Month: December 2020

In the aftermath of the latest Covid-19 relief law, I have been thinking of a proper one-word description for our Congressmen and women.  I have been through incompetent, uncaring, disorganized, self-centered, and a few more but not to belabor this thought, I have settled on pathetic. They are collectively the most pathetic organization I have ever observed in my way-past-middle-age life.    

If I was king for a day, I would fire them all, hold a quick special election and find some real leaders who understand the meaning of selflessness, accountability, trust, respect and know how to build that brand of culture then live it every day.   But that can’t happen. 

Politicians say they care but they don’t.  How can I tell?  If our elected officials would get off the phone asking for campaign contributions long enough to watch on TV the miles-long lines of cars across the country filled with people waiting for their offering at the local food banks, perhaps they could find a modicum of compassion in their black hearts.

Background: Since 1973 Gallop has published the results of an annual poll which seeks to list, in order, the organizations in which we-the-people have confidence.  The results this year: “A Great Deal/Quite a Lot of confidence” in Congress, 13% and 45% “Very Little/None”.  How do these numbers stack up against other organizations?  By contrast, the military was 72% “Great Deal/ Quite a Lot”, 9% “Very Little/None”.  FYI, over the decades, Congress has always been at or very near the bottom and the military at the top. 

In a survey of the most/least respected professions, Congress is dead last.  “Low/very low” 58%, “high/very high” 8%.

How did Congress do in a published survey on honesty and ethical standards?  You guessed correctly, Congress is again dead last “High/very high” 8%, “low/very low” 63%. 

Wouldn’t one think, with an analysis of these survey results year after year, that Congress would, out of sheer embarrassment, at least try to improve?  Nope, not happening. 

Instead of looking in the mirror and saying, what can I do right now to help individuals and small businesses survive this pandemic, they concocted a 5,600-page monstrosity and called it Covid-19 relief:

$10 million for “gender programs” in Pakistan

$300 million for fisheries,

$100 million for NASA,

$300 million to Endowment for the Arts,

$300 million to Endowment for the Humanities,

$300 million to Public Broadcasting,

$500 million for Museums and Libraries, 

$720 million to Social Security Administration,

$315 million to the State Department,

$90 million to the Peace Corp,

$492 million to National Railroad Passenger Corp,

$526 million grant to Amtrak. 

$4.7 billion in foreign aid to nine countries.

This is just a sampling of the pork earmarked in the must-pass Covid-19 relief law.

Are these examples Covid-19 related? Should we be borrowing money for these types of expenditures? If viewed separately by the American taxpayers would they pass the smell test?  Absolutely not.

Why has Congress become so continuously inept?  Simply stated, they do not have a set of established standards and any operation without standards is a failed operation. Establish and enforce a set of simple standards and a lot of things in Washington can get fixed, quickly. 

However, keep in mind that change is a frightening concept to most organizations.  Fixing Congress will take come courage and strong, sensible, insightful leadership.  Given those leadership requirements I have very low expectations for success this year.  But, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I am suggesting institutionalizing a set of seven operational standards.  But before we get to that, the members need to think about serving in Congress as a full-time job.  From 2001 to 2018, the Senate spent an average of 165 days in session each year, and the House spent an average of 140 days in session; less than three days average per week. 

A small agency will be formed under the Inspector General (free from Congressional influence) inside the General Services Administration (an independent government organization) called The US Congressional Legislation Standards Authority (CLSA). Their sole purpose will be to enforce these seven standards and to administer the life-cycle of a piece of legislation as explained below.

Every bill will first appear on a Congressional web site (operated solely by the CLSA) that is totally dedicated to enforcing the standards for every bill.  Every member of Congress will receive an alert each time a new bill is proposed and posted.  This web site will be managed solely by the CLSA; The sponsors of the bill may contact the CLSA at any time to update schedules, to notify members of committee hearings, to make changes to the legislation, etc.  But the CLSA are the only ones who can access the site to add, delete or change any piece of information.

The CLSA does not have the authority to recommend changes, additions or deletions to the intent of the legislation.  Their function is to determine if the proposed legislation meets the following standards, with particular emphasis on Standard Number Three, Applicability. 

STANDARD NUMBER ONE, Outlaw “Earmarking”:  An earmark is a provision inserted into a discretionary spending bill that directs funds to a specific recipient while circumventing the merit-based or competitive funds allocation process. Most earmarks are attached to a “must-pass” bill so that it is protected from non-passage or Presidential veto. My definition of an earmark is an idea that would not have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting passed if, standing alone, it was exposed to the light of day.

STANDARD NUMBER TWO, Sunset Legislation: This is a measure within a statute, regulation or other law that provides that the law shall cease to have effect after a specific date, unless further legislative action is taken to extend the law. Most laws do not have sunset clauses and therefore remain in force indefinitely. Keep in mind that many laws cause some Executive Branch organization to be stood up.  Our government is full of agencies, divisions and branches that require annual funding, while having outlived their requirement to exit.

STANDARD NUMBER THREE, Applicability: In the recent 5600-page Covid-19 relief bill there were scores of organizations funded from this bill that had absolutely zero association with the Covid-19 outbreak or relief thereof.

Hereafter all of the provisions of a particular bill must clearly identify with the subject, purpose and intent of the bill. It will save many tens of billions of needless expenditures per year.  It will prevent publishing bills that are too lengthy to read; e.g., not a single Representative or Senator actually read the 5593-page Covid-19 relief bill before they voted on it.

STANDARD NUMBER FOUR, Stand-Alone: Every bill will be a single-issue piece of legislation.

STANDARD NUMBER FIVE, Time Limits: There are two different situations to consider.  One is the federal budget process and the other is all bills other than those in the budget process. 

FIRST, THE NON-BUDGET PROCESS BILLS will get processed in one continuous 90-day timeframe.  The CLSA will grade the scheduling of all activities to insure it is ready to be voted on within the 90-day timeframe.  The exception to this is, at any time the bill’s sponsor or committee may pull it from consideration. 

STANDARD NUMBER SIX, Leaders cannot hide a pending Bill:  The Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader in the Senate continuously practice sitting on bills, not allowing them to be voted on for protracted periods of time. This will not be allowed.  Every bill will be voted on or before the end of the 90-day window.

STANDARD NUMBER SEVEN, Standard Website Format:  Every piece of legislation will be formatted with four specific sections and pages as follows:

SECTION ONE (page 1) of the CLSA Standard Format is all about accountability and transparency.  At the top of this page is will say, PAGE 1, TITLE, OWNERSHIP and SCHEDULE.  Current as of:     (date).      Page 1will include:

-Title of the legislation

-Date which starts the 90-day calendar.

-Not-later-than date for floor vote on the bill.

-The member of Congress who is the principal sponsor plus all co-sponsors.

-Author of the proposed bill (a member of Congress, a Congressional committee staff, Executive Branch Department, Non-governmental organization, lobbyist, private citizen, etc.).

-Sunset legislation date.

-Schedule of committee hearings. 

-When determined, the actual date to be debated and voted on the floor of the House of Representatives.

-When determined, the actual date to be debated and voted on the Senate floor. 

Comments on drafting of legislation:   

Lobbyists. There are nearly 12,000 registered lobbyists in the US.  They work for businesses, professional associations, cities, states, non-profit organizations, etc.  They get paid to make things happen in government and mostly that is in the form of special interest legislation. Lobbyist are a prime source of today’s legislation and earmarks. It is not a completely negative concept but the downside is that they can too frequently get politicians to earmark appropriations that are self-serving and not in the best interest of the general public. 

