Possible Solutions
As the election results drag down to their final days, and more and more fraudulent results are unearthed ,voters are asking what we can do to prevent more vote-fraud in the future. I've been running a thread about this on Facebook, and here are some answers we've come up with.
1) While it's theoretically possible to build a system of transparent and instantly correctible tabulating computers, that day is not yet. Therefore, the first thing we need to do is throw out computerized voting and tabulating machines. Fill out sturdy paper ballots by hand, with black ink from any kind of pen, seal them by hand, count them by hand and tally the counts by hand -- with constant witnesses and security cameras along every step of the way.
2) All ballots, whether in-person or mail-in, must be received by midnight on election day. That must be the unquestioned cut-off. (And of course anyone who prevents ballots from being received by that time must be arrested and jailed.) Walk-in voting can start at midnight on the day before, and mail-in ballots can be mailed in up to a week before.
3) Matching that, all ballots must be kept securely locked up and no ballot counted before midnight-plus-one on election day. The news media are not to see anything in advance.
4) Ballot-counting must be thoroughly witnessed -- in person and on camera -- by representatives from every party (or non-party) on the ballot. The news media may be invited in to watch and record the process.
5) Ballots considered "questionable" must be separated as "provisional" and securely set aside to be verified and counted after the unquestionably legitimate ones. Such verification and counting must likewise be thoroughly witnessed.
6) Mail-in ballots can be sent only to voters who request them at registration; not broadcast to all and sundry.
7) Ballots must be printed only in the state, county, municipality, and precinct where they are to be cast, not farmed out to foreign printers.
8) The number of ballots printed shall not exceed the number of registered voters by more than one half of one percent, to allow for physical losses without allowing box-stuffing.
9) Voter registration must close at least two weeks before election day. No more register-and-vote on the same day funny business.
10) In order to register to vote, people must show proof that: a) they are who they say they are, b) they live where they say they live, c) they are at least 18 years of age, and d) they are American citizens.
(Such proofs can include birth certificates and utility bills, birth certificates and drivers' licenses, court decisions, tribal registries, passports and utility bills, citizenship papers and utility bills, real-estate tax statements, military records, baptismal records, hospital records, midwives' affidavits, and legally verified entries in family bibles.)
11) Convicted felons who have served their time shall have their prison records sent to county registration offices on being set free, so they can apply for and receive restoration of rights before the closing of registrations in advance of the next election.
12) Citizenship shall be conferred by birth, legal naturalization, government fiat, or completed military service with an honorable discharge.
13) Voting registration offices must also include an investigative wing to examine suspicious registrations. For example, a lot of registrations coming from the same physical address, with only minor differences, should be checked to see if the address is an apartment complex, a group home, a mental hospital or a cemetery. The investigative division shall make annual reports to the state government.
These are the very least of the reforms that need to be made to ensure that the kind of cheats that have been reported -- and still are being reported -- in this last election don't happen again.
Anybody, please feel free to add more ideas.
--Leslie <;)))>< Fish
