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ELECTION REFORM, AN ALTERNATIVE TO HR1

4 March, 2021

Memorandum for: We The People.

Subject: A Line in the Sand

BACKGROUND: H.R.1, FOR THE PEOPLE ACT OF 2021 recently passed by the house of representatives is a complete disaster waiting to happen. It certainly is not an act that is “for the people”; it is a bill especially designed to prescribe, from the federal level, implementation of the worst of the states’ 2020 election rules, procedures and results.

INENT: My intent is to present an alternative to the entire concept laid out in this 800-page monstrosity. Why an alternative?

Many agree that passage of HR1 strikes such a serious blow to one of our most sacred rights, free and honest elections, that it threatens the very existence of our Constitutional Republic. Democrats will say that is a gross overstatement by a bunch of Trump supporters. My response to them would be, are you willing to take that chance? Once the foundation of the Republic is breached, it is unlikely we can revive it to its original form and intent.

SUMMARY OF SOME OF THE PROVISIONS OF HR1:

Automatic voter registration, same-day registration and online voter registration; whereby election officials would have insufficient time to verify the accuracy of either voter information or eligibility.
State Voter Registration Rolls: HR1 would require states to automatically register all individuals (as opposed to “citizens”) from an array of state and federal databases.
It would ban witness signature or notarization requirements for absentee ballots.
Restricts states from banning mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting.
Prevents election officials from checking the eligibility and qualifications of voters and removing ineligible voters.
Ban state voter ID laws by forcing states to allow individuals to vote without an ID.
Requires states to restore the eligibility of felons to vote.
Limits access to federal courts for anyone challenging HR1.

There is more in those 800 pages in HR1 but that gives you a sense of the greatly enhanced opportunities for voter fraud. It is not election reform.

STATES’ RIGHTS: It is important to remember that States’ Rights is a foundational element of our Republic. HR1 places every meaningful element of the election process in the hands of the federal government. While States’ Rights is important, we also have to consider that many of the states got a “D” or an “F” in November, 2020 preceding the election. We need to find some meaningful middle ground between Federal and State oversight of the election process.

THE ALTERNATIVE: Here is the beginning of a solution:

Large organizations (for purposes of this discussion, look at national election players as a “large organization”) have a greater chance for success if they do two things: One is to have in-place an over-arching operational precept of Maximum Centralized Planning, Maximum Decentralized Execution. Secondly, operate from an established set of standards; an organization without standards is a failed organization.

From the “maximum centralized planning” aspect, Congress should pass into law the following standards that must be adhered to by every state.

ELECTION STANDARDS:

Information from a Voter ID Card will be the sole source of data for Stare Voter Registration rolls.
The primary method of voting in all national elections is in-person voting. The only alternative is individually requested absentee ballots.
Eligibility to vote is granted to every U.S. citizen eighteen years of age or older.
No one can vote unless they are in possession of a State-issued Voter ID Card.
The ballot for those persons running for president and vice president of the United States will be printed as a stand-alone ballot.
Each presidential/vice presidential ballot will be both hand-counted and “read” by a voting machine.
States will scrupulously provide for multiple-person teams charged with the responsibility of establishing a clear and rapid (minutes, not hours) chain-of-custody for every presidential ballot. An example set of procedural rules are provided herein.
National elections will be held beginning on the first Saturday in November with hours of operation as follows: Saturday, 7a.m through 7p.m. Sunday, 12-noon through 7p.m. Monday, a national election-day holiday with minimum-essential personal working across the country, 7a.m. through 7p.m.

Election results will be released Tuesday after the Monday Election Holiday 12 hours after the polls close, beginning with 7a.m. eastern standard time.
For those unable to travel to a DMV, states will provide for submission of a notarized application along with a photo and required documentation to a DMV to receive a Voter ID Card.

COMMENT ON VOTING DAYS: In accordance with the Constitution, The Congress shall prescribe the day(s) for national elections. Since 1846 that date has been the first Tuesday in November. Our citizens are notoriously apathetic when it comes to voting with the turnout normally around 60% of eligible voters going to the polls. In the 2020 election a record number of Americans voted but still an estimated 80 million did not. Having the election take place on a single mid-week, working-day is just plain stupid. Long voting lines and inability to get off work limits the number of voters.

DEFINING THE PROBLEMS: If I was tasked to write the rules and regulations at either the federal or state level to solve the following six fraud issues, it would probably be hundreds of pages long and ultimately relatively ineffective. But, a Voter ID Card in use by every eligible voter will PREVENT ALL OF THESE POTENTIAL FRAUDULENT PRACTICES.

ONE, VOTER REGISTRATION ROLLS: Across America the states’ voter registration rolls are terribly maintained, highly inaccurate and provide multiple opportunities for fraudulent activities. For example, Judicial Watch won a federal lawsuit requiring Los Angeles county to remove an estimated 1.5 million ineligible voters from its rolls. The Voter ID Card system will solve those problems and be self-policing.

Every state will retool its Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to also produce Voter ID Cards. They will produce three products; a driver’s license for the new driver who is too young to vote, a stand-alone Voter ID Card for any eligible voter who cannot drive and a combination drivers license/voter ID.

Think of the Voter ID Card 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 voter’s personal data as well as the dates the Voter ID Card has been “used” during the current election cycle. 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. Everyone who desires to vote must have a Voter ID Card in order to perform in-person voting or to apply for an absentee ballot.

Every DMV issued card will have a 5-year expiration date.

All cards issued by state DMV will contain a photo, full name, date of birth, address, sex, eye color, height, hair color, a 5-year expiration date and, most importantly, an individual driver’s license number and a Voter ID number. Voter ID numbers will be a 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, as a minimum, a birth certificate or naturalization papers, a valid Social Security Card and 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. This will become the sole source for State Voter Registration Rolls. Upon the expiration date, that person’s name and data will automatically fall off the Registration Rolls and return to the rolls when the card is renewed. This routine will ensure the State Registration Rolls remain current at all times, are correct and are self-policing. Under this Voter ID Card system there will no longer be dead people voting.

TWO, 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.

THREE, VOTER IMPERSONATION: A person claims to be someone else when casting a vote. Every voter must produce a picture-Voter ID Card before they can get a ballot.

FOUR, 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. Voter ID Cards prevent this from ever happening.

FIVE, FRAUD BY ELECTION OFFICIALS: Manipulation of ballots by officials administering the election, such as tossing out ballots or casting ballots in voters’ names. Every ballot will contain an individual’s Voter ID Card number that can only be used one time during a voting cycle.

SIX, ABVSENTEE 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.

ACHIEVING FEDEALLY MANDATED CHAIN-OF-CUSTODY STANDARDS: From the above list of election standards, “States will scrupulously provide for multiple-person teams charged with the responsibility of establishing a clear and rapid (minutes, not hours) chain-of-custody for every presidential ballot.”

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.

The executive team will over-see all operations from opening through 7 p.m. each voting day and ensure that every procedure prescribed in the federal law is being adhered to.

The counting teams will manually count all in-person and absentee presidential/vice presidential ballots.

The accounting team will verify the count of each box of counted ballots, secure the ballot storage room and maintain the total presidential vote count.

Sequence of voting events:

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. That signature must match the one on the ID Card.
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 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; any subsequent ballots presented with that Voter ID number will be automatically rejected.
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 presidential 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 200 ballots, the numbering will continue from #1 through # 200.
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 during the counting process. Each counter will be associated with a particular candidate throughout the counting process and will keep a tally of the ballots for their candidate.
After each 100 counted ballots the counters and the monitor will confirm that the combined tallies 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. if the tallies 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. All that 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 to fill a storage box, the accounting team will be called in. They will perform five chain-of-custody 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 on to 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.

