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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. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

$10 million for “gender programs” in Pakistan

$300 million for fisheries,

$100 million for NASA,

$300 million to Endowment for the Arts,

$300 million to Endowment for the Humanities,

$300 million to Public Broadcasting,

$500 million for Museums and Libraries, 

$720 million to Social Security Administration,

$315 million to the State Department,

$90 million to the Peace Corp,

$492 million to National Railroad Passenger Corp,

$526 million grant to Amtrak. 

$4.7 billion in foreign aid to nine countries.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Title of the legislation

-Date which starts the 90-day calendar.

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

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

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

-Sunset legislation date.

-Schedule of committee hearings. 

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

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

Comments on drafting of legislation:   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SECTION FOUR will include the bill’s entire narrative.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusions:

$10 million for gender programs in Pakistan.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE PROPOSED LAW:   

PART 1: VOTER ID CARDS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PART 2: A NEW LAW FOR NATIONAL ELECTIONS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TWO: SEAL THE BALLOT BOX WITH PERMANENT ADHESIVE TAPE. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-MILITARY PERSONNEL STATIONED OUT OF STATE OR OVERSEAS.

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

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

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

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

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

PART 3: CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PART 4: FIX THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY MESS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bottom line:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When was the last time you heard someone say, “Wow, I can’t wait to see another campaign ad on TV”?  In 2020 candidates spent about $14 billion dollars on their campaigns.  14 billion.  Most of it a waste of money.  Most of it we did not want to hear/see/read.  And then there were the billionaires who openly tried to buy elections with tens and hundreds of millions of dollars.  The whole thing is disgusting. 

If there are two thoughts that emanate from 2020 it is the need for new election standards (see WE NEED A NEW LAW FOR NATIONAL ELECTIONS published 22 Nov, 2020) and campaign finance reform. 

Campaign finance PRO AND CON:  There are those who believe strict disclosure requirements and donation limits impinge upon the rights to privacy and free expression, hampering participation in the political process. Others claim that current federal campaign laws do not go far enough to mitigate corruption and the influence of undisclosed special interests.

My positions on financial contributions to a political campaign are as follows:

-One, it should be an action between the candidate and the voter. Period.

-Two, the politicians will complain, “How can I get outside financing?”  You shouldn’t be able to and that’s good news.

-Three, the lobbyists will complain, “How am I going to influence the candidate?”  You won’t be able to, and that’s good news. 

-Four, the candidates will complain, “How can I afford TV advertising?”  You may have to cut back on campaign spending and that’s good news. 

Let’s begin by defining campaign financing that is being practiced today.

COMMUNICATION COSTS: This category applies primarily to unions, trade groups and other member organizations who expressly advocate the election or defeat of a federal candidate. Comment: Why should a few leaders of organizations with millions of members think they know best who an individual voter should support?

INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE, aka DARK MONEY:  Money spent on political advertising in support of or against a particular candidate from outside a candidate’s own election organization. Generally, there is no limit placed on independent expenditures.

Comment: “No limit” is a euphemism for out of control. There is a reason it’s called “dark money”. The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center said the dark-money provision ensures “that the door to foreign dollars in U.S. elections remains wide open through secret contributions to these ostensibly nonpolitical groups that run campaign ads without any disclosure of their donors.

SOFT MONEY: Unlimited amount of money given to a political party from any source, including individuals, corporations and unions. These contributions cannot be used to advocate for the election or defeat of a particular candidate.  Comment: the political party is not running for reelection, candidates are.  Soft money is soft on reality. 

POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES: A group organized for the purpose of raising and spending money to defeat and elect candidates. There are two types of political action committees:

One, political committees established and administered by corporations, labor unions, membership organizations or trade associations. These committees can only solicit contributions from individuals associated with the sponsoring organization.  Comment:  Is “solicit” from subordinates synonymous with “contribute or else…….”?

Secondly, committees not sponsored by or connected to corporations, labor unions, membership organizations or trade associations and are free to solicit contributions from the general public.  Comment: Remember the “general public” includes all the billionaires.

