Don's Tuesday Column

THE WAY I SEE IT by Don Polson     Red Bluff Daily News 11/05/2024

        Enjoying our small town; voting integrity

Driving around Red Bluff after returning to our “little house in the country,” on shopping, medical and prescription errands, I wonder if the homeless folks on curbs or pushing purloined carts are a newly acquired feature or have just been out of sight in encampments, since reclaimed for citizens’ use.

The driving itself is fairly convenient considering the small town level of non-congestion compared to Bend, Oregon’s jammed streets and intersections. We’ve never regretted opting for living within minutes of shopping, as opposed to 10 miles north or west of town. Our thoughts at the time were that, if we got home from work (ugh), and wanted a pizza or remembered we needed some grocery item, we’re spared the drive to go get it.

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Upon checking out the Republican headquarters at 748 Main Street (former Ramsey Jewelers location), we found a plethora of election-related items, voter registration (too late for that) and contacts to get involved. Readers are encouraged to stop by later; big-screen monitor with internet will stream results.

You might as well share the camaraderie of fellow Trump supporters for a few minutes as it is unlikely that decisive results will be called by early evening (I believe we’ll celebrate).

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Here’s the way I see it: Entire nations like France (tried and rejected mail-in ballots) have same day voting with ID confirmation—and they timely know who won. People can, and should, know the election results before they retire for the night. It’s being done in Florida, for instance, where efficiency, transparency and verifiable results are prioritized over the kinds of loosy-goosey, ill-conceived, ballots-for-all-breathers procedures California has.

For instance, I have an Oregon driver’s license acquired years ago when we considered moving our primary residence to that state. Upon the expiration of my CA license, I was told that I would have to accept a California ID card instead. I had to rely on my own integrity to decline to vote in Oregon as it was offered automatically. Even though already a CA voter, signing up to get a ballot was routine, without the requirement of proving my citizenship (I could’ve been a Canadian, for instance).

The point is that our state’s mail-in ballot free-for-all allows for non-citizens to easily acquire ballots sent to their residence, relying only on their personal integrity (with thanks to those who honestly decline). Please spare me the trite talking points that “it’s illegal for a non-citizen to vote,” or that “there’s no proof those votes make a difference.”

They use the weasel word “widespread” as in “there’s no proof of ‘widespread’ vote fraud affecting election outcomes.” Well, when polling of non-citizens, i.e. “illegal residents” or undocumented migrants, has shown that between 10 and 20 percent of them actually use those ballots to illegally vote—that argument becomes horse-puckey.

Combined with the known fact that hundreds of races have been decided by a few votes, it’s obvious that those adamantly opposed to “voting integrity measures” aren’t interested in honest elections. They are, knowingly or not, enabling the kinds of fraud that 1) allow for a sufficient number of illegal ballots as to affect an outcome, and 2) prove they don’t care that citizens have justifiable skepticism that election winners are legitimate.

At the risk of drawing the attention of lawyers for Dominion voting machines, I will point out that any voting machine that’s internet-connected—can, has, or will be hacked with certainty. I saw, in a Georgia legislative committee, after the 2020 election, a member on the phone with a “white hat” hacker who, in real time, gained access to the Dominion system. That wasn’t the only time it was proven, although it doesn’t prove that the elections were compromised.

However, that’s the problem with rooting out, reversing and/or punishing vote fraud: it’s very difficult to prove individual vote fraud. The Dinesh D’Souza movie, “2000 Mules” proved beyond reasonable doubt the existence of vote “harvesters” (more likely ballot fabricators) stuffing boxes with countless ballots in critical cities in swing states. Just recently, a Chinese student affirmed that he voted illegally in Virginia; however, his vote had to be counted, per election officials, because there was no way to find his ballot, much less to take his word for who he voted for and subtract that vote from the total.

California, and other Democrat-run states, have erred on the side of “making it easy to vote” with little interest in “making it impossible to cheat.” I say that is not unintended, that it is a “feature,” not a “bug”—a benefit, not a liability. It serves the grand scheme of guaranteeing the outcome by “hook or crook,” rather than by the will of the people expressed in a “one person, one vote” system of electing our representative to govern for us—we are not, repeat not, a “democracy.”