Voter Fraud

Let’s address the elephant in the room and talk about voter fraud. While there have been isolated cases of voter fraud, there has never been any widespread voter fraud significant enough to change the outcome of an election. Not even close. Voter fraud has not affected our voting rights.

The stories and claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election were all lies. Period. Every Republican official in charge of elections in the disputed districts certified that the results in their district were accurate. The Department of Justice and the FBI also investigated and found no evidence of widespread fraud. Even Arizona’s “audit” paid for by the Republicans failed to find anything.

Anyone who still claims the election was stolen or that there was widespread fraud is lying to you.

Looking at it another way, consider this: If a non-citizen wanted to illegally vote, it’s not that hard. So is robbing a bank. Just because someone has the opportunity to commit a crime does not mean they will do it, especially if the reward does not match the risk.Illegally voting is a felony. Get caught, and you go to jail. As an individual, you get no immediate tangible benefit if you vote illegally, but you are risking years in jail. Sure, it probably happens occasionally. But common sense and a basic understanding of human behavior and desire for self-preservation tells us that this should not be a major issue. And the actual facts from every voter registrar across the country back this up as well.

Also, keep in mind that there is a huge difference between registering to vote and actually voting. When people move or die, voter registration rolls are slow to keep up. Sometimes, they are still registered years after they have moved or died. Someone who moves often could be registered in several places. That does not mean a crime has occurred, unless they return to cast a vote in a precinct where they no longer live.

Now, if voter fraud were to happen, it happens in one of two ways: Someone who is not qualified to vote casts a vote, or someone casts multiple votes in the same election.

How do we make sure people can’t do this? Protecting our voting rights is not really not that complicated.

Protecting our Voting Rights by Fixing the System

(1) Social Security is a Federal system. Every citizen has a Social Security Number. The Social Security System keeps a record of every citizen’s current address. When you move, it is your responsibility to update your address with Social Security. Each person can have only one current primary address on file with Social Security.

(2) Six weeks before each election, the Social Security Administration should send each state a list of all citizens of voting age residing in that state. Each state will then have an accurate record of all eligible voters in their state.

(3) This completely eliminates the need to have local voter registration at all, while still protecting our voting rights.

(4) Voters can vote in person at the Registrar’s office up to 30 days prior to the election. When they cast their vote in person, the system is immediately updated to reflect that they have voted.

(5) If a citizen wishes to vote by mail, they can request a mail-in ballot. Mail in ballots must be postmarked at least 15 days BEFORE the election, and received by the registrar at least 7 days before the election. Mail in ballots will have an inner envelope with the voter’s information on it. When the registrar receives the ballot, the outer envelope is opened, and the inner envelope is removed. The inner envelope is NOT opened, but the voter’s name is marked as having voted. If the record shows that the person already voted in person, the ballot is destroyed. If there are any questions about the authenticity of the ballot, the registrar can contact the voter for verification.

(6) On election day, voters may vote in person with a valid ID at their local precinct. If the record shows that they have not voted by mail, their mail-in ballot will be destroyed. Remember, at this time, the mail in ballots have not been counted.

(7) If a voter shows up without a valid ID, or at the wrong precinct, or they have moved after Social Security sent out the list, they may cast a provisional vote.

(8) When the polls close on election day, all in-person and mail-in votes are counted. If the margin of victory is greater than the number of provisional ballots cast, the election is over, and a winner can be certified.

(9) If the election is close, and the number of provisional ballots exceeds the margin, then the provisional ballots come into play. Those voters who showed up without an ID have five days to come to the Registrar’s office with their ID to have their vote counted. Ballots cast at the wrong precinct will be physically transferred to the proper precinct. Ballots cast by people who moved will be checked to make sure the original precinct has not received a ballot. Any other discrepancies that caused a ballot to be cast provisionally will also be addressed during that five day time period. At that time, all provisional ballots that have been properly verified will be counted, and that will be the end of the process.

Making it easy to vote

For most Americans, in person voting is not that difficult. We go before work, or during lunch, or after work, or we take an hour off. But for many Americans, it’s not that simple. They work at a job where they can’t take off during voting hours, or their work is too far from the precinct. Or they may simply not have a way to get to the precinct to vote. That’s why it’s so important to ensure that we have alternative methods in place.

But many of the new laws passed since the 2020 election were passed with a hidden agenda. Proclaiming to protect the integrity of the system, their true purpose was to make it harder for minorities and others to vote. Instead of protecting our voting rights, they infringed upon them. These laws must be overturned immediately.

Voting Methods

Different states and locations using different methods for electing our leaders. Most states still have a primary season where each party chooses its nominee, and a general election where the final decision is made. In races with more than two candidates, some states recognize the candidate with the most votes as the winner, while others require the winner to receive a majority (more than 50%) of the votes. In these states, if a candidate fails to get a majority, there is a run-off between the top two candidates.

Ranked Choice Voting

But there is a much better, and simpler, way of handing the voting process. It’s called Ranked Choice Voting. The beauty of this system is that you only have to have one general election. There are no primaries and no run-offs. With ranked choice voting, all of the candidates from all of the parties are listed on a single ballot. You rank the candidates in the order you want on your ballot. To learn how ranked choice voting works, watch this video that explains ranked-choice voting in an easy to understand way.

Ranked choice voting also eliminates the problem of plurality voting. In today’s system, when there are multiple candidates running for an office, the worst candidate is often the winner. For example, let’s say that Able, Baker, Charlie, and Donny are all running for mayor. Able, Baker, and Charlie all have a great reputation, have experience working for the city, and have all held elected positions before. Donny is a crook and a con artist whose campaign is based on lies, false allegations, and claims of corruption inside the city.

Most voters recognize Donny for what he is, and will not vote for him. But there are some who don’t know enough about the issues and are not able to see through his lies, and think he would be a good mayor.

On election day, Able receives 21% of the vote, Baker received 24% of the vote, Charlie receives 25% of the vote, and Donny receives 30% of the vote. Donny wins. But he did not win because he was the best candidate. 70% of the people voted against him! He won because 70% of the voters split their votes between the three qualified candidates. This is exactly what happened in the 2016 Republican primary elections.

This would not happen with ranked choice voting.

Russian Interference

In 2016, Russia interfered with our election. But they did not interfere with our election process itself. Instead, they used propaganda to influence the way people voted. Read more about that here.