WRITE OF CENTER
Two weeks have passed since California’s primary election, and we still don’t know for sure who will advance to the November runoff. Final results are not expected for another three weeks.
This is beyond absurd. While Republican candidates were either leading or a close second in key races, as more mail in ballots were delivered the situation rapidly changed.
This is not a definitive sign of fraud yet offers comfort to those who claim that some elections are rigged. It’s imperative that our citizens view elections as being conducted with complete integrity and fairness.
Consider some of California’s odd election procedures.
Ballots are mailed to every registered voter; these ballots can either be mailed in or physically returned to an elections office. Yet, what if a person recently moved out of state and there has been no forwarding address provided? The opportunity for fraud exists.
Same-day voter registration is allowed, so conceivably a person could drive from another state, claim to be a California resident, provide a bogus address (possibly a willing friend or political activist), and then cast a ballot.
Ballot harvesting is allowed in California. This means that a paid political activist (think George Soros funded) could go to one of the many homeless camps that proliferate in California, register voters, then have them cast ballots for favored candidates in return for a free meal.
Amazingly, according to California election law, a late-arriving mail-in ballot missing a postmark can still be counted so long as it arrives by seven days after Election Day.
It’s conceivable that partisan activists could see how far behind their preferred candidate is on election night, then work to round up the votes needed by simply writing in the election day on the ballot envelope as “proof” that the ballot was mailed by Election Day.
All the examples cited don’t require voter photo ID and utilize mail in ballots, and each one is an absolute invitation to fraud.
Making matters worse, California is far behind in purging voter rolls of people who have died or moved out of state.
If you were to ask any reputable elections administrator in Texas (and Kendall County has one of the very best if not best in our state), they will tell you that potential fraud can occur in an uncontrolled mail-in ballot system.
This is not to say that all mail in ballot systems are fraudulent. They are not. As a college student I voted by mail in every election. I was required to fill out and sign an application. The system worked well.
Two of the three largest states in the U.S., Florida and Texas, have strong mail-in ballot policies. Of the 11 million ballots cast in Florida in the 2024 presidential election, 3 million were mail-in ballots. All votes had been counted in Florida by 11 p.m. on Election Day. Texas counts all of its ballots by noon the day after Election Day.
It is often noted by political analysts that late-returned mail in ballots in California skew heavily to far-left candidates. Indeed, in the Los Angeles mayoral race, Socialist Nithya Raman was far behind Spencer Pratt for a week until late arriving “mail in ballots” were counted.
Once again, the fact that late-returned mail in ballots skew strongly in one direction is not full proof of corruption, but it begs a very basic question, “Why can’t California elections be above reproach as they are in Florida or Texas?”
California’s incompetent method of conducting elections can only breed mistrust among voters, and this is not good. Let’s remember this the next time that Democrats claim that “they are defending democracy.”
Undoubtedly when Republicans claim that impropriety may exist, Democrats will cry racism and voter suppression. Yet there have been no verified complaints about the inability to cast a ballot since Texas’ photo ID law went into effect, and our revised mail-in ballot procedures work well.
Interestingly, Mexico uses voter ID, as do most African countries. Yet in the U.S. that’s considered racist by some political partisans.
Shouldn’t conducting elections with strong verifiable controls and procedures be the standard that we all agree on, regardless of political affiliation?
Rich Sena is a Kendall County Republican.
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