SUPER PACS: Groups who raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates. Comment.  “Unlimited” also has unlimited downsides.  How beholding can a candidate become to the PAC members and their policy positions? 

HARD MONEY:  Money given directly to a political candidate by an individual.  Comment: Finally, we have something that begins to make sense.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is a federal regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the nation’s campaign finance laws. The commission was created by the US Congress 1975. The FEC is authorized to, 1) “disclose campaign finance information” and 2) “enforce the provisions of the law, such as limits and prohibitions on contributions.” Comment:  They cannot accomplish either mission very well given the “unlimited” and “undisclosed” elements contained in campaign finance laws, rules and procedures. 

Here is how to fix it, all of it, with one simple law.  The law should say: 

1. 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. 

Comment of paragraph 1:  Why does a contributor need to be a registered voter? A successful democracy provides rights and privileges equally to every citizen.  But along with those cherished rights and privileges comes responsibilities.  Freedom isn’t free; this is perhaps most obvious to those who have served/are serving in the US military.  But every citizen should be responsible enough to register to vote a be prepared to support democracy with a vote.  Civics 101:  1) Be proud to be a citizen. 2) At age 18 register to vote.  3) Use your freedom of speech to verbally support your candidates and/or make a campaign contribution. 4) Vote in every election.  About 100 million eligible voters did not vote in the 2016 election.  

2. 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.

Comment on paragraph 2: The candidates will scream, “but I cannot campaign on that small amount of money”.  Yes, you can.  Every candidate will be under the same restrictions.  For the first time, the contribution playing field will be leveled. We-the-people will not be subjected to a continuous barrage of ads we don’t watch/listen to/or read about. The billionaires, just like you, can contribute a total of $3000; $1000 to a presidential candidate, a Senator (or both Senators on the rare occasion when both are running) and a Representative.

3. 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. 

4. Every contribution must contain the social security 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 SSN.

5. Concurrently, every federal candidate must scrupulously and continuously account for every campaign expenditure

6. 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. 

7. 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.  

8. The Democrat and Republican National Committees will not distribute any funds to any candidates.

Conclusions: During the primary season leading up to the 2020 elections, Senator Bernie Sanders announced that he raised $34.5 million from an average donation of $18.53 in the fourth quarter of 2019. Yes, small donations from dedicated voters can add up to enough money.

How many times have we heard the accusation that some politician is beholden to some lobbyist or some corporation because they were bought and payed for with campaign contributions?  The answer is too often; this can be and should be stopped.

In 2016, 60 Minutes broadcast an expose unveiling the outrageous phone banking operations of an uncontrollable D.C. political machine.  They reported, “Your newly elected Congressional representative is expected to spend half of his or her working hours dialing for dollars at a secret phone bank near Capitol Hill.” Did you elect a full-time telemarketer or a lawmaker?

This entire campaign finance mess can be cleaned up with one, simple, 300-word, 8-paragraph, one-page law.  If you agree with this law send it to your US Representative and Senators.

Voter fraud and voter apathy are threatening our democracy.  They both can and must get fixed with election and campaign finance reform laws.

Marvin L. Covault, Lieutenant General, US Army retired.

The integrity of national elections is a key underpinning of our democracy.  It is right there with freedom of speech and freedom of religion.  But based on recent events, tens of millions of Americans have lost faith in the election system.  Additionally, every eligible voter must understand that with rights and privileges there are personal responsibilities to earn that right. 

If the system cannot be trusted, democracy can fail.

States’ rights is another concept passed down from the brilliance and foresight of the founding fathers.  It is a fact that voter regulations and procedures vary from state to state and in some states from county to county. It is also a fact that states have floundered, are inconsistent, and have not earned the right to act independently when it comes to national elections. 

The 2020 national election is over and it would be easy to just take a deep breath and leave it behind us.  But that is irresponsible because much of what happened in 2020 should never be repeated.  Without action to the contrary, we will see it again in 2024. We need a base-line of national norms and standards for elections passed down from the federal level. 

What follows is a list of what needs to be fixed and the verbiage for the federal law.

WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THE 2020 ELECTIONS?

COMMENT:  Election procedures in 2020 were a knee-jerk reaction to the covid-19 breakout. Tens of millions of mail-in ballots were put into circulation opening multiple opportunities for fraudulent use, the harvesting of ballots, postal ineptitude, differing deadline dates for mail-in delivery, differing deadlines for completion of counting, must they be post-marked,  what happens if not signed, what if they are not witnessed, how to verify the validity of signatures and on and on and on. All this nonsense was put into play because of the pandemic when in fact it was much safer to mask up, stand in a social-distanced line and vote in person than to go to the grocery store.  To compound the problem, states were making decisions and changing rules on the fly as election day got closer and closer.  What is more egregious is that we knew going into the election year that there were problems all across America; some examples: 

May, 2020 California determined they had 1.5 million individuals who remained registered even though they no longer were eligible to vote.

Oregon:  A survey found that 5% of registered voters admitted that other people marked their mail-in ballots; 2.4% said someone else signed their ballot.

Virginia: An investigation found 592 examples where registrants were simultaneously registered in another state.

New Mexico: The Public Interest Legal Foundation found more than 3,000 individuals registered multiple times; 1,700 registrants who are dead; 1,500 voters aged 100 or above, 64 of whom are over 120 years old.

The Election Assistance Commission found that 28.3 million ballots in federal elections between 2012 and 2018 were lost or disappeared in the mail.      

Conclusion:  These examples of ineptitude and opportunity for fraud are an indication of the depth of the problems across the country.  Federal guidance must be used to correct the situation before the 2024 elections. 

As a result of mail-in ballots the election counting centers were overwhelmed with the sheer volume of documents to process. Hand-counting the mass of mail-in ballots provided tens of millions of opportunities for miscounting, intentional or otherwise.

THE LAW SHOULD SAY:  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. 

WHEN SHOULD ELECTIONS BE HELD?

COMMENTS:  Given the importance of a federal election, one would think we should do everything possible to get every eligible voter excited about going to the poles.  But, we don’t. 

Our Constitution (article 1, section 4) specifically gives Congress the power to regulate the, “Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections.”

In 1845 Congress passed a law designating, “The first Tuesday following the first Monday in November” as the time for Federal elections.  In 1845 most of the US population was agrarian and it was not uncommon for farmers to have an all-day round trip by horse and wagon to reach a polling place.

Why November?  In most of the country the weather can be bad in the winter. Spring planting as well as summer and early fall harvesting were very busy times.  By November, the crops were in and the majority of agrarian voters had time on their hands; hence November elections.  

November is still a good time of year to vote but Tuesday, a work day across the country, makes no sense and actually discourages eligible voters from making special arrangements to be available to vote.  

Another question is, why only one day?  We should spread out the voting timeline and take away most of the excuses for not voting. 

THE LAW SHOULD SAY:  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.

VOTER REGISTRATION:

COMMENT:  To attempt to eliminate persons from voting more than once, voting in different states, voting for someone else, voting for a deceased person, voters must be pre-registered before election day. Voter registration is an area where citizens must demonstrate personal responsibility.  They can only be registered in one location at a time.  Those in the process of moving from one state to another must make arrangement to be registered in one location and, if necessary, request an absentee ballot.

THE LAW SHOULD SAY:   VOTERS MUST BE PRE-REGISTERED BEFORE VOTING BEGINS ON OCTOBER 20^TH.

WHEN ATTEMPTING TO REGISTER, AN INDIVIDUAL MUST HAVE A VALID STATE IDENTIFICATION.  THAT IDENTIFICATION MUST HAVE BEEN OBTAINED IN AN OFFICIAL STATE DEPARTMENT (DIVISION OF MOTOR VEHICLES, FOR EXAMPLE) AND PART OF THE PROCESS WAS PROOF OF A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. 

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 VOTED TWICE, THE FBI WILL BE IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED. 

