About Mail-In Ballots
To the Editor:
In response to Mr. Green’s letter on mail-in ballots.
You used FEC Commissioner Weintraub as a source on voter fraud. To those who don’t know, the FEC’s function has nothing to do with voter fraud or mishandling of ballots. It’s function right from their website is: The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, Senate, Presidency, and the Vice Presidency. So, any comments on voter fraud made by Commissioner Weintraub are his opinion only.
However, there is a government agency that is tasked specifically with voting: The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is an independent agency of the United States government created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). The Commission serves as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding election administration. It is charged with administering payments to states and developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and accrediting voting system test laboratories and certifying voting equipment. It is also charged with developing and maintaining a national mail voter registration form.
Here’s information from them: 28 Million Mail-In Ballots Went Missing in Last Four Elections:
Between 2012 and 2018, 28.3 million mail-in ballots remain unaccounted for. The missing ballots amount to nearly one in five of all absentee ballots and ballots mailed to voters residing in states that do elections exclusively by mail.
States and local authorities simply have no idea what happened to these ballots since they were mailed – and the figure of 28 million missing ballots is likely even higher because some areas in the country, notably Chicago, did not respond to the federal agency’s survey questions. This figure does not include ballots that were spoiled, undeliverable, or came back for any reason.
Although there is no evidence that the millions of missing ballots were used fraudulently, the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which compiled the public data provided from the Election Assistance Commission, says that the sheer volume of them raises serious doubts about election security.
The inherent problems of mail-in voting are being widely ignored, however. Use of mail-in ballots more than doubled from 24.9 million in 2004 to 57.2 million in 2016, and around 40% of U.S. votes are now done by mail. Along with this dramatic increase there have been virtually no new safeguards, scrutiny, or additional research on the risks of vote by mail. If the current pandemic is going to force the issue during a presidential election, proponents of voting by mail may have to address obvious risks that come with proposing that more than 200 million ballots be mailed out this fall.
The only reason vote-by-mail problems are not getting more attention on a regular basis is that it’s kind of an embarrassing problem and people just aren’t paying attention. The numbers of missing ballots demonstrate large voter list maintenance failures and security gaps within the broader mail voting process.
So, there is a big concern about mail-in ballots. You went down the party line road so I will too. The Democrats have spent the last 3+ years from day one trying to get President Trump arrested, impeached, removed from office, etc. All these attempts have failed miserably. They have shown their blatant disregard for the law or anything remotely honorable. They have shown they will do anything to make sure President Trump is not reelected. So, to the critical thinker, there is a real threat now that mail in ballots and fraud may become their last-ditch effort to make sure he’s not reelected.
And to your final comments, I’ll address each comment: 1. “The youth, minorities, and socioeconomic disadvantaged people tend to not vote due to the ‘inconvenience’ of in-person voting.” Response: On average over the last decades only about 50% of the population votes. People don’t vote because they don’t care. Don’t make it about anything else. 2. “However, these are groups that also tend to vote Democratic.” Response: That’s conjecture. If they don’t vote how do you know they would vote Democratic? 3. “So, if we can disenfranchise these groups, Republicans (which constitutes a numerical minority in American politics) can attempt to hold onto power another cycle.” See Response to 1. 4. “It’s rather fraudulent of Republicans. This is why they fight so hard to keep American citizens from participating in our elections”. Response: How do Republicans fight so hard to keep American citizens from participating in our elections? Is it because we should require proper identification for anyone voting? Or have checks and balances in place for mail in voting? Fraudulent? You mean Democrats fraudulent fight for voting rights for people who are not citizens of the United States? Their constant fight not to have checks and balances in place for mail in voting? 5. “This may even constitute the foundation for why they require recognition for assisting in executing local election.” Response: well the kind, polite, and grateful response from the Democrats should have been to thank the Republicans that helped them in their time of need.
Sandy Armstrong La Grange
La Grange