Bedfellows Breed Voting Fraud

Habitual Politicians

Since the first casting of goat and sheep shoulder blades 2500 years ago in the Cradle of Democracy, politicians have tried to rig the voting. Votes are the blood of democracy. Votes should be collected and counted under uniform procedures to prevent infection by political aides.

The various political solutions to the Y2K election fiasco have political not problem-solving goals. As one writer noted: All key players are major figures in political parties. No non-partisan citizen committees. The Democrats want laws that embarrass the Republicans. Neither party addresses the central role of fraud by voter registrars. As long as the habitual office-holder controls the vote counter, re-election is assured. to wit,

"The whole process is enmeshed in the party system ... When parties get in a position of control, they often try to take some partisan advantage."

With the partisan stakes so high Keyssar is skeptical that any meaningful reform will occur. Too many politicians have too much at stake.

"My pessimistic view is that what we're going to end up with is a lot of new machines, because that's the easiest thing to do," he says. "The legal and constitutional problems, the fact the (election) bureaucracy is a giant patronage network ... Those things aren't likely to change." 010406article

My personal experience (previous section) shows that, at least Virginia's, voter registrars will collude to discourage voters.

Voting fraud is part of the current campaign financing process. The percentage points that a voter registrar can quietly alter, in private time, cost less than buying the same percentage points cost in advertising dollars. The number one concern of habitual politicians is getting re-elected. They will breach no reform that meaningfully changes their re-election control. Nubs1, Nubs2

As a whole, the political proposals should be viewed as smoke and noise to distract people from the real issue: the vote riggers.

Primary Problem: Relationship between Voter Registrars and Habitual Politicians

As Boss Tweed and Joe Stalin said, it's the vote counters who count. Vote stuffing and stealing is a way of life for the majority of voter registrars across the country. Why?

  1. Voter Registrars are politically appointed.
  2. Most are former or future political office wannabees. If you are secretary of state you can leverage your power of certification into a 1st rate country instead of a backwater ambassadorship.
  3. For a party to win at the state and national level, it must win at the local level. Who pays attention to local elections where the small-time challenger doesn't have the financial resources to quality control the election or litigate election improprieties?
  4. Voting and election fraud is a way of life, easier each election as the registrar learns new ways to get out the vote. Single term limits?
  5. The revolving door of voter registrars and habitual politicians can best be summarized as the credo of the election riggers.

As noted by one writer: "In the end partisans count votes.Elected or politically appointed officials control the process at the local level, partisan state officials control it at the state level, and judges subject to partisan pressure make the final calls." The amazing thing for the highly interested independent on the sidelines was how long the habitual politicians engaged in the mutually self-destructive frenzy of accusations.

Personal Experience with Organized Corruption

In some cases, the voter registrars use their offices to keep qualified candidates off the ballot by erasing and losing candidate's petitions who are running for elective office: Virginia Voter Registrar Fraud, 1999. Even worse is when numerous voter registrars act collectively in unison to discourage fraud investigation, organized corruption.

Most election fraud does not have the money involved as the Y2K Presidential. It takes money to contest registrar fraud and election theft. The price of democracy is like the Freedom of Information Act--the cost of lawyers. The average citizen gets shut out if he does not have the money to contest the theft.

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