Yesterday, August 6, was Missouri’s primary election. In only 89 days, eligible voters will go to the polls once more, this time for the presidential election.
This will be the seventh election for President of the United States since the turn of the century. Three of the last six have been controversial, with many voters believing the wrong candidate took the oath of office.
In 2000, the election between George W. Bush and Al Gore came down to the Florida voters. It took five weeks for the election to be called, and Bush was declared the winner after the U.S. Supreme Court stopped a third recount in the state.
Since then, according to the American First Policy Institute, “Congressional Democrats have formally challenged the results of every Republican presidential victory.” That would be Bush’s reelection in 2004 and Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton.
After Trump was declared the winner in 2016, Hakeem Jeffries, incoming House Democrat leader, called Trump’s victory a “hoax.”
In 2004 Clinton questioned on the Senate floor whether Bush had legitimately beaten John Kerry for his second term.
Then Senator Kamala Harris said, “We brought in folks who, before our eyes, hacked election machines.”
Everyone remembers the charges of election fraud in the last presidential contest.
Why are our elections open to these charges?
One reason is voter identification (ID) or lack thereof. While our state requires registered voters to present a photo ID to vote, 29 do not. States where you can vote without showing ANY documentation include the Democrat states of California, Illinois, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and New Jersey.
The Left has fought to stop photo IDs for elections at every turn, claiming they are racist. In March, Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged to fight ID laws along with other Republican election integrity measures, calling them “discriminatory, burdensome, and unnecessary.”
In January, Democrats won a lawsuit that stopped a law in North Carolina that required photo ID and address verification for voters registering on the day of the election.
Meanwhile, 46 out of 47 European countries require some form of identification to vote. A lack of voter ID just opens the door to election fraud.
Strict voter ID laws nationwide would be a giant step in increasing trust in our elections.
Another reason elections in the U.S. are unworthy of trust is the rise of electronic voting. Paper ballots are the hardest way to cheat, which is why 209 of 227 countries — as listed by ACE Electoral Knowledge Network — rely on paper ballots.
Brazil uses electronic voting machines, but the code to the machines is open, allowing all parties to check the code.
In the U.S., 90 percent of electronic voting is proprietary code, meaning it cannot be checked; it’s secret. This was a large contention in the last presidential election.
Democrat leaders are advocating for non-citizens to participate in the U.S. election system. This has already begun in local elections in Washington, D.C., and many areas of California.
Last July, Republicans in Congress authored a bill that would ban non-citizens from voting, require annual maintenance of voter rolls, and prevent the mailing of unsolicited ballots. This would have greatly increased the integrity of our elections. However, the bill was stopped in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Other vulnerabilities in our election system are seen in the length of time it takes to get results. All eligible adults in Brazil — with a population of 215 million — are required to vote. Election results are available 75 minutes after the election closes.
In the 2020 Presidential Election, several states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Georgia, took days to report election totals, opening the door for conspiracy theorists. There are many reasons for this, and most do not necessarily point to fraud. But most of the reasons can be resolved.
After the 2000 election, Florida was an embarrassment. Not anymore. They updated their laws and procedures — including counting absentee ballots before election day — resulting in faster results.
We may need consistent rules for our presidential elections to increase integrity.