This same process will be used for counting absentee ballots.

ARE THE VOTING MACHINES WORKING? How do we know? Every morning run a ballot with a fake ID Card number through the system; did it reject it? Send a valid ID Card numbered ballot through twice; did it reject the second one? At the end of each voting day in every precinct the Executive Team can run a tally of the votes from the presidential/vice presidential ballot as recorded by the voting machines. Then compare the machine-tally with the hand-count tally as recorded by the Counting and Accounting Teams. If they do not match, go full-stop immediately and fix the problem.

CONCLUSIONS:

One: This nation desperately needs election reform.

Two: HR1 is not reform in any sense of the word. It is classic Washington partisan political piece of crap.

Three: Voter ID Cards are easy, safe, reliable and as close to tamper-proof as we can get.

Four: States have proven that they cannot assure We The People that they can produce a fair election process. Therefore, we must have some “maximum centralized planning” in order for the “maximum decentralized execution” to function properly.

Five: An organization without standards is a failed organization. The federal government must set the standards for national elections. Go back and review the ten standards above.

Six: We don’t need 800 pages of congressional crap to “solve” our election problems. We can/must do it with an 8-page (or less) document produced from the above 2900 words.

Seven: The federal government passed a law which becomes effective 1 October, 2021 requiring any person at least 18 years old to have a “Real ID” in order to get on a commercial air liner. The requirements for a Real ID are the same as those specified above for a Voter ID Card, proof of citizenship, social security card, etc. Have we heard the Democrat Party cry foul? Are democrats uniformly against Real IDs? No. Then why are they so outspoken and firmly against any requirement for a voter to present and ID?

BOTTOM LINE: This is a Line in the Sand for this great country. There is a crisis of confidence across America over many states’ election standards or the lack thereof. It’s time to get mad as hell at the mental midgets in Washington and do something. Now!

H.R. 1, FOR THE PEOPLE ACT OF 2021 has already passed the House. S 1, THE FOR THE PEOPLE ACT OF 2021, is under consideration in the Senate. If you agree with this alternative to election reform, please do two things immediately. Forward this to your email list of friends and family. Secondly, contact the members of your Congressional Delegation.

By the way I was recently introduced to an easy way to contact my reps in Washington. There is a smartphone app called KwikLetter which streamlines the task of writing and mailing a letter that will actually reach the office of any/all elected representative(s) in your home district. While it is unlikely your elected officials will personally read your letter, in all probability their staff will catalog your opinion on the matter addressed.

Very Respectfully,

Marv Covault

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.

GLACIERS IN IOWA

At some point K-8^th grade in my one-room school house in rural Iowa, my only classmate and I learned about the glaciers that crept south and covered our homeland about 300 million years ago. Conclusion: yes, there is climate change. The climate has been changing, is changing and will continue to change on its own.

But it begs the question, is the human race causing climate to change too fast for us to survive? For purposes of discussion, assume what all the dooms-day folks are saying is true, we the people are killing our planet with too much greenhouse gas emissions. How then, do we reduce the amount of carbon released and what will we substitute to produce the power we need to survive? The last part of that question is the issue because we cannot survive with massive, continuous electrical power. We have put ourselves in that box and it won’t go away.

My intent is not to suggest a surefire solution. Impossible at this time. However, it is not too soon to begin turning over some rocks and see what crawls out. We need to take off our rose-colored glasses right now because the “green” propaganda has too many folks believing this is easy because, for example, “wind and sunshine are free”.

This is long, way long, but it is a very big subject so please bear with me.

THE BIDEN NEW GREEN DEAL: Let’s begin with his vision statement, “100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050.” In my mind, at this time, it raises more questions than answers. Is “net zero” just a sound bite or even within the art of the possible? If not, it would be good to know that now. If it is achievable it would be nice to know how many trillions of dollars it will cost and can we borrow that many trillions of dollars? If the collective nations of the world fail to buy in, what then? Is it better to go ahead now and work on half a loaf irrespective of the feasibility of ever doing the second half or does that just prolong the enviable dooms day?

PARIS GLOBAL CLIMATE ACCORDS: The Paris Accords entered into force on November 4, 2016, and has been signed by 195 countries and ratified by 190 as of January 2021. The objective is to limit greenhouse gas emissions by 50 % by 2030 and ultimately to levels that would prevent global temperatures from increasing more than 3.6 °F before the end of this century.

Each signatory to the Paris Climate Agreement was asked to submit a plan. The “plan” was to specify their year-by-year program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So, what happens if a nation does not submit a plan or does not achieve their objectives? Nothing, absolutely nothing. The plans are not enforceable and there are no penalties for failure. The Paris Climate Agreement is a glorified global PR effort. No teeth. No funding. No sanctions for failure. But the story gets worse.

Under the Paris agreement, “developed countries” such as the United States pledge to provide funding and technical support to “developing countries”, such as India, to assist with emissions reductions; wherein India promptly estimated that it would need “at least US $2.5 trillion” in aid by 2030 to achieve its emissions reduction targets.

To date, almost 75% of the nations’ pledges are insufficient to achieve the 2030 target.

And then there is China’s “pledge”. They will continue to increase emissions of carbon dioxide at least until 2030; i.e., zero reduction planning.

And the democrats could not say enough bad things about President Trump for pulling out of this Paris Accords charade. By the way, a year after pulling out, the US led the world in reducing carbon emissions primarily because of fracking and natural gas production. U.S. coal production has been declining since 2007 primarily because we have been able to pump enough natural gas out of the ground to replace the coal in energy producing plants.

QUESTION FOR PRESIDENT BIDEN: The World Bank officially categorizes 139 nations as “developing”. China is one of them! How many of the 139 will want a handout from the U.S. taxpayers to achieve their environmental goals.

Aren’t we thankful that one of Biden’s first official acts was to rejoin the Paris Climate Accords?

COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS, WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE US?

In 2019 there were still 241 coal powered units across the US which generated 23% of the United States electricity. Between 2010 and 2019, 290 coal-fired power plants were closed which represented 40% of the US coal-generating capacity. Additionally, more than half of U.S. coal mines have closed since 2008. Bottom line, years before the Paris Accords came into existence and before AOC’s bartending career took off, we have been ahead of the world in planning for greenhouse gas reductions.

The US Energy Information Administration reports that between 2005 and 2019, “total US electricity generation increased by almost 2% while related CO2 emissions fell by 33%”

QUESTION FOR PRESIDENT BIDEN: Now that, in a knee-jerk I’ll-show-you-trump-supporters order to shut down fracking and leasing on public lands, will there be sufficient quantities of natural gas to continue the transition from coal?

COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS, WHAT’S HAPPENING IN CHINA AND INDIA?

The world has about 10,210 coal-fired power plants; the US has less than 300. China and India combined have about 40% of the world’s population and about 50% (5,100) coal-fired power plants. That’s the bad news; the worse news is that between the two of them China and India are in the process of building 634 new coal-fired power plants by 2030. That means standing up a new coal-fired plant about every 6 days, 2020-2030.

China is also building and financing hundreds of other coal-fired power plants in countries such as Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Egypt, and Bangladesh. China accounts for roughly half the world’s coal consumption.

If we are to believe the green folks, they are focused on global change in order to save the planet which raises the following question:

QUESTION FOR PRESIDENT BIDEN: Do you have any leverage to use to get the likes of China and India on board with greenhouse gas reductions?

