With the stir about voter fraud created by the multiple state investigations of ACORN; a presidential candidate talking about “spreading the wealth” to large crowds of supporters that might make you think you’re in Venezuela or some other Third World socialist country; and now liberal authors warning “If Obama loses it will spark the second American Civil War. Blood will run in the streets, believe me,” — the U.S. is rapidly approaching banana republic status.
If violence does occur following next week’s election — regardless of the outcome… If significant voter fraud is evident based upon all the facts known… If chanting mobs take to the streets… Fundamental change will have come to America as Barry Obama is promising, but it won’t be for the better.
In fact, we are already at a point where our electoral system is less secure than that of Mexico. That’s right. Mexico.
In July 1997, I served as an international observer of Mexico’s federal elections. It was regarded as the first legitimately free and fair elections held in Mexico in over 70 years. The congressional elections held that year marked the first time that Mexico’s long-reigning ruling party, PRI, lost their majority in the Mexican legislature to the conservative PAN party.
So, how did they ensure free, fair and open elections? Simple. They required voter ID.
Every single eligible Mexican voter was issued a voter ID card by the government that contained nearly two dozen built-in security measures. The IDs had many of the security features of your average U.S. driver’s license — photo, signature, hologram, magnetic strip, plus others that I do not recall at this point. Citizens did not have to pay for their voter ID cards. And they certainly did not feel slighted that they had to present one to vote. In fact, most Mexicans that I met with described having these ID cards as bestowing upon them a sense of pride. It was an honor to have one. It meant that their voice matter. It meant that their votes were assured to be counted. (Plus they could also use it in other instances where a valid form of ID was required, such as bank transactions.)
On Election Day, my partner observer (who coincidentally was and still is the senate office scheduler for Sen. John McCain) and I traveled around the state of Yucatan. We visited polling places in the capital city of Merida, the various suburbs and far out into the countryside. No one dictated where we could go or who we could talk to. Whether it was the well-off in a wealthy suburb or people living in near abject poverty in a small rural village near the jungle, they all had the same experience. After waiting in line, they’d present their ID to the person at the check-in desk. (Most places had poll watchers from all the major parties present.) The person checking them in would then compare their ID to the voter book which had printed copies of the IDs in them so exact matches were easy to make. Very simple. No muss. No fuss. They then went in, voted and went home knowing that they had participated in the democratic process.
If Mexico can do this, why can’t we? Instead, we wind up with all manner of accusations and allegations.
The U.S. should move towards a similar system — only then will no qualified voter be denied the right to vote nor will they face the possibility of having their vote cancelled out by fraud or an ineligble voter. While we’re at it, we need to repeal Motor-Voter.
Think about it for a minute. We’ve put the DMV in charge of the vast majority of voter registrations. THE DMV. Think about the last time you had to go there and then recall the employees working there. Do you really trust them to be the last line of defense for democracy in America? Just the other day I saw a news story about a woman from Sweden who is here legally in the U.S. on a green card, but is facing deportation because she registered to vote in 2004. No one told her it was illegal to do so. In that same story, the reporter who was at a DMV office found a woman from China, also here on a green card, who had almost registered to vote because the DMV official had told her it was okay to do so. It was only intervention by the reporter who saved this woman from a similar fate. And a recent study, reported on in the Fairfax Times, indicates that an increasing number of people called for jury duty are being dismissed because they are not U.S. citizens. Guess where the jury pool is selected from — the voter rolls.
We have a long way to go towards making our elections run smoothly and restoring the confidence that we should all have in it so we don’t hear such incendiary comments as “Blood will run in the streets.” Once something of that nature happens, we will have truly become a banana republic. Let us pull back from the brink and institute real reforms that protect the right of every eligible American to vote. Motor-Voter was well-intentioned, but is a disaster. Likewise, vote by mail and lengthy early voting periods have undermined our electoral process with millions of people casting ballots before events fully play out. Of course we should have absentee balloting, but aside from that, we still call it Election DAY and we should keep it that way for the vast majority of voters.
Some of us here at S&R follow a non-monotheistic spirituality of some sort, and I for one celebrate tonight as Samhain, Celtic new year, the harvest festival, and the time of the year when the Veil grows thinnest. Tonight I honor my ancestors and bid farewell to those who have died during the last year.
The mainstream media is reminding me more and more of football announcers struggling to keep viewers from changing channels.
