack of counting manpower. Some of these incompetent election officials believe not ordering enough ink for the equipment is a tech failure.
I want to tackle each of these “causes” for our election problems in 2022:
First, let’s look at mail-in ballots. The proliferation of the mail-in ballot is a child born of the pandemic. Time to grow-up. There is no need for the expansion of mail-in voting.
Any convenience mail-in ballots offer the individual voter is offset by the potential for corruption, fraud, and a general undermining of faith in our electoral system.
As confirmation for my above statement, there are already reports of irregularities with the mail-in system that serve as the grounds to question ballot integrity. First, some voters have reported receiving as many as six ballots mailed to their home. Next, ballots have been mailed to deceased people. Third, mail-in ballots that have not been properly signed or are deficient in other ways are “cured” by election officials.
“Curing” requires time consuming verification and vetting action, usually by volunteer election workers and not professionals educated in signature verification techniques. I thought we had a system of “one man one vote,” not one man and a team of election workers.
Next, let’s take early voting to it’s absurd conclusion. Why not have early voting start for an election the moment the previous election is certified. I mean continual voting would solve the voter suppression problem. Right? We have all-night deli’s, why not all-night voting 24/7/365. I know this is absurd, but I feel all early voting is ridiculous.
Replace early voting with a national holiday on election day. All workers would get a day off to vote. Campaigns last until election day and voting should not start until all the facts are in and campaigns have closed. Early voting must be eliminated.
Finally, the issue of equipment failure. This “cause” of electoral problems reminds me of the student who uses the old “my dog ate my homework excuse.” Do you believe this? We can send space vehicles to Mars and view videos they send back to earth almost simultaneously, but we can’t have some poll worker drive down to a local Office Depot or OfficeMax to pick up extra ink for the voting machines?
Our electoral system must be fair, honest, and fraud free for our Republic to survive. The real problem with our electoral system is Election Integrity not Voter Suppression. Read my blog at the link below to learn how to improve our voting system and restore voter confidence:
I hope that there is a renewed spirit of compromise in our next Congress and that our elected officials will lay down partisanship and fulfill their role as stewards of our Constitution and supporters of the individual rights of the American citizenry, (the real owners of this Republic).
You may say my optimism is “pie-in-the-sky and not realistic. My optimism is a choice. I choose to be positive about our future, but ever vigilant. I will hold our political leaders and government employees accountable for their actions, not words. The standards and the criteria I will use for accountability is as follows:
1. Does a decision, policy, or regulation support or strengthen our Constitution?
2. Is government spending being reduced?. Treat the Federal budget as limited with frugality as the central practice. Follow the admonition that “taxpayer dollars are not owned by politicians.”
3. Lower taxes.
4. Is the size and oversight of the Federal Government shrinking? Eliminate any policy which increases the size, scope, and reach of the government into the lives of U.S. citizens.
5. Promotion of individual rights for citizens.
6. Create and implement a non-partisan path to U.S. citizenship for non-citizens based on traditional “Civics” education. No re-emergence of the old New York Democrat Party machine Tammany Hall who controlled the vote with immigrants from Ellis island. A favorite saying attributed to Tammany Hall power brokers was: “vote early and vote often.”
A simple plan for citizenship would include the following: A) Finish the border wall and close the border. B) Migrants remain in their country of origin and apply for citizenship at our embassies C) Any non-citizen who is already in our country but, will not apply for citizenship and complete the education requirements will be deported. D) Stop government migrant handouts, paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
7. Equal treatment under the law for all citizens.
8. America comes first: Energy independence, secure borders, eliminate social programs for illegals, support law enforcement, and take Woke training out of our military.
9. Return to traditional teaching subjects for our K thru twelve public schools. Promote “The Three R’s.” Stop using Marxist and “gender-think” indoctrination techniques on our children. The tax dollars collected to support public schools should be unlocked to follow the student to pay for school of choice. Public education monopoly should be broken up. Competition will improve the entire education system just like a “rising tide lifts all boats.”
10. Strict oversight , detailed accounting, and transparency on all foreign military, economic, and humanitarian aid
These ten criteria are my personal standards. I encourage each citizen to give serious thought to their own personal standards. Know why you believe what you believe. I thank God we live in a country where we as individuals still have the freedom to vote our own conscience.
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