Can We Trust Our Elections? Grading Each State

There should be an area of agreement between all reasonable people in the United States. For our country to survive we must be able to trust the integrity of our elections. If elected officials are abusing their power like they are in places like California right now, we need to have the ability to vote those people out of office or else there is no check against tyranny. When dishonest politicians are able to steal elections, they will.

Both Democrats and Republicans say that they want honest and fair elections. Both parties have complained about the integrity of our recent and upcoming elections. Unfortunately, they have different ideas about what is taking away the trust in our elections. We heard a lot from Democrats about Russian interference in the 2016 election. In fact, they have spent much of the last 4 years investigating it over and over again. Many of you may wonder how they allege that the Russians changed the outcome in 2016. Did they somehow hack our voting systems and change the vote counts? Did they fly in Russians to swing states where they cast illegal votes? No. The alleged Russian interference is that they said mean things about Hillary Clinton on Facebook. While that may be frustrating to Hillary fans, it does not actually make it easier for anybody to cast fraudulent votes. Plus, how many of you would change your vote because some stranger said something mean on Facebook?

Republicans ask a different question about voting that we should all agree is important. Do we know who is casting the votes in our elections and that no shenanigans are happening with those votes? If we don’t it opens the door to voter fraud, stolen elections, and the end of our government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Do not fall for the media line that very few people get convicted of voter fraud so nobody does it. That’s like saying a Las Vegas club that doesn’t check ID’s has no underage people inside because no underage people got caught.

How can we be more confident about who is voting and that they are correctly counted? The only way to be sure is to require in person voting, on Election Day, with matching photo ID to verify that the person is who they say they are. It’s easy and it’s common sense. Unfortunately, not everybody wants to have honest elections.

Each state sets up their own election laws, so some are far more reliable than others. Some are unwisely pushing for mail-in voting, with nobody there to verify that the person who filled out the ballot is the actual person that the ballot belongs to, and with no guarantee that the ballot will be delivered or counted. In fact, there is already an investigation into military mail-in ballots that were apparently opened and thrown into the garbage in Pennsylvania. The only time a mail-in ballot should be accepted is for overseas military personnel. All 50 states now allow some form of mail-in voting, so nobody gets a perfect score on preventing voter fraud, but some states at least have a few precautions set up.

Unfortunately, other states not only lack rules to prevent election shenanigans, but they come up with ideas to make cheating so easy that the Houston Astros wish they had thought of it. “Ballot harvesting” is the shady practice of allowing a third party to collect ballots and deliver them to be counted. This has all of the negatives of mail-in voting with the added problem of having partisan people targeting which ballots to bring in. In California this practice caused congressional districts that had always voted one way to flip. In many of the cases the returns had one candidate ahead at the end of election night only to swing wildly to the other side the next day. Whenever the results from election night change like that it raises major red flags as to the integrity of those votes.

It’s pretty unbelievable, but some states do not even require you to show identification when you go to vote. That means we have no idea who is casting votes in those states. Here in California, if I walked into a polling place and said my name is Fred Johnson, then I’m Fred Johnson. Apparently in Pennsylvania their Secretary of State said that they would not even throw out a ballot if the signature doesn’t match.

What we need is a report card to know which states have safe enough elections to trust the outcome. Below you will find it, with a grade based on how many precautions are set up to make sure that each vote has been properly cast by the correct, legal voter.

