Tag Archives: voting by mail

Will a Russian Bot Steal My Vote?

Stacey Abrams, a black woman, ran for the governor’s office in Georgia in 2018. She lost by less than 55,000 votes.

However, the man who won was Georgia’s secretary of state. He had purged over 300,000 voters from Georgia’s voting rolls, the majority of whom were black.

In an article in Sojourners (“Unafraid to Hope,” Sept/Oct 2020), Abrams writes: “There are nine states where you can lose your right to vote simply because you didn’t use it. When I don’t go hunting on Saturday, no one tells me that I’ve lost my Second Amendment right, so why is it that I can lose my right to vote simply for not using it?”

The Voting Rights Act of 1969 prohibited racial discrimination in voting in the United States. But those who don’t wish certain classes of people to vote never give up.

Knocking people who are registered to vote off the registration lists simply because they missed a vote is one way.

An additional fault line for this year’s presidential election centers on voting by absentee and voting by mail. Wild claims are made about fraud in both cases. It’s alleged that foreign interests will inundate elections with fraudulent ballots.

Fifty states have charge of voting. In addition, the states include over 3,000 counties and local municipalities. In Washington state, I vote by mail in Island County. Ballots are received and counted in this county.

It would be difficult for an enemy, domestic or foreign, to cause much damage to the process itself, given the large numbers of municipalities they would have to deal with, although voting by machines is not as safe as voting by paper ballots.

Voting by mail and/or absentee also means the ballots are available for recounts and close scrutiny.

Yet, in an age of pandemic, some are trying to use the uncertainties of mingling in public places to attack voting by mail and/or absentee.

We should make it extremely hard to win public office by fraudulent means. That includes unfairly manipulating the vote registration process, as well as the vote itself.

Protester to Voter

From these days of pandemic and protest, the story touching me the most was that of a man, a black American, and his walks around his neighborhood. He always brings his dog with him, as well as one of his daughters. This way, he hopes, people will see him as a pet owner and as a father first rather than as a black man.

To me, it was amazing what a black man must do simply to walk safely out of his home.

As a white person, I thank the protesters for underlining how much I need to repent of my blindness toward the suffering of black men, women, and children since the first slaves were brought to this country.

Unfortunately, protests alone won’t solve the problem of racism. Also unfortunately, anarchists sometimes take advantage of peaceful protests to hurt us all.

Maybe it’s time to turn protests into voter registration drives. Protesters turned workers could register every American of color they could find.

They could also turn their attention to the voting process itself—checking where polling places will be as well as hours and what it takes to bring every one of their friends and acquaintances to vote.

They could work for voting by mail for those who wish to do so, especially if the coronavirus remains active.

Yes, we need awareness, but change will come sooner if compassionate, honest candidates are elected come this November.

The time is short.

No, I Did Not Vote for Donald Trump

I am a registered voter in Island County, State of Washington. In this state, voting is by mail. I received my ballot about three weeks ago.

I spent a couple of days studying the candidates, legislative issues, and other measures on the ballot.

I marked my choices and mailed my ballot to the Island County elections office.

My ballot will be placed with others in a controlled access room with 24-hour camera surveillance. When counting begins on November 8, the machine readable ballots will be run through a scanner. The scanner is not and has never been connected to the internet.

I did not vote for Donald Trump. I voted for Hilary Clinton.

Clinton may be a political elite, but Trump is an economic elite. He is an American version of Russia’s crony capitalist.

Judging from Trump’s business practices, I believe he favors policies for economic elites. He has used all available tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes on his wealth. He apparently is comfortable with middle and working class Americans bearing the cost of our government—including our military, which protects him from foreign enemies and allows him freedom to pursue his business interests.

I believe if Trump were president, he would support policies favoring the wealthy, further widening the gap between the economic elites and the working and middle classes.

So I did not vote for Donald Trump.