Voter Convenience and Secure Elections Cannot Coexist

Topic: Perspective

I made a post on Telegram and Truth Social yesterday that wound up widely circulated, based largely on my Ten Points to True Election Integrity.  If you’re new to my work, read over those ten points and consider them as a framework for our country to get elections back on track if the window of opportunity to set them right ever presents itself.

If I post something substantive, I generally look around for comments.  In Truth Social, they came in underneath my post.  On Telegram, since I don’t run a chat, I checked a few of the large accounts that shared the post to see what the feedback was.  The post was intended to be red meat for the base, emphasizing the need for major election reforms after the lawless court ruling in Wisconsin reauthorizing drop boxes, which will be used to corrupt the upcoming election there that is entirely unwinnable for the Democrats unless extraordinary measures are put in place.  The post in draft was not heavily scrutinized on my end for technical aptitude, meaning I understand not all these items are actionable by executive order, or procedural limitations mean we can’t reallocate certain spending.  Additionally, I have no expectation of such a position becoming available to me, or anyone for that matter.

Other commenters twisted the washcloth to drip in more necessary changes, which I mostly agree with, but what concerned me the most – in fact, the reason I’m writing this thought piece – were the various but what about me posts.  To begin – this is how I believe elections should be run if we are to have faith in the system and have winners reflecting the will of the people:

·      With very few exceptions, the election takes place on one day – this used to be known as Election Day.

·      With very few exceptions, all ballots are cast in person at the precinct equivalent.

·      Votes cast on paper ballots and marked by hand.

·      Votes counted by hand at the precinct with strict reporting deadlines, not allowing large counties to wait out smaller ones and report large dumps later.

·      Voter registration does not exist (see North Dakota).  Voters must present valid ID and proof of citizenship to receive a ballot.  Appropriate measures are put in place to prevent repeat voting.

The exceptions listed above pertain to authorizing a very tight window of time for early voting to accommodate those with a legitimate reason for not being able to vote on Election Day – think doctors, nurses, pilots, oil workers, or truckers – and in allowing certain people to vote absentee (different than no excuse mail-in), such as overseas military or the legitimately disabled (not simply elderly).

I do not have all the answers and have had my positions greatly sharpened by those who have rebutted my suggestions, but there are several items that those working around the clock on election integrity universally agree on (and we can’t agree on much else, so that is an important assessment).  Here are a few of them:

·      Corrupted voter rolls are the foundation of the problem.

·      Mail-in voting facilitates fraud (yes, I know some people live in universal mail-in voting states – and 7 out of 8 are permanently blue, and the other is Utah – another corrupt state that just snuck Spencer Coxback in for what will be another term).

·      Early voting facilitates fraud.

·      Primitive elections without electronics allow for greater transparency, and thus greater trust in the outcomes.

But what about President Trump?  Are you going against his advice and the RNC by telling people NOT to vote early or vote by mail?

President Trump has three different types of people who are going to vote for him:

·      Base voters, who will vote for him no matter what.

·      New converts, including those pesky “independents” and the droves of minority voters who will vote Republican for the first time, and perhaps the last time this year (see Nixon, 1972).

·      Stragglers, the low propensity voters that tip close states.

Those of you reading this piece, at least while it is fresh, are most likely base voters.  I am speaking to you when I tell you to only vote in person on Election Day if possible.  If you can’t do that, then of course, vote early.  You have little other choice.  President Trump, in making the pitch for bank your vote, is speaking to those low propensity voters, or more precisely spoken, to the get-out-the-vote crew to make sure those low propensity ballots get in, rather than risking a low propensity voter becoming preoccupied on Election Day and not casting a ballot at all.  The best practice is and always has been to vote on Election Day in person, and if you don’t believe me, look at how Kari Lake managed to win the corrupt Arizona gubernatorial primary in 2022.  We are in a Catch 22 now in Pennsylvania and other states because while Election Day voting in person is the way you should be voting if you can, we can’t apply that to everyone because the Democrats have a 50-day head start with the ballot harvesting and early voting in the Keystone State, and we are morons for giving them that much time without voting, and we are also morons for feeding votes into the system early when that makes it much easier to figure out where our vote total will land on Election Day.

In other words, President Trump and team have little other choice but to get the non-political now-and-then voter to put his ballot in whenever it gets in.  You, on the other hand, have the personal responsibility to vote as smartly as possible, and it couldn’t be clearer after years of research that early voting and mail-in voting are constructs designed to more effectively control the outcomes of key elections.  Participating in them when you know the truth makes you complicit in perpetuating a corrupt system.

Which brings me to my ultimate point – voter convenience and secure elections cannot coexist.

I came out of a Safeway in Tucson a few days ago and was met at the door by a few young women carrying clipboards and asking me to sign up for the permanent mail-voting list.  They, of course, were being paid to collect registrant signatures and had no idea just how bad these systems are, but their pitch to me was how I wouldn’t have to leave the house or go stand in line to vote.  Unknowingly, they were helping to grow the voter roll and mail list with voters who may not go vote in person but will have a mail ballot floating around for use if they themselves don’t cast it, and it can be harvested up later and thrown into the pile if needed at the last minute.