EVERY STATE WILL HAVE A CENTRAL REGISTRY OF ALL THEIR REGISTERED VOTERS THAT IS IMMEDIATELY ACCESSIBLE BY LOCAL ELECTION OFFICIALS.  ONCE A PERSON HAS VOTED THAT INFORMATION MUST BE AUTOMATICALLY AND IMMEDIATELY ANNOTATED ON THE STATE REGISTRY.   IF THAT PERSON IS ATTEMPTING TO VOTE MORE THAN ONCE AN ALERT WILL APPEAR ON THE STATE CENTRALIZED REGISTARY, THE FBI WILL BE IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED AND OPEN AN INVESTIGATION

IN-PERSON VOTING SITE ORGANIZATION:

COMMENT:  Over the past few weeks, post-election, we have seen videos on TV of ballot counting operations in large rooms with dozens of people standing around, desks stacked with unattended ballots and boxes and a look of total chaos.

THE LAW SHOULD SAY: 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 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.

THE ADMISISTRATIVE TEAMS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR IN-PROCESSING ALL VOTERS. 

THE COUNTING TEAMS WILL MANUALLY COUNT ALL IN-PERSON AND ABSENTEE PRESIDENTIAL BALLOTS. 

THE ACCOUNTING TEAM 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 FEDERSL LAW xxxxxxx.  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. 

IN-PERSON VOTING:

THE LAW SHOULD SAY:  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.

1. UP0N ARRIVAL EACH VOTER MUST PRODUCE AN IDENTIFICATION WHICH SHOWS THEIR LOCAL ADDRESS AND WAS OBTAINED WITH A SOCIAL SECURITY CARD AS PROOF OF WHO THEY ARE. 
2. 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 AND THAT THEY UNDERSTAND VOTING MULTIPLE TIMES IS A FEDERAL OFFENCE.
3. 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.
4. 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 EVER 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 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.

5. UPON COMPLETION OF COUNTING THE BALLOTS 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 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.  

ABSENTEE VOTING:

COMMENT: Currently every state has different rules and timelines for absentee voting; procedures need to be standardized.

THE LAW SHOULD SAY: ABSENTEE VOTERS MUST FILL OUT AND MAIL THE FEDERAL MANDATED STANDARD VOTER REGISTRATION AND ABSENTEE BALLOT REQUEST TO 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 CITY 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.   

RELEASING VOTING RESULTS:

COMMENT:  The time-honored practice of having the media name the winners and losers throughout post-election night is insane. When polls close on the east coast and the media begins competing to see who can be first to name a winner, voter living in the western half of the continental US and especially Hawaii can become completely disincentivized to vote at all.

The combined effects of early in-person voting, counting absentee ballots as they arrive, and the fact that a counting team can process a presidential ballot in just a few seconds, provides assurances that overall State results should be available a short time after polls close across the country.  No voting information can be released anywhere in the US before the polls close in Hawaii.  We need the completely eliminate the all-night media guessing game.

THE LAW SHOULD SAY:  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. 

RECOUNT PROCEDURES:

COMMENT:  Currently States determine what constitutes the necessity for a too-close-to-call recount.  We need one standard national formula. The first step in a close race for president, would be to gain insight by comparing the electronic generated data with the hand-count data.  If there is a significant discrepancy in the totals, launch an investigation.

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

COMMENT:  In the 2016 election approximately 100 million registered voters failed to cast a ballot.  In the 2020 election tens of millions of voters lost confidence in the fidelity of the election system.  The fate of our democracy depends on fixing the system.

If, those of you reading this agree with this proposed law, please send it to your Senators and Representatives. 

MARVIN L. COVAULT, LT GENERAL, US ARMY, RETIRED.

IS VOTER FRAUD A VALID CONCERN? 

Our ability to legally vote and ensure that our vote is properly counted is one of the underpinnings of a successful democracy, right up there with freedom of speech. 

Is voter fraud a problem in the United States? Yes.  How prevalent is voter fraud?  The correct answer is, no one knows for sure because fraud is a crime and folks don’t go around advertising that they are breaking the law

Let’s take a snapshot of the current voter/voter registration problem across America and from that get an idea of why we do not yet know the results of the 3 November presidential election.    

