First of all, what is “ballot harvesting?”

Luis Gomez of the San Diego Union-Tribune say, ‘“Ballot harvesting’ is political jargon for a practice in which organized workers or volunteers collect absentee ballots from certain voters and drop them off at a polling place or election office.”

Prior to 2016, turning in absentee ballots was restricted to just relatives of or those living in the same household as the voter.

Since 2016, any person is allowed to collect a mail-in ballot, or thousands of mail-in ballots, from voters and turn in the mail ballot to a polling place or the registrar’s office.

Can you begin to see the potential problems here?

While critics of the new absentee ballot laws are complaining about the potential for voter fraud, the proponents of the new laws say it allows more eligible citizens to participate in elections.  Ya…, even those “eligible citizens” who had no intention of voting, or better yet…, “eligible citizens” who aren’t “eligible,” or those “eligible citizens” who aren’t even “citizens,” or those “eligible citizens” who aren’t even real, live, people!

The Heritage Foundation calls it the “tool of choice for vote thieves.”

In California, ballot harvesting was used to flip seven Republican seats to the Democratic column in 2018.

According to former congressman and Fox News contributor, Jason Chaffetz, “The indication that ballot harvesting made the difference in California can be found in the vote proportions. Studies of absentee voters have consistently shown they tend to reflect the population or lean slightly to the right. But when ballot harvesting was deployed in California, we saw late ballots break heavily for Democrats.”

“Take, for example, the race between former Republican Rep. David Valadao and Democrat T. J. Cox in California’s rural 21st district. When polls closed, Valadao led Cox by 6,000 votes — or 8 percent. That margin was wide enough for media outlets to call the race for Valadao.”

“However, late ballots delivered by third-party groups broke so heavily for Cox that he ultimately eked out an 843-vote victory. The results after ballot harvesting were very different from the polling before the race and since.”

So the new election game plan is to see how many votes your candidate is losing by after all of the conventional votes have been cast, then go back and produce as many absentee ballot votes as you need to win.

Brilliant!

Too bad it’s also cheating and illegal.

What is the voting scenario going to be if both parties decide to partake of this practice?

First the traditional voting takes place…, then one party produces enough votes to jump ahead…, then the other party produces enough votes to jump back ahead…, then the other party, then the other party, and so on and so on.

When would the voting end?

With this scenario, we could have 500,000 votes cast in a district with only 200,000 eligible voters!

Something needs to be done about this whole absentee ballot situation.

I’d like to refer to a couple of my previous blogs to offer-up some answers.

The first blog is from November 5, 2018, and is titled, “It’s not “just” one vote.  It’s MY one vote!”

If the American people lose confidence in the integrity of our election system, we are one big step closer to our republic dissolving right before our eyes.

We hear about examples of voter fraud, and liberals (And please note: The issue of voter fraud is almost exclusively synonymous with liberals/democrats) are always quick to discount our voter fraud concerns as “not that prevalent,” “inconsequential,” “unfounded,” or “very rare.”  Then they will quickly turn the discussion to the “real” problem, in their minds, of voter suppression, which truly is virtually a non-existent problem.

Anyone who wants to vote in this country surely gets every opportunity to do so.

Can you imagine how quickly the “biased, liberal, fake news media” would jump on any credible case of voter suppression?

I rest my case.

Okay.  Back to the concerns about voter fraud.

The big question is how many fraudulent votes are acceptable?

Who’s going to the first one to stand up and volunteer to have their vote cancelled out by a fraudulent vote?

Not me.

And I’m guessing not you either.

The right to vote in a free and fair election is our most basic civil right, and one on which many other rights of the American people depend.

Our government should be able to guarantee that every eligible individual who wants to vote can, and that no one’s vote is stolen or discounted.

Voter fraud is real and hundreds of convictions have been made and documented.

According to The Heritage Foundation:

Contrary to the claims of many liberals, the problem of voter fraud is as old as the country itself.  As the U.S. Supreme Court noted when it upheld Indiana’s voter identification law in 2008, “flagrant examples” of voter fraud “have been documented throughout this Nation’s history by respected historians and journalists.”

Attempts to commandeer election results have been documented dating back to the 1800’s.  In one New York election in 1844, 55,000 votes were recorded even though there were only 41,000 eligible voters. Decades later, these efforts have continued and determined fraudsters have become only more creative in their efforts to fix the outcome of elections.