Congressional committee staffers.  Staffers write much of the legislation today and therein lies a big problem.  Because most issues rarely fit nicely inside the domain of a single committee, there will ultimately be multiple committee staffers bringing their individual thoughts and prejudices to the effort. Too often you begin in good faith to build a thoroughbred race horse and end up with a camel. Under today’s system that “camel” ends up earmarked to some “must pass” bill and eventually in some Executive Branch, Department or Agency for execution;  this is potentially a complete waste of time, energy, money and is one of the causes of the gross inefficiency of government. 

The Executive Branch of government, to include the president, should author a larger portion of the bills.  Why?  Because they know the who, what, when, where, why and how details of their projects. Why not let the experts, those who will be responsible for execution, do the up-front piece?  For example, if the Department of Homeland Security needs $400 million for a new section of border wall, they should write it and seek out some member(s) of Congress to sponsor it.

SECTION TWO (page 2) of the CLSA Standard Format will say, PAGE 2, LEGISLATIVE INTENT.  Current as of     (date)

The narrative for page 2 will be limited to one single page, font 12 and must begin with the words, THE PURPOSE OF THIS LEGISLATION IS TO…….(finish the sentence)……

Intent is one of the least used and most important aspects of any law.  Congress and the authors of a bill should not leave it to the applicable governmental departments to infuse their own intent for what the laws should or should not be about. 

SECTION THREE (page 3) of the CLSA Standard Format will say, PAGE 3, MAJOR COMPONENT OUTLINE. Current as of     (date)

For legislation with multiple parts, this section of the Standard Format will provide an outline of the major elements.  It is similar to a Table of Contents but with a few sentences explaining each entry.

SECTION FOUR will include the bill’s entire narrative.

There will be some CLSA Standard Format differences on the timing for THE FEDERAL BUDGET PROCESS LEGISLATION, which consists of 12 separate appropriation bills, as follows: 

THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH RESPONSIBILITIES:  Each October federal agencies begin compiling their budgets for the following fiscal year and submit their proposals to the President via the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  OMB edits, calculates, and coordinates the budget for final review and approval by the President.  The President then forwards the approved proposal to the House and Senate by the first Monday in February.  

CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ACTION: Upon receipt various Committees begin reviewing their respective sections of the budget; the process is spear-headed by the Budget Committee.

BUDGET RESOLUTION:  The Budget Resolution document is then considered on the House Floor and goes through a similar process in the Senate and to be completed not later than April 15^th.  The CLSA will closely monitor the resolution process looking for violations of the standards on earmarking and applicability.

Comment:  Congressional ineptitude begins to impact the Budget Resolution process because they choose to disregard protocols and standards. For example, in six of the seven most recent fiscal years, Congress never adopted a formal budget resolution at all.  This indiscipline represents the beginning of the downfall of the entire annual budget process.

Between April 15^th and May 15^th, the differences must be reconciled between the House and Senate into the compromise resolution for all 12 separate appropriations bills. May 15 then begins the 90-day CLSA Standard window for passage of the 12 budget appropriations. 

Comment:  One of the most basic tasks of Congress is to pass a fiscal year budget and do it on time.  However, Congressional ineptitude continues to place the day-to-day functioning of the federal government in jeopardy and thereby negatively affecting tens of millions of Americans.

Failure to pass the appropriation bills on time results in either passing continuing resolutions (CRs) or shut down the government.  Congress has used CRs in 40 of the last 44 fiscal years. In FY 2013 a full-year CR covered 7 of the 12 appropriations. It has been 23 years since all of the appropriations bills were passed prior to the beginning of the fiscal year.  In the past 43 years there have been an average of 4.6 CRs per fiscal year.  This is what one would call unacceptable institutionalized ineptitude. 

The above serves to illustrate the level of disfunction in today’s Congress, the extreme effects of a deep-seated culture of blame, abrogation of constitutional responsibilities and its inability to clean its own dirty laundry. The Speaker of the House and Majority Leader of the Senate hold the keys to success or failure of the federal budget process legislation.  Failure to keep the budget process on a successful timeline leading to a completed budget prior to the beginning of the fiscal year is a failure of leadership. Leadership failure should have visible consequences, one of which would be for the House and/or Senate members to pass a resolution seeking the resignations of their respective leader.     

Conclusions:

$10 million for gender programs in Pakistan.

After the fact.  That’s when we found out about this and dozens more ridiculous “Covid-19 relief” packages.  Who know about them before they became law?  None of us.  Why?  Because the Congress can waste our tax dollars almost at will while hiding behind a wall of anonymity. What happened to accountability?  Without standards there is no accountability.

Under the above program, The US Congressional Legislation Standards Authority (CLSA), we would have known on day-one who sponsored this insane earmark.  We would have known when a committee was going to discuss it.  We would have known weeks in advance when it was going to be voted on.  We would have known all this because it would have been a stand-alone bill, not hidden inside a 5593-page unread bill.  Accountability and transparency would have been front and center. The fact is, it would never have made it to the floor for a vote because visibility to the press and to we-the-people would have caused it to go away. 

Furthermore, one of the great advantages of a standards-based legislative process is that in all likelihood, the bill would never have been written because anonymity is non-existent.

 Journalists will use the CLSA website as a source for up-to-the-minute reporting on pending legislation.  Citizens can read it, learn what the legislation is all about, understand the positives and negatives of the intent and weigh in with their elected legislators before, not after, it becomes the law of the land.

After about a year, this simple process will guide all activities in the Congress and will be accepted as the new normal.  This will save untold tens of billions a dollars per year.  It will have the effect of spending our tax dollars first in support of we-the-people vs attempting to buy our way into changing overseas cultures.

Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, this more disciplined approach to legislation could have the long-term impact of moving toward greater fiscal responsibility building towards a balanced budget. 

Successful, admired organizations operate this way every day. It is as simple as one-two-three.  One, thoroughly define the TASK at hand.  Two, define the CONDITIONS, in this case stand-alone bills vs appropriations bills. Three, set and enforce the operating STANDARDS without exceptions. 

Task-conditions-standards; it is within the art of the possible.  But as noted earlier it will take great leadership to put it in place and make it operational.  That cannot happen with the current Congressional leadership.  Representative Kevin McCarthy, might be the right person but that will have to wait until January, 2023.  If you agree with this program, I would encourage you to send him a copy and let him get his ideas in place before he becomes the Speaker of the House in 2023. 

Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired, is the author of VISION TO EXECUTION, a book for leaders, a columnist for THE PILOT, a national award-winning local newspaper in Southern Pines, NC and the author of a blog, WeThePeopleSpeaking.com

Was 2020 a fraudulent election?  According to a Rasmussen poll conducted November 17-18, 75% of Republicans, 30% of Democrats and 39% of Independent voters believe that the election was stolen from Trump.

Additionally, the Heritage Foundation has been collecting election fraud reports over the past four years. While their database is by no means comprehensive, they do report 1,285 proven instances of voter fraud.  Their intent is to demonstrate vulnerabilities in the election system and the many ways in which fraud is committed.

The intent of this article is not to suggest the election will be overturned, the Electoral College has voted, Biden is the president-elect. 

My intent is to suggest that with this unprecedented level of distrust in the election system, we have a national crisis confidence.  That is, if we-the-people lose confidence in our most basic rights, our democracy is in serious jeopardy.

Election fraud must be aggressively investigated now, right now.  Strike while the iron is hot so to speak.  Why now?  Because we have short memories and this is already being pushed aside by the next story-of-the-day.  We cannot wait until 2024 to again get excited about election fraud.

Those of you who routinely watch certain networks or read certain newspapers, have been told over and over since 4 November that 1) there was absolutely no fraud or 2) there was so little fraud that the overall results could not change. 

