The United States is in the midst of yet another exceedingly idiotic Election Season.
We used to just have an Election Day. After which we knew the results – Election Night.
India had an election in June. In which 642+ million votes were cast. They had the entirety of their results – that night.
The entire US population is 330 million. If history is our guide, about 170 million (~60%) will vote this go round. And we are being told it may take weeks to get a result.
The time it takes to count the votes? Is inversely proportional to the confidence you should have in the vote count.
The US does lots of stupid things – all of which eviscerate confidence in its elections.
Early voting – is idiotic. Because the candidates are still campaigning. And things can happen after your vote – that would change your vote.
This year, tens of millions of people early voted – before sitting President Joe Biden called roughly half the nation’s populace “garbage.”
And after the White House altered the transcript to hide the fact that Biden called half the nation’s populace “garbage.”
That kind of blatant obnoxiousness and dishonesty – might have changed more than a few of those pre-cast votes.
In an exceedingly close election – that might matter, no?
But that ain’t nothing.
There was the 2020 burying of the Hunter Biden laptop story – and the very many lies told by government and beyond about it.
The laptop revealed the Bidens had received many tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments – including Communist China.
And that Joe Biden – while he was a Senator and Vice President – played a crucial role in the cash accumulation.
The suppressed story – and the titanic, ongoing lies told to bury it? All happened after tens of millions of people had early voted.
And 79% of people asked – said knowing the story would have changed the election’s outcome.
Mass mail-in voting – is idiotic. It should only be allowed on an individual, case-by-case basis – where you have to apply to get your single mail-in ballot.
Mass-mailing ballots to everyone on governments’ notoriously unkempt voter rolls – is idiotic.
As but one example: Swing-state Michigan has 500,000 more people on its voter rolls – than actual, eligible voters in the state. Oops.
Having tens of thousands of unattended ballot drop-off boxes all over the place – is idiotic.
Ballot box stuffing, anyone? Ballot box fires, anyone?
All of this obviously eviscerates ballot integrity – and with it election integrity.
The US Election Assistance Commission has an entire section of its website dedicated to “Chain of Custody Best Practices”:
“Chain of Custody refers to the processes, or paper trail, that documents the transfer of materials from one person (or place) to the next. Every state and local jurisdiction has its own controls for ensuring the chain of custody of election materials is properly maintained. These controls may include locks, seals, audit logs, witness signatures, or other security measures….
“Chain of custody is essential to a transparent and trustworthy election. Every election office should have written chain of custody procedures available for public inspection prior to every election.”
Mass mailing ballots – to notoriously bad lists? Tens of thousands of unattended drop boxes – ripe for stuffing with mass-mailed mail-in ballots fraudulently cast?
Eviscerates the chain of ballot custody – and with it election integrity. Because duh.
And we have the perennial hundreds of reported instances – and therefore thousands of actual instances – of voter registration fraud.
And we have the perennial hundreds of reported instances – and therefore thousands of actual instances – of voter blocking and/or intimidation.
And then we have the Election Night vote count shenanigans.
Vote counters bizarrely stopping their counts. Trucks full of ballots delivered in the middle of the night. Poll watchers locked out of the vote count rooms.
And on, and on, and….
I ran the numbers on the 2020 presidential election. And the previous four presidential elections – for comparative purposes.
Prior to 2020, the average voter turnout was ~60%. It jumped to ~67% in 2020.
Trump added 11+ million votes to his 2016 total. Going from 64+ million – to 75+ million.
Which would have been the all-time record.
Except Biden – who had dementia and “campaigned” from his basement – somehow received 81+ million votes.
Which was 16 million more than Barack Obama in 2012. And Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Trump won the in-person, vote-at-the-actual-polls vote – in all fifty states. He won in California. And New York. And New Jersey. And….
Biden “won” the no-account, no-tracking, no-chain of custody mail-in vote – in all fifty states. He “won” in Mississippi. And Alabama. And Wyoming. And….
Oh: And the mail-in vote total went from ~29 million in 2016 – to 66+ million in 2020.
That all seems…normal, right?
And yet somehow – fewer and fewer people think the elections are fair.
I can’t imagine why….
First published at lessgovernment.org.