So what are the different types of election fraud that liberals use in an attempt to undermine our election system?  Well, here they are:

Impersonation fraud at the polls: Voting in the name of other legitimate voters and voters who have died, moved away, lost their right to vote for some reason, but remain registered.

False registrations: Voting under fraudulent voter registrations that either use a phony name and a real or fake address or claim residence in a particular jurisdiction where the registered voter does not actually live and is not entitled to vote.

Duplicate voting: Registering in multiple locations and voting in the same election in more than one jurisdiction or state.

Fraudulent use of absentee ballots: Requesting absentee ballots and voting without the knowledge of the actual voter; or obtaining the absentee ballot from a voter and either filling it in directly and forging the voter’s signature or illegally telling the voter who to vote for.

Buying votes: Paying voters to cast either an in-person or absentee ballot for a particular candidate.

Illegal “assistance” at the polls: Forcing or intimidating voters, particularly the elderly, disabled, illiterate, and those for whom English is a second language, to vote for particular candidates while supposedly providing them with “assistance.”

Ineligible voting: Illegal registration and voting by individuals who are not U.S. citizens, or are otherwise not eligible to vote.

Manipulating someone’s vote automatically at the voting machine.

Altering the vote count: Changing the actual vote count either in a precinct or at the central location where votes are counted.

Altering the vote count: Changing the actual vote count either in a precinct or at the central location where votes are counted.

So, who is responsible for ensuring the integrity of our elections?

Each state is generally responsible for the administration of its own electoral systems, including elections for federal office.  This being the case, I feel we open ourselves up to many problems, mostly because the states don’t have access to national databases, which presents the possibility of citizens being registered in multiple states and voting in multiple states.

Of course MrEricksonRules has his own remedy for all of our voting integrity woes!

First, our government needs to establish a new national holiday called “Election Day,” of course.  This would offer everyone every opportunity and ample time to vote.  Especially those people who work for a living.

There would be no “early” voting.  All voting would occur on Election Day.

All voting machines would be identical, and issued to the states by the federal government.

Polling stations would be manned by current federal and/or state employees.  This would give us a level of accountability we currently don’t have.

All votes would have to be cast in person.  The practice of using absentee ballots would be discontinued.  Military personnel would vote at their duty stations and their votes would be routed to their corresponding state based on a military database.  Others unable to be in their “home” state to vote on Election Day would be able to cast a provisional ballot in the state they were physically in, then each state would then be responsible for sending these votes to their respective states.  These votes would only be counted if the total number of provisional votes could potentially change the outcome of the election.

Every adult individual would be required to obtain a Federal Voter Identification Card, if they want to vote.

An initial “national voter database” would be established by cross referencing the IRS database, national military databases, national benefit databases, Social Security databases, along with Medicare and Medicaid databases.

Initial Federal Voter Identification Cards would then be mailed out based on this database.  People not receiving cards by a given date would then be responsible for acquiring a card at designated state or federal locations.

Any person voting who could not be verified on the national voter database would be casting a provisional ballot.

Once you have voted, this would be entered into the national voting database, which would limit you from voting again, in the current election.

There you go.

Problem solved.

Any other problems or issues of national importance may be submitted at any time to Mr. Erickson at MrEricksonRules.com.

“The right to vote cannot come before the integrity of the vote.  They have to go hand in hand.” – Mr. Erickson

Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union (Russia) from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953, said, “It doesn’t matter how many people vote, only who counts the votes.”

“We do not have government by the majority.  We have government by the majority who participate.” – Thomas Jefferson

“A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.” – President Teddy Roosevelt

The second blog is from August 7, 2018, and is titled, “Voting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say ‘one vote per citizen’ till it be morrow.” ― Will Shakespeare (not to be confused with William Shakespeare)

While there are many groups and organizations out there that deal with the right to vote, there are not many out there that promote our right to make sure our vote counts.

Which is more serious, obstructing someone’s right to vote or negating someone’s vote with an illegal ballot?

I would argue that both scenarios are just as serious in their own rights.

I feel the penalties for defrauding our voting systems should be increased significantly.  The penalties for tampering with votes should be quite severe in any case.

