When even Mark Zuckerberg admits that he yielded to federal pressure, to help skew the 2020 election results, then it becomes reasonable to expect that the coming election will be corrupted by the left. 

The fact is that there are a million ways to defraud the electorate, but only one way to conduct an honest election.  Okay, the “million” is rhetorical, and the “one way” has several steps, but the point is valid: strict controls must be rigorously enforced.  Another valid rhetorical device is that elections are the lifeblood of democracy (small d).  When too few people trust the process, too many will reject the outcome.

To that point, Ben Shapiro posted a prediction that no matter who is declared the winner of the 2024 election, the losing side will reject the result, and may do so violently.  Can a republic survive when that happens?

The one and only way to ensure a free and fair election begins with absolute transparency at every level.  From voter registration to casting the ballots to counting them, the process must be thoroughly recorded and documented on camera, and by indifferent skeptics.  This cannot possibly be done when votes are tabulated inside a machine, particularly a computer.  It is absurd that a computer company, which is paid to help conduct an election, can legally refuse to have its computers audited.  That screams (potential) fraud.

Paper ballots with chain-of-custody verification provide the best practical means of proving to the losing side that it lost legitimately.  Indeed, the gold standard should be proof so clear that even the losers cannot plausibly deny the outcome.

Basic statistical analyses are critical, and by this I mean, as a minimum, comparing the number of votes cast to the number of registered voters in each precinct.  When the votes exceed the population, fraud has been proven, and the outcome must be rejected.

Although every state must determine its own election laws, it is a given that state legislatures and administrations are partisan, and therefore, those laws may be deliberately crafted to enable (indeed, to guarantee) voter fraud.  Voter identification, for example, is controversial only when there is an actual intent to enable fraud.  Courts should most certainly avoid involvement in politics, when possible, but there must be legislation to prevent, detect, and punish electoral fraud.  The punishments should strike a deterrent degree of fear into anyone who has intent to defraud the electorate.

There are also gray areas that defy easy solutions to the specter of electoral fraud.  The news media are unashamedly propaganda arms of the political left, and they have a right to be.  The danger is that the left has already made several forays into silencing conservative voices, which, if successful, will make of the major news media the “Big Brother” of 1984 infamy.

The deep political divisions in the U.S. are becoming more intense.  Emotions are inflamed.  We no longer respectfully disagree at the ballot box, while otherwise getting along in the workplace, in business, and in polite company.  Anger has become actual hatred.  Political placards have become physical weapons.  Discourse has given way to shouting matches in which neither side can hear, nor wills to hear, the other.  Violence by the left (Antifa, BLM, etc.) will eventually spark massive physical responses from the right.  When it does, the end of our republic cannot be far off.

The last bastion of hope is to prove to everyone, on the day after the election, that the results are accurate.

Image: cagdesign via Pixabay, Pixabay License.