WIND AND SOLAR GENERATED ENERGY AND BATTERY-POWERED VEHICLES: Yes, our portfolio of non-carbon power generation needs to include wind and solar and yes, we need to drastically reduce carbon emissions from transportation. The problem is, there is no free lunch and the green folks never seem to get to a discussion of the down-side and unintended consequences such as, tangentially added carbon footprints, added environmental mine-fields, potential vast cost increases for increasingly scarce essential natural resources.

Here are some issues that need to be included in the equation getting to Biden’s end-state of, “100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050.”

WIND: First of all, the green folks would have us all believe that wind and sunshine are free. Well, technically yes, but to harness them certainly is not.

There are about 240,000 operating wind turbines in the world, producing about 4% of the required electricity. When it comes to wind turbine construction, there are a lot of numbers out there. I believe this set fairly captures the story.

The American Wind Energy Association says it takes somewhere in the range of 200 to 230 tons of steel to make a single wind turbine. The steel tower is anchored in a platform of more than a thousand tons of concrete and steel rebar, 30 to 50 feet across and anywhere from 6 to 30 feet deep. Add to that 45 tons of nonrecyclable plastic blades and 2 tons of rare-earth elements. Then after a life-cycle of around 20 years, start over.

If we want wind to produce half the world’s electricity, we will need to build about 3 million more turbines. Three million turbines at 230 tons of steel each equals about 690 million tons of steel. To produce steel for one turbine requires about 150 tons of coking coal and about 300 tons of iron ore, all mined, transported and probably producing hydrocarbons.

More bad news. It should be pointed out that cement is the number one carbon contributor in the world. The production of one pound of cement also produces one pound of CO2. Then there are the emissions from all the trucks, trains, ships, bulldozers, cranes, and other equipment involved in turbine construction.

We are constantly being fed unattainable projections about power production from wind turbines. Wind proponents describe capability in terms of “capacity.” That is, if the turbine was fully active 24/7 it would produce X amount of power. The truth is that because of varying weather conditions, a turbine’s output averages barely a quarter of its “capacity.”

That fact brings us to another disturbing question; what do we do for power when the wind doesn’t blow? The most obvious answer is that we must maintain, at all times, a fully operational backup power source. Or do we just heat half the houses, run half the manufacturing plants, recharge half the cell phones? Because of the requirement for near 100% backup, some experts predict a wind farm’s power will actually cost around $25,000 for every home it powers.

Another downside to wind is that the turbines are so preposterously expensive that no one would dream of building one unless they were guaranteed a huge government subsidy, also known as tax dollars.

After we dig out of the earth millions of tons of raw materials, transport it, manufacture and construct the turbines all of which will likely cause huge carbon emissions, what is the net carbon reduction? Researchers believe the actual CO2 reduction is so insignificant that one large windfarm saves less in a year than is given off over the same period by a single jumbo jet flying daily between the U.S. and England.

QUESTION FOR PRESIDENT BIDEN: When are you going to have a reality check and tell the American people all of this?

SOLAR ENERGY: Good news, China already has more solar capacity than any other country in the world and is looking to increase the proportion of renewable energy in its power mix. However, the picture of power production in China is still grim, solar covers only about 5% of their needs and coal 60%. China remains the world’s leader in carbon gas emissions.

The discussion of cement/steel requirement for energy from wind are sobering. I’m sorry to report that energy from solar power requires even more cement and steel than wind turbines to produce the same amount of electricity. Additionally, production of solar panels requires large amounts of silver and indium. Mining of these metals is expected to increase by 250% and 1200% respectively over the next twenty years and some day we will likely run out of both.

Solar panels require other “rare-earth” elements which are not currently mined in the US. Demand for these elements is expected to rise 250-1000% by 2050. Access to these metals is questionable. For example, the Republic of the Congo produces 70% of the world’s raw cobalt and China controls 90% of cobalt refining.

As recently as 1990, the U.S. was the world’s number-one producer of minerals. Today, it is in seventh place. Even though we have vast mineral reserves worth trillions of dollars, America is now 100% dependent on imports for some 17 key minerals, and, for another 29, over half of our needs are imported. Tremendous vulnerability.

Also, alarming is the fact that about 90% of the world’s solar panels are built in Asia on coal-heavy electric grids.

The Netherlands government recently sponsored a “Green Study” and concluded that their country’s green objectives would consume a major share of the global metals required. The Netherlands population is about 17 million. The world population is about 7.5 billion.

By the way, estimates are that by 2050, with current plans, the quantity of worn-out solar panels, much of it nonrecyclable, will constitute double the tonnage of all today’s global plastic waste, along with over 3 million tons per year of unrecyclable plastics from worn-out wind turbine blades.

POWER GENERATION LABOR FORCE: Another interesting factoid not spoken about by the green folks is workers required to produce the same amount of electrical power. That is, X amount of power generated by just one coal worker requires two workers from natural gas and 79 from solar. In the words of President Biden, “clean energy will produce millions of new jobs” is true as a stand-alone statement. But we know there is a labor cost associated with production of any product and that cost is always passed on to the consumer.

For example, last year about 400,000 natural gas workers produced more than one-third of U.S. electric power. The same size labor force, 400,000, accounted for solar’s minuscule share of 0.9 percent.

Bottom line: The goal of America’s energy sector should not be to create as many renewable energy jobs as possible, but rather, the economic goal should be to produce as much clean electric power as possible with the fewest number of energy workers.

When it comes to solar energy, the outrageous production-to-labor-force ratio is a sure sign of economic inefficiency.

QUESTION FOR PRESIDENT BIDEN: Does it make sense to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to artificially support an energy source that is so labor-intensive that it requires a workforce 40 times greater than that for natural gas?

BATTERY POWERED VEHICLES: The Green New Deal seeks to replace gas guzzling vehicles with battery power to reduce hydro carbon buildup. This is not a simple matter. Some factors impacting on this green issue:

Transportation (cars, trucks, planes, boats, trains) account for about 23% of greenhouse gas emissions. Switching to electric can make a big difference. There are about 1 billion vehicles in the world and only about 4.8 million (less than half of one per cent) are electric. There are about 280 million vehicles in the U.S. also with only about half of one percent electric. Point being, we have a long way to go to reach the Paris Agreement goal of, “limiting greenhouse gas emissions by 50 % by 2030”. How are we doing? To meet the Paris Agreement, we would need to swap out 25 million combustion vehicles for electric powered ones each year 2010-2030. In 2019 about 1.5 million new electric vehicles were added to the worldwide fleet.

What about coal-fired power plant emission reductions? With China and India bringing on a new coal-fired power plant every 6^th day, 2010-2030, the Paris goal of 50% reduction will not be feasible.

One electric car battery, weighs in at about 1000 pounds. To produce one battery requires digging up and processing about 500,000 pounds of raw materials such as cadmium, cobalt, lead, lithium, and nickel. For example, for some of these type materials, the end product is about one half of one percent of the weight of the material dug out of the ground.

CO2 emissions from vehicles is not just a U.S. problem. To achieve success all nations need to be involved. To that point, there are about one billion vehicles in the world today. It would take 250 billion tons of materials to build a battery for every car, once. Currently, electric car battery life is seven to ten years and then we need to dig another 250 billion tons, and again and again. Is that feasible? By the way, replacing one vehicle battery-pack costs anywhere from $1000 to $6000. In years ahead when the demand for raw materials increases exponentially, who knows what the cost might be.

This means that any significant expansion of today’s modest level of green energy will create an unprecedented increase in global mining for needed minerals and dramatically increase U.S. imports and the vulnerability of America’s energy supply chain. How long will the supply of raw materials to make vehicle batteries last? Another piece of bad news; China dominates the world’s supply of rare metals.

