Yesterday, I told you about a set of problems that were identified and fixed in the run-up to the elections. Unfortunately, it’s a game of whack-a-mole. Plenty more problems arose in the 2022 cycle that need to be fixed before we can have confidence in our elections again.
We start with the Arizona governor’s race, which media outlets have just called for the Democrat, Katie Hobbs. Problems with voting machines not working lead to long lines and wait times at one out of every five precincts. Critics said the best machines were sent to liberal districts, handing Republicans the short end of the stick. A judge refused to extend voting hours in Republican areas. Another problem: every mail-in ballot in Maricopa County – Arizona’s largest, near Phoenix – is sent from the post office to a printing company to be scanned before being taken to an election office. This takes 10-12 days, keeps elections officials from knowing how many ballots have been returned, and creates additional opportunities for fraud. The whole process could be taken in-house for a relatively small cost, begging the question: why all these extra hoops? All of these happenings in Maricopa County have been heavily criticized as unnecessary and not normal, things that don’t occur in other jurisdictions that manage to count their votes by Election Day.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott called for an investigation into malfeasance and possible criminal conduct in the Harris County elections near Houston. One of the problems cited is not enough ballots in Republican precincts. The problems in Harris County are long-standing, with the previous elections administrator resigning in March after it was discovered 10,000 ballots weren’t counted in the primary. The Texas Secretary of State has scheduled an audit of Harris County’s midterm elections results.
Funny how so many problems in our elections only affect Republicans. Do you think that’s an accident? Before you say I’m crazy, listen to this: An election worker in Philadelphia was caught on video inside a polling place telling an undercover journalist to “vote Democrat”. “I asked you to vote the … Democrat down ballot because we’re trying to focus on, if the Democrats win, then at least they represent us,” the worker said. When the elections judge saw the video, he said, “That doesn’t look good.” Ya think?
I wish I could tell you that was the end of the problems last week, but we’re not even close:
More illegal electioneering took place in Philadelphia, with Democrat poll greeters not standing far enough away from the door at a polling place and Democrat candidate posters plastered on the building itself, all of which is illegal.
Also near Philadelphia, mail-in ballots were pre-processed without poll watchers present in violation of state law.
Republicans showed up to vote in Detroit, only to be told they already voted. This is an indication their identities were stolen and their ballots were fraudulently cast in their names.
Conservative Jewish voters in New York had to stand in line for hours, a problem not reported in liberal precincts.
All of this doesn’t even count apparent funny business with voting machines, which I’ll tell you about tomorrow.
But, for now, realize our elections process will never be perfect, there will always be holes and opportunities for fraud. The work will never be finished. All we can do is keep banging away, fix the holes we can, and go on to the next. We can strive for perfection, but we won’t ever achieve it. However, with enough effort, we can reach the point where things will be tight enough we can have confidence in our elections again, but only if enough people keep working at it.
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