By David Robb ——Bio and Archives--April 16, 2023
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There are a lot of different ways that our elections can be corrupted. They range from simple stealing or buying blank ballots and filling them out as desired, to production of large numbers of counterfeit ballots, even ones pre-printed with the desired selections marked, to simple photocopying of ballots. Ballots can be harvested by third parties and only those from the "proper" sources submitted for counting.
Asking questions about the integrity of our elections is something few are comfortable with. Yet such questions are vital to the health of our nation, as much so as asking about our personal health is vital to our lives.
The bad guys already know: I am going to focus on a particular approach that has been employed recently with great effect by those who want to ensure their team wins. Some may object that I shouldn't provide such detail as it might encourage its wider use. The problem is that those who want to cheat will already know while those who most need to know, ordinary citizens, are often ignorant. Just as with other forms of fraud, knowledge is one of the best defenses against it.
Where it begins: Dirty voter rolls--that's where it starts. In 1993, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) that was intended to make sure all those who were eligible to vote could freely register. In 2002, a second law, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was passed that included, among many other questionable provisions, a set of documents that someone could use to prove identity during voter registration. In addition to photo IDs like passports and driver licenses, one could use a utility bill, or a health club membership.
Since then, may states have implemented online voter registration processes where someone who wishes to register never needs to appear in person, or even needs to be a real person.
A further provision of the NVRA makes it very difficult to remove someone from the voter rolls, except for very specific reasons such as death, moving out of the jurisdiction, criminal felony conviction and mental incompetence. All of these require hard proof, without which, the registration stands. Of course, fictional entries are not subject to any of these conditions, so they can remain forever.
Not speculation: As a result, our voter rolls have been accumulating large numbers of invalid registrations. How many, you ask? In recent Judicial Watch investigations, 1.2M inactive voters were identified in Los Angeles county alone--25% of the voter rolls there. In New York City, 550,000 were found, and 240,000 in Pennsylvania. Other investigations have shown similar percentages in every State. Not so long ago, these were not a major problem, as dead people seldom showed up to vote in person. With voting by mail, though, even the dead and fictional can freely vote, and often do.
Where do ghosts come from?: Someone who knows who these "ghost voters" are can put them to use. They can know either because they created them in the first place, or because they modified the real voter registrations to "relocate" real voters.
Voter rolls usually contain names, addresses, phone and email information, and even birth dates and party affiliations. This is more than enough information for someone to go online and submit a new registration or to change an existing one.
Yes, creating false voter roll entries is a felony, but who will be prosecuted? The person whose entry was changed? A fictional character entered in the rolls? Is someone going to arrest Donald Duck or Bugs Bunny if their name appears in the voter rolls?
No speculation here, either: Again, creation of fraudulent entries in voter rolls is not some made-up idea that is possible, but never happens. A recent arrest in Lodi California involved a City Councilman who it appears had created new registrations for his friends, neighbors, and many others and had their ballots delivered to addresses he could access.
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What happens to a ballot when it is mailed?: Who knows?!
The ballot is mailed out to a voter, or a ghost, and it is not seen until it turns up back at the processing facility. The return envelope usually has a ballot it in, but where did it come from? Was the enclosed ballot actually filled out by the person whose name is on the outside of the envelope? Is the ballot a forgery? Is the ballot from one of the ghosts in the rolls? The only thing that is known is that something that appears to be a ballot was received.
At this point, the enclosed ballot is almost guaranteed to be counted and added to the official certified totals. Some states still require the ballot envelopes to be signed, but nearly half of the states no longer check signatures. Of those that do, most simply check to see if a signature exists, and sometimes if it sort of resembles one on file for the voter.
When the ballot passes signature check, it proceeds to be separated from its envelope and mixed in with all the other ballots received. Onward then to counting.
How big is the problem?: So how many fraudulent ballots are included in the official totals? Simple answer:--almost all of them.
Yes, that is indeed true. Once a ballot is received by mail or in a dropbox, there is almost no way to tell if it is legitimate or not.
California is one of the states that still has signature requirements for vote by mail ballots. When a ballot is returned, eagle-eyed inspectors carefully scrutinize every signature and compare it to the one on file with the State. Generally, if they see a signature, the ballot is considered valid for counting.
It is difficult, for obvious reasons, to know how many ballots are fraudulent. Estimates range from about five percent to over thirty percent, with most trending to the upper end of those figures. The fraud case mentioned above involved a few hundred votes, and the sheriff identified over seventy ballots that could be tied back to invalid voter roll entries and other fraudulent activities. That would put even that simple example of fraud in the fifteen to twenty-five percent range, consistent with observations from other jurisdictions.
A thirty percent fraud rate would be enough to decide almost any contest, and even a five to ten percent rate would sway most races. The Biden/Trump election in 2020 involved about six million votes of just over 154M total--a four percent difference
What can we do?: Get copies of your local county voter rolls, preferably in electronic form that can be loaded into a spreadsheet. Then look for such clues as addresses that point to vacant lots, business addresses, small residences with lots of different names registered to that address, and many other indicators.
Develop a good relationship with your sheriff and pass along your findings to them. Your findings may even tie to other activities they can investigate.
During an election, most places have a way to check online if your vote has been received. Before you mail in your ballot, or go to vote in person, check to see if a vote has already been received in your name. Take a screenshot or copy down details and pass that on to your sheriff. Someone probably just stole your vote.
If you vote in person, make sure to check the address on file for you, as well as birth date if possible. Small changes in those can make it seem like you are a different person so a vote can be recorded in your name.
Contact your congressional representatives and demand that they fix the NVRA law so that voter rolls can be cleaned of ghosts. Demand that photo IDs delivered in person be required to register. Don't be distracted by claims that IDs are voter suppression. They are. They suppress illegal voters, underage voters, non-citizen voters, and criminal voters. Everyone else is clear.
Don't support the steal: The only way to ensure fair elections is to demand them and not stop demanding until the problems are fixed. Failure to act is support for fraud. Do you want your vote to count or do you want our representatives chosen by a criminal cabal?
Our country, our choice.
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David Robb is a practicing scientist and CTO of a small firm developing new security technologies for detection of drugs and other contraband. Dave has published extensively in TheBlueStateConservative, and occasionally in American Thinker.