Producing an electric vehicle contributes, on average, twice as much to global warming and uses double the amount of energy than producing a combustion engine car. This is mainly because of its lithium-ion battery. Given all that, it takes about nine years for an electric car to be “greener” than a diesel car, assuming an annual average mileage of 8100 miles.

Supply and demand: Increasingly high demand for vehicle batteries (90% of the lithium-ion battery market by 2025) and perhaps the diminishing supply of raw materials to make them, may drive up the price of electric vehicles to untenable levels.

An estimated 11 million tons of spent lithium-ion batteries will flood U.S. markets by 2025, without systems in place to handle them. Recycling lithium costs five times as much as extracting virgin material. Therefore, currently only 5% of lithium-ion batteries are recycled in Europe.

To get an idea of the scale of mining for raw materials involved in replacing the world’s gasoline and diesel-fueled cars with electric vehicles we can take the example provided by Michael Kelly, Professor of Technology at the University of Cambridge. According to Professor Kelly, if all of the UK vehicle fleet is replaced with electronic vehicles, they would need the following materials: about twice the annual global production of cobalt; three quarters of the world’s production of lithium carbonate; nearly the entire world production of neodymium; and more than half the world’s production of copper in 2018. And this is just for the UK.

Professor Kelly estimates that if we want the whole world to be transported by electric vehicles, the vast increases in the demand the raw materials listed above would go far beyond known reserves. The environmental and social impact of vastly-expanded mining for these materials, some of which are highly toxic when mined, transported and processed, are inestimable. Will we be fighting wars over mining rights for raw materials?

Another question: how much power does it take, on a continuous basis, to recharge the batteries in 1 billion vehicles?

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

Disclaimer: There are a lot of numbers in this piece and I’m certain they are not all absolutely correct. There is a load of conflicting information to draw from on this subject. My intent was not to ensure every number would fact-check but to build the best possible picture of where we are, where we say we want to go and the likely of that being within the art of the possible. There is also some personal math at arriving at some of the numbers. My apologies if I miscounted all the zeros.

How many of the 195 signatories to the Paris Accords have the resources to do wind/solar/electric vehicles. I’m saying very few and the answer could be none of them. How many trillions of dollars can we continue to borrow? Will we always be able to borrow another trillion? No. When will that day occur? Perhaps it is long before we can achieve our CO2 reduction goals.

No matter how many wind turbines and solar panels we build for the world, there will always be the need for substantial on-call backup around the world for when the sun doesn’t shine and/or the wind doesn’t blow. Right now, battery backup would fall woefully short and may never be a feasible alternative. The U.S. is successfully converting coal-fired production to clean burning natural gas because we have the greatest supply of natural gas in the world which makes our backup doable, albeit very expensive. What do the nations that have zero natural gas do?

I am a proponent for wind, solar, electric vehicles and whatever science can come up with to produce power. What I am not for is false hope. I get frustrated with the “well, let’s get on with it and just hope for the best” crowd. Hope is not a process. False hope is demoralizing and destructive. Our environment and the future of this planet is too important to be toyed with by political sound bites and unfathomable green fantasies. Viable long-range strategic planning begins at the end, that is, with a definition of the end-state. In planning jargon, end-state is the “where” of the who-what-when-where-why-and how questions; “Where” we want to go to prosper or must go to survive. Having done that, there must be a quiet period of contemplation when the powers that be look seriously at the problem, do some back-of-the-envelope work and come to some conclusions about viability of the end-state vs hallucination.

Nuclear power plants: France, generates over 70% of their electricity from nuclear reactors, the highest percentage in the world. By contrast the U.S. generates only about 20% of our electricity from 94 nuclear reactors. Why should we do more? A nuclear plant’s total operating expenses are a third less than that of gas turbine and fossil fuel plants and it is clean energy. The U.S. has not brought a new nuclear plant on line for over 30 years. Two new nuclear units in Georgia are due to begin operating in 2021 and 2022; their approval process began in 2004. Snail-paced government bureaucracies and environmentalists-generated delays in the courts are the overriding reasons why we don’t have more. The environmentalists tie up nuclear construction in the courts for years and years. The environmentalists can’t have it both ways, if they don’t want millions of tons of CO2 clogging up the atmosphere then they need to give a little on alternate power production capabilities.

Waste management has over 6000 of its 18,000 garbage collection trucks running on natural gas. The gas they use comes from the decomposition of trash in landfills and which has been turned into pipeline-quality natural gas. Great work by WM. There are about 130 million trucks in the U.S. and around 400 million world-wide. Why isn’t there an initiative to transition truck power over a period of years to natural gas which has a much lower carbon footprint? President Biden pleasestop, damnit, just stop messing with U.S. energy independence. Until Biden shut down drilling on public lands, the U.S. has been the world’s largest producer of natural gas.

Prediction: The Paris Climate Accord’s goals will not be met for two reasons. Most of the countries can neither afford the infrastructure nor the importation of the minerals necessary to make it happen. That leaves it up to the U.S. to bankroll saving the planet and we do not now have, nor will we have in the future,- the wherewithal to do that.

I will leave you with this thought. As an outspoken cynics when it comes to politicians, I believe we should not be captured by the one-liner political solutions. Remember that old saying, “For every complex problem there is a simple solution, and it is usually wrong”. The devil is in the details; see above.

WHAT PRESIDENT TRUMP REALLY SAID AT THE 6 JANUARY RALLY IN WASHINGTON DC

Assertion: If you watch/listen to/read the main-stream media following the mob assault on Congress on 6 January, it is unlikely that your impression of what President Trump actually said is correct.

I have read the verbatim transcript of the entire speech; It’s 11,400 words long. There are three subjects. 1) His positive achievement over four years on behalf of all Americans. 2) Election results. And 3) the march from the White House to Capitol Hill. I will not belabor his achievements here.

My intent is to amplify what we have heard about election fraud and to clarify President Trump’s alleged “insurrection.”

ELECTION FRAUD: First, an assumption. The President used a lot of rounded-off numbers in describing election fraud. Many of you have probably already seen some of those numbers but my assumption is that they were assembled primarily from hundreds of sworn affidavits provided by the patriots who observed the fraudulent activity and had the fortitude to speak out under risk of being charged with perjury if they lied. In the interest of brevity, I plucked them out of some long, rambling sentences and short paragraphs, hopefully, without losing the context.

The president said to several thousand supporters at the rally: “In every single swing state, local officials, state officials, almost all Democrats, made illegal and unconstitutional changes to election procedures without the mandated approvals by the state legislatures, that these changes paved the way for fraud on a scale never seen before.”

PENNSYLVANIA: President Trump went on to point out the following….

Over 8,000 ballots were cast by people whose names and dates of birth match individuals who died in 2020 prior to the election.
Over 14,000 ballots were cast by out-of-state voters.
More than 10,000 votes were counted, even though they were received after Election Day.
25,000 ballots were requested by nursing home residents, all in a single giant batch, indicating an enormous illegal ballot-harvesting operation.
The day before the election, the State of Pennsylvania reported the number of absentee ballots that had been sent out. Yet this number was suddenly and drastically increased by 400,000 people.

WISCONSIN: President Trump said……

Over 170,000 absentee votes were counted in Wisconsin without a valid absentee ballot application.
In Madison, 17,000 votes were deposited in so-called human drop boxes in complete defiance of cease-and-desist letters from the state legislature. They came in duffle bags.
According to eyewitness testimony, postal service workers in Wisconsin were also instructed to illegally backdate approximately 100,000 ballots.
The margin of difference in Biden’s win in Wisconsin was less than 20,000 votes.

