Dear
Mr. Jacoby:
Please
accept my thanks for your sterling editorial in the Jan. 10 issue of the Santa
Ynez Valley Journal. I almost could hear the fife-and-drums in the background,
as per the old Green Acres TV show when Oliver Wendell Douglas made a populist
spiel, and I mean that light-heartedly but most sincerely.
Anyone who tries to disenfranchise any
legitimate voter, or otherwise to cheat an election, is lower than the scum
under the foulest whale dung at the furthest depth of all the seas. My Dad didn’t fight
against Fascism in the South Pacific in 1944-45 only to see the franchise
subverted. When a bare majority of the Supreme [sic] Court in December 2000
awarded George Bush the Florida contest and, thereby, the Presidency, it was
one of the darkest days of his life. It also was one of the darkest days for
our constitutional democracy.
Does
anyone remember the 3rd Supervisorial District contest between Bill Wallace and
Willy Chamberlin, in 1992-94? It was decided by a handful of votes, which
shifted one way or the other during the course of the original count, the
recounts, and the court challenges that followed. One thing that I remember
vividly is the testimony of some good ol’ boy
somewhere up in the valley, who admitted to filling out his wife’s absentee
ballot and sending it in; his reason, no doubt “honest” by his way of thinking,
was that he knew how she’d vote and just saved her the trouble.
I
could’ve done a similar thing in 2004, after my Mom died in Federal Way, Wash.
Her mail was forwarded to me following her passing, and in it was her absentee
ballot from King County. I shredded the thing when it arrived, but very easily
could’ve voted “as I knew she’d vote.” How many other such instances, and
worse, occur in every election, everywhere, and how many people take advantage
of a chance to cheat?
In
my opinion, routine voting-by-mail is an invitation to the worst kind of
unconstitutional fraud that is, by the definition of “unconstitutional,” among
the lowest forms of sedition. Hell’s bells, I could register our neighbor’s
pets with postcards, and permanently vote absentee on all of their behalf, and
nobody likely would be the wiser.
However,
this doesn’t imply that every voter at the polling places should be required to
produce one or more forms of ID at every election, if they show up to vote;
validation of registration, their physical presence, and their signature should
suffice. Proof of legal voting eligibility should be firmly verified at the
time of registration, as it used to be in the past when I was a sworn Deputy
Registrar of Voters (1970s and ’80s).
Absentee
ballots should be reserved for those who truly can’t make it to the polling
place on Election Day, and those ballots should be required in most cases to be
delivered in person by the voter to the Registrar of Voters’ office before the
polls close on Election Day, or to the polling place itself. Where
circumstances absolutely require the ballot to be mailed, extra scrutiny of the
ballot’s legitimacy should be required. And, if the
ballot is delivered by a “representative,” that person’s legitimacy as the
voter’s representative should be verified on the spot. And, machines should be
reserved for the exclusive use of truly disabled, otherwise legal voters. There
needs to be a re-countable physical ballot trail for the close contests. If
everyone used touch-screen or other types of automated voting machines, there’d
be no chance of any legitimate challenge or recount. Without ballots that can
be inspected and recounted, guess what — someone pushes the “recount” button
and the result miraculously comes out exactly the same as the first count.
Surprise!
So,
again, thanks for your admirable editorial; it should get national press
exposure and be required reading in civics and
political science classes in all middle schools, high schools, and on up.
Posting it at the polling places, or reproducing it in the sample ballot
pamphlets, also would be a good idea.
As
for your two cents, in your name, I’m donating ten thousand times that amount
to Project Vote and Rock The Vote (split, not each;
I’m not rich). Dad would approve.
Most sincerely yours,
Greg Mohr
Santa Barbara
P.S. to Nancy Crawford-Hall: You’re completely right in
stating that we all have more in common than in our differences. So please,
stop the weekly wanking about “environmentalists.”
Working together, indeed, is what we all need to do.