Why We Still Need to be Concerned About Election Integrity

A lot of people feel that with Trump now in office, we can relax and don't have to worry about the integrity of our elections. Many officials are using his election as an excuse to continue with things as they have been. "Your guy won—will you quit with the election integrity bs, already!"

Voter rolls across the country are still a mess, filled with non-citizens, ghosts, registrations at non-existent or illegal addresses

No, now is NOT the time to let up. Voter rolls across the country are still a mess, filled with non-citizens, ghosts, registrations at non-existent or illegal addresses, and many other problems. Vote by mail is still in widespread use, allowing votes to be received and counted from illegal sources. Even with in-person voting, lack of ID requirements only facilitate voter impersonation and illegal voting, especially when coupled with dirty voter rolls.

The use of electronic systems for maintaining voter rolls, for counting ballots, and for administering our elections has made the whole process so complex and so vulnerable that it is almost impossible to determine the accuracy of even local elections.

In fact, in most venues, it is now possible to construct a completely fictitious election, complete with ballot images, vote counts, imaginary voters, and fully plausible results that cannot be checked, but have the appearance of a valid election.

Many states now prohibit access to audit records that would allow us to determine if an election was fabricated or was a valid election that actually represented the will of real people. Even if access is provided, the time and effort required to audit the records makes such efforts prohibitive in all but a few instances.

Dirty voter rolls and manipulation of electronic election records

There are hints of such fabrication in many of the down-ballot races across the country. Even if the Presidential election is correct, the composition of our legislatures, both state and federal is an open question. A new case in California is bringing to light many of the problems with our current systems, especially with dirty voter rolls and manipulation of electronic election records. We will have to see where that goes, but sunshine is the best disinfectant, and California might finally be a sunshine state.

We are too great a nation to tolerate such ambiguity and uncertainty in our elections. Our nation depends on the trust of the citizens that our legislators have been fairly and honestly chosen to reflect our values. If we have cause to believe that it is not our will, but rather the will of dishonest parties that is reflected in our elections, the necessary faith in our institutions and government is shaken, even to the point of destruction.

We have a choice before us. We can continue as we have in recent years, using questionable and vulnerable systems, or we can adopt systems that have been proven to provide reliable results both here and across the world.

Having been involved in several years now of investigations into election issues, I can say what I think is necessary. There are five separate things to be done.

Ample precedent for setting requirements for elections that involve national offices, such as President, US Senate, and House

Our Constitution says that elections are to be run by the States. However, with the NVRA of 1993 and HAVA of 2002, there is ample precedent for setting requirements for elections that involve national offices, such as President, US Senate, and House.

First, except in circumstances of bona fide need, there should be no vote by mail, aka, absentee voting. Until Covid, there was no significant use of vote by mail, and it was introduced to enable an election in a time of general confinement. Now it is represented as a popular convenience to encourage voter participation. In reality, it is a popular method of promoting election fraud. We can no longer afford to sacrifice integrity on the altar of convenience.

Second, elections must be conducted on a single day, just as they have been for decades. Paper ballots must be provided at polling locations, and must be completed and returned at the poll location. Absentee ballots must be returned by mail on or before election day.

Third, a voter must present a valid, current picture ID issued only when the individual has presented proof of citizenship. Provision can be made for those few individuals who cannot provide proof directly, and there must be no charge for such an ID. The ID must provide information, such as an address of residence which shows that individual is a legitimate voter in their district.

Citizens must be able to satisfy themselves that elections are fair and the results are accurate

Fourth, while electronic voter rolls may be preserved and maintained, a paper poll book for each polling location must be printed which contains a list of only the authorized voters for that location, and each voter must be checked against that list before being given a ballot to vote. Anyone not in the list must not be given a ballot. Provision should be made for those voters who have valid reasons, such as a recent move, to provide proof that they are eligible to vote, and such proof must be recorded before a ballot is issued.

Lastly, all election records, including all paper ballots must be preserved and available without undue delay for citizen audits of all elections involving federal offices. This will include ballot images, tabulator log files and results, and all other electronic records. Given the difficulty of large scale audits, the results of an election may be challenged for up to six months if valid audit evidence can be provided that meets reasonable rules of evidence.

There would still be attempts at election fraud, but these changes would go a long way to restoring honest elections that truly reflect the will of the people. Citizens must be able to satisfy themselves that elections are fair and the results are accurate. Democracy demands no less.

There is no good reason for the current trend of governments to restrict access to election records, increasing the complexity of election processes, promoting "improvements" that support fraud, and blocking citizen challenges of results.

We have made much progress, but there is still a long road ahead. We are fortunate to now have support for reform at the national level. Let us not squander that.