Generally, voter registration rolls are notoriously inaccurate and out of date, containing the names of voters who are deceased, have moved, or otherwise have become ineligible. 

Millions of main-in ballots were sent out to potential voters. Many thousands of those ballots arrived in the mail for individuals who no longer reside at a registered address thereby risking that those ballots could have been stolen and voted.  

California:  A couple years ago it was determined that 1.5 million individuals were registered even though they no longer were eligible to vote. Actual cases: Disregarding several warnings, Mr. “Smith” was convicted of registering his four dogs and his deceased father to vote.  Or take Mr. “Valdez”, an illegal alien from Mexico who voted multiple times under a false identity.  Mr. “Jones” was involved in a scheme with eight other individuals where they solicited hundreds of false and/or forged signatures on voter registration forms by offering homeless people $1 and/or cigarettes for their participation. Other cases out of California include individuals who forged the signatures of voters, being paid $5 per signature.  

North Carolina: In 2018 in the 9th Congressional District race was overturned because of illegal vote harvesting that included altering and forging absentee ballots.

Oregon:  A survey found that five percent of registered voters admitted that other people marked their ballots (5% of 2.2 million registered voters equals 110,000 potential fraudulent actions). Additionally, 2.4% said someone else signed their ballots.  It is suspected the actual number was much higher, given that most people would not want to admit being a party to a crime. Likely tens of thousands of mail-in ballots have been cast in Oregon by individuals other than the registered voter.

New Jersey: A candidate bribed voters with $50 payments for mail-in ballots. 

The Election Assistance Commission found that 28.3 million ballots in federal elections between 2012 and 2018 were lost or disappeared in the mail.

Virginia: An investigation found 592 examples where registrants were simultaneously registered in another state. There are about 11,600 dead people on Virginia’s voter rolls, all of whom would have receive mail-in ballots.

New Mexico: The Public Interest Legal Foundation found more than 3,000 individuals registered multiple times; 1,700 registrants who are dead; 1,500 voters aged 100 or above, 64 of whom are over 120 years old. All of these supposed voters would have received mail-in ballots.

These are just a few examples of the ongoing voter fraud and election board stupidity in America. Collecting these examples just took a few minutes on Google.  Imagine if we went state by state and searched out voting and voter registration investigations.   Absentee and mail-in ballots are the tools of choice of election fraudsters because they can operate outside the supervision of election officials, making it easier to steal, forge, or alter ballots, as well as to intimidate voters. 

Marvin Covault

I voted early in case I got into a quarantine situation. My presidential preference was not based on personality.  I voted because there are multiple issues before us that will define the future of our republic which is hanging in the balance.

I voted for the economy: I’m in favor of lower taxes, not higher. I’m for less poverty; over 4 million Americans lifted out of poverty, 2018-2019.  I like higher wages (median household income increased by $4,400 in 2019; up 9.7% in the last 3 years).  I prefer less food stamps (food stamp recipients are down 8.5 million from the Obama/Biden high).  I’m in favor of opportunity; historically high employment for women, Hispanics and Black Americans. Income gains for minorities topped all income groups in 2019.

Unsecure borders are a national security issue.  I voted against open borders for tens of million illegals.

I voted to continue not being held hostage by the need for foreign oil; fracking has provided perhaps the single most significant issue with respect to US foreign policy development. For decades all Middle East policy has been driven by our need for imported oil. Our export of natural gas to Europe is providing freedom from Russian gas dependance.   More available oil and gas at lower prices is putting enormous economic pressure on some of our adversaries, namely Iran and Russia.  

For decades NATO countries have not paid their share.  Now they are paying. The democrats call that bullying.  I voted for someone who will stand up for America’s interests and American taxpayers.

I voted against Canada and Mexico taking our jobs and markets under punitive NAFTA provisions. NAFTA has been replaced.

Four previous presidents stood by and watched China steal our technology and move towards world domination.  I voted for standing up to the Chicoms.

Our embassy in Israel should have moved decades ago.  I voted for Mr. what-the-hell-are-we-waiting-for. 

I voted for a rare occurrence in our history, someone who has kept his campaign promises.