GEORGIA: President Trump pointed out…..

The absentee/mail-in ballot rejection rate was more than 10 times lower than previous levels. In other words, in a year in which more people were voting by mail for the first time, the rejection rate was drastically lower than it had ever been before. If Georgia had merely rejected the same number of unlawful ballots, as in other years, there should have been approximately 45,000 ballots rejected.
In Fulton County, republican poll Watchers were rejected from the room under the false pretense of a burst water main, which we now know was a total lie. Then election officials, when not being monitored, pulled boxes and suitcases of ballots out from under a table. (many of you saw this on television) and illegally scanned them for nearly two hours totally unsupervised. That coincided with a mysterious vote dump of up to 100,000 votes for Joe Biden, almost none for Trump. That was at 1:34am.
Over 10,300 ballots were cast by individuals whose names and dates of birth match Georgia residents who died in 2020 prior to the election.
More than 2,500 ballots were cast by individuals whose names and dates of birth match incarcerated felons in Georgia prison.
More than 4,500 illegal ballots were cast by individuals who do not appear on the state’s own voter rolls.
Over 18,000 illegal ballots were cast by individuals who registered to vote using an address listed as vacant, according to the postal service.
At least 88,000 ballots were cast by people whose registrations were illegally backdated.
66,000 votes were cast by individuals under the legal voting age.
At least 15,000 ballots were cast by individuals who moved out of the state prior to November 3rd election.
Senator William Ligon, chairman of the Georgia Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, and highly respected on elections, has written a letter describing his concerns with Dominion in Georgia. He wrote, and I quote, “The Dominion voting machines employed in Fulton County had an astronomical and astounding 93.67% error rate. In the scanning of ballots requiring a review panel to adjudicate or determine the voter’s interest, in over 106,000 ballots out of a total of 113,000. The source of this astronomical error rate must be identified to determine if these machines were set up or destroyed to allow for a third party to disregard the actual ballot cast by the registered voter.” Trump commented that the national average for such an error rate is far less than 1 percent. The letter continues, “There is clear evidence that tens of thousands of votes were switched from President Trump to former Vice President Biden in several counties in Georgia. For example, in Bibb County, President Trump was reported to have 29, 391 votes at 9:11 PM Eastern time. While simultaneously Vice President Joe Biden was reported to have 17,213. Minutes later, just minutes, at the next update, these vote numbers switched with President Trump going way down to 17,000 and Biden going way up to 29,391. ‘And that was very quick, a 12,000-vote switch, all in Mr. Biden’s favor.’
Despite all of this, the margin in Georgia was only 11,779 votes.

ARIZONA: President Trump said….

Over 36,000 ballots were illegally cast by non-citizens.
2,000 ballots were returned with no address.
More than 22,000 ballots were received back by election officials before they were supposedly mailed out.
11,600 more ballots and votes were counted than there were actual voters.
150,000 people registered in Maya Copa County after the registration deadline.

NEVADA: President trump continued….

The accuracy settings on signature verification machines were purposely lowered before they were used to count over 130,000 ballots.
There were more than 42,000 double votes in Nevada.
1,500 ballots were cast by individuals whose names and dates of birth match Nevada residents who died in 2020, prior to November 3rd election.
More than 8,000 votes were cast by individuals who had no address.
17,000 ballots were cast by individuals whose names and dates of birth matched people who were deceased.

MICHIGAN: President Trump pointed out….

In Wayne County (Detroit), 174,000 ballots were counted without being tied to an actual registered voter.
Also, in Wayne County, poll watches observed canvassers re-scanning batches of ballots multiple times.
In Detroit, turnout was 139 percent of registered voters.
Four witnesses testified, under penalty of perjury, that after officials in Detroit announced the last votes had been counted, tens of thousands of additional ballots arrived without required envelopes. Every single one was for a Democrat.
At 6:31am, after voting had ended, Michigan suddenly reported 147,000 votes. An astounding 94 percent went to Joe Biden.

COMMENT: Following the election, President Trump’s lawyers filed approximately 60 lawsuits alleging massive election fraud. Most were based on sworn affidavits from election workers. All of the lawsuits were thrown out by judges. Why?

In our country, when there is reason to believe a crime has been committed, the following sequence of events follows:

There is an investigation by law enforcement officers; police, sheriff, State Bureaus of Investigation, FBI, Special Councils, etc.
Evidence would be gathered and presented to a prosecutor.
If the prosecutor was convinced of a crime it would go to a grand jury. If upheld, individuals would be indicted.
A trial would be convened, and for the first time a judge would become involved.

Two things happened in this election fraud scenario; 1) There is little information to indicate that any of the governors seriously set out to conduct an investigation. 2) Three weeks after the election US Attorney General Barr stated, “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”

Because the Trump legal team had no authority to conduct interviews or request warrants to view ballots, the only alternative was for Trump lawyers to take lawsuits directly to the appropriate judge, where they were generally denied because the individuals’ sworn affidavits were considered to be “uncorroborated hearsay”. No thorough investigation.

There was another factor in play, time. It was impossible, between 3 November and 20 January to conclude investigations in suspect states and complete a speedy trial. Is that a sufficient excuse to do nothing? I think not. But it begs the question, if we cannot successfully prosecute election fraud in a timely manner, how can we expect to ever have a free and honest election?

CONCLUSIONS concerning election fraud:

There will not be an investigation emanating from the Biden administration.

Even if there was an investigation, it would take at least a year and a few folks might go to jail, but would it solve the problem? Probably not. So, what to do?

Justice resulting from a long investigation might be satisfying but will it solve the problem? Probably not, and if only10% of President Trump’s above assertions are correct, we need to bring these injustices to an end, forever.
In fact, we neither need an investigation of the last election, that train left the station, nor do we need to recount votes.

There is a simple solution. Voter ID Cards (not voter ID, but a special card); name, photo, expiration date, and an individual voter ID number. When your card is swiped for in-person voting, a ballot will be printed with all of your data on it. Absentee ballot applications must include your voter ID number. Having done that, it is a simple software command that only ballots that have an ID number can be “read” and ballots will be rejected if that ID number has been used during the voting cycle.

All Congress has to do is be proactive and pass a simple Voter ID Card law. With Voter ID Cards, every alleged voter fraud activity cited by President Trump during his 6 January rally would have been impossible to execute. For a more extensive discussion of Voter ID Cards, see WeThePeopleSpeaking.com, EVERY CITIZEN SHOULD HAVE A VOTER ID CARD, dated 10 December, 2020.

Given the alleged magnitude of fraud in this past election, without Voter ID Cards, not just voter ID, it is unlikely that we will ever have a legal election again. Next time it will be the Republican’s turn and then it will become a contest to see which political party can out-fraud the other. You can stick a fork in this country, we will be done. A cornerstone of our republic, free and honest elections, will be ripped out of the foundation.

If you agree with this, please send it along to your Representative and Senators.

Break, Break (Army speak for “new subject”): back to WHAT PRESIDENT TRUMP REALLY SAID AT THE 6 JANUARY RALLY IN WASHINGTON DC.

If your primary source for current events is the main-stream media, you would believe that on 6 January President Trump riled thousands of supporters into a rabid frenzy and said, grab your M-15 and follow me, we are taking down Congress.

Not quite: I plucked every reference to Capitol Hill out of his speech. Here is what he actually said….

“We’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue and we’re going to the Capitol,”

“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women.”

“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

“So, let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I want to thank you all. God bless you and God bless America.”

Later, after the rioting began, he tweeted, “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, we are the Party of Law & Order, respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you.”

A second tweet, “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful.”

CONCLUSIONS concerning 6 January riots and follow-on impeachment.

