Watchstanders Wanted

We are three weeks away from the Presidential election. Questioning election integrity has been a tradition in our country since at least the 1800 Election when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr defeated John Adams—the incumbent. Prior to the adaption of The 12^th Amendment, the person receiving the most votes for President became President and the person with the second most votes became Vice-President—in this case Burr. This was the first election where political parties exerted a significant influence on the process. Jefferson represented the interests of the DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICANS and Adams was a FEDERALIST. The election was actually a hybrid form of rank choice voting. Burr and Jefferson tied for electoral votes and the process was sent into the House of Representatives where after 35 ballots the issue remained unresolved. Working behind the scenes Alexander Hamilton—a Federalist, arranged for several New England Federalists to vote for Jefferson (The Democratic-Republican). By counting and applying down ballot votes the process is opened up to manipulation and fraud and the influence of political “quid pro quo”.

This week a report from the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) identified at least 50 threats to election integrity. For example, in Michigan it has been identified that there are at least 53 counties that have more people on their voting rolls than they have citizens in the county. And let’s be clear when we talk about voting “fraud” we are not just talking about the casting of ballots and counting votes—though that process is still very problematic, and I will address it now briefly. As Joseph Stalin apparently said, “it is not who votes that counts it is who counts the votes”. The issue of vote counting has not been made less problematic with electronic voting, but more problematic. The bottom line is that a process that ensures accurate reconciliation and accounting of votes already cast is required. Paperless electronic systems—though many Secretaries of States have said otherwise, are still fraught with opportunities for fraud. There are systems that major accounting firms use when they audit companies that resemble “block chain” redundancies that could be adopted for counting votes and reconciling vote counts, but almost always (SOSs) site problems with “costs” of implementing such systems. I say paper ballots until such systems are available across the board in all locales and voting districts.

When conservatives talk about election fraud, we are not just talking about the process of counting and reconciling votes. We are also talking about ways that voters and the vote can be influenced and manipulated behind the scenes—just like Alexander Hamilton did in the 1800 election.

Peter Schweizer has identified several areas of concern in this regard. Voting Fraud and Election Fraud we have already discussed:

• “Dark money” such as “Zuckerbucks” that is used for public election administration.
• Lawfare operations that use taxpayer resources to “weaponize the justice system against challengers to incumbents.
• “Get Out the Vote” operations that use nonprofit status to target voters from a preferred political party.
• Vote Fraud by people who double-vote, fraudulently vote someone else’s ballot, or vote without being eligible to vote.
• Election Fraud that seeks to fix elections by illegal activities that take place during the counting or collection of ballots.

The upcoming Presidential Election presents challenges to all the candidates up and down the ballot. We need to all “stand a watch” and be vigilant.

To my less than conservative friends—many of them liberal and progressive who point out to me that all the lawsuits—apparently numbering over 75, that were brought throughout the States by the Trump legal team regarding 2020 election fraud—full disclosure I am not an attorney, but I have been advised by attorneys and I did spend the night at a Holiday Inn Express, none were found in his favor. The truth is only two or three were allowed to proceed and be decided by the facts of the case or the facts of law. The rest were thrown out because of “jurisdictional concerns” or “lack of standing”—and that’s my medical opinion.

There has been election fraud, vote counting fraud, fake news and lawfare intrusions into out electoral process since the beginning of our country. I was not around then, but several of my coffee buddies were, and they tell me the need to be vigilant this election season has never been greater.

I agree—and again that is my medical opinion.