When you tell me, “But it wasn’t enough to make a difference”, that begs the question, are you saying, 1% fraud is OK? Or 5% or 10%?  What “standard” of fraudulent activity is tolerable? Others are saying, “But it (fraud) is not widespread.”  Is it OK if it is just in five states?  What you are saying is that some cheating is OK and should be overlooked as long as it does not pass some undefined threshold of frequency or quantity.

What I am saying is, all of that acceptance-speak is unamerican and should not be tolerated.  The real answer to “how much fraud is acceptable” is zero. 

This article is not about over-turning the election results, I would only ask that everyone take off their rose-colored glasses for the next few minutes and read some examples of what has already been discovered. 

Background: There have been significant reports of malfeasance. Here are some snapshots:  

Soon after midnight on 4 November six states stopped counting for several hours; let’s look at a snapshot of what allegedly took place in some “battle ground” states.

Just after midnight when the counting stopped Trump led in Pennsylvania by (round numbers) 682,000 votes, a 15.2% lead; Michigan by 307,000 votes, 9.6% lead; Wisconsin by 128,000 votes, 4.9% lead.

When the six states began counting again, observers reported that an impossible percentage of the new votes were for Biden and most ballots had been left blank for all other races.  Read that again; why would a voter go to the polls, vote for president/vice president and not vote for any of the state and local candidates? 

Trump lost Pennsylvania by 81,597votes.  Later on, at a hearing, an eye witness was asked, regarding one particularly curious “spike” of 600,000 votes, “How many of those votes were for Trump?” The response, “3,200.” Does anyone believe it is possible for any candidate to receive 99.5% of the vote in a hotly contested election? 

Also, in Pennsylvania, 1.8 million absentee ballots were sent out and 2.5 million came back. Do the math, 700,000 more absentee ballots returned than were sent out.  Witnesses testified that tens of thousands of Trump votes had been deliberately uncounted and that at 3 a.m. on election night there was a single dump of 186,000 votes, all for Biden

Trump lost Michigan by 146,007 votes.  An eyewitness to the fraud in Michigan testified, “There was a three-hour lull after midnight at the Detroit Vote Center until the vans came in about four in the morning with about 60 boxes of ballots nearly all for Biden”.  Another witness testified that all military ballots she saw, “looked like Xerox copies, 100% for Biden.”  On a sworn affidavit from Detroit a witness alleged that 60% of a batch of voter ballots had the same signature on them. That county had so many phantom voters that there were more votes than registered voters. 

Trump lost Wisconsin by 20,565 votes. Four witnesses testified that 100,000 ballots were brought in at 4:30 a.m. and counted without any inspection, again all for Biden.

Given those examples in just three states, by the morning after the election, it was apparent that something was wrong. It appeared that hundreds of thousands of phony Biden votes had been added to the count in six battleground states.

According to Judicial Watch, 353 counties in 29 different states had more “registered” voters than eligible voting-age citizens. The total was 1.8 million excess, or “ghost” voters.

Ronna McDaniel, Chair of the Republican National Committee reported that she has 234 pages containing 500 sworn affidavits alleging 11,000 incidents of various types of voter fraud.

Who are providing the affidavits? They are good Americans who have nothing to gain and a lot to lose.  In our current state of hatred towards Trump supporters, social media is full of threats of violence against those brave enough to speak out. 

But, many of you say, where is the evidence?  Why have the judges thrown out the multitude of law suits?  Sworn affidavits are “evidence” if corroborated and the corroboration exists in the form of ballots, 150 million ballots.  But if a ballot was counted multiple times or arrived in an unmarked truck at 0430 in the morning, you can bet those ballots/evidence no longer exist.

With all of this alleged fraud, where is the Fourth Estate?  Where are the professional journalists who are determined to dig out the truth?  The most insidious power the media has is the power to ignore and they are ardently meeting that goal. The Hunter Biden/Biden family story of potential foreign corruption has given us the most glaring example of ignoring what should have been front-page, above-the-fold news. According to a poll by the Media Research Center, most Americans who voted for Biden never heard of the alleged Hunter Biden corruption before election day. But once they did hear of it, 17 percent said they would have switched their votes. 

Can a democracy survive with the main-stream media proactively acting as a wing of one political party over a protracted period of time, in this case the past four years? Can we afford the risk and not doing anything to completely uncover the election fraud in every state?

Back to an early assertion, the standard for election fraud should be zero.  The question is, can we fix it in all the states?  Yes, but it will take a federal law because the states collectively just got a “F” with their individual election policies, procedures and practices.  I believe the fix can be accomplished with a 10-page federal law. Please see, Presidential Election and Campaign Finance Reform published in an 18 December blog, WeThePeopleSpeaking.com.

If you find that solution acceptable, please forward it to your Congressional Delegation.  

Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired, is the author of VISION TO EXECUTION, a book for leaders, a columnist for THE PILOT, a national award-winning local newspaper in Southern Pines, NC and the author of a blog, WeThePeopleSpeaking.com.

Why do we need a federal law to reform the entire current election process?

-Given the pathetic state of fraud-rich registered voter rolls….In May 2020 California’s registered voter rolls contained about 1.5 million ineligible voter names. 

-Given the fraud potential of mail-in voting and ballot harvesting…. Pennsylvania 2020 election, 1.8 million ballots were sent out and 2.5 million came back,

-Given the apparent ease of fraudulent ballot processing….353 counties in 29 different states had more votes cast than registered voters.  In Pennsylvania, witnesses have testified that at least 21,000 dead people voted, tens of thousands of Trump votes were deliberately uncounted for and that at 3 a.m. on election night there was a single dump of 186,000 votes, all for Biden.

-Given uncontrolled “dark” campaign spending and billionaire involvement….The Federal Election Commission is authorized to “enforce the limits and prohibitions on contributions.” They cannot accomplish this mission given the “unlimited” and “undisclosed” elements contained in current campaign finance laws. 

Given just these four elements and examples it is obvious to the casual observer, we need to fix a terribly broken election system and we need do it now!  This cannot wait until another presidential campaign is upon us.

Reform can be accomplished with a no-more-than 20-page federal law (this proposal is only ten pages with 14 font).  It needs to be no more than twenty pages so that newspapers will publish it, so that Americans can read it and support it.  The law needs to be very specific in its requirements so that the media and the likes of Nancy Pelosi cannot distort the intent or meaning.

During committee hearings on this election reform bill, the extent of 2020 voter fraud needs to be completely exposed for all Americans to see. 

Surveys tell us that over half of all Americans have lost confidence in our election system and rightfully so. Free and honest elections is one of the sacred rights afforded to all citizens of this great nation by our founding fathers.  Honest elections have been a hallmark of this nation for over 200 years.  If lost, it will be gone forever.  Herein is a comprehensive, yet simple proposal to fix it all.

While you, the subscribers, have seen some of this, with added commentary, in previous blogs, my purpose here is to provide just the proposed verbiage for the federal law in the event that you may want to forward it to your US Representative and Senators.

Fixing the problems associated with voter ID, the election process, campaign finance and primary elections is within the art of the possible.

THE PROPOSED LAW:   

PART 1: VOTER ID CARDS

THE INTENT OF THE VOTER ID CARD LAW IS TO POSITIVELY IDENTIFY A VOTER AT A VOTING SITE WITH A CURRENT PHOTO, A VALID STATE VOTER ID NUMBER, CURRENT ADDRESS AND A HISTORY OF VOTER ACTIVITY.

UNDER THIS FEDERAL LAW EVERYONE WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO VOTE MUST HAVE A VOTER ID CARD IN ORDER TO PERFORM IN-PERSON VOTING OR TO APPLY FOR AN ABSENTEE BALLOT, THE ONLY TWO VOTING METHODS THAT WOULD BE AUTHORIZED. 

