By Linda Lavelle
Does your vote count? Forensic evidence is slowly exposing the fact that for many voters in this country the answer has been “no.” Double-voting, cemetery inhabitants voting, out-of-state voters, tabulating machine vote switches, and more voters than people registered to vote, has cast a pall over the integrity of our elections, coming to light now due to court-ordered forensic examination in some states. Connecticut is not exempt from malfeasance. In 2016 Middlesex County had 113% of eligible citizens registered to vote.
In the recent November 3 election in Connecticut, there was double voting and underage voting reported (and ignored.) There were 20,000 people who registered to vote on Election Day; how could they be verified before voting? Additionally, 5,742 people who voted on Election Day registered from the day after the election until January 11. (All statistics from FightVoterFraud.org.)
Republicans throughout the country have been calling for election reform to make our elections honest and secure. The pushback from the media and Democrats has been astounding! We are accused of voter suppression. We are smeared and vilified by the same people who used to make speeches about preventing election fraud. During the 2008 Democratic Primary, when Florida was considering mail-in ballots, Obama stated that “Well, I think we’d have to figure out whether this was fraud-proof” and called for signature verification to ensure “they can check to make sure that the right people are voting.” The New York Times agreed that the more absentee ballots, the greater the potential for fraud. “Should Voters Be Allowed To Register On Election Day? No,” Biden wrote in a 1977 op-ed.
The Connecticut Constitution calls for one day of voting: Election Day. It also allows mail-in ballots for those who are disabled, sick, will be out of town, or have a religious prohibition on that day. One would think that covers any Election Day issue. To change these laws, two Constitutional Amendments need to be passed by 75% of the General Assembly and then a majority of citizens in a referendum. Both Amendments would be stated in the broadest of terms with details left to the legislature afterward. Republicans have no objection to early voting, but want this Amendment to require voter ID for in-person voting and audits of same day voter registration. Both of these common sense measures were voted down by the Democrat majority.
In the November election, NONE of these security measures were required. If these two Amendments pass the legislature and then are approved by the voters, there will be NO means of preventing voter fraud. In fact, ballot harvesting, a Democrat favorite and the biggest invitation to voter fraud will surely be the norm.
A recent poll revealed that over 70% of Americans, including 60% of black voters, support voter ID. Republicans want to make elections easy to vote but hard to cheat. Who would object to that? Please contact Senator Will Haskell and Representative Amiee Berger-Gervalo or your district Representative to voice your concerns on this important matter.
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