By William Haupt III | The Center Square
A
woman holds a "Wanted 4 Election Fraud" sign at vote counting protest
outside Broward County Supervisor of Elections' Brenda Snipes office. Photo by Holly Guerrio | Shutterstock.com
“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the
security of all.”
– John F. Kennedy
Our founders did not include voting as a right in the
Constitution since the right to vote is an act of free speech. It was not until
the 14th Amendment in 1870 that it became a federal crime to deny the right to
vote to any adult male citizen who had not committed a felony. But voting
remained a privilege.
Throughout the years, voting has remained a local issue,
managed by individual states. States are allowed to write and enforce voting
laws for local elections and state business. We also vote in-state on federal
elections. There are few laws specifically governing federal elections. The
state election process is only amenable to federal prescripts and statutes in
the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The colonies did not want the central government to
control elections. They feared federalism and refused to ratify the
Constitution without guaranteed basic rights. Their worst fear took place at
the first Congress in 1798. Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton fought like
two junkyard dogs over a day-old bone about federalism and split the nation
into political parties. And party politics has governed us since.
“Political parties enable unprincipled men to subvert the
will of the people.”
– George Washington
If the colonies feared federalism so much and spent 240
years fighting it under the cloak of the 10th amendment, why are there so many
outcries for federal intervention into elections now? Simply the Covid crisis
introduced new challenges to in-person voting and caused an unprecedented flood
of mail-in ballots. Some voters did not get ballots, received them late or
after the election. Some poll places opened late or not at all. Other voters
showed up and found their location had changed.
The 2020 presidential election proved one conspicuous
thing: our states need adult supervision during federal elections. Ballots
appeared out of nowhere and disappeared into oblivion as states changed
election rules at will. There is more organization at a destruction derby than
there was in many swing states this election year. These states made the
free-for-all in Florida look organized.
Americans have never had less faith in the federal
electoral process than this year. After over two weeks, we do not have a
certified election; similar to what happened in Florida. And it gets worse: The
media called the election for “us” instead of Congress and the Federal Election
Commission. An election is not official until one candidate concedes or when
all states have certified their count.
"I hope my vote counted? There could be a hanging
megabyte on a touch screen?"
– Holly Gilley
According to pollsters at Just the News Daily and
Rasmussen, only 49% claim Biden won and 34% say Trump won while 17% aren’t
sure? The poll included 37% Democrats, 32% Republicans and 19% Independents.
Those surveyed say the media confused them most; before, during and after the
election, with opinions rather than facts. Those aren’t good numbers no matter
who is counting.
The biggest concern this election, besides questionable
activities at polling places, was the use of mail-in ballots. According to
Rasmussen, 86% GOP voters said arbitrary mail-in voting led to more problems.
And 44% said they are very concerned. Fewer Democrats, 59%, said they felt
concerned this practice was flawed, and 36% felt the arbitrary mail-in ballots
created more issues this election.
“We learn to count accurately in the first grade. Why is
it so hard to count ballots?”
– Cathy Gouze
People think of elections as voters across the nation
participating in a single event when they are voting in a federal race. But in
reality they are run by local partisan politicians. They make up their own
rules about ballots, districts, times, and counting. As a result, some voters feel
they have been slighted, and others feel they got the upper hand in picking
winners and losers in federal contests.
The challenges of holding a free and fair vote in America
have been mounting for decades, but the Covid crisis stress-tested our election
system this year like never before. Since 2000, court battles over election
rules have become tenacious. The respected Global Economist’s Democracy Index
downgraded the U.S. score for democracy for the first time this last decade due
to voting issues.
We have two current federal election oversight
commissions; the Election Assistance Commission, which makes administrative and
security recommendations to the states. And the Federal Election Commission,
which oversees campaign finance laws. Both of these are antiquated and
inefficient.
“If you want to destroy something, put the government in
charge of running it.”
– Ronald Reagan
The Federal Election Commission (FEC), created in 1974 as
a regulatory agency, has not had a quorum for two years since there must be two
members of each party to make a legal decision. The Election Assistance
Commission (EAC) was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002. It provides
information to the states about HAVA guidelines but lacks authority to enforce
any laws.
Democrats passed HR1 in 2019, but it was DOA in the
Senate because the bill was a wish list of far left ambitions to control all
federal and state elections. HR1 would have forced federalism upon the states,
violated the Constitution, the separation of powers, freedom of speech and our
individual rights.
A number of recent proposals by Democrats and Republicans
are being discussed after this last election, but chances of them getting past
first base are slim and none. American voters deserve better. Congress must establish
an independent federal elections agency, staffed by non-union federal employees
to ensure the voting process is Constitutional, consistent, secure and
legitimate.
According to the 10th amendment, states control their
local elections and must follow provisions of the Voting Rights Act. But the
federal government can legislate elections where candidates run for federal
office. Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution states the times, places and
manner of holding elections for senators and representatives is assigned to
each state. But Congress may alter such regulations at any time. This gives
Congress the power to “make or alter” all federal election laws.
Ronald Reagan once said, “Government exists to protect us
from each other.” With today’s political divide, it is highly unlikely
bipartisan election reform legislation will pass that pleases both political
parties. And if the new Federal Election Agency is run by politicians, instead
of citizens, it will be as inefficient as the FEC and the EAC. And we’d have
even more chaos than we had during this last election.
“If you do not want to be lied to, then you need to stop
following politics.”
– Steven Magee
Members of Congress think they work for their party, not
the American people. That is the problem with election reform. Until we create
an independent civilian agency and remove Congress from the process of
enforcing or interpreting election laws, and handling compliance complaints of
election laws, we’ll continue having politicians and the media managing our
elections instead of the people.
“We stand today at a crossroads: One path leads to
despair and utter hopelessness. The other leads to total extinction. Let us
hope we have the wisdom to make the right choice.”
– Woody Allen
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Contributing Columnist William Haupt III is a retired
professional journalist, author, and citizen legislator in California for over
40 years. He got his start working to approve California Proposition 13.
