The United States has a long history of voting irregularities. Thomas Jefferson’s detractors claim Jefferson lost his first attempt at elective office because it was beneath his dignity to supply liquor at the polling place. Thereafter, Jefferson paid stand-ins to provide liquor for voters and poll watchers. For a contemporary view of elections running amuck, see my post titled, “Can it be said there is no Election Fraud, published December 12, 2020. The essay records corrupt practices uncovered in each of four states; Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. The findings came from the Attorney General of the State of Texas who investigated and corroborated a wide range of corrupt actions by local election officials. The Attorney General then assembled and prepared a petition to the Supreme Court of the United States asking for judicial remedy. The basis for that request was that valid votes in Texas were diluted by invalid votes of the four offending states – the Supreme Court had previously accepted this approach as a basis for remedies when raised by petitioners within a state where illegal votes diluted valid votes. The Texas petition did not specify an exact remedy that it sought, but that did not matter as the Court refused the petition in its entirety on the ground that Texas, an out-of-state petitioner, did not have standing to sue another states’ for their irregularities. Although ineffective with the Court, the Texas petition reads as a primer for ferreting out weaknesses in a variety of registration and election procedures. It seems doubtful the Texas petition has “awakened” the media or “the woke” culture.” It stands as a basis for informing journalists and thereafter their readers in nearly every state about whether its procedures and laws are vulnerable to corruption. There are three main weaknesses that are serious for the most flagrant practices. 1.) Voter registration files contain too many “ghost” voters (ineligible, moved (maybe registered elsewhere besides), deceased, in prison or not a citizen). 2.) Absentee ballots are too often voted by persons who are not the registered voter to whom the application for absentee voting was sent, and 3.) The first rule of election integrity is that ballots must be under control of election officials at all times, and only election officials. The public watchdog organization Judicial Watch has harangued the states on election integrity for years and has suits pending in more than a few federal courts where states have greater numbers of registered voters than the states’ eligible population. Furthermore, the Census Bureau, that should be tallying citizenship, does not, and no federal agency knows how many citizens there are in the United States of America, let alone in foreign countries.
The Brennan Center for Justice has in 2021 taken notice of an unusually large number of states making wide-ranging revisions to all their election laws. It attributes these “unexpected changes” to a “backlash from 2020’s historic voter turnout.” The pretense for the reaction it says is “responding to baseless allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities.” As of March 24, 2021, state legislators have introduced 361 bills with changed provisions (more than one provision on average) in 47 states (bold type as in the original). No mention was made by the Brennan Center of the State of Texas’ findings of serious irregularities. Maybe the state legislatures of forty-seven states did read the Texas petition and were awakened to the possibilities of opportunities for improvement in their state.
Georgia was the first state to complete its review of its election laws and their changes were made into law in late March, 2021. Publication of the laws has aroused a firestorm in the media and among the media’s woke-followers. It appears the media storm against Georgia’s changes is meant as a shot across-the-bow of every state that is pursuing what Georgia has completed. The Democratic Party and the media have certainly put substantial effort in a short period of time to have enlisted its largest corporations and Major League Baseball to the extreme political tactic of discrediting the State of Georgia’s government.
The whole problem is the media criticizes small changes and treats these uninformed, negative-appearing changes without ever considering the purpose of the change. I have read the law, and all the changes appear responsive to likely closing loopholes in the prior law. Why can’t the U.S. Congress be so diligent about improvement? (The answer to the question is too many laws, too much work.) What the media has published is not news! Nor is it information! Above all it does not represent knowledge! This is not what the media in a republican form of government needs to be about! This is what turns a republican form of government into mob-rule tyranny!
Publiustoo.com April 12, 2021