It is obvious from 20/20 hindsight that the rally was a monumental mistake. The president’s intent to administratively change the outcome of a formal affirmation of the Electoral College victory, was ill-conceived and doomed to failure.

Since descending on the escalator at Trump Tower five and a half years ago, candidate/President Trump has led hundreds of rallies without a hint of violence by right-wing radicals. My theory is that, with that track-record, the domestic violence intel folks and Capitol Police believed the likelihood of an attack on the Capitol Building was low to none. Had they been better prepared, perhaps the outcome would have been less tragic.

One week later, without investigations by House committees and without the opportunity to mount a defense, President Trump was impeached by a House up-or-down vote for “incitement of insurrection.”

Whether or not President Trump should have been impeached by the House goes to the question of intent. What did he mean by “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”? I believe it is abundantly clear the president’s words spoken to the thousands of supporters were not intended to promote violence by radical thugs, a very small percentage of the total rally participants.

The impeachment has to do with one thing, Pelosi’s intent. She is without a doubt the most vengeful, hate filled senior elected official in my long lifetime of following politics.

As Victor Davis Hanson to eloquently pointed out a few days ago, “From now on, House impeachment will be used by the out-party as a periodic club to wound a first-term president”.

Bottom line: While listening to President Biden’s single-subject inauguration speech, I was hopeful that his words would be followed with commensurate actions. For example, a simple private phone call to Pelosi could have eliminated impeachment and sent a positive message to 74 million Trump supporters. Instead, the Biden administration’s intent is very clear, they will continue to foster a culture of hate for everything President Trump did for this country.

SUCCESS FOR BIDEN?

Looking four years ahead my sincere hope is that the Biden Administration is successful. Having said that, I need to define “success”. In the larger context I define success as that which is best for the American people, not some of us, all of us. More specifically, I believe success would be a secure nation, safe communities, a strong military deterrence and sustained economic growth; that is, every sector of the economy grows.

Am I optimistic? Not yet. Let’s look at a few of the policies that are likely to be implemented, some of them very soon, and see what we come up with. Remember the measure is success, i.e., what is best for all Americans.

IMMIGRATION REFORM: Biden said, “ I will send an immigration bill to the United States Senate with a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people in America,” Four things are bothering me.

Eleven million is a number that has been around for years. Experts tell us the real number is a lot closer to 22 million. Facts: we don’t know who they are, where they live or how long they have been here. So, if the number is really over 20 million and Biden says 11 million will become citizens. How does he deal with the number’s discrepancy?

Two, how does he sort out the hard working, law abiding illegals from the gang members, drug dealers criminals and those who have become totally dependent on US social services?

Three, precedent is a powerful force, especially when it comes to government policy. It is highly likely that amnesty will become a green light for millions more illegals from around the world to overpower the border and get in line for the second round of amnesty.

Four, this immigration reform policy shift is not some big humanitarian gesture by the democrats. It is the finishing touch to a long-standing plan to establish a new identity voting block consisting of tens of millions of newly natualized citizens.

Is this what is best for America? If you want to see a different immigration reform plan that will voluntarily identify and locate every illegal immigrant in America, sort out the good ones and deport the criminals, stop the flow of illegals coming here for work, provide a path to citizenship, have the illegals pay taxes and do it all without new federal or state funding or the establishment of a massive/forever bureaucracy; if that appeals to you look at an article entitled IMMIGRATION REFORM PLAN, published August 2020 on WeThePeopleSpeaking.com.

OPEN BORDERS: Biden will not call it open borders but there is every reason to believe he will at least revert to the Obama/Biden policy of catch-and-release. Under this policy illegals crossing the border would actually seek out border patrol agents so they could get “processed” and be on their way.

As I write this, there is a caravan of about 5000 Guatemalans on the way. Why? They want to be here when amnesty is announced. Border patrol is anticipating wave after wave of illegals in the coming months.

What do we know about those 5000 who are on the way to our southern border and the tens of thousands who will follow? We know they will all fall into one or more of the following categories: Criminals, drug dealers, gang members, Covid-19 carriers, sick, unemployed or children who need free education in Spanish. And this is good for America?

“SHUT DOWN DEPORTATION FOR THE FIRST 100 DAYS”, Biden says. Why? Because the democrats have long campaigned to shut down ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Of the 85,958 illegal aliens removed from the U.S. interior in 2019, more than 75 percent – 64,991 – had criminal convictions. Another 13,498 had pending criminal charges. Using this data, on average, ICE deported 215 criminals per day. Biden’s 100 -day shut-down will keep 21,500 criminals in our communities who could have been/should have been deported.

In all likelihood, the 100-day shutdown is just the prelude. Is eliminating ICE, and leaving tens of thousands of criminals off our streets, the best course of action for safety in our communities?

“I WILL INCREASE MINIMUM WAGED TO $15 PER HOUR ACROSS THE COUNTRY.” Biden promises. I see two down-side issues here.

One is timing. Right now, there are hundreds of thousands of COVID-19-impacted small businesses hanging on be a thread. Increased minimum right now could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and put them off the cliff.

The second issue is the math. The democrat sound-bite is the $15 minimum wage will lift 1 million Americans out of poverty; an admirable goal. However, many small businesses operate with slim profit margins and cannot tolerate increased wage costs. Solution, they will cut back on employees and experts predict 1.3 million will lose their jobs.

Additionally, why $15 increase in every state? The highest cost of living state is Hawaii and the lowest is Mississippi. Does it make sense to dictate the same minimum wage for every state?

So, with this program we help 1 million low-income employees and start paying unemployment to 1.3 million who just got fired. Is that what is best for America?

CORPORATE TAX RATES: Biden told CNN “I’d make the changes on the corporate taxes on day one. The reason I’d make the change on corporate taxes is it could raise $1.3 trillion if they just start paying at 28 percent instead of 21 percent.”

Couple points, corporations don’t pay taxes, people do. A corporate tax is an added cost of producing a product that gets passed on to the consumer. When the product price goes up the corporation can no longer compete in a global market. So, they find another way to cut costs; the usual result is less payroll.

That is exactly the formula that sent millions of US manufacturing jobs overseas. Do we really want to go through that Obama/Biden scenario again? Is a higher corporate tax rate really what is best for Americans?

“I WILL NOT FUND ONE MORE FOOT OF BORDER WALL,” Biden said last week. Two points:

One, security walls have proven effective for thousands of years. They work today in Israel. They work in affluent neighborhoods across this country. They are working on our southern border today and every foot that is built allow scarce Border Patrol efforts to be focused elsewhere to their greatest advantage.

Secondly, billions of dollars will reportedly be spent to cancel contracts, rework land leases, deal with 270,000 tons of fencing materials already produced, etc. Is this the best use of American tax dollars? Would it make more sense to finish the fencing that is already funded and then, if Biden still believes walls don’t work, cancel future construction?

OIL INDEPENDENCE: For decades US Middle East policy has been complicated, delicate and difficult. the proposed solution to every Middle East issue was predicated on consideration of our need for oil imports from the Middle East.

President Trump’s oil independence has allowed us to interact in the Middle East without fear and trepidation that our oil supplies could be cut off or cause gas prices to surge adversely affecting everyone and every business. Additionally, without oil independence, we were at the mercy of OPEC when it came to pricing oil and gas on the world’s market.

Biden flip-flopped on the issue of fracking to appease Pennsylvania voters so we do not know where he will end up on the subject of fracking. But we do know he has not waivered on banning “new oil and gas on public lands and waters”. A couple issues here.

First, in eight western states, 97% of the oil and gas extraction is from federal lands. So, nearly every oil and gas drilling lease comes into play.

