We Desperately Need Election Reform

It’s easy to do and it must be done

This has turned into the election from hell, which kind of caps off the year from hell, wouldn’t you say?

Right now there are quite a few videos flying around Instagram showing some election fraud. Election workers are not being allowed to supervise the counting of votes. Some post office supervisors are instructing their employees to back date ballots that come in late. Precinct leaders are being caught on hidden cameras admitting to cheating and lying. Large batches of ballots are showing up that go 100% for one candidate, and 0% for the other. Voter rolls are showing thousands of dead people have voted. In some districts, more people have voted than there are registered voters. And glaringly obvious, several Instagram videos are showing several vote counters literally filling out stacks of ballots, one after the other. Yes, all these things are happening right now.

Reported in a press release this afternoon, a software glitch is being blamed for reversing 6,000 presidential votes in just one county in Michigan. The chairwoman of the GOP in that county found that 47 other counties in Michigan are also using the same software, with likely the same glitch. It’s also been reported this evening that possibly 30 other States were using this software. So there could be a real problem here.

And to make things worse, big tech social media is censoring almost all of this evidence to keep Americans in the dark. Some of these crimes are getting into the main stream news, but most are not. Not yet.

We definitely need a serious fix to our voting system, a reform, or possibly a complete reboot with a new Amendment to the Constitution (fat chance).

As it is now, the States have the authority from the U.S. Constitution to determine “The Times, Places, and Manner of holding Elections” (Article 1, Section 4). So the States get to choose when and where and how to have elections. They can choose what kind of ballot to use, what the ballot looks like, how the voting is done, how the votes are counted, all those nitty gritty details.

But the Election Clause also says that “the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.” So my proposal is NOT to take away the authority of the States in those details, but to require just a few Federal regulations for all elections:

• Paper ballots only, no computers. This should be obvious, because computers can too easily be programmed to cheat. But also, having paper ballots creates a physical record that can be referenced if necessary.
• Paper ballots must not be destroyed for some length of time, like 5 or 10 years or something. Harsh penalties for voter fraud already exist, like for destroying ballots, but maybe there’s some problem with enforcement. Maybe some of these cheaters need to be made an example of, to deter other wanna be cheaters.
• Machines that count ballots must be certified by an authority and both parties must certify that authority so that everyone is comfortable with the accuracy and reliability of the counting machines.

This last regulation is the big one, but let’s first think about how we secure and verify that other documents are real. Legal papers, government documents, certifications for valuable assets, often have something special in the document that secures and verifies its authenticity.

Think of paper money or currency, for example. What kind of features are in money that confirms it is authentic? Colored or metal ink, thin strips of fiber with metal writing in them, micro printing, etc. These features help protect against counterfeiting, but they can also be expensive.

There is another feature, however, that is easy to create, inexpensive to apply, and can be mass produced. You’ve probably already guessed it — it’s a water mark. Some water marks are decorative and very visible. Others are very hard to inspect and some use sophisticated technology.

It’s all about the water mark.

My proposal is to let the States continue to do elections however they want, but the ballots are printed on a special paper with a water mark. The water mark would change with every election, assuring integrity for each election. The water mark verifies which ballots are genuine and which ones are fake. So it would be very difficult to manufacture even one ballot that might sway an election.

The water marks should be difficult to reveal unless it was necessary to do so. The location, size, and type of water mark would be a deep secret held only by the secure company that makes the paper for the ballots. This is the way the paper is made for American currency. Quantities of this special paper would also be tightly controlled and monitored. After an election, if fraud is suspect, those deep secrets about the water mark can be released to verify the election results.

Keep in mind, it is only the paper with the water mark that is special. Each voting precinct can print their ballots in whatever way or design they want, but they must use special ballot paper, and presto, we just fixed a lot of the problems we’re having with election fraud.

It’s not a cure for all voter fraud, but this business of showing up with tens or hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots that only vote for one candidate, that will stop. Vote counters filling out stacks of ballots, or computer “glitches,” that kind of nonsense will stop. There can be no copying or replicating of ballots if special paper with water marks are used.

That is how we can reform our election system. It’s easy, inexpensive, secure, and it needs to happen before the next election.