Vote Protection
Do you agree that the citizen's right to vote in a free and fair election is essential to all other rights and to the future of our American republic? One of the most important functions of good government is to ensure that every legal vote counts and isn't diluted by fraudulent votes. Citizens need to be able to trust our voting system and its results.
This concern is felt by Americans regardless of their party affiliation. Among the many Democrats in Congress who have publicly expressed their concern about our voting machines, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has been one of the most vocal. You can see these Congressional Senators and Representatives for yourself and hear their concerns at Hacking America's Computerized Voting Machines, beginning with Hillary Clinton at 56:30.
Current Government Policy of Troubling Concern:
- Universal Mail-In Voting: Ballots can be lost in the mail, not delivered, stolen from trash cans, mailed to non-residents/non-citizens, filled out by someone else, and handled by multiple, unknown people.
- There is no ballot "Chain of Custody" in Oregon. Chain of custody is essential to a transparent and trustworthy election. Every election office should have written chain of custody procedures available for public inspection prior to every election (from "Best Practices: Chain of Custody", U.S. Election Assistance Commission, p 2).
- Signature verification on the ballot envelope is the ONLY way that election workers can try to check if a ballot is truly from the registered voter. But signature verification is very lax, and often extremely differing signatures are accepted.
- Oregon law allows voters to only say who they are or where they live without needing to give any proof of residency or showing any ID (ORS 247.012 and 247.0354).
- Oregon ranks #47 in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the Election Integrity Scorecard.
- In 2021, HB 2681 was passed to allow all inactive voters (including people who have died or who have moved away) to stay on the voter rolls indefinitely. This increases bloated voter rolls and higher risk for corruption.
- In 2021, HB 3291 was passed to allow ballots to be received and counted up to seven days after the date of the election—even without a postmark.
- The Secretary of State sent a letter (September 21, 2021) to all county clerks prohibiting them from allowing any third-party, post-election, full forensic audits within their counties.
- In 2022, HB 4133 was passed to require an electronic voter registration system to allow individuals to register with just the last four digits of an individual's Social Security number. It also requires the system to enable individuals to electronically submit an image of their signatures.
- The Secretary of State fought in court against the interests of voters in fifteen Oregon Counties, but in support of the interests of the election system vendor, Clear Ballot, preventing voters from viewing election data produced by that system. It appears that Clear Ballot controls our election process to the exclusion of the voters. See Washington County v. Tim Sippel
None of these actions engender trust, confidence, and transparency in our election system. In fact, our election process has become unnecessarily complicated, lengthy, insecure, and expensive.
A Restorative Voter Protection Policy of Positive Change might include the following actions:
- Clean up the voter rolls, if not after every election, at least every two years.
- Ban ALL electronic machines used for voting (including for Ranked Choice Voting) because no machine is safe from hacking. They are also costly to purchase and maintain. See Hacking America's Computerized Voting Machines
- Use a photo voter ID that proves citizenship, residency and age.
- Use only paper ballots.
- Ban mail-in voting (or allow only mail-out ballots and not mail-in).
- Allow absentee, mail-in ballots only for people with special needs (e.g. physically challenged, traveling) or who have essential jobs (e.g. military, hospitals, fire, police) and have applied for and received approval in advance.
- Allow only one-day voting (when ballots will be submitted by voters).
- Submit ballots in the neighborhood precinct where IDs and signatures can be verified and ballots counted.
- Ban ballot harvesting.
- Develop new reporting requirements for transparency.
- Impose heavy consequences for anyone who commits election fraud.
What can YOU do to protect your vote?
- Seek Wisdom from our Creator.
- Read ballot measures before voting on them—or at least discern the trustworthiness of those who support or oppose them. Arguments for and against often contain misinformation or propaganda—or leave out important information.
- Vote for competent, honest, and trustworthy candidates who share your values.
- Find and work with others who care about elections. Contact your all-volunteer, non-partisan Election Integrity Team of Washington County
What do YOU think? Please fill out the Voter Feedback Survey.
Top