Second, since the federal government owns nearly a half of the land in the eleven Western states, the economic possibilities of Bidens plans “are devastating“, according to Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon.

A third point, Biden’s pronouncements on oil and gas production are likely pandering to global warming proponents. But the fact is that reducing production from federal lands, does not reduce consumption, and consequently, does not reduce emissions.

MILITARY READINESS: Under Presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama the military took huge hits in readiness; for example, after eight years of Obama/Biden the US Army had exactly one, yes one, fully combat ready warfighting brigade and scarcely 50% of Air Force/Navy aircraft could get off the ground.

Here we go again; Biden pledged during the campaign to, “maintain our military superiority,” which they all say, but added “we must do so affordably.” Which is Washington code for huge budget cuts.

Why is US military readiness a big deal? Around the world our friends and enemies are in a constant state of assessing our military readiness for confidence (friends) and to look for vulnerabilities (enemies). In the world we live in, US military readiness is a barometer for foreign policy development and decision making.

CONCLUSIONS: My intent was to come to some early conclusions about which way the wind is blowing on early key issues for the Biden Administration and whether they will be “successful”; success being that which is best for the American people and, more specifically, success would be a secure nation, safe communities, a strong military deterrence and sustained economic growth.

I wish for the best, but at this juncture I am not optimistic. Stay tuned.

INTELLECTUAL HONESTY AND THE MORAL HIGH-GROUND

The moral high-ground: That is what people around the world used to think of when the subject of the United States came up. It is where we want our leaders to reside but unfortunately it is not the first thing that comes to mind when we think about our politicians.

The moral high-ground is not a place you are just entitled to be; you have to earn your way to that lofty spot through words and deeds. Additionally, there is a pathway to the moral high-ground and at the bottom of the hill the street sign says, Intellectual Honesty Lane.

It is also important to point out that residing on the moral high-ground is not limited to we-the-people. Every organization and institution, no matter how large or small, has a culture associated with it. Stated another way, culture is an organization’s personality. It could be positive…..selfless, trustworthy, honest, morally stable……, you get the picture. Or, unfortunately it could be a culture of blame, hate, self-serving, vengeful. The one thing that is common to all cultures is, “culture is a powerful and pervasive force”. If that definition is correct and I believe it is because it is mine, then it is a force to be reckoned with.

For the past four years we have been subjected to our organization’s (the United States of America) culture of blame and hate. That is an ugly place to be.

The culture of blame has been growing for the past 25 years, is now deeply entrenched in our political structure and has rendered our Congress hopelessly dysfunctional. The culture of hate is a relatively new-comer.

Background: President Obama set out in 2009 to, his words, “transform America.” Everything seemed to be moving toward the goal, big government with government control, and then Donald Trump happened.

In the lead-up to the 2016 election Trump told us what he was going to do…..fix immigration, fix the economy (every piece of it}, rebuild the military, make our NATO allies more responsible, stop nuclear development in North Korea, challenge China’s move toward world economic domination, challenge Iran’s goal of Middle East hegemony, get tough on Russia, cut taxes for everyone, energy independence, Middle East peace, not start any new wars, shut down ISIS, free up small business expansion through deregulation, the list goes on. And then after elected, he had the audacity to accomplish all of it.

The political left was shocked when Donald Trump shredded their transformation plans. They hate him for it; not just a little bit but deep seated, blind, illogical hatred. Hatred so intense that if you supported what he was accomplishing for every citizen then their hatred expanded to include you. They denigrated every one of his accomplishments and attacked his character by proclaiming him to be an active racist. The Trump haters moved to a place so dark they could not even see the moral high-ground let alone understand the importance of it.

The hatred was so strong they openly spoke of and planned for his impeachment. It started immediately after the 2016 election; Vanity Fair headline November14, 2016: “Will Trump Be Impeached?” Vanity Fair December 15, 2016: “Democrats Are Paving the Way to Impeach Donald Trump.” In a Washington Post article, inauguration day, January 20, 2017 “The Campaign to Impeach President Trump Has Begun.” A recent TV montage showed a lineup of main-stream media journalists and/or leading democrat spokespersons every single month from January 2017 through January 2021 make reference to the imperative to impeach President Trump.

A culture of hate quickly swept across the nation and was embedded in the minds of possibly 75 -100 million citizens. The principle enabler for this rapid spread of hate was the main-stream media. Journalists quickly became the extended arm of the democrat party and its leaders.

With that background, let’s turn to the subject at hand, intellectual honesty and the moral high-ground. When a president has successfully taken on decades-old domestic and world-wide problems and solved them, is it feasible that daily media reporting of the Trump Administration’s actions should be 93% negative continuously for four years? Can there be any intellectual honesty associated with 93% negativism? How is it even feasible that 75-100 million people would believe and foster 93% negative reporting? It can happen and did happen because of a powerful and pervasive culture of hatred.

Beyond my definition,” Culture is a powerful and pervasive force”, I believe that, “In order for it to endure, culture needs to be nourished and reinforced.” Knowing they can rely on the media to carry their dirty laundry, Trump-haters have bombarded us with their intellectual dishonesty and immorality. Examples:

Maxine Watters, June 2018, screams to her supporters, “If you see anybody from this Cabinet in a restaurant, in a Department Store, in a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd! You push back on them! You tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere!” And what did the democrat party and democrat leaders have to say about all that? Of course, nothing. In many instances like this one, it is good to remember that silence can be construed as consent.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently tweeted that lists of Trump supporters should be, “archived so they could be held accountable for their behavior.” Could anything be more unamerican? Has she no knowledge of Germany in the 1930s or the USSR during the cold war? Without knowledge there is little hope of seeing her on the moral high-ground.

Kamala Harris: In the wake of deadly fires and looting last summer, Harris asked her five million plus Twitter followers to donate money to bail out the protesters and then commenting in June 2020 that the protesters “should not let up.” There is a long list of those who received cash for bail including, Jaleel who shot at members of a SWAT Team during the riots in May. He received $75,000 in cash to get out of jail. Darnika, charged with second degree murder received $100,000 for her release. The list is long. What was the push-back from her party for this outrageous behavior? Zero.

The American people are not impressed by this kind of intellectual flimflam. Where is the moral high-ground? And, by the way, did these ladies get their Twitter accounts suspended or even commented on? Nope!

Biden campaigned on a pledge to reunify the nation and I fully expect him to go on and on about it during his inauguration address. Any discussion of reunification should begin by defining the existing division but he won’t do that so his arguments may well ring hollow.

Here is what Joe will not say during his speech. Prior to 2016 conservatives and liberals disagreed about many aspects of US foreign and domestic policy. Nothing new about that; we have always had the majority of our population slightly left and right of an imaginary center line as well as a few relatively small lunatic fringe elements to the far left and right.

But what immediately emerged in 2016 was an enormous bulge on the left-of-center line consisting of many tens of millions of Trump haters. They are the “divide” that all liberal politicians talk about but will never admit they are the cause of the divide. The left’s leaders cannot see it because they are the divide; akin to “unable to see the forest for the trees.” By contrast, where did the conservatives go? Nowhere, we are still just to the right side of the center line on policy issues. The culture of hatred towards Trump has nothing to do with policy, is it just pure unadulterated, stand-alone hatred.

So, Mr. Biden how do you go about reuniting the country? You and your party are all about identity politics. Democrats know how to divide Americans into identifiable groups and pander to them. I suggest you use some of that know-how.

