{"id":2218191,"date":"2024-04-11T08:29:01","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T12:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-8-ways-to-ensure-all-legitimate-votes-get-counted-but-no-others\/"},"modified":"2024-04-11T08:51:54","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T12:51:54","slug":"exclusive-8-ways-to-ensure-all-legitimate-votes-get-counted-but-no-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-8-ways-to-ensure-all-legitimate-votes-get-counted-but-no-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Techniques to Guarantee the Counting of Valid Votes while Preventing Fraudulent Ones"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-8-ways-to-ensure-all-legitimate-votes-get-counted-but-no-others%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2218191&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article delves into the decline of \u2063trust in U.S. elections. It mentions \u200da\u2064 2022 survey showing low confidence\u2064 levels. The\u200c piece \u2063highlights the need for election security reforms proposed in\u200d a report from the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA). Recommendations include \u200dstricter rules for absentee\u200d voting and addressing issues like ballot harvesting and unsolicited ballot applications. The \u200carticle explores \u200cthe erosion of trust in U.S. elections, citing\u2063 a \u200c2022\u200b survey revealing diminished confidence levels. It emphasizes the necessity of election\u2064 security reforms outlined in \u2062a\u200c report by the\u2062 Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA).\u200c Key recommendations involve enforcing stricter regulations for absentee voting \u200cand \u2064tackling concerns such as ballot harvesting and unsolicited \u2063ballot\u2062 distribution.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>There\u2019s no sugarcoating a disturbing fact: Americans have lost faith in elections. Not even the corporate media, with all their pale assurances, can water down the confidence drought. <\/p>\n<p>How bad is it? This bad: Just 20 percent of Americans said they were \u201cvery confident\u201d in the integrity of U.S. elections, according to a 2022 ABC Ipsos <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipsos.com\/en-us\/news-polls\/US-Capitol-attack-anniversary-2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">poll<\/a>. Spoiler Alert: Things haven\u2019t changed much since. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1551769996\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-7aab3751634bcddd5d1c184d18a579dd fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-7aab3751634bcddd5d1c184d18a579dd\"><\/div>\n<p>The confidence waning started before the myriad election integrity questions surrounding the 2020 election. A <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/285608\/faith-elections-relatively-short-supply.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gallup poll <\/a>conducted in 2019 found that, of 32 developed nations, only respondents in Chile and Mexico had more distrust in their elections than voters in the U.S. That was long before the accomplice media began pounding the narrative that confidence would be higher if not for all those <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/2024-election-poll-voting-machines-confidence-trust-8efb007d94c2b37a510f9d866e3c6031\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cfalse elections claims\u201d<\/a> \u2014 such as concerns about <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/05\/in-opposite-day-logic-usa-today-breathlessly-defends-zuckerbucks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Zuckbucks <\/a>in local election administration and the unprecedented use of mail-in ballots during the manufactured Covid crisis. <\/p>\n<p>A new <a href=\"https:\/\/thefga.org\/research\/states-commonsense-solutions-better-secure-2024-election\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a> from the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefga.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Foundation for Government Accountability <\/a>(FGA) opens with an obvious point that has incredibly become less than obvious to some. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cA functioning democracy requires that those who elect their representatives trust the voting system in place. This means that elections must be safe and secure and that there is no doubt that elected officials were legitimately elected to their positions,\u201d states the report, exclusively provided to The Federalist. <\/p>\n<p>The paper lays out \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thefga.org\/research\/states-commonsense-solutions-better-secure-2024-election\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Commonsense Solutions to Better Secure the 2024 Election.<\/a>\u201d The suggested reforms center on dealing with the explosion of absentee\/mail-in voting, which surged <a href=\"https:\/\/elections-blog.mit.edu\/articles\/deep-dive-absentee-ballot-rejection-2020-general-election\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">131 percent<\/a> in Covid-stained 2020 compared to the general election just four years before. FGA says states still have the opportunity \u201cto make the process as secure as in-person voting,\u201d but doing so requires: <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-32868283ce8aa8fd01019fafc64b499c fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-32868283ce8aa8fd01019fafc64b499c\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Banning ballot harvesting <\/li>\n<li>Narrowing who can return ballots<\/li>\n<li>Banning third-party distribution of unsolicited absentee applications <\/li>\n<li>Stopping unsolicited applications and ballots by government officials <\/li>\n<li>Adopting strict guidelines for absentee ballot returns <\/li>\n<li>Requiring voter ID to cast an absentee ballot <\/li>\n<li>Prohibiting unsecured drop boxes <\/li>\n<li>Requiring absentee and mail-in ballots to be returned by Election Day <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018More Like In-Person Voting\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>While the leftist-led vote-by-mail revolution of 2020 <a href=\"https:\/\/electionlab.mit.edu\/research\/voting-mail-and-absentee-voting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cooled a bit in 2022,<\/a> \u201cthe genie is out of the bottle\u201d on casting absentee and mail-in ballots, said Michael Greibrok, senior research fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability and author of the new election integrity report. <\/p>\n<p>Leftist \u201cvoting rights\u2019 activists have long pushed for universal voting via mail. They got their wish under the cover of Covid, as health bureaucrats and governors locked down Americans at the outset of the pandemic.