THE VOTER ID CARD WILL BE OBTAINED FROM A STATE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLE (DMV) FACILITY AND IT WILL EXPIRE SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE EXPIRATION OF YOUR DRIVER’S LICENSE.  BOTH CAN BE RENEWED AT THE SAME TIME. 

THE VOTER ID CARD WILL BE THE SAME SIZE AND QUALITY AS TODAY’S DRIVER’S LICENSE. THE VOTER ID CARD WILL PRESENT A PHOTO, FULL NAME, DATE OF BIRTH, ADDRESS, SEX, EYE COLOR, HEIGHT, HAIR COLOR, EXPIRATION DATE AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, AN INDIVIDUAL VOTER ID 10-DIGIT NUMBER BEGINNING WITH THE TWO-LETTER STATE ABBREVIATION SUCH AS TX-456-789-3322.  ADDITIONALLY, THE CARD CAN BE SWIPED, LIKE A CREDIT CARD TO REVIEL ALL OF THE TIMES IT HAS BEEN USED. 

IN ORDER TO OBTAIN A VOTER ID CARD, YOU MUST BE 18 YEARS OF AGE AND PRESENT THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS: A VALID PASSPORT OR BIRTH CERTIFICATE PROVING IDENTITY AND DATE OF BIRTH.  ONE DOCUMENT CONFIRMING FULL NAME AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. TWO DOCUMENTS WITH A CURRENT PHYSICAL ADDRESS PROVING STATE’S RESIDENCY.

THE STATE DMV WILL IMMEDIATELY PROVIDE THE STATE ELECTION HEADQUARTERS WITH ALL VOTER ID CARD DATA.

WHEN A VOTER PRESENTS THEIR VOTER ID CARD AT THE VOTING SITE, THE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT WILL SWIPE THE VOTER ID CARD AND ASCERTAIN IF THAT PARTICULAR VOTER ID CARD NUMBER HAS ALREADY BEEN USED DURING THE CURRENT ELECTION PERIOD.  IF NOT, THE ASSISTANT WILL PRINT OUT AN INDIVIDUAL BALLOT WHICH HAS THE VOTER’S FULL NAME, ADDRESS AND VOTER ID CARD NUMBER PRINTED ON THE BALLOT.  IN THE PRESENCE OF THE VOTING ASSISTANT, THE VOTER WILL SIGN THE BALLOT ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THE DATA IS CORRECT.  FRAUDULENTLY SIGNING A BALLOT WILL BE A FEDERAL OFFENSE.

ONCE THE VOTER HAS FILLED OUT THE BALLOT AND IT HAS BEEN READ BY THE VOTE TABULATING MACHINE, ANY SUBSEQUENT BALLOTS PRESENTED WITH THAT VOTER ID NUMBER WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY REJECTED.  ADDITIONALLY, ANY BALLOT PRESENTED WITHOUT OR WITH A FRAUDULENT ID NUMBER WILL BE REJECTED.

THOSE WHO ARE PHYSICALLY UNABLE TO TRAVEL TO A DMV PROCESSING SITE MAY SIGN A SWORN AFFIDAVIT REQUESTING THAT ANOTHER PERSON ASSIST IN OBTAINING A VOTER ID CARD FOR THAT PERSON.

ACROSS AMERICA THE STATES’ VOTER REGISTRATION ROLLS ARE TERRIBLY MAINTAINED AND HIGHLY INACCURATE. THE VOTER ID CARD SYSTEM WILL SOLVE THOSE PROBLEMS AND BE SELF-POLICING.  THAT IS, WHEN A VOTER ID CARD HITS THE EXPIRATION DATE THE SOFTWARE WILL AUTOMATICALLY DELETE THAT VOTER ID NUMBER FROM THE SYSTEM.  FURTHERMORE, WHEN A VOTER GETS A NEW CARD OR RENEWS AN EXPIRED ONE, THE SYSTEM WILL AUTOMATICALLY ADD THE VOTER TO THE REGISTRATION ROLLS.  THE RESULT WILL BE THAT WE WILL NO LONGER HAVE DEAD PEOPLE “VOTING”. ONE METHOD OF VOTER FRAUD STRUCK DOWN. 

BALLOT STUFFING MEANS CASTING ILLEGAL VOTES OR SUBMITTING MORE THAN ONE BALLOT PER VOTER.  THAT CANNOT BE DONE WITH THIS SYSTEM BECAUSE EVERY BALLOT MUST HAVE A VOTER ID NUMBER ON IT AND THAT NUMBER CAN ONLY BE USED ONCE DURING AN ELECTION CYCLE.

VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD INVOLVES FILLING OUT AND SUBMITTING A VOTER REGISTRATION CARD FOR A FICTIONAL PERSON, OR FILLING OUT A VOTER REGISTRATION CARD WITH THE NAME OF A REAL PERSON BUT WITHOUT THAT PERSON’S CONSENT AND FORGING HIS OR HER SIGNATURE ON THE CARD. NONE OF THAT CAN HAPPEN WITH THE VOTER ID CARD SYSTEM IN PLACE BECAUSE OF THE VOTER IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS AT THE DMV SITE.

VOTER IMPERSONATION OCCURS WHEN A PERSON CLAIMS TO BE SOMEONE ELSE WHEN CASTING A VOTE. THE VOTER ID CARD PREVENTS ALL OF THAT ACTIVITY.

FRAUD BY ELECTION OFFICIALS HAPPENS WHEN MANIPULATION OF BALLOTS BY OFFICIALS ADMINISTERING THE ELECTION, SUCH AS TOSSING OUT BALLOTS OR CASTING BALLOTS IN VOTERS’ NAMES.  EACH BALLOT WILL HAVE A VALID VOTER ID NUMBER ON IT.  IF NOT, THE SYSTEM WILL NOT ACCEPT IT.  IF IT DOES HAVE A VALID NUMBER, THE SYSTEM WILL ONLY ACCEPT IT ONCE. 

VOTER APATHY IS RAMPANT.  IN THE 2016 ELECTION AN ESTIMATED 100 MILLION ELIGIBLE VOTERS DID NOT VOTE.  IN THE 2020 ELECTION A RECORD NUMBER OF AMERICANS VOTED BUT STILL AN ESTIMATED 80 MILLION DID NOT. 

WITH THIS VOTER ID CARD LAW IN PLACE, THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SHOULD INITIATE AN ON-GOING NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO GET EVERY HIGH SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY INVOLVED IN VOTER REGISTRATION.  MOST HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES ARE AGE 18.  EVERY HIGH SCHOOL SHOULD HAVE A PROGRAM THAT ENCOURAGES EVERY STUDENT WHO TURNS 18 TO IMMEDIATELY GET A VOTER ID CARD.  ENCOURAGE THEM TO PARTICIPATE IN ELECTIONS BEGINNING WITH THE FIRST ELECTION FOLLOWING THEIR ELIGIBILITY AND MAKE IT A LIFE-TIME CIVIC DUTY RESPONSE. 

PART 2: A NEW LAW FOR NATIONAL ELECTIONS

THE INTENT OF THIS FEDERAL LAW IS THAT THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF REGISTERED VOTERS WILL PHYSICALLY GO TO A LOCAL POLLING SITE, RECORD THEIR VOTE PRIVATELY ON A PAPER COPY AND PERSONALLY INSERT THE COMPLETED VOTE INTO THE ELECTRONIC COUNTING TERMINAL.  THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE VOTING PROCEDURE IS TO REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT FROM WHERE THEY ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE.

FURTHERMORE, THE INTENT OF THE SPECIFIC VOTING PROCEDURES DESCRIBED BELOW IS TO ENSURE TRANSPARENCY OF THE PRECESS, ACCOUNTABILITY BY ALL ELECTION PERSONNEL, AND VOTER FAITH THAT THE PROCESS IS EROR FREE. 

