Ballot integrity: no longer 'just right wing paranoia'

Clearly, the reasons differ. And greatly. But it's downright refreshing to finally see the integrity of our electoral process gain favor of political parties other than the GOP.

For years, and aside from a few courageous individuals and organizations on the left, the Republican Party has been the vanguard of election integrity. Alas, everything from Voter ID laws to calling for paper trails for electronic voting has been placed by the mainstream press into the same category as black helicopter theories and chupacabra sightings. Liberal detractors would point to the handful of actual, final voter fraud convictions in court as "proof" it wasn't a problem (it's hard to prosecute when you have little to no evidence on which to go on). Attempts to tighten down security at the polling place has been labeled racist, sexist, "class warfare," and even age-ist.

Coverage of allegations of mass fraud would go un-covered for weeks. In one instance, an account of tens of thousands of forged and faked voter applications in Harris County uncovered by the King Street Patriots did not warrant coverage for weeks aside from conservative blogs -- and when it finally caught the attention of the mainstream media ... well, read what happened and make your own judgments.


But now the tide is beginning to turn. It may be because the Left flat-out refuses to believe that Donald Trump is now President-elect (what's that first stage of grief -- is it denial?) but here we finally have common cause to reform our elections processes.

Here's what the leadership of various political parties are calling for.

The Republicans -- see above. But it's also worth noting the Texas GOP platform states: "We support the Secretary of State strictly enforcing printing of Results Tapes for electronic voting for early voting and Election Day at polling locations after the polls close for all counties. We support increased scrutiny and security in balloting by mail, prohibition of internet voting and any electronic voting lacking a verifiable paper trail, prohibition of mobile voting, prosecution for election fraud with jail sentences, repeal of the unconstitutional Help America Vote Act, and assurance that each polling place has a distinctly marked, where possible, separate locations for Republican and Democrat primary voting. We support all means of protecting the integrity of our elections, including the optional use of paper ballots. We oppose countywide polling locations due to heightened potential for fraud." 

The Democrats -- Hillary Clinton recently backed Green Party nominee Jill Stein's recount effort (see below). It appears the Clinton campaign has quietly been in favor of some sort of recall effort in several key states since at least Nov. 8. Before Nov. 8, the Clinton campaign was warning about "civil unrest" should Trump supporters deny election results. My, how the pendulum has swung! 

The Greens -- In what critics are calling a fundraising scheme, Jill Stein raised $6.7 million for recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. More here if you dare.

The Libertarians -- While not particularly interested in up-ending Trump's victory or electing Hillary (they had their own guy), the Texas party's platform calls for "transparency in all publicly funded elections through verifiable ballot receipts and/or electronic tracking. We oppose any efforts to count the votes outside of public view." 

Reform Party, etc. -- Rocky De La Fuente, the former Reform party candidate for President and American Delta Party nominee is reportedly filing a recount petition in four key counties in which Hillary won heavily. His goal, according to a spokesman, is to continue to shed light on the issues with electronic voting as well as to raise money and build name ID (hey, at least he's honest!).

Locally, Travis GOP Precinct Chair Dr. Laura Pressley has been contesting her 2014 Austin City Council election results for two years. Her case is now before the Third Court of Appeals.

With all this attention on allegations of voter fraud (regardless of who is being accused, and for what motives) the possibility is now greater that conservatives will no longer face the same level of ridicule they faced in years before when making the case for ballot integrity -- though we don't expect the accusations of racism and waging war on the poor to end overnight.

Meanwhile, fewer than half of all voters fear their ballots do not count. Allegations of Republicans pushing away voters continue to linger. And jokes about dead Democrats casting votes beyond the grave persist. Some bipartisan proposal -- no matter how small or symbolic -- cannot come quickly enough for the health of our republic.



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