Won’t have to leave my house or stand in line?  As soon as I publish this article, I’m going to drive 40 minutes to my gym, hit the weights, and then probably stand in line to grab something for lunch before driving back home.  I do that roughly four times per week, in addition to other chores, errands, and tasks I complete on a day-to-day basis.  I will admit that certain conveniences are nice – if I have a run of the mill sinus infection, I can see a doctor online without any insurance plan and count on a prescription being called in without having to spend an entire afternoon setting up an appointment, filling out forms, or waiting at the office with crying kids and sick people.  But do some people really consider it a huge perk to not have to leave the house once or twice every two to four years to cast a ballot, which was widely considered an advancement in human rights just a couple centuries ago?

That is the case in Florida, with much of the population signed up for the permanent mail-voting list, despite the beautiful fall weather and now-conservative electorate that should know better than to perpetuate a mail-voting system.  How about Arizona?  In Maricopa County, 78.6% of all registered Republicans are signed up for the permanent mail-in balloting list (AEVL).  Without mail-in voting, ballot harvesting wouldn’t and couldn’t exist.

The sale is easy.

Yea, it’s just so crowded here with everyone moving in.  You never know, sometimes we can still get a hot stretch in the fall.  We know you’ll be running all over town, going out to eat, heading to the post office, hitting Hobby Lobby on the way back, but whatever you do, don’t plan to go vote in person a few times a decade. Sign up for the mail-voting list and Maricopa County will make sure your ballot gets counted properly.

Pardon me but expecting Maricopa County officials to properly determine election outcomes is a bit like asking the Boston Strangler to rub your neck.

When I was reading those comments expressing frustration over various conveniences being stripped away as part of a plan to properly reform elections, it became clear to me that our elections have died the death they’ve died because the people have invited convenience, expanded it, and now sat idly back and watched it be extended to the entire electorate.  Even if most people don’t abuse these conveniences, like your kids away in college, bad actors absolutely exploit them.  Eight states have universal mail-in balloting, and seven of them are irretrievably blue and won’t back a Republican presidential nominee perhaps ever again until elections are completely overhauled.

Here are a few of the carveouts people were hoping to preserve:

·      I’m elderly and want to vote by mail.

·      I’m a trucker and if there’s not early voting I won’t be able to vote.

·      My kids are away in college and it’s too expensive to fly them back to vote.

·      Many patriots are snowbirds and need to be able to vote absentee.

These are all understandable things and in no way do I wish to see people disenfranchised to vote.  These people must understand that by allowing a loophole here, an exception there, and a workaround here, we will eventually greenlight this narrative – well, we might as well just open up early voting for three weeks and create a permanent mail-in system.

My plan accommodates not elderly voters, but legitimately disabled voters with an absentee ballot system that must be designed with protections.  Why?  Look at what happened in Wisconsin nursing homes last time around.  Being elderly is not a disability, and I suppose in person polling locations could accommodate long lines or waits with expedited service for senior citizens.  It is not that I don’t sympathize with the inconvenience that this may place on an elderly voter – it is that by making it a “just sign up for the mail balloting” system of voter participation, we are allowing endless mail-balloting abuse to accommodate relatively few voters who would rather not contend with long lines (which could be mitigated by having an appropriate number of precincts for a given population).

My plan accommodates truckers and other nomadic or shift-based workers by authorizing limited windows of time to vote early with a valid reason.  This used to be how early voting worked until, you guessed it, states were just like to hell with it and opened it up like a sport in places like Texas, where 91% of the 2020 election vote was in before Election Day.  What exactly is the point of Election Day at this rate?

My plan would have you sign your kids up to vote in the county in which they are attending school if it is not feasible to get them home to vote.  It’s not that I think your kids are going to cheat.  It’s that I think if we have tens of thousands of college kid mail ballots flying around, with their inherent low turnout rates, we will accommodate your two kids and then facilitate enough cheating to potentially flip states like Wisconsin, with their massive flagship university boasting an enrollment of more than 37,000 students.

My plan would also advise snowbirds to register to vote in the state in which they winter.  Arizona needs your votes more than ever, and if you’re in Florida, vote there if you’re from New York or Massachusetts, and think about a trip back to Michigan or Pennsylvania every four years if you’re from there.

I’m not trying to be heartless.  I’m trying to provide a system for fair elections in this country and at the same time, explain that allowing one loophole only expands it to the entire electorate, and giving way to these concessions in the name of convenience has given us a political system in which a Republican presidential nominee begins his campaign writing off 191 electoral votes, and more likely 222 once leaners are factored in.  We have chosen convenience for our elections rather than security, and are paying a dear price now that technology, data, and corruption have merged to eradicate secure elections in America.

Franklin said this about desiring both liberty and safety:

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

I am reminding you that if corrupt bureaucrats will stop at nothing to alter the results of a presidential election, they will most certainly not do the right thing if you give them more of your vote earlier while expecting them not to tally the votes even though the law may direct them otherwise.

Voter convenience and secure elections cannot coexist.

Seth Keshel, MBA, is a former Army Captain of Military Intelligence and Afghanistan veteran. His analytical method of election forecasting and analytics is known worldwide, and he has been commended by President Donald J. Trump for his work in the field.