NATIONAL ELECTIONS WILL TAKE PLACE BEGINNING ON THE FIRST SATURDAY IN NOVEMBER AND RUN FROM 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. DAILY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY AND MONDAY.  MONDAY OF THE VOTING WEEKEND WILL BE A NATIONAL ELECTION HOLIDAY WITH ONLY ESSENTIAL FACILITIES OPEN.

EARLY VOTING IN ALL STATES WILL BEGIN ON OCTOBER 20^TH.

VOTERS MUST BE PRE-REGISTERED AND IN POSSESSION OF A VALID VOTER ID CARD BEFORE VOTING BEGINS ON OCTOBER 20^TH.

A CITIZEN MAY BE REGISTERED IN ONLY ONE LOCATION.  MULTIPLE REGISTRATION IS A FEDERAL OFFENCE AND PUNISHABLE BY A $25,000 FINE FOR EACH OCCURANCE.

BY SEPTEMBER FIRST BEFORE EACH NATIONAL ELECTION, EVERY STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL MUST CERTIFY THAT THEY HAVE INVESTIGATED THE VOTER REGISTRATION ROLLS AND DETERMINED THAT THE ROLLS HAVE BEEN SCRUPULOUSLY REVIEWED AND ARE ACCURATE TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT POSSIBLE.

VOTER FRAUD IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE.  PRIOR TO EVERY NATIONAL ELECTION, THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION WILL PLACE INVESTIGATORS ON ALERT TO BE ABLE TO BEGIN A VOTER FRAUD INVESTIGATION WITHIN HOURS OF BEING NOTIFIED. FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN THE STATE CENTRAL VOTER REGISTRATION IS ALERTED TO THE POSSIBILITY THAT SOMEONE HAS ATTEMPTED TO VOTE TWICE, THE FBI WILL BE IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED. 

PERSONNEL WORKING THE IN-PERSON VOTING SITES WILL BE ORGANIZED AS FOLLOWS: ALL OF THE WORK WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED BY TEAMS. EACH TEAM WILL CONSIST OF A PERSON AFFILIATED WITH EACH OF THE MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES PLUS AN OBSERVER.

EXECUTIVE TEAM: THIS TEAM WILL OVERSEE ALL OPERATIONS FROM 7 a.m. THROUGH 7 p.m. EACH VOTING DAY AND ENSURE THAT EVERY PROCEDURE PERSCRIBED IN THE LAW IS BEING ADHERED TO. AN EXECUTIVE TEAM MEMBER MUST SECURE THE VOTING FACILITY AFTER THE LAST DEPARTING ELECTION WORKER.

ADMISISTRATIVE TEAM: THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR IN-PROCESSING ALL VOTERS. 

COUNTING TEAMS:  RESPONSIBLE FOR MANUALLY COUNTING ALL IN-PERSON AND ABSENTEE PRESIDENTIAL BALLOTS. 

ACCOUNTING TEAM: THEY WILL VERIFY THE COUNT OF EACH BOX OF COUNTED BALLOTS, SECURE THE COUNTED-BALLOTS STORAGE ROOM AND MAINTAIN THE TOTAL PRESIDENTIAL VOTE COUNT.

AT ALL TIMES THERE WILL BE A CHAIN-OF-CUSTODY FOR EVERY SINGLE BALLOT IN THE HANDS OF ONE OF THESE TEAMS.  

EVERYONE INVOLVED WITH THE VOTING PROCESS WILL BE REQUIRED TO TAKE AN OATH AND SIGN IT. 

THE OATH IS AS FOLLOWS:  I (STATED NAME) DO SOLEMLY SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT I WILL FAITHFULLY FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE FEDERAL LAW ON ELECTION REFORM.  I SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT I HAVE READ THE LAW AND UNDERSTEAND WHAT IS EXPECTED OF ME. I ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE TO DEPART FROM THE SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS THEREIN AND THAT I AM SUBJECT TO FEDERAL PROSECUTION.  I AM WILLINGLY SIGNING THIS OATH, SO HELP ME GOD. 

THE PROCEDURES CONTAINED IN THIS LAW WILL BE PROMINENTLY POSTED IN EVERY POLLING LOCATION. 

IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THERE IS A NATION-WIDE ELECTION SYSTEM IN WHICH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE CONFIDENCE.  THE SYSTEM MUST BE SET UP TO INHIBIT ALL FRADULENT VOTING ACTIVITIES, ENSURE THE ACCURACY OF THE COUNT AND MAINTAIN A CHAIN-OF-CUSTODY.

IN-PERSON VOTING WILL BE THE PRIMARY METHOD OF VOTING.  ABSENTEE BALLOTS WILL BE THE ONLY AUTHORISED BACKUP PROCEDURE. MAIL-IN VOTING IS PROHIBITED. BALLOT COLLECTION (“HARVESTING”) OUTSIDE THE VOTING LOCATION IS PROHIBITED.

IN ORDER TO INSURE THE MOST ACCURATE AND TIME-SENSITIVE PRESIDENTIAL RESULTS, THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES WILL BE FOLLOWED TO THE LETTER IN EVERY VOTING LOCATION.

UP0N ARRIVAL EACH VOTER MUST PROVIDE A VALID VOTER ID CARD.  THE ASSISTANT WILL SWIPE THE CARD TO ENSURE THAT VOTER ID NUMBER HAS NOT ALREADY BEEN USED DURING THE PRESENT VOTING CYCLE.

THE ASSISTANT WILL THEN PRINT OUT A BALLOT THAT CONTAINS THE VOTERS NAME, ADDRESS AND VOTER ID NUMBER. 

EACH VOTER WILL RECEIVE A BALLOT CONSISTING OF TWO PIECES OF PAPER.  PAGE ONE CONTAINS ONLY THE NAMES OF THE PRESIDENT/VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATES AND, IF APPROPRIATE, A NATIONAL REFERENDUM ISSUE.  THE SECOND PAPER IS FOR ALL STATE AND LOCAL CANDIDATES.  THE VOTER WILL BE REQUIRED TO SIGN EACH PIECE OF PAPER STATING THAT THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE THEY ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE, THAT THEY HAVE NOT SIMULTANEOUSLY OBTAINED AN ABSENTEE BALLOT, THAT ALL THE PERSONAL DATA AND ID NUMBER ARE CORRECT AND THAT THEY UNDERSTAND VOTING MULTIPLE TIMES IS A FEDERAL OFFENCE.

THE VOTER COMPLETES FILLING OUT THE TWO-PAGE BALLOT AND PRESENTS THE BALLOTS TO THE PERSON OPERATING THE ELECTRONIC TABULATING MACHINE. BOTH PAPER BALLOTS ARE ENTERED INTO THE MACHINE. THE TABULATING MACHINE IS THE PRIMARY METHOD OF COUNTING VOTES FOR THE STATE/LOCAL CANDIDATES. 

THE PRIMARY COUNTING METHOD FOR THE PRESIDENT/VICE PRESIDENT BALLOT IS HAND COUNTING. THE TABULATING MACHINE BECOMES A BACK-UP COUNT IN THE EVENT OF A CATASTROPHIC LOSS OF PAPER BALLOTS BY FIRE, FLOOD, THEFT, ETC.

THE PRESEDENTAL PAPER BALLOT WILL BE RETRIEVED FROM THE TABULATING MACHINE AND PRESENTED TO THE COUNTING TEAM.  THE COUNTING TEAM WILL CONSIST OF TWO PEOPLE OF DIFFERING POLITICAL PARTY AFFILIATION PLUS A COUNTING MONITOR. THE COUNTING TEAM PROCESS WILL PROCEED AS FOLLOWS: 

-NUMBER THE BALLOT IN THE UPPER RIGHT-HAND CORNER. IF, FOR EXAMPLE, THE BALLOT STORAGE BOXES HOLD 500 BALLOTS, THE NUMBERING WILL CONTINUE FROM #1 THROUGH # 500.

