This article identifies two important elections activities where the opportunities for cheating need to be greatly minimized, if not prevented.  As discussed herein, these two activities encompass polling place operations and ballots/ballot-tabulating.    

It does little good for Republicans to continually predict monumental election wins in future years without spending equal amounts of energy and money to effectively prevent elections cheating and fraud.  Sadly, a sometimes overlooked reality is that even the most desirable and qualified conservative candidates for political office can and most likely will lose elections when cheating and voter fraud occur.

Political observers generally agree that today's Democrat party is controlled by its radical, far-left members and factions and various wealthy "woke" supporters.  This conglomerate of leftists zealously strives to undermine America's constitutional republic by turning the nation into a one-party, totalitarian state, where the far-left Democrat party continuously wins important elections.

However, the recent multi-state "upset" election wins of numerous Republican conservative candidates, such as truck driver Edward Durr in New Jersey, who dislodged Democrat state Senate president Stephen Sweeney, and Glenn Youngkin, who was elected governor of Virginia, demonstrate that the Democrat leftist agenda may encounter significant problems.  The multiple Republican election wins highlight the degree to which freedom-loving Americans do not support the "woke" and racist, anti-American agenda of the Democrat Party.

Realizing that their radical goals and ambitions are unattainable with tens of millions of patriotic Americans who love their country and their cherished freedoms, it is probable that some or many members of the Democrat Party (and their wealthy "woke" supporters) will be highly motivated to cheat in future federal and state elections.  Undoubtedly, many of these people believe that if cheating is required to win elections, it is a justifiable means to an end.  Thus, Republicans and other freedom-loving Americans must guard against such efforts by identifying and nullifying election cheating activities.

Such counter-actions are especially needed in the thirteen "battleground" states, identified by Ballotpedia as Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.  It is believed that Virginia now can be added to this list for a total of fourteen voter battleground states. 

Two Important Actions to Guard against Elections Cheating

Two important facets of federal and state elections where steps must be taken to decrease the potential for cheating are (1) polling place operations and (2) ballots and ballot-tabulating machines and software.  Additional actions to decrease the potential for elections cheating include the recent announcement by Florida governor Ron DeSantis about the formation of a special state office that will exclusively handle claims of elections fraud, thus putting would-be cheaters on notice that elections cheating will not be tolerated in Florida.

Polling Place Operations

Regarding cheating at polling places where in-person voting occurs, Republicans and concerned citizens throughout the nation need to learn from and follow the example of Republican poll-watchers in Virginia during the recent gubernatorial election.  Prior to the election, an intensive  Republican election integrity effort identified and trained over 3,500 poll-watcher volunteers, many seeing themselves as bulwarks against elections fraud and cheating.  An example training video can be viewed here.

In one Virginia county that had been trending Democrat for years, Republican poll-watchers outnumbered Democrat poll watchers by 2 to 1 at each polling place in the county.  One county elections registrar stated, "This year, we have had poll watchers here every day, all day long, watching the process of what's going on."

Poll-watchers observed voter check-in procedures and actions related to ballot drop boxes.  They observed elections officers opening voting equipment.  They watched as elections officers reported the vote tallies at the end of the night, and they ensured that vote tallies were blank when the polling places opened in the morning.  These actions and others were a concerted effort to identify and report any voting abnormalities or suspected cheating activities at polling locations.

Ballots and Ballot-Tabulating Machines, Software

Regarding cheating with ballots and ballot-tabulating machines and software, it needs to be a high priority to convince state legislators in the above-identified battleground states to return as much as possible to what the National Election Defense Coalition (NEDC) calls the voting "gold standard."  This entails voters casting hand-marked paper ballots (no use of touch screens) that are tabulated by hand counts of candidate selections on each ballot.

Discussions with various state election officials indicate that a total implementation of the NEDC's voting "gold standard" is not feasible or realistic.  Reasons given for this belief include that (1) hand counts take far too much time to complete and (2) many additional people and facilities are required to conduct hand counts at significantly higher costs to taxpayers.

The next best available option is to use hand-marked paper ballots that have a unique identification code embedded in each ballot for accountability and auditing purposes.  

counting or tabulation would be accomplished by low-cost, non-communicating, specially outfitted optimal mark recognition (OMR) scanners.  Tabulation outputs or reports from scanners would only be in paper "hard copy" formats that could be hand-carried, faxed, or called into a centralized location for further statewide tabulation.

One company, Gravic, Inc., a leading provider of OMR software, is developing a "proof of concept" demonstration for how the above equipment configuration or architecture might work in a state like Georgia, which has 159 counties with approximately 2,300 polling places throughout the state.  The company indicates that the demonstration, which will encompass accounting for absentee mail-in ballots in all 159 counties, should be available for viewing in early 2022.

It is recognized that full implementation of the above voting equipment configuration may not be possible in time for the 2022 federal elections.  However, this should not preclude consideration of a partial implementation prior to the elections, perhaps in the most highly populated counties in a state.  Following the conclusion of the 2022 election, the remainder of the states' polling places could receive and test the new voting equipment configuration.

In conclusion, serious efforts soon need to be undertaken by not only Republicans but also by many other concerned citizens and citizen groups to minimize the opportunities for cheating and fraudulent activities in federal and state elections — in all elections, for that matter.  The 2022 federal election is less than a year away, and it is especially important that the fourteen battleground states identified herein be as free as possible from cheating and fraudulent activities.

Paul S. Gardiner is a retired Army officer, Vietnam veteran, and avid lover of America and its treasured freedoms.  He serves as president of a Georgia Republican group with several hundred members.  He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Alabama, and the U.S. Army War College.

Image: cagdesign via Pixabay, Pixabay License.

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