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe one thing we can do, though, is make absentee ballot voting more like in-person voting,\u201d Greibrok said. <\/p>\n<p>Start by doing away with ballot harvesting, or third-party collections and submissions of ballots, a practice rife with perceived \u2014 and actual \u2014 problems, the researcher said. Confidence in elections requires confidence in the ballot chain of custody, which is sorely lacking in ballot-harvesting operations. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-e2895087bd1aa637aeab84cf02926daa fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-e2895087bd1aa637aeab84cf02926daa\"><\/div>\n<p>In the fall of 2020, the city of Madison, Wisconsin, organized what it billed as <a href=\"https:\/\/captimes.com\/news\/local\/govt-and-politics\/madison-voters-drop-off-over-10-000-absentee-ballots-during-democracy-in-the-park-event\/article_a6b0cea6-32ec-5579-a2a4-8f3f9912871f.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cDemocracy in the Park,\u201d<\/a> a massive campaign that harvested more than 10,000 absentee ballots on one Saturday alone. Guess who reportedly promoted the event? Democrat presidential candidate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wmtv15news.com\/2020\/09\/25\/republican-leaders-vos-fitzgerald-urge-madison-clerk-to-cancel-democracy-in-the-park-event\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Joe Biden<\/a>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/captimes.com\/news\/local\/govt-and-politics\/madison-voters-drop-off-over-10-000-absentee-ballots-during-democracy-in-the-park-event\/article_a6b0cea6-32ec-5579-a2a4-8f3f9912871f.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Democrat city attorney<\/a> who was involved in Wisconsin\u2019s infamous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maciverinstitute.com\/2018\/02\/former-elections-chief-haas-ends-standoff-with-gop-led-senate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">John Doe investigations<\/a> into conservatives signed off on the ballot-harvesting events and told Republicans who questioned it to go pound sand. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Canceling the Invitation to Fraud<\/h2>\n<p>In particular, the FGA report urges states to place limits on who can return ballots. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen anyone can return absentee ballots and there is no limit to how many ballots they can return, it invites fraud. This includes but is not limited to paying for votes, pressuring voters to vote a certain way, and discarding votes of which the harvester does not approve,\u201d the paper states. <\/p>\n<p>These aren\u2019t merely hypothetical problems. <\/p>\n<p>A 2023 Democrat Party mayoral primary in Connecticut was nullified amid <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/09\/18\/democrat-produces-video-alleging-bridgeport-mayor-stole-election-by-stuffing-ballot-boxes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">absentee ballot fraud.<\/a> A guardian from Detroit-area firm Guardian &#038; Associates last year pleaded guilty to seven counts of voter fraud after she allegedly \u201csubmitted applications for absentee ballots to nine city and township clerks on behalf of 26 legally incapacitated people under her care and had the ballots mailed directly to her\u201d in the 2020 election, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/news\/local\/wayne-county\/2023\/07\/03\/oak-park-guardian-pleads-guilty-to-voter-fraud-in-2020-election\/70380130007\/#:~:text=Oak%20Park%20guardian%20pleads%20guilty%20to%207,voter%20fraud%20in%202020%20election&#038;text=A%20Metro%20Detroit%20guardian%20has,seven%20counts%20of%20election%20fraud.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to<\/a> the Detroit Free Press. Similar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/politics\/racine-county-district-attorney-wont-charge-nursing-home-workers-wisconsin-elections-commission\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">allegations<\/a> popped up in Wisconsin. <\/p>\n<p>The FGA report recommends states limit the authority to return absentee ballots to \u201ceither the voter, a family or household member, or a designated caretaker.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>At least 14 states have banned ballot harvesting, according to the FGA report.\u00a0Arkansas and South Dakota last year banned absentee ballot drop boxes, while other states such as Wisconsin have been waging the battle over drop boxes in court.  <\/p>\n<p>States should also require absentee and mail-in ballots to come with proof of identification, FGA advises: \u201cThis could be a driver\u2019s license number, a voter identification number, or the last four digits of a voter\u2019s Social Security number.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newschannelnebraska.com\/story\/50637962\/voter-id-now-required-to-vote-in-nebraska-what-you-need-to-know\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nebraska<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wyso.org\/2023-04-03\/ohios-new-voter-id-laws-kick-in-this-week-here-are-the-new-requirements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ohio<\/a> recently put into effect voter ID laws for absentee voting. They have joined Arkansas, Georgia, and Minnesota, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/elections-and-campaigns\/table-14-how-states-verify-voted-absentee-mail-ballots\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to<\/a> the National Conference of State Legislatures. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sacking Solicitations and Long Ballot Counts<\/h2>\n<p>Banning third-party and government solicitations of unsolicited absentee applications would do much to restore confidence in elections, the FGA report asserts.<\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist recently <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/26\/alabama-secretary-of-state-warns-of-misleading-voter-registration-mailer-by-leftist-group\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported,<\/a> Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen alerted residents to \u201cmisleading, unsolicited mass mailing of pre-filled voter registration forms targeting Alabama mailboxes.