-EACH COUNTER AND THE MONITOR WILL INITIAL UNDER THE PAGE NUMBER OF EVERY BALLOT AND RECORD THE DATE AND TIME, THEREBY ESTABLISHING CHAIN-OF-CUSTODY DURIGN THE COUNTING PROCESS.

-EACH COUNTER WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH A PARTICULAR CANDIDATE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTING PROCESS.  EACH COUNTER WILL KEEP A TALLY OF THE BALLOTS CAST FOR THEIR CANDIDATE. 

-AFTER EACH 100 COUNTED BALLOTS THE COUNTERS AND THE MONITOR WILL CONFIRM THAT THE COMBINED TALLYS ACCOUNT FOR 100, 200, ETC. FOR EXAMPLE, 53 FOR CANDIDATE “A” AND 47 FOR CANDIDATE “B”; 97 FOR CANDIDATE “A” AND 103 FOR CANDIDATE “B”, ETC THROUGH 500.  IF THE TALLYS DO NOT TOTAL AN EVEN CENTURY NUMBER, THE BALLOTS WILL BE IMMEDIATELY RECOUNTED. 

THE COUNTING PROCESS IS SIMPLE AND QUICK; NUMBER THE BALLOT, INITIAL THE BALLOT, RECORD THE DATE AND TIME AND ENTER THE WINNING CANDIDATE ON A COUNTER TEAM TALLY SHEET CAN BE COMPLETED IN 10-15 SECONDS.  THEREFORE, ONE COUNTING TEAM CAN PROCESS BALLOTS FROM MANY VOTING BOOTHS AND NEVER JEOPARDIZE THE SECURITY OF THE BALLOTS.

UPON COMPLETION OF COUNTING THE BALLOTS NECESSARY TO FILL A STORAGE BOX, THE ACCOUNTING TEAM WILL BE CALLED IN.  THEY WILL PERFORM FIVE FUNCTIONS.

ONE:  INSTRUCT THE COUNTERS TO SIGN AND RECORD THE DATE AND TIME ON THEIR INDIVIDUAL TALLY SHEETS AND PLACE THEM INSIDE THE STORAGE BOX WITH THE NUMBERED BALLOTS.

TWO: SEAL THE BALLOT BOX WITH PERMANENT ADHESIVE TAPE. 

THREE: PLACE A PERMANENT-ADHESIVE BALLOT BOX ACCOUNTING SHEET ONTO THE OUTSIDE OF THE BOX.  ALL MEMBERS OF THE COUNTING AND ACCOUNTING TEAMS FOR THAT BOX WILL SIGN THE SHEET INDICATING ALSO THE DATE AND TIME. THE BOX WILL BE NUMBERED AND THE TOTAL VOTES FOR EACH CANDIDATE WILL BE ENTERED ON THAT EXTERIOR BOX ACCOUNTING SHEET.

FOUR: THE BOX NUMBER AND ITS ASSOCIATED VOTES FOR EACH CANDIDATE WILL BE ENTERED ONTO THE ACCOUNTING TEAM’S OFFICIAL PRESIDENTIAL VOTE TALLY DOCUMENT.

FIVE: THE BOX WILL BE IMMEDIATELY MOVED TO A SECURED STORAGE ROOM AND LOGGED IN WITH ACCOUNTING TEAM SIGNATURES AND DATE AND TIME.  THAT ROOM MUST BE OFF LIMITS TO ALL EXCEPT THE EXECUTIVE AND ACCOUNTING TEAM MEMBERS.  AT NO TIME CAN A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL FROM ANY TEAM ENTER THE STORAGE ROOM ALONE OR WITH AN INDIVIDUAL OF THE SAME POLITICAL AFFILIATION.

IF, FOR SOME PRECISE REASON, A BOX MUST BE REMOVED FROM SECURE STORAGE, IT MUST BE DONE SO BY AN EXECUTIVE TEAM AND THEY MUST MAINTAIN CHAIN-OF-CUSTODY UNTIL THEY LOG THE BOX BACK INTO SECURE STORAGE. 

ABSENTEE VOTERS MUST FILL OUT AND MAIL THE FEDERAL MANDATED STANDARD VOTER REGISTRATION AND ABSENTEE BALLOT REQUESTTO THE VOTER REGISTRATION OFFICE WHERE THEY ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE.  THAT REQUEST WILL REQUIRE THE VOTER TO SPECIFY THE REASON THEY CANNOT BE ON HAND TO VOTE LOCALLY, SUCH AS:

-BEING UNABLE TO GET TO THE POLLING PLACE DUE TO ILLNESS, INJURY, OR DISABILITY.

-BEING ON BUSINESS TRAVEL OR VACATION OUTSIDE OF THE COUNTY OR AREA OF RESIDENCE ON ELECTION DAYS.

-BEING A STUDENT AT AN OUT-OF-STATE COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY.

-MILITARY PERSONNEL STATIONED OUT OF STATE OR OVERSEAS.

THE VOTER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAILING THE ABSENTEE BALLOT REQUEST NOT LATER THAN SEPTEMBER 15^TH.  VOTER REGISTRATION OFFICES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAILING THE RETURN ABSENTEE BALLOT NOT LATER THAN OCTOBER 5^TH.  ABSENTEE VOTERS MUST MAIL IN THEIR COMPLETED BALLOT NOT LATER THAN OCTOBER 20^TH OR HAND-CARRY THE BALLOT TO THEIR LOCAL ELECTION OFFICE NOT LATER THAN OCTOBER 20^TH.  COUNTING TEAMS MAY BEGIN COUNTING ABSENTEE BALLOTS UPON RECEIPT FROM THE VOTER USING THE SAME PROCEDURES DESCRIBED ABOVE FOR IN-PERSON VOTING.  

AS POLLS CLOSE ACROSS A STATE, ACCOUNTING TEAMS WILL FAX A DATE/TIME SIGNED DOCUMENT WITH TOTAL PRESIDENTAL VOTE RESULTS TO THE STATE ELECTION HEADQUARTERS.  THE VOTE TOTALS FROM THE FAX COPY WILL BE VERIFIED VIA A PERSONAL PHONE CALL FROM THE LOCAL EXECUTIVE TEAM LEADER TO THE STATE HEADQUARTERS EXECUTIVE TEAM. 

ELECTION RESULTS WILL BE RELEASED SIMULTANEOUSLY ACROSS THE NATION BEGINNING AT 10 a.m. EASTERN STANDARD TIME THE DAY FOLLOWING ELECTION CLOSE.  ANY RELEASE OF VOTING RESULTS BY ANYONE AT ANY TIME BEFORE THIS IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE AND WILL BE IMMEDIATELY INVESTIGATED BY THE FBI. 

RACES THAT END WITH COMPETING CANDIDATES’ VOTE COUNT WITHIN ONE HALF OF ONE PERCENT OF EACH OTHER WILL BE RECOUNTED. 

THE LAW SHOULD SAY: ALL STATES ARE REQUIRED TO USE MADE-IN-AMERICA SOFTWARE FOR ELECTRONIC VOTE-COUNTING MACHINES THAT IS DEVELOPED, TESTED, DISTRIBUTED AND SECURED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

PART 3: CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

CAMPAIGN FINANCING FOR ALL FEDERAL CANDIDATES WILL CONSIST OF ONE, AND ONLY ONE, SOURCE.  THE SOURCE IS THE VOTER WHO IS GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE CANDIDATE.  FOR EXAMPLE, ANY REGISTERED VOTER IN THE US MAY DONATE TO A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE; ANY REGISTERED VOTER IN A STATE MAY CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR US SENATORIAL CANDIDATES; AND ANY REGISTERED VOTER IN A CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT MAY CONTRIBUTE TO A HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE CONTEST. 