We had become a regulation-nation, stifling progress and innovation.  I voted to continue the massive deregulation clean-up and economic growth.

I voted against appeasement towards our adversaries.  It didn’t work 2009-2017 and it won’t work 2021-2025. 

I voted against retrofitting every structure in the country to meet some pie-in-the-sky green environmental goal.

I voted for the geo-political paradigm shift orchestrated this year from the White House in the Middle East that will align countries against Iran’s long-range plan for Middle East hegemony; AKA a “Middle East NATO.” 

I voted against a plan to compel workers to join a union and pay union dues, thereby voting for right-to-work laws administered at the State level. 

For decades we have been drowning in the Washington swamp.  I voted to continue draining the muck. 

I’m sick of violence and looting in democrat-run cities.  I voted for someone who will do something about it.

Abandoning, degrading and defunding our police is nonsense and unamerican.  I voted to stand with those in blue who put their butts on the line every day for all of us.

In Fiscal Year 2019, ICE officers arrested and removed more than 267,00 criminal aliens.  I voted for someone who knows how important ICE is rather than those who will abolish it.

Charter schools are making a positive difference in education in general and particularly in low-income communities.  I voted for someone who believes this is positive, necessary and must be expanded, not someone who will abolish charter schools in order to appease the teachers’ unions.  

The dem’s big, all-knowing, all-controlling government is a non-starter.  I voted for states-rights and the wisdom of our founding fathers.

The First and Second Amendments to the Constitution are under attack.  I voted to, “…. support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic…”

Most of us know socialism is a failed system.  I voted against those who just don’t get it.

I voted for someone who I know will not send a, supposed-to-have-been secret plane load of cash to Iran so the world’s number one state-sponsor of terrorism can use it to kill innocent women and children around the world. 

I voted for someone who is wise enough to put America and Americans first and still be the most benevolent nation in the world’s history.

I voted for someone who is not afraid to call out the United Nations for their daily display of stupidity and ineptitude.

I voted against protected havens for our criminals, AKA democrat sanctuary cities and states.

I recognize that many women want, “the right to choose”.  Until someone can explain to me the difference between very late third-term abortions and premeditated murder, I vote against it.

I voted against taxpayer funded Medicare and food stamps for illegal aliens. 

No one hates war more than military leaders.  I voted for a Commander in Chief who clearly knows how to exert economic pressure to inhibit rogue-nation activities rather than using a knee-jerk military strike.  But at the same time someone who can surgically use the military without hesitation when called for.  ISIS califate leaders, remember us?

Military strength is a powerful deterrent.  I voted for someone who understands that.  Carter decimated the military.  Clinton completely hollowed out the forces.  Obama departed with one, yes just one, fully combat-ready Army brigade and 50% of the fighter aircraft could not get off the ground.  Anyone see a pattern here? 

In the past we have looked at our presidents’ ability to adroitly meld diplomacy and military strength. I voted for a president who has expanded that thinking to include international economic pressure with powerful positive results for America and the world.   

I voted for someone who understands that when the weak and downtrodden need a helping hand, the United States will act.  Russia invaded Ukraine; Obama sent blankets.  This administration sent the latest tank-killer weapons. 

For decades no president made a move against a North Korean regime bent on putting a nuclear warhead on the pointy end of an intercontinental missile.  That is, until the NK foreign minister announced to the world that, “A nuclear strike on a US city is inevitable.”  My commander-in-chief was all over the short, fat guy and has kept up unrelenting pressure. North Korean nuclear testing stopped.  

The amazing wisdom of our founding fathers foresaw the distinct possibility that future presidential elections could be driven by a few population centers, like Philadelphia, New York and Boston in their day.   Creation of the Electoral College was brilliant.  Without the Electoral College in the 2016 election where Trump carried 85% of the counties in America, the election would have been won by the Clinton plurality in just five counties on the east and West coasts.  I voted for someone who understands the wisdom of the Electoral College concept. 

There are two solutions to getting Black Americans out of poverty and low-income, crime-ridden neighborhoods.  Good jobs and a good education.  I voted for both.

