October 25, 2024 at 5:30 a.m.
River News: Our View
Early voting is now underway in most states, and once again records are being set.
This is usually a good sign for Democrats, but, in an election year in which up has been down, assassination attempts abound, and the polls are so close you couldn’t wedge a hair between them, that might not be the case. In states where registration is by party, the number of returned ballots by Republicans still trails Democratic returned ballots, but the gap over previous years has been closing, and closing fast.
For a long time now, we have been critics of both early and mail-in voting. Those are the easiest routes to voter fraud, and everybody knows it, including former President Jimmy Carter, the now 100-year-old former commander-in-chief who apparently stayed alive just to vote for Kamala Harris, or so he said.
Back in the day, though, in 2005, the ex-president chaired a task force on voter fraud that came to just such a conclusion, that is, mail voting is susceptible to voter fraud and shouldn’t be allowed except in the narrowest of absentee voting circumstances.
The report bluntly concluded: “Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.”
They remain so today. That’s why we have for a very long time called for in-person election day voting with paper ballots, allowed only with a voter photo ID, with the ballots counted the same day. It’s the only way to ensure safe and secure elections.
Oh sure, Democrats and the government — we know, that’s redundant — assure us all that the idea of voter fraud has been debunked and that elections are already safe and secure. This is the same party/government that told you Covid vaccines were safe and effective.
In other words, believe them at your own risk. When it comes to the Swamp, there’s no lifeguard on duty.
But don’t take our word for it. Virtually every democracy in the world uses paper ballots cast on election day, which are hand counted the same day. Nations such as France have used this system for centuries, with little evidence or even allegations of fraud.
Not here. In the United States, we are beset by malfunctioning electronic voting systems, mail delays, lost mail, and, maybe worst of all, sometimes weeks and weeks of counting ballots. Here’s how independent journalist Glenn Greenwald put it in an essay:
“The richest and most powerful country on earth — whether due to ineptitude, choice or some combination of both — has no ability to perform the simple task of counting votes in a minimally efficient or confidence-inspiring manner. … The U.S. struggles and stumbles and staggers to engage in a simple task mastered by countless other less powerful and poorer countries: counting votes. Nations far poorer and less technologically advanced — including Brazil — have no problem holding quick, efficient elections. A system suffused with this much chaos, error, protracted outcomes and seemingly inexplicable reversals will sow doubt even among rational citizens.”
How true. As with so much else, we more resemble a developing nation than a developed nation, a banana republic rather than a democratic republic. Our borders are open, our cities are filthy and crime-ridden, our middle class has disappeared, and our election system would make the tinniest of tinpot dictators happier than a clam — all brought to you by the government-sanctioned Democratic Party.
Now a curious thing is happening in the 2024 election. Recently Donald Trump and his richest and most eccentric supporter, Elon Musk, have sent mixed signals about early mail-in voting.
Both are critics and both have sounded off about it recently — as Musk did in a town hall the other night — while on the other hand Trump’s campaign and Musk’s Super PAC are urging Trump voters to cast ballots early.
Naturally the corporate media has jumped all over both of them for being hypocritical. So what gives?
Well, as usual, the corporate media is being dishonest, not so surprising given that the corporate media is collectively a fraudulent and thoroughly discredited pro-state enterprise, the media equivalent of the Democratic Party. Who needs to watch scripted TV drama when you can watch scripted TV news?
The truth is, extolling the virtues of same-day, in-person voting by paper ballot while at the same time urging Trump supporters to vote in this election is perfectly consistent and reasonable.
The words “in this election” are key. Do we need to end early and mail-in voting in this country? Yes, the bi-partisan evidence says we do.
To cite just one example, the postal service these days is slower than the Pony Express was, and less dependable in getting mail to its destination. Voting by mail is a big gamble from the get-go.
If you are a conservative, it’s even worse. Your friendly postal unions — which represent most postal workers in the country — are in the tank for Harris and the Democrats. Do we really trust they will deliver ballots from conservative neighborhoods in timely fashion, or at all?
To be clear, we are not accusing most postal workers of anything nefarious. It’s just to say that the mail process creates one more opportunity to cheat if someone wants to — there’s always bad apples in any group — and it’s not just the postal service, but the use of such things as drop boxes.
The more separations, the more ballot handling, that intervenes between the voter and the polling place makes the system ripe for fraud. The system should be dismantled.
That said, do we need to vote early in this election? Yes, we do, to ensure that it’s fair.
In America today, Democrats as a distinct population vote early far more so than Republicans, most of whom prefer to vote on Election Day. That gives Democrats a baked-in advantage going into every election.
One might counter that when you vote shouldn’t make a difference in the outcome. Oh, but it does. Several recent studies show that, as a general rule, this voting pattern has reduced Republican turnout by a net 1 to 2 percent in each election.
The reason is pretty simple. Many Republicans who intend to vote on that one Election Day end up not making it to the voting booth for a variety of reasons. Inclement weather is a major culprit, but there’s also illness and family and work emergencies that unexpectedly divert people from their routine, and from their ability to get to the polling station.
In western North Carolina right now, devastation will likely reduce election day turnout. In this particular case, it will also hurt early mail-in voting but not as much because there will be more opportunities to use the mail system than to navigate destroyed roads and homes.
That 1 to 2 percent is likely to be crucial in a close election like we have. Conservatives can’t control what goes on with the postal service or with ballot harvesting, but they can control when they cast their ballots, and, if they want to see Trump win, they will vote early — today — and then tell everyone they know in the country to do the same thing.
We write this not so much to promote Trump as to promote fairness and consistency. Democrats and liberals should want to win on a level playing field, and so they should also hope that — because we have early mail-in voting — everyone uses it.
True, those who choose to wait are choosing to do just that, to wait, and so the bias of the voting patterns is not an imposed one. But it is one to be aware of as voting continues.
The most important message is this: Whenever one votes, and however one votes, make sure you do. Sixty-three years ago, President John F. Kennedy, in a speech that would be considered wildly out-of-date and uncool these days, exhorted his fellow citizens: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
Over the next 11 days, that would be voting.
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