Is there any question why those who wish to control the outcome of an election are so strongly in favor of vote by mail?
None of us likes to be lied to. It is manipulative, disrespectful, and often an attempt to get us to do something we otherwise would not consider, or to prevent us from doing something we should. What, then, should we do when it is our own governments who lie to us?
For years now, we have been told that our elections are safe, secure, and honest. We are repeatedly told that vote by mail systems are even more safe than in-person voting.
Election Series
The California Secretary of State website, in their page on "California Trusted Information" provides official information intended to counter rumors about election integrity. One point states "Reality: Voting by mail is a reliable and secure way to vote" . On expanding the item, one finds:
" Facts: Mail in ballots provide more security to elections, not less. Elections officials use protocols to verify the eligibility and identity of the voter prior to sending the vote by mail ballot. When the ballot is returned elections officials will verify the voter’s identity through signature verification. If the elections official determines that the voter's signature does not match, the identification envelope will not be opened, and the ballot will not be counted until the identification of the voter is confirmed. "
As we have seen in a previous article, signature checking is unreliable and a largely ineffective means for detecting fraudulent ballots. This information from the state must be considered to be official disinformation, otherwise known as an official lie.
In point of fact, nearly every "Reality" statement on that page is false or misleading. One can only conclude that the statements are deliberate attempts to deceive us into believing our elections are reliable expressions of the will of the voters, when that is far from the truth.
Most states have similar "informational" items on their websites or in their official publications, so California is not alone in misleading its voters with official disinformation. Interesting that we can even thank our own government for the term "disinformation" which is defined as " false information which is intended to mislead, especially propaganda issued by a government organization to a rival power or the media."
The most substantial official lies of recent years center around vote by mail, otherwise known as absentee voting. It has long been recognized that vote by mail represents the greatest danger to election integrity of almost any factor.
In 2004, in response to concerns about election integrity issues in prior elections, the Commission of Federal Election Reform was organized and chaired by Jimmy Carter and James Baker. In 2005, a substantial report was completed detailing a multitude of problems with election systems and offering proposals for correction. The report has since served as a handbook of weaknesses in our election systems that can be exploited to perpetrate election manipulation and fraud.
That wasn't quite the intention of the commission, but nearly every defect identified in the report remains unaddressed, or worse, has been made even more severe by subsequent legislative and administrative actions. Everything from voter registration to voter identification to vote by mail and use of voting technology, as well as internet concerns was examined and specific recommendations prepared. Nearly every one of the recommendations have been ignored.
The report itself makes interesting, albeit discouraging, reading. The report covered many of the topics we have touched on, including corrupted voter rolls, signature checking, and now vote by mail systems.
In the section on vote by mail, the reports makes several comments such as:
" Vote by mail is, however, likely to increase the risks of fraud and of contested elections in other states, where the population is more mobile, where there is some history of troubled elections, or where the safeguards for ballot integrity are weaker" and
" ...absentee balloting in other states has been one of the major sources of fraud".
Since that report came out, there have been numerous efforts to dismiss, debunk, discredit or claim that report to be some sort of right wing conspiracy theory intended to raise doubts regarding the integrity of our elections. One of the major attempts to show all the concerns raised by the 2005 report have been fixed comes from the Carter center. Interesting that Brad Raffensperger was one of the panelists.
To understand why people are concerned about vote by mail systems, we need to look into a few of the issues around the vote by mail processes.
I wrote earlier that one of the problems with vote by mail is anonymity. Voter rolls in every state have 25 - 30% improper registrations. These include fictional voters, voters who have moved but are still registered, voters who were registered years ago but have never voted, voters registered at non-residential addresses, and many who just appeared in the rolls with no known reason.
Even in the smallest counties, where people know each other, the problem exists. A small county in one of the Great Plains states with only five thousand people in its rolls discovered that in a year's time twenty percent of the population in the rolls had been removed, and another twenty percent had been added, all without awareness of the county officials. In our own investigations, in several counties in California we have seen similar churn.
What this means for vote by mail is that when ballots are sent out, 30% of those ballots are going to "people" who don't exist or who shouldn't be voting. In a recent election we have seen over 10% of questionable "voters" we had identified who had not voted for over five years suddenly decide to vote by mail. That is more than enough to decide the outcome of almost any election.
Even in states where absentee ballots must be requested, there often is no confirmation that the requestor is a real person living in the county. Michigan— remember governor Whitmer of Covid fame?— just amended their constitution so that people could request to be permanent recipients of absentee ballots. States like California and Washington mail ballots to everyone in the rolls, including all the ghosts and improper registrations. How many of those are "voted" and counted?
And that brings up a second aspect of the vote by mail anonymity problem. When a ballot is returned in the mail, or a dropbox, or "harvested" by third parties, there will be a name on the outside of the envelope, but are the contents what that person intended, assuming that they are even a legitimate voter? I have written of ballot redirection and ballot replacement. Both of these methods have been proven in court to have been used to "win" an election. Without vote by mail, neither would be possible.
In most locations, less than half the ballots mailed out are voted and returned. Fewer than two percent are challenged and rejected. If only ten percent of the ballots mailed are returned from fraudulent sources, that means that over 20% of the returned ballots are likely fraudulent! Furthermore, over 95% of the fraudulent ballots will be included in the certified counts because of the difficulty in telling a good ballot from a bad one.
The Federal laws require that someone voting for the first time in an election where a federal official such as president, senator, or congressman is on the ballot must provide identification with their ballot. However, the law provides for thirty different forms of identification to be used, only about a third of which include a photo. A copy of a bank statement or utility bill will suffice.
My favorite is one can copy the address page of the voter guide sent out to voters prior to an election that describe the candidates and initiatives. Thus the county will provide the required identification that can be returned to the county to prove to the county that someone is a legitimate voter in that county!
One last, but far from the only remaining issue of vote by mail is that it makes voter intimidation easy. It is difficult to intimidate voters at public polling places, but when completing a vote by mail ballot, others can "encourage" voters to make selections that do not reflect the voter's choice. Nursing and care homes are especially vulnerable as has been observed in multiple states, but even individual homes are not secure. In some of our elections, "helpful" visitors have shown up at homes to make sure the "right" candidates were selected. When voters are isolated, they are vulnerable to such pressure.
Is there any question why those who wish to control the outcome of an election are so strongly in favor of vote by mail? It gives the populace the illusion that they are deciding the outcome while giving the real control to those who commit fraud.
Many officials who advocate for vote by mail systems justify such by claiming that vote by mail is more convenient and increases voter turnout. Who, though, is turning out? Is it real voters or is it the ghosts? Are they legitimate? Do they even exist? Have we traded integrity in our elections for convenience?
There is good reason why every country in Europe that tried vote by mail has returned to in-person, one day voting. Ghosts seldom show up to vote. Illegal voters don't come to the polls. Out-of-state residents generally don't return to vote. Add in photo ID requirements, and even signature checking is no longer necessary, saving lots of money in election costs. If ballots are tabulated at the polling locations, all the expensive and vulnerable machines aren't needed. The people can actually see the processes of their elections at work and trust them because they have observed with their own eyes.
Small wonder why so many officials and even foreign enemies want us to replace the traditional systems with vote by mail and internet connected databases, and systems that cannot be inspected and observed.
Bad as these issues are, they aren't the worst. We will be looking at some truly scary methods that can be used to exploit our current election systems in ways that are nearly impossible to detect and counter. Don't despair, though. There is much we can do. In future articles, in addition to the bad stuff, we will be covering what we, even as individuals, can do. Keep the faith.
Read next: Taking Back Our Votes: Trump's Executive Order Has Election Officials Terrified
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