THE AMOUNT THAT CAN BE CONTRIBUTED BY ANY SINGLE REGISTERED VOTER TO ANY SINGLE CANDIDATE CANNOT EXCEED $1000.  THIS $1000 LIMIT ALSO APPLIES TO THE CANDIDATES THEMSELVES.

ANYONE FOUND TO HAVE CONTRIBUTED MORE THAN $1000 TO A SINGLE CANDIDATE WILL BE GUILTY OF A FEDERAL OFFENCE AND SUBJECT TO A FINE OF $25,000 EACH OFFENCE. 

HERE IS THE PRINCIPLE REASON ONLY REGISTERED VOTERS ARE ELIGIBLE TO CONTRIBUTE; EVERY CONTRIBUTION MUST CONTAIN THE VOTER ID NUMBER OF THE CONTRIBUTOR AND EACH CANDIDATE MUST KEEP SCRUPULOUS ACCOUNTING RECORDS OF EVERY CONTRIBUTION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED, SORTED AND REVIEWED BY BOTH NAME AND VOTER ID NUMBER.

CONCURRENTLY, EVERY FEDERAL CANDIDATE MUST SCRUPULOUSLY AND CONTINUOUSLY ACCOUNT FOR EVERY CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURE. FOR EVERY NATIONAL ELECTION, THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION WILL HAVE TEMPORARY AUDITORS OPERATING IN ALL 435 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS AND WILL HAVE OPEN ACCESS TO EVERY CANDIDATE’S CAMPAIGN FINANCE RECORDS.  THE FEC AUDITORS OPERATING IN EACH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WILL ALSO AUDIT SENATORIAL AND PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS. FEC AUDITORS WILL, THROUGHOUT THE CAMPAIGN, AUDIT CANDIDATES’ BOOKS WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF ALIGNING CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES. 

DURING EACH CALENDAR YEAR OF A NATIONAL ELECTION, THE FEC WILL CREATE SOME NUMBER OF PANELS CONSISTING OF FIVE RETIRED FEDERAL JUDGES FOR EACH PANEL.  ALL ACCOUNTING IRREGULARITIES WILL BE IMMEDIATELY REFERRED TO A FEC PANEL OF JUDGES.  IF THE PANEL FINDS CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE OF GROSS CAMPAIGN FINANCE IRREGULARITIES, THE CANDIDATE IS SUBJECT TO BEING DISQUALIFIED.  

THE DEMOCRAT AND REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEES WILL NOT DISTRIBUTE ANY FUNDS TO ANY CANDIDATES.

PART 4: FIX THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY MESS

INTENT:  THE UNDERPINNING FOR THIS LAW IS ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE THAT COUNTS, ALL THE WAY TO THE PARTY CONVENTION, DONE IN A MORE STREAMLINED, FAIR SYSTEM.

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS:  THE EXISTING 435 DISTRICTS WILL PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR EQUAL REPRESENTATION OF DELEGATES.  THERE WILL BE FOUR DELEGATES PER CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT TOTALING 1740. 

LIMIT THE PRIMARY SEASON:  THERE WILL BE NO “CAMPAIGNING” BEFORE JANUARY 1^ST OF THE ELECTION YEAR.  INCLUDE IN THE LAW A VERY DETAILED, UNAMBIGUOUS DISCUSSION OF WHAT CONSTITUTES “CAMPAIGNING”.  APPOINT A PANEL OF RETIRED FEDERAL JUDGES TO RULE ON COMPLAINTS OF CAMPAIGNING BEFORE JANUARY 1^ST.  IF FOUND GUILTY, THE PENALTY WILL BE THAT THE CANDIDATE’S NAME WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE BALLOT IN THE STATE IN WHICH THE INFRACTION OCCURRED. 

NO CAUCUSES:  TAKE A LOOK INSIDE THE IOWA CAUCUSES.  ON A COLD EVENING 25 NEIGHBORS IN A SMALL COMMUNITY WILL CROWD INTO SOMEONE’S LIVING ROOM AND LISTEN TO SPEECHES FOR SEVERAL HOURS THEN VOTE BY RAISING THEIR HAND. GIVEN THE OPTION TO ACTUALLY GO TO THE POLLS THAT DAY, PERHAPS 250 FOLKS FROM THAT SAME COMMUNITY MIGHT HAVE ACTUALLY CAST A SECRET VOTE.  

FOUR VOTING DATES:  THERE WILL BE FOUR REGIONAL PRIMARY ELECTION DAYS WITH ABOUT FIFTY CAMPAIGNING DAYS FOR EACH. THE ACTUAL DATES WILL BE THE SUNDAY CLOSEST TO FEBRUARY 19^TH, APRIL 9^TH, MAY 29^TH AND JULY 17^TH.  VOTING WILL TAKE PLACE ON A SUNDAY TO MAXIMIZE VOTER PARTICIPATION. 

THE REGIONS WILL CONSIST OF A GROUP OF CONTIGUOUS STATES WITH A TOTAL NUMBER OF CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS CLOSEST TO 109 (APPROXIMATELY ONE FOURTH OF THE 435 REPRESENTATIVES). FOR EXAMPLE, THE NORTHEAST REGION WOULD INCLUDE THE 13 STATES IN THE NORTHEAST BORDERED ON THE SOUTHERN EDGE BY VIRGINIA AND WEST VIRGINIA. 

THE ORDER IN WHICH THE REGIONS WILL HOLD THEIR PRIMARIES WILL BE BASED ON A DRAWING HELD JULY 1^ST, SIX MONTHS PRIOR TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF CAMPAIGNING ON JANUARY 1^ST.

OPEN PRIMARIES:  ALL POLITICAL PARTIES WILL HOLD THEIR ELECTIONS ON THE SAME DAY AND ALL PRIMARIES WILL BE “OPEN”.  THE VOTER WILL GO TO A POLLING STATION, SHOW THEIR VOTER ID CARD AND REQUEST A PARTY BALLOT. 

COMMITTED DELEGATES:  EVERY DELEGATE MUST BE CHOSEN BY THE VOTERS.

PROPORTIONALITY:  THE DELEGATES ALLOCATED TO A PARTICULAR CANDIDATE IN EVERY STATE WILL BE PROPORTIONAL TO THAT CANDIDATE’S SHARE OF THE TOTAL VOTES CAST.   

IN OR OUT:  CANDIDATES WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO “SUSPEND” THEIR CAMPAIGNS.  A CANDIDATE IS EITHER IN OR OUT.  IF A CANDIDATE QUITS PRIOR TO THE LAST REGIONAL PRIMARY, THE DELEGATES THEY HAVE GAINED WILL BE REALLOCATED PROPORTIONALLY. FOR EXAMPLE, A STATE HAS 120 DELEGATES, CANDIDATE A GOT 50% OF THE VOTE (60 DELEGATES), CANDIDATE B 30% (36 DELEGATES) AND CANDIDATE C 20% (24 DELEGATES).  SUBSEQUENTLY, CANDIDATE C DROPS OUT.  CANDIDATE C’S 24 DELEGATES WILL BE PROPORTIONALLY ALLOCATED TO CANDIDATES A AND B BASED ON THE PER CENT OF THE TOTAL VOTE THEY RECEIVED. 

CONVENTION RULES:  THE CONVENTION RULES WILL BE WRITTEN AND FINALIZED BY DECEMBER 31^ST BEFORE CAMPAIGNING BEGINS ON JANUARY 1^ST.

This proposed law on presidential election and campaign finance reform was prepared by Lt Gen Marvin L. Covault, US Army retired.

I have been thinking a lot about how to have honest presidential elections.  A recent blog, WE NEED A NEW LAW FOR NATIONAL ELECTIONS 20 November, 2020, provided a solution in the form of new federal law. In case you missed it, the essence of the proposal is as follows:

There will be only two authorized election possibilities; in-person and absentee ballot requested by the voter.  The election period will be the first Saturday, Sunday and Monday (a national election holiday) in November.  The presidential candidates will be on a separate ballot.  When finished filling out the ballot the voter will hand that ballot to a 3-person counting team where the ballot will be immediately numbered, initialed by the three team members and a tally of who the vote was for recorded.  That will take about 15 seconds at which time the ballot will be placed in a storage box.  When the box is full it will be sealed, numbered, signed and placed in a locked limited-access secure room.  There will be a time-stamped chain of custody for every ballot, in-person or absentee.  This is easy and doable.

I followed that on 30 November with a blog, CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM.  The key point of that blog was to point out that the 2020 campaigns spent about $14 billion with out-of-control spending by Super PACs and billionaires. Under the new federal law campaign financing for all federal candidates will consist of one, and only one, source.  The source is the voter who is geographically associated with the candidate.  The proposed new federal law would limit campaign contributions to $1000 per person per candidate in their state.  Scrupulous records would be required by every candidate matching money contributed and money spent.  It is all about accountability by the contributors and the candidates.  In that blog I recommended tracking the contributions with an individual’s social security number. 

Using SSN is doable but I have determined there is an even better way; individual Voter ID numbers.  Thus, this blog, EVERY CITIZEN SHOULD HAVE A VOTER ID CARD.

I believe we can make the voting process even more simple and free of fraudulent activities with a new federal law requiring Voter ID Cards. 

Think of it as a picture ID (like your driver’s license) with a “swipe” capability (like your credit card) that will display on a screen all of the times the Voter ID Card has been “used”.  We need a federal law to make Voter ID Cards happen.

The intent of the Voter ID Card Law is to positively identify a voter at a voting site with a current photo, a valid state Voter ID number, current address and a history of voter activity.

Under this federal law everyone who is eligible to vote must have a Voter ID Card in order to perform in-person voting or to apply for an absentee ballot, the only two voting methods that would be authorized.  

The Voter ID Card will be obtained from a State Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) facility and it will expire simultaneously with the expiration of your driver’s license.  Both can be renewed at the same time. 

The Voter ID Card will be the same size and quality as today’s driver’s license. The Voter ID card will present a photo, full name, date of birth, address, sex, eye color, height, hair color, expiration date and, most importantly, an individual Voter ID 10-digit number beginning with the two-letter state abbreviation such as TX-456-789-3322.

In order to obtain a Voter ID Card, you must be 18 years of age and present: A valid passport or birth certificate proving identity and date of birth.  One document confirming full name and Social Security Number. Two documents with a current physical address proving state’s residency.

The State DMV will immediately provide the State Election Headquarters with all Voter ID Card data.

When a voter presents their Voter ID Card at the voting site, the voter administrative assistant will swipe the Voter ID Card and ascertain if that particular Voter ID Card number has already been used during the current election period.  If not, the assistant will print out an individual ballot which has the voter’s full name, address and Voter ID Card number printed on the ballot.  In the presence of the voting assistant, the voter will sign the ballot acknowledging that the data is correct.  Fraudulently signing a ballot will be a federal offense.

Once the voter has filled out the ballot and it has been read by the vote tabulating machine, any subsequent ballots presented with that Voter ID number will be automatically rejected. 

Those who are physically unable to travel to a DMV processing site may sign a sworn affidavit requesting that another person assist in getting them a Voter ID Card. 

Across America the states’ voter registration rolls are terribly maintained and highly inaccurate. The Voter ID Card system will solve those problems and be self-policing.  That is, when a Voter ID Card hits the expiration date the software will automatically delete that voter ID number from the system.  Furthermore, when a voter gets a new card or renews an expired one, the system will automatically add the voter to the registration rolls.  So what?  The so what is that we will no longer have dead people voting. One method of voter fraud struck down. 

Ballot stuffing: Casting illegal votes or submitting more than one ballot per voter.  That cannot be done with this system because every ballot must have a Voter ID number on it and that number can only be used once during an election cycle.

Voter registration fraud: Filling out and submitting a voter registration card for a fictional person, or filling out a voter registration card with the name of a real person but without that person’s consent and forging his or her signature on the card. None of that can happen with the Voter ID Card system in place because of the voter identification requirements at the DMV site.

Voter impersonation: A person claims to be someone else when casting a vote. The Voter ID Card prevents all of that activity.

Fraud by election officials: Manipulation of ballots by officials administering the election, such as tossing out ballots or casting ballots in voters’ names.  Each ballot will have a valid Voter ID number on it.  If not, the system will not accept it.  If it does have a valid number, the system will only accept it once.  Another fraud problem solved.

Absentee ballot vote fraud: A person attempts to fill out and turn in an absentee ballot containing false information. The Voter ID Card will not allow this because an absentee ballot application must contain a valid Voter ID Card number.  The only way absentee ballot fraud can exist is if a registered voter has their Voter ID Card stolen; an insignificant number.

With respect to campaign contributions, the change is simple.  Every eligible voter who wishes to make a campaign contribution will need to have a Voter ID Card because under the new federal law, the contribution cannot be accepted by the candidate without a Voter ID number.  And that ID number will be the key to auditing a candidate’s contributions. 

Bottom line:

1. We have seen the videos of ballot counting rooms with dozens of people milling about, workers carrying stacks of loose ballots, tables piled high with hundreds of ballots and workers taking ballots from one stack and placing it on another stack.  Zero ballot security.

Under the new proposed federal election law, the voter will relinquish a completed ballot into the hands of a 3-person counting team and literally within seconds that ballot will be numbered, time-date stamped, initialed by each team member, the vote tallied to the correct candidate and the ballot secured in a storage box.  Seconds, not hours or days. 

2. Under the new federal Campaign Finance Reform law, throughout the campaign, auditors will be active in every state.  Candidates running for US House and Senate seats and for President must keep scrupulous records and be able to match contributions totals with campaign expenditures and prove that no voter has contributed more than $1000 to their campaign.  The Voter ID # is the key to making this work.

3. Voting is a civic responsibility.  We value our freedoms: freedom of speech, religion, bearing arms, assembly, etc.  But freedom is not free.  We all need to play a role.

Voter apathy is rampant and disgusting.  In the 2016 election an estimated 100 million eligible voters did not vote.  In the 2020 election a record number of Americans voted but still an estimated 80 million did not. 

With this Voter ID Card law in place, the Department of Education should initiate an on-going national campaign to get every high school in the country involved in voter registration.  Most high school graduates are age 18.  Every high school should have a program that encourages every student who turns 18 to immediately get a Voter ID Card.  Encourage them to participate in elections beginning with the first election following their eligibility and make it a life-time civic duty response. 

A note to subscribers:  There are four imperatives to getting our national elections under control. 

Part One was:  WE NEED A NEW LAW FOR NATIONAL ELECTIONS, 20 November, 2020.

Part Two was: CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM, 30 November, 2020.

This is Part Three: EVERY CITIZEN SHOULD HAVE A VOTER ID CARD.

Coming soon, Part Four:  CHANGE THE WAY WE CONDUCT PRIMARY ELECTIONS.

If you agree with any of these proposals, I encourage you to contact your US Representative and Senators. Thank you.

LT GEN, MARVIN L. COVAULT, US ARMY retired, author of VISION TO EXECUTION, a book for leaders.