I voted for someone who believes promises-made equals promises-kept. I didn’t vote for a politician, I voted for a results-driven pragmatist.

I voted for someone I can trust to defend and promote America first.

I voted for Donald Trump because he understands and promotes all of the above while I have zero confidence that either Biden or Harris has the intent or capability to pursue any of these issues that define the future of our great Republic. 

Marvin Covault, Lt Gen US Army retired. 

“I will raise taxes for anybody making over $400,000,” Biden says over and over. “Let me tell you why I’m going to do it. It’s about time they start paying a fair share of the economic responsibility we have. The very wealthy should pay a fair share, corporations should pay a fair share.”

That thought, soak the rich, is appealing to many.  But, as they say, the devil is in the details.  Let’s begin with a simple question for teleprompter Joe; can you explain to Americans what you mean by “fair share”?

Background: In 2017, the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid more income taxes than the bottom 90 percent combined. Included in that bottom 90% are the folks who pay no federal income tax.  Is that not a “fair share” by the rich?

According to the Tax Policy Center, approximately 72.6 million people or 43.2% did not pay ANY federal income tax in 2016.  Interestingly, in 2018, AFTER President Trumps Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the numbers of those paying nothing INCREASED to 76.4 million, 44.4%.  The question remains, what do you mean by “fair share”?

August 8^th, Biden goes on to say, “We’re in a situation where you have the top 1%, in fact, making — paying a lower tax rate than you do.”  “You” being teachers and carpenters.

The democrats want you believe that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act only reduced the tax rate for the highest earners.  Not so.  Under the previous law, there were seven brackets and there are still seven under the Trump tax cut law.  The tax rates under the two laws are as follows: old percent (new percent): 10% (10), 15%, (12), 25% (22), 28% (24), 33% (32), 35% (35) and 39.6% (37).

Under the Trump tax law, here is an example of what the actual savings were for middle class and the rich, (recall the bottom 44.4% paid zero federal income tax). The average earner in the middle third of the income distribution earns about $85,000. This family saw their taxes drop from $18,378 to $15,968, a difference of $2,410, a 13% reduction.

A high-income family earning about $154,000 would experience a drop from about $41,600 to $36,900, a reduction of about $4,700, 11% reduction.

Stated another way, the middle 20% of earners, with income of $50,001 to $87,300 will pay an average federal tax rate of 12.4%, according to the Tax Policy Center analysis, that’s less than half the effective tax rate paid by the top 1%.

As explained by Mr. Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, “Do some high-income individuals pay less? Yes, you can invest all your money in tax-exempt bonds and pay no federal income tax on the interest. Investors can avoid paying tax on capital gains by simply not selling the assets. But in general, the federal tax system is very progressive. The more you make, the more you pay.”

Kyle Poneroeau, chief economist and vice president of economic analysis at the Tax Foundation, points out, “There may be cases in which specific top income earners face a lower rate than a middle-income earner, especially if all of their income is long-term capital gains, but that is not typical.

First conclusion:  What we have is another political sound bite, “The Trump tax cut was a tax cut for the rich”, which does not pass the smell test.  Biden and Harris are both on tape before an audience saying, “We will repeal the Trump tax cut on day one.” But, what they don’t do is finish the sentence.  If they did it would go like this, “We will repeal the Trump tax cut on day one and you will all be paying more federal income taxes.” 

Second conclusion:  The long-suffering democrat economic policy of tax-and-spend simply does not/cannot grow an economy.  Take a note America, 2019 tax revenues under Trump, EVEN WITH HIS TAX CUTS, WERE THE HIGHEST IN HISTORY! Economic policy and taxation must to be about growing the economy.  When the economy grows EVERYONE wins. 

CORPORATE TAXES: The Trump tax cuts reduced corporate taxes form 35% (highest in the developed world) to 21%.  “The idea that we have a tax rate for corporate America at 21% is ridiculous. It should be 28 %,” Biden said.