Just as violating someone’s civil rights to cast a vote is a serious crime, with stiff penalties, so too it should be a very serious crime to negate, or steal, the vote of others by casting illegal/fraudulent ballots.

If we as a country cannot be confident in the integrity of our elections, we are on a slippery slope towards anarchy.

Our voting laws and procedures should also strike a balance between the right to vote and the right to have your vote count.

All US citizens should be eligible to vote, of course, along with the following considerations:

There should be no early voting.  Voting should take place on one day.  This one day should be a national holiday, so everyone has time to vote.

There should be no absentee voting or mail-in ballots, except for people serving our military or government overseas, and this should be strictly controlled.

A photo ID should be required.  Either a driver’s license or a state ID card, with an address of residence.

Along with the photo ID, a social security card should also be presented, identifying the person as a US citizen.

A federal election should be covered by federal election laws, not differing state laws.

Just recently I read an article by Lukas Mikelionis of Fox News.  In his article, he points out that, “The names of non-US citizens are increasingly being found on our voter rolls, thanks to covert registration methods, with nothing actually stopping them from casting a ballot in an election.”

In a recent example, Mikelionis relates the story of Elizaveta Shuvalova, a Russian citizen who became a U.S. citizen only last year in 2017, but was oddly registered as an eligible voter in 2012 and added to the San Francisco voter rolls, according to The Washington Times.

“She was perplexed to find herself in the voter rolls, saying she wasn’t an American citizen and didn’t even register to vote.”

“‘I’ve never registered for anything in my entire life,’ Shuvalova told the paper. ‘This is news to me.’”

He went on to explain that, “The woman’s voter log shows that she signed up as a Democrat in July 2012.  In 2016, her registration was canceled after she informed election authorities that she wasn’t eligible to vote because she wasn’t yet a U.S. citizen.”

(Hmm, she was illegally signed up to vote as a democrat of all things!  How unusual…NOT!)

“‘This is definitely a shocker to me.  It is like an identity fraud because this is not coming from me,’ the woman, who identifies as a Democrat, said. ‘Like I told you, I haven’t even been a citizen during that time frame.  So what can we do about it?’”

“But the case of Shuvalova is part of a larger concern some groups have when it comes to the integrity of our elections.  They claim that stories like hers are a common occurrence in many parts of the country.”

“The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), a nonprofit specializing in election integrity, found that non-Americans are being added to voter rolls in states such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia as well.”

“For instance, in 2017, the group found that nearly 5,600 people on the voter rolls in Virginia were deemed as non-citizens, with a third of them voting in previous elections.”

(That equates to 5,600 actual citizens being robbed of their vote by having their vote cancelled out in many cases!)

“‘All of this could have been prevented if states actually verified citizen eligibility upfront,’ said PILF research director Logan Churchwell.”

“John Arntz, director of the San Francisco Department of Elections, told the Times that a signed registration card was submitted to the office to qualify the woman as a signer of the petition.  He added that activists often distribute registration cards along with their petitions.”

“Normally, election authorities should check the registration application with other databases such as the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles and the secretary of state’s office to ensure the person is a citizen.”

(Yes, Mr. Arntz, checking these databases should be done, but apparently it isn’t being done, and you don’t seemed too overly concerned about it either.)

“The San Francisco election official said that Shuvalova could have easily gotten away with voting in elections before 2016 and she probably would have remained on the voter rolls as an eligible voter had she not informed officials.”

(Just another example of those damn Russians, oops, I mean those damn Democrats, meddling in our elections!)

“But Arntz told the Times that the woman’s story isn’t a reflection on whole the integrity of the election system.  (Of course it isn’t!)  ‘If it was a problem, this would be an issue that comes up every election or something we would have experienced more through time.  But it doesn’t,’ he said.”

(Oh, it happens alright.  You just haven’t been forced to acknowledge it until now.)

“‘I can’t remember forwarding an allegation that someone was a non-citizen who registered to vote or did vote,’ Arntz said.  He added that, ‘Nobody in San Francisco has yet been prosecuted for being a non-citizen on the voter rolls.”

(Yes, Mr. Arntz, and therein lies the problem.)

Tampering with the vote is an insidious crime that is like a cancer attacking the soul of our country.  This cancer must be dealt with, and it must be dealt with harshly and in no uncertain terms.

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Thank you, MrEricksonRules.