I have maintained basic silence and watched along with you as the Midterm Election chaos morphed from being a simple national election to a bitter, strife-filled, name-calling, Identity Political, all-out travesty reminiscent of 2000, 2004, and 2016. The epicenter of this “holocaust” was, once again, Florida.
As I watched the drama unfold, I could not help but “SMH” (I know now that means “shake my head”) in anger and disgust as the one thing that must always be the focus of every election in the United States was either lost, forgotten, or both: the will of the American People. The Peoples’ will is the ONLY thing that matters in elections. It was totally invisible in the vitriolic rhetoric we watched play out in press conferences, news reports on television, newspaper stories, and even the never-ending interviews that every network seemed driven to get with that one person who shared the anchor’s political perspective to weigh-in with THEIR opinion of “Who Won.”
It is sadly apparent that most in the political system of the United States have lost their way in leading the nation in this most sacred of events that separate the heretofore greatest country in World history from every other country: free and democratic elections that provide every American citizen to cast their vote without any government restriction for whomever they choose to support. It’s gone! And that fact has been driven home over and over for the last week+ while the squabbles happen regarding election chaos all across the nation.
Today I am not going down the road of which Republican got kicked to the curb, whether there was a red or blue wave or how tall the wave was, whether any candidate is racist or misogynistic or homophobic or islamophobic. Today I want to open an honest discussion with you about one thing: our election process. I want you to think through this with me. I want us together to think of ways we can make it better, make it work — whether that means to blow-up the existing process and starting over or just calling in the remodeler to move a few walls, fix the plumbing, and spread some new paint. Let’s go!
The Process Today
States run these elections. Yes, state-run elections include processing local voters who cast their votes on the same day at the same voting precinct at the same time as they elect candidates running for state AND federal offices. Most states use some type of electronic voting equipment or a hybrid system that combines manual AND electronic voting. But there is NO uniformity, NO standard, NO measure of any of these particular voting processes, voting systems, and NO unified accountability requisite standards set to assure each voter their vote is properly processed and that their choices for their supported candidates count. And there’s no method structured to uniformly ferret out election pandering. Is that not insane!
Look at what’s at stake: every two years we elect 435 representatives from across the country to represent citizens from every state, county or parish, and every city and town to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Included in each of those elections is the selection of members to serve in the U.S. Senate. Every four years, in addition to the House of Representatives, Senators whose terms are expiring, we also elect a U.S. President and Vice President. Completing this process every other year timely, accurately, and with the certainty that each election is accurate and without any vote-tampering MUST be the #1 objective for every member of the United States Government and all state and local governments. That does NOT seem to be the case now. The voting system MUST be repaired or replaced.
Do We have Election Fraud?
I really do not know. Remember that a month before the 2016 elections, President Obama laughed at statements by then Candidate Trump that he was concerned about election tampering. Obama said there was “no serious” person who would suggest it was possible to rig American elections, adding, “I’d invite Mr. Trump to stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes.”
Obama made that statement thinking it would never be made public that just two months before he attacked Trump, Obama’s FBI had informed the President that there were indeed serious and credible attempts that had been made in previous elections by Russians and other foreign governments to impact the results of U.S. elections. The FBI assured Obama that they had credible evidence that such tampering would be initiated in the November 2016 election — the very election for which Obama arrogantly dismissed Donald Trump’s election-tampering concerns.
If Obama knew about election tampering attempts and hid those from the American people (which he did), what other attempted election tampering and/or fraud have there been? And has any of it been successful?
What is scariest to me in all this is that it is implausible to believe that with the sophistication of electronic technology and the expertise of individuals within foreign governments like Russia, China, and Japan, such election tampering has not in anyway been successful. One thing IS certain though: when American politicians try to cover-up anything, there’s a reason. And it almost always is that what they are hiding is real — and that they know it.
Correcting U.S. Election Voting Issues
- Remove the election of federal officials from state voting control: that’s a must. There are far too many opportunities for mistakes — whether accidental or intentional — when these voting systems are operated in large part by volunteers, even with state or local oversight;
- Totally do-away with electronic elections. We see almost daily the horrors of internet interference in virtually every operation of every type that takes place electronically. Let’s face it: people invent machines, electronic processes, the ability for computers to connect, transfer data and information instantly worldwide. That means those same people certainly possess the ability to monitor, alter, delete and even steal anything that is contained in electronic storage that can be accessed via the internet. Finland is a very advanced technological country. Years ago Finland ditched their fully computerized election system. Why? Because they discovered there was no way to ensure the security, fairness, accuracy, and therefore the results of elections to actually be that of the votes as cast by their voters.
- Return U.S. voting to manual ballots. I’ll certainly get some pushback on this, primarily because doing so seems to be a step back technological capabilities. But, as Finland learned, it is far easier to distribute, manually vote and manually count votes that assures the citizens of their country every legal vote cast was counted and that within that process there was certainly NO ONE hindered the inclusion of any legal vote and NO ONE tampered in any way with each election.
Summary
There surely are many details of such a system that must be addressed before blowing-up our current system. But smart people who can share creative ideas with organized people who can direct U.S. resources necessary to a revised election system that is cost-effective and practical. I could offer a plan here, but I prefer to throw this concept out in the open to see if anyone agrees with me and might be willing to share some specific ideas.
Certainly, the U.S. Department of Justice could easily create a division of “Federal Election Operations and Accountability” (FEOA) that would construct, implement, and manage such an operation. Congress would be required to craft and pass a law that could be really simple, concise, and easily drafted and fund such a system.
Such a system controlled totally by the Feds could operate side-by-side with state and local election processes. But if so, the federal process would certainly be required to be segregated in structure to certify election results’ accuracy.
Can this be done? Will it be done?
You know, of late I have become a bit jaded at the fairness and honesty of the operations of government at federal, state, and local levels — especially with leaders in our federal government. I simply do not trust their following through with mandates given them by voters. I have NO doubt such a system could be put in place and put in place in short order. But I don’t have confidence such a process will really ever be implemented.
I’ll scare you a bit: I think that many on Capitol Hill would love to see elections be stopped totally at the federal level! This demands a separate conversation because of its blockbuster nature, and we may do that. But think this through: Have you not watched and wondered why law enforcement officials at every government level allow the continuation and the dramatic escalation of attacks — verbal, written, oral, and physical — on individuals and groups of other political persuasions? ANTIFA, White Supremacists, and other militant groups in large are being allowed to run rampant. Why do you think that is?
“IF” government officials could continue to gain more and more examples of unrest among the populace that lead to violence, does that not fuel their ability to push for the cessation of the voting process?
“Americans are too divided, too divisive, too angry and without the ability to reason anymore. The American public no longer has any real capability to discern who are the best candidates to put in various political offices. We should abolish the antiquated election system in the U.S. and allow the government to choose who should be in office.”
I don’t think we are very far from hearing that cry from those who are screaming louder and louder every day for more and more government intrusion in every area of our lives. Such a move seems to be just another stepping stone for a utopian life they want us all to experience.
Ridiculous?
I hope so!
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