President Trump is going away in a few days. You won. Forget about Trump; let the historians worry about him. Without Trump to kick around, the hate culture might begin to dissolve as an up-front-in-your-face daily issue. Additionally, journalists will hopefully find something more constructive to deal with. You have been saying for months that you want to be the president for all Americans. Unless that is just another campaign sound bite, you need to actually do something about it.

Seventy-five million Americans voted for President Trump. Look at them as your newest and most challenging identity group and do the following:

One, keep your antagonistic mouth shut about Trump. You hate every positive, successful policy he championed on behalf of all Americans. Stop running all the good accomplishments down. And watch what you say. Your sound bites are too often wrong and inflammatory. For example, on the Capitol Hill riot, 6 January, your knee-jerk reaction was to openly charge the president with insurrection. The immediate follow-on was that “insurrection” became the operative word description for use by the main-stream media. What happened on that day was tragic, poor judgement on the president’s part but it most certainly was not, “open revolt against a constituted government”, insurrection.

As an aside, calling the Capitol Police racist was not a smart move. You might want to remove that too-often-used word from your vocabulary going forward or perhaps get some new writers.

Two, pick up the phone and have a come-to-Jesus conversation with the single most vindictive person in government; Nancy Pelosi. What is to be gained by a presidential impeachment in his last few days in office? The answer is a resounding nothing, but there is a lot you can lose. Her actions on impeachment makes you look weak. It makes her look like the leader of your party. Everyone knows, even the democrats, you are supposed to be leading and her actions are simply all about revenge. The leading constitutional authorities I have seen on TV since 6 January have been unanimous that the president’s words were not intended to result in a riot on Capitol Hill.

On impeachment, you have three choices; 1) support it, 2) not say anything or 3) emphatically and clearly tell we-the-people that impeachment is neither necessary nor appropriate. Choices 1 and 2 will be an enormous impediment to gaining the trust and respect of the 75 million Trump supporters.

Three, announce immediately (preferably at your inauguration) that you understand that about 90 million voters, republican, democrat and independents, want answers concerning potential fraud during the election. Tell us that you understand the importance of honest elections and if there was fraud anywhere it must be rooted out and the system fixed.

Doing those three things immediately, will send a powerful and positive message to 75 million Trump supports. Your failure to do so will run the risk of shifting the left’s entire hate-bulge to the right side of the median.

Mr. President-elect Biden, you are about to ascend to the most challenging and prominent leadership position in the world. I ask that you keep intellectual honesty and the value of being on the moral high-ground upper-most in your mind and the in the minds of senior leaders who surround you.

THE TRAGEDIES OF JANUARY 6TH

There were several tragic events that took place in Washington DC on Capitol Hill. Most happened on January 6^th; an additional tragedy may occur later.

Tragedy number one was the loss of life; one demonstrator shot attempting to breach the Capitol building, one police officer killed by a demonstrator and three died in the Capitol area of “medical emergencies”.

Tragedy number two: It is not an unusual occurrence for a demonstration to take place in Washington. The Capitol Police and Washington Police Department were not prepared for what went down. Better preparation might have saved lives.

Tragedy number three: On January 6^th President Trump made an unnecessary speech to thousands of loyalists who assembled from around the country.

This article is NOT a debate about who should be inaugurated on January 20th. It is about a much more serious issue so I would ask my Democrat friends to please read on.

Survey results over the past two months indicate that around 90 million voters believe there was voter fraud during the weeks leading up to and on election day/night. The significance is the magnitude of voters have lost faith in one of our Republic’s most basic rights; free and honest elections. We have a major national crisis of confidence.

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.

In a previous blog I made the following points: 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 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. The real answer to “how much fraud is acceptable” is zero.

Reportedly in six “battleground states”, soon after midnight, with Trump in the lead, vote counting was stopped. When counting resumed Biden was way ahead. Don’t 90 million Americans deserve and answer as to why that happened?

Reportedly in Pennsylvania, 1.8 million absentee ballots were sent out and 2.5 million came back. 90 million patriots need to know why.

In Wayne County Michigan, there were more votes counted than registered voters. Why?

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, all for Biden. Were all four witnesses lying?

An eyewitness testified, “At the Detroit Vote Center vans came in about four in the morning with about 60 boxes of ballots nearly all for Biden”. Shouldn’t someone look into this?

Back to the tragedy count. Tragedy number four: In 2024 when we look back to assess the Biden/Harris administration, potentially their greatest failure will have been that they made a conscience decision in the spring of 2021 to do nothing about the fraudulent 2020 election. By doing nothing, they will have placed the very fabric of our Constitutional Republic in jeopardy.

Can we just sit back and hope the states all get their act together by 2024? No, because hope is not a process.

What then should be done? Immediately after the inauguration, President Biden should select a special prosecutor charged to, within six months, identify the voter/election problems. The objective would NOT be to recount the votes but rather to look under every rock and uncover the fraudulent events that took place in every state. To do so, as a minimum, find the answers to these questions:

One, define the accuracy of voter registration rolls in every state.

Two, did massive mail-in balloting provide greater opportunities for voter fraud?

Three, does ballot harvesting provide greater opportunities for voter fraud?

Four, was there evidence of ballot stuffing? Ballot stuffing is casting illegal votes or submitting more than one ballot per voter.

Five, was there voter registration fraud? That is, 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

Six, was there voter impersonation? Persons claims to be someone else when casting a vote.

Seven, was there fraud by election officials? For example, manipulation of ballots, such as tossing out ballots or casting ballots in voters’ names.

Eight, was there absentee ballot voter fraud? It is a fraud for a person to fill out and turn in an absentee ballot containing false information.

Nine, did state officials, in the days/weeks just before 3 November, illegally change voter-related laws, rules and/or regulations that are, in fact, the constitutionally-based purview of the state legislature?

Finally, the Special Prosecutor must provide recommendations as to how to fix the problems. Turning over every dirty rock will be a load of work. But fortunately, there is a simple fix to all of these fraudulent activities. All we need is for every voter to have a personal Voter ID Card.

Another card? Yes, this is 2021, we all have multiple cards and will get more. For example, this year we will be required to have a new/special “REAL” ID card to get on an airline flight. Furthermore, I am certain that about 99.99 % of eligible voters have a driver’s license. It you have a driver’s license you can just as easily have a Voter ID Card. The Voter ID Card will come in to play and make it nearly impossible to participate in the fraudulent activities listed above.

To jog your memories on Voter ID Cards, see my blog on 10 December 2020, EVERY CITIZEN SHOULD HAVE A VOTER ID CARD.

Conclusions:

While elections laws and directives are primarily a states-rights issue, I believe a Special Prosecutor will find extensive violations. Can we fix election fraud with a 2 or 3-page Federal Law? Yes. Although the Elections Clause of the Constitution makes states primarily responsible for regulating national elections, it vests ultimate power in Congress. Congress may pass federal laws regulating national elections that automatically displace/preempt any contrary state statutes, or enact its own regulations concerning those aspects of elections that states may not have addressed.

My intent here is to suggest what must be done if we are to successfully protect one of our most basic freedoms, free and fair elections. Notwithstanding the necessity to investigate and report to the American people, I do not believe the Biden administration will touch election fraud with a ten-foot pole. Therefore, It will become the most tragic result of the events on Capitol Hill, 6 January, 2020.

Given Biden’s complacency, our only alternative is to press hard for (not just “voter ID”) Voter ID CARDs. Voter ID can provide some improvement, Voter ID CARDs will fix the fraud in spite of a do-nothing Biden Administration.

HOW TO FIX CONGRESS

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.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT A FRADULENT ELECTION

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.

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.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

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.

EVERY CITIZEN SHOULD HAVE A VOTER ID CARD

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:

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.