\u201d Perhaps it\u2019s no surprise that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alabama-secretary-of-state-warns-of-misleading-voter-registration-mailer-by-leftist-group\/\" title=\"Alabama Secretary of State cautions against deceptive voter registration mailer from leftist organization\">left-wing groups founded<\/a> by an old <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/voter-participation-center\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Clinton family friend<\/a> are behind the effort. <\/p>\n<p>Many other states are dealing with the same concerns. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s safe to say that most everyone knows someone who in 2020 received an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-secretary-of-state-investigating-voter-registration-group-run-by-democrat-raphael-warnock\/\" title=\"Georgia Secretary Of State Investigating Voter Registration Group Run By Democrat Raphael Warnock\">absentee ballot application<\/a> for someone who did not reside in their home,\u201d\u00a0Greibrok said, adding that his brother has received multiple applications for individuals who haven\u2019t lived in his home for years. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt makes you wonder, \u2018If I\u2019m getting six of these, who else is getting them? If I\u2019m doing the right thing and shredding them, are there people out there who aren\u2019t?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>States, too, have gotten into the business of flooding the mail with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/more-suspicious-elections-absentee-data-from-detroit-36-of-absentee-ballots-returned-were-from-people-who-were-not-listed-as-being-sent-an-absentee-ballot\/\" title=\"More Suspicious Elections Absentee Data from Detroit: 36% of Absentee Ballots Returned Were From People Who Were Not Listed as Being Sent an Absentee Ballot\">absentee ballot applications<\/a> for every registered voter. In 2020, Michigan sent out 7.7 million applications at a cost of $4.5 million, FGA\u2019s report notes. <\/p>\n<p>And long, drawn-out ballot counts extending well past Election Day have eroded confidence in election integrity. States that allow absentee ballots to be returned after Election Day delay results and fuel election mistrust, the paper asserts. <\/p>\n<p>Iowa and North Carolina are the most recent states to require all absentee ballots to be received by the time polls close on election night. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Beating Dems at Their Own Game<\/h2>\n<p>While conservatives have urged policymakers to implement such reforms, Republicans are looking at employing some of the same ballot collection tactics the GOP has long criticized. <\/p>\n<p>A New Jersey political action committee is <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/22\/conservative-group-fights-to-get-ballot-collection-off-the-ground-in-deep-blue-new-jersey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pushing a ballot-harvesting plan.<\/a> Organizers are working to recruit and train ballot collectors. They say they plan to look at other voting options and the availability of drop boxes, one of the more effective weapons in Democrats\u2019 get-out-the-vote arsenal. <\/p>\n<p>California Republicans have seen the light and plan to roll out <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/08\/conservatives-fed-up-with-democrats-get-out-the-vote-machine-build-their-own-in-battleground-states\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ballot-collection operations<\/a> during this pivotal election year.\u00a0Jessica Millan Patterson, chairwoman of the California GOP, told CalMatters that the party is playing by the rulebook it\u2019s been handed. <\/p>\n<p>A change in leadership at the Republican National Committee has brought a change in thinking on ballot harvesting. New Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2912823\/lara-trump-promises-legal-ballot-harvesting-to-be-part-of-new-rnc-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> the Washington Examiner that Republicans have \u201cbeen playing checkers, and the Democrats have been playing chess.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Last year, the GOP unveiled its <a href=\"https:\/\/gop.com\/video\/bank-your-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cBank Your Vote\u201d<\/a> initiative, encouraging \u201cpre-election day voting.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>But as my Federalist colleague Shawn Fleetwood recently <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/08\/media-tacitly-admit-mail-in-balloting-is-not-as-secure-and-reliable-as-they-claim\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported,<\/a> voting by mail isn\u2019t as secure as the left and their public-relations team in the corporate media want confidence-depleted voters to believe. Several outlets are beginning to tacitly admit to holes in their narrative. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe good news is there has been a lot of movement on this front over the last few years,\u201d Greibrok added. Reforming election laws around absentee and mail-in ballots, he said, will go a long way in increasing voter confidence in elections. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-937d76ac91f3ead763ebac6734e3f3d5 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-937d76ac91f3ead763ebac6734e3f3d5\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s a stark truth: Americans&#8217; trust in elections has plummeted. Not even the media&#8217;s attempts can conceal the confidence crisis. Only 20% of Americans expressed strong faith in U.S. election integrity per a 2022 ABC survey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":656,"featured_media":2218192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Voting-station-scaled.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Exclusive: Techniques to Guarantee the Counting of Valid Votes while Preventing Fraudulent Ones","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2218191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Voting-station-scaled.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Exclusive: Techniques to Guarantee the Counting of Valid Votes while Preventing Fraudulent Ones","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2218191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2218192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2218191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2218191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2218191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}