State	Voting Only on Election Day	Voting In Person Only	ID Required to Verify Who Is Voting	Ballot Harvesting and Other Notable Rules	Grade
Alabama	Yes	No, but an excuse is required	Yes	Absentee ballots require witnesses and must be received before the close of polling	A
Alaska	No	No	Yes, but non-photo ID accepted	A special needs voter can have a representative return a ballot	C
Arizona	No	No	Yes, but non-photo ID accepted	Family member, household member, or caregiver can return ballots	C
Arkansas	No	No, but an excuse is required	Yes	Ballot harvesting allowed, but limit two ballots per authorized agent	B
California	No	No, and everyone receives a mailed ballot	No	Ballot harvesting allowed	F
Colorado	No	No, all mail-in election	No	Ballot harvesting allowed	F
Connecticut	Yes	No, but an excuse is required	Yes, but non-photo ID accepted	Others can return votes for disabled voters, with restrictions	B
Delaware	Yes, but early voting passed for 2022	No	ID is requested, but voters can sign an affidavit to avoid showing ID	Unspecified if ballot harvesting is allowed	D
Florida	No	No	Yes	Others can return votes for disabled voters, with restrictions	C
Georgia	No	No	Yes	Others can return votes for disabled voters, with restrictions	C
Hawaii	No	No, all mail-in election	ID is requested, but voters can recite their date of birth and address instead	Unspecified if ballot harvesting is allowed	F
Idaho	No	No	ID is requested, but voters can sign an affidavit to avoid showing ID	Unspecified if ballot harvesting is allowed	F
Illinois	No	No	No	Ballot harvesting allowed	F
Indiana	No	No, but an excuse is required, and coronavirus is not a valid excuse	Yes	Mail ballots must be received before the close of polling	B
Iowa	No	No	Yes, or another voter can vouch for their identity	Ballot harvesting allowed	D
Kansas	No	No	Yes	Ballot harvesting allowed	D
Kentucky	Yes	No, but an excuse is required	Yes	Others can return votes for disabled voter, with restrictions	A
Louisiana	No	No, but an excuse is required, and coronavirus is not a valid excuse	ID is requested, but voters can sign an affidavit to avoid showing ID	Mail ballots require a witness signature and must be received before the close of polling	B
Maine	No	No	No	Ballot harvesting allowed, but limited to five at a time	F
Maryland	No	No	No	Ballot harvesting allowed	F
Massachusetts	No	No	No	Ballots may be delivered by a family member or from a healthcare facility	F
Michigan	No	No	ID is requested, but voters can sign an affidavit to avoid showing ID	Family member or certified election assistant can deliver ballots. Ballots must be received by 6 pm on Election Day	D
Minnesota	No	No	No	Designated agent can return up to three ballots	F
Mississippi	Yes	No, but an excuse is required	Yes	Unspecified if ballot harvesting is allowed. Mail ballots require witnesses and must be received before the close of polling	B
Missouri	Yes	No	Yes, but non-photo is accepted	Ballots can be returned by a family member or a team of election authorities and require witness signatures	B
Montana	No	No	Yes, but non-photo is accepted	Law limited who could return ballots and only six per person, but a judge has held up the law	D
Nebraska	No	No	No	Others can return up to two ballots except for campaign workers	D
Nevada	No	No, and everyone receives a mailed ballot	No	Ballots may be returned by a family member	F
New Hampshire	Yes	No, but an excuse is required	If ID is not presented, the voter signs a challenged voter affidavit and votes a regular ballot. After the election a mailing is sent and the voter must sign and return it; if it is not returned, the voter will be investigated for voter fraud.	Family members, nursing home staff, and residential care staff can return up to four ballots which must be received before the close of polling	B
New Jersey	No	No, and everyone receives a mailed ballot	No	An authorized messenger can return up to three ballots	F
New Mexico	No	No	No	A caregiver or immediate family member can return ballots	F
New York	No	No, but an excuse is required	No	Unspecified if ballot harvesting is allowed	F
North Carolina	No	No	No, although a voter ID law was passed by voters, it was blocked by an Obama appointed judge.	Ballots require witness signature and may be returned by a near relative or legal guardian	F
North Dakota	No	No	Yes	Others can deliver up to four ballots, cannot be a candidate or be compensated	C
Ohio	No	No	Yes, but non-photo is accepted	Ballots can be returned by a family member	D
Oklahoma	No	No	Yes, but non-photo is accepted	Copy of ID, notarized ballot, or two witness signatures required	C
Oregon	No	No, all mail-in election	No	Ballot harvesting allowed	F
Pennsylvania	No	No	No	If voter becomes too sick to vote a representative, deputy sheriff or constable can deliver an emergency absentee ballot	F
Rhode Island	No	No	Yes	Unspecified if ballot harvesting is allowed	D
South Carolina	Yes	No, but an excuse is required, and coronavirus is not a valid excuse	Yes	Ballots may be returned by others except candidates or paid campaign workers and require witness signatures	A
South Dakota	No	No	ID is requested, but voters can sign an affidavit to avoid showing ID	Photo ID required for a mail ballot. An authorized messenger may deliver ballots, but if more than one they must notify the person in charge of the election	D
Tennessee	No	No, and a judge ordered them to allow no-excuse absentee voting	Yes	Unspecified if ballot harvesting is allowed	D
Texas	No	No, but an excuse is required	Photo ