Suppression: “The act of curtailing or prohibiting an activity”, in this case the act of voting.
- Sanctity of lawful, free elections is a corner stone of this nation. It is one of the principal elements that separates us from the likes of corrupt banana republics.
Surveys tell us that over half of all Americans have lost confidence in our election system and rightfully so. We can easily fix it.
2. “Republican voter suppression” has become a central theme of the Democrat Party platform. It is one of those lies that if used often enough by enough people day-in-and-day-out over a prolonged period of time, many will conclude, well it must be true. Voter suppression accusations are sad, frustrating, unintelligent outright disgusting and harmful to the nation.
The election is only about eight months away. The Republican National Committee needs to issue a powerful counter argument to the Democrat lies about voter suppression
3. Background: Take off your rose collared glasses; election fraud does exist. The whole system needs an overhaul. Here are the top ten reasons why.
a. Voter registration: Across America the states’ voter registration rolls are terribly maintained and highly inaccurate. For example, Judicial Watch brought suit (and won) against Los Angeles County forcing them in 2019 to begin cleaning up the 1.5 million ineligible voters on their rolls.
b. Voter registration fraud: This 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.
c. Ballot stuffing: A means of casting illegal votes or submitting more than one ballot per voter.
d. Voter impersonation: This occurs when a person claims to be someone else when casting a vote.
e. Fraud by election officials: This happens when ballots are manipulated by officials administering the election, such as tossing out ballots.
f. Chain of custody: In so many ways voters lose control of their ballot; ballot harvesting being a prime example.
g. Chaotic behind-the-scenes ballot counting. During every election we see videos of counting rooms with large numbers of election workers milling around and tables stacked with hundreds or thousands of ballots.
h. Voter apathy: A disgusting reality is that 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.
i. Elections in one day? Why are we so stupid as to believe one of the most important functions of our cherished republic has to be a hurry-up affair during one work-day?
j. Celebrate voter rite-of-passage: When a high school senior celebrates their 18th birthday, the celebration should include more than a birthday cake.
There is one easy fix for all of this, back to that in a moment.
4. What the Democrats want is to follow the lead of the New York City Council which passed an ordinance allowing over 800,000 noncitizens to vote in city elections, declaring, “New York City must be seen as a shining example for other progressive cities to follow.” On a larger scale, what the Democrats won’t say but what they want is blanket amnesty for tens of millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S. and thereby giving them the right to vote. In this session of Congress, the House passed HR1 election reform which will allow same-day voter registration without Voter ID and expands mail-in voting in a massive 800-page law. Fortunately, the Senate did not take up this legislation. What the Democrats do not want is Voter ID.
5. Precedent for personal IDs: In 2005 Congress passed the Real ID Act establishing minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards. Implantation was to have been October, 2020 but has been Covid-extended to 2023. Under the law applicants applying for a Real ID must prove their birth date, birthplace, citizenship, legal status, Social Security number and residence documentation. Without a Real ID, we will be denied access to TSA at any airport. The point to be made here is this; is there a movement by the Democrats to oppose the Real ID law? Have you heard one single dissenting voice in the Democrat-supported main-stream media concerning the Real ID requirement? No, you haven’t because there is no opposition.
Stop reading for just a moment and ask yourself this question; do I know any adult U.S. citizen who does not have a valid ID…….. I thought so, you can’t think of one, neither can I. So, when Voter ID becomes an actual Republican proposal, Voter ID becomes part of the Democrats’ description of racist voter suppression. It makes absolutely no sense but, as previously pointed out, Republican voter suppression, no matter how illogical the argument, will become an important part of the Democrat 2022/2024 campaigns.
6. President Biden has been asking, in a sneering way, “What are Republicans for?” Easy answer, Republicans are for Voter ID and the Democrats are against it. Republicans are more interested in free and lawful elections while Democrats see advantages in the current chaotic system.
A Voter ID Card system will solve the ten election problems outlined above in para 3a-j and it will be self-policing.
7. A proposed Voter ID law:
a.The intent of a 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.
b. The Voter ID Card will be obtained from a state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) facility and it will expire simultaneously with the expiration of a 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 Real ID. 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 NC-456-789-3322.
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 residency. 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.
The state DMV will immediately provide the state election headquarters with all Voter ID Card data. Important point here: that list will become the states’ voter registration roll. This prevents voter registration fraud (para 3b).
c. 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. With Voter ID Cards, every ballot instantly becomes individualized with the voter’s name and number. This prevents ballot stuffing (para 3c), voter impersonation (para 3d) and fraud by election officials (para 3e).
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.
d. 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 name and 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” or 1.5 million ineligible voters registered to vote in LA County. Another method of voter fraud struck down.
e. 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. There are two simple actions that can assist in solving this problem.
Rite-of-passage. When a teen turns 16, in most states this authorizes them to get a driver’s license. This is an important milestone; more freedom, more flexibility, more responsibility and being viewed as a young adult. We can and should do more to celebrate the rite-of-passage at age 18, to become an active participant in one of America’s foundational rights, the right to vote. Since most teens reach age 18 while in their senior high school year, schools could and should do more to recognize this.
Secondly, election day is on a work day. Many citizens just cannot get away from work to vote or use that as an excuse to stay away. To exacerbate this, election day is only one day with long waiting lines or perhaps bad weather. There is an easy fix, make the election a weekend happening. The Constitution gives the States and Congress the authority to set the time and place of elections. Begin voting on the first Saturday in November, 8-5 o’clock? Continue on Sunday, 11-5. The majority of votes do not work on weekends. Top this off with a national election-day holiday every even numbered year. Give everyone ample opportunity to participate, eliminate long waiting lines, and take away most apathetic folk’s lame excuse for not voting.
8. The Democrat view of elections: Having passed H.R.1, The Peoples Act, in the House, January, 2021, the Democrats in the Senate pushed hard, but fortunately failed, to pass S.1, to federalize elections. That 800-page bill would, in fact, have enhanced the possibilities of election fraud. For example, states would have been forced to allow ballot harvesting, it would have gutted commonsense state voter ID laws in 36 states and would have mandated automatic voter registration on short notice, thus allowing some illegal immigrants to vote.
Here is a snapshot of Democrat’s vision of election reform. In preparation for the 2020 election, California election officials mailed a blank ballot to every registered voter. Keep in mind that the previous year LA County alone had been ordered by a federal judge to clean up 1.5 million ineligible voters on their voter registration rolls. No wonder they prefer the status quo. Chain of custody??
9. Democrats are completely off track on election reform. This was confirmed by a July, 2021 poll conducted by the Republican National Committee with 800 registered voters (31% Democrats, 29% Republicans, 31% Independents).
-80% agree Voter ID is a key security measure.
-87% were against ballot harvesting.
-77% rejected the Democrat claim that Voter ID is racist.
-78% agreed with voter signature verification and chain of custody controls.
– 89% agreed that voter rolls need to be cleaned up.
-88% believe states should not send mail-in ballots to the general public and non-citizens.
10. Don’t lose sight of the larger issue here; while this simple fix, Voter ID Cards, solves all of the current election fraud issues and more importantly renews confidence in the voting system with the American public, Voter ID is what the Democrats call racist voter suppression.
Republican voter suppression is the big Democrat lie for the 2022/2024 elections. But, in the absence of anything positive to run on they will spend time, effort and tens of millions of dollars to convince voters the current system is without fault and need not be fixed.
11. Every Republican candidate at the local, state and federal level needs a short list of positive talking points explaining why the election process needs an overhaul and why Voter ID Cards are an easy and comprehensive fix. We should not be in a position of questioning, every two years, the integrity of one of our most basic rights. The Democrats are completely out of step on this issue to the extent that they appear to want the current compromised election processes to continue. They need to be exposed on voter suppression right now. The RNC needs to lead the way by providing talking points to every county Republican Chairperson with instructions to get them into the hands of every local, state and federal Republican candidate immediately.
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