CONSEQUENCES: First of all, corporations who manufacture a product generally sell on the world market.  The cost of producing their product consists of raw materials, plant operations, wages, advertising, corporate taxes, etc.  The point being, corporate tax is just another cost of producing a product.  If the corporate tax goes up, the selling price to the consumer goes up.  Corporations don’t pay taxes, people pay taxes.   

The second consequence of higher corporate taxes is much more serious.  If manufactures cannot compete price wise on the world market, they will look for a way to reduce production costs and be competitive.  That usually means cheaper foreign labor and that means moving manufacturing overseas.  During the Obama/Biden era with 35% corporate taxes, tens of thousands of manufacturers left the US while others simply went out of business.  Good idea, Joe; corporations have lots of money lets raise their taxes again.  

BIDEN ON CAPITAL GAINS TAX: “So every single solitary person, their capital gains are going to be treated like real income and they are going to pay 40% on their capital gains tax.” That would double the current capital gains tax rate of 20%.  

First, it is important to remember, the capital gains tax is a double tax. This is money that you already made and you paid tax on it. Then you invest that money in somebody else’s business which, in turn, creates jobs and wealth. And if your investment is successful and you make a profit, the feds tax you again.

Breaking news, wealthy folks do not put their money under their mattress.  They invest it.  They risk it.  When the investment is successful, they make more money and invest more.  Capitol is the fuel for capitalism.  So, yes Joe, by all means lets take that capitol out of circulation by doubling the gains tax and let the federal government waist it.

But Biden’s doubling of the federal capital gains tax is only half the problem.  Many states also tax capital gains.  California, for example has a 13.3% tax on capital gains.  So, Californians, for example, would be facing over 53% capital gains taxes.

What else is coming out of Joe’s basement? 

ESTATES (AKA DEATH) TAXES:  The most despicable tax of all.  Estate taxes are currently set at 40% of the estate value above $11.6 million.  It looks like the Biden/Sanders plan will lower the exemption to $3.5 million and raise the tax rate to 77%.  Across the heart of America this strikes a death-blow to passing on the family farm or ranch to the kids.  Farmers are habitually “land rich and cash poor.”

PAYROLLS:  Apply a 12.4% Social Security tax split between workers and their employers.  Currently this tax comes off after $137,700 of income.  Under the Biden plan there would be no shutoff limit.

COPORATE MINIMUM:  Put a 15% minimum tax on the income of businesses with $100 million in profits.  All this would do is revert to Obama- economics, drain capitol and slow economic growth.  Another great idea.

REGULATION IS A STEALTH TAX:  Without a doubt Biden/Harris will dust off the thousands of stifling federal regulations that President Trump has eliminated, particularly those affecting small businesses and corporations. More impediments to economic growth and innovation. 

A final thought about wealthy folks.  Because they have means immediately at their disposal, they have options.  For example, a study of the behavior of wealthy people in California who were faced with a tax hike on top earners, packed up and moved.  The result was that 42% of the expected revenue gains from the tax hike never materialized.  New York state is facing a financial crisis as NY residents depart in droves.  Governor Cuomo points out that, “A single percent of New York’s population pays half of the state’s taxes and they’re the most mobile people on the globe” 

Democrats need to study up on what happened in France a few years ago when taxes on the wealthy went through the roof.  In 2013 the number of French tax payers earning over €100,000 a year and departing France rose by 40 %.  And for the very, very rich who earn over €300,000 each year, the number rose by 46 %.  From 2000 to 2014 France was ranked third in the world for the number of millionaires (42,000) who left their country.  The unintended consequence of targeting the rich with an array of high taxes is that the tax burden eventually shifts to the middle class.  Are you listening, Joe? 

I am a soldier, not a tax expert so you might also want to check out the analysis by The Tax Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, Tax Policy Center, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and Wharton Business School. They have all come to the same conclusion: Biden’s plans will INCREASE TAXES ACROSS THE BOARD.

BOTTOM LINE: Biden/Harris openly plan to replace a tax plan that has reduced many Americans’ tax burdens with one that would raise everyone’s taxes while slowing the economy. To quote teleprompter Joe, “Come on man.”

Marvin L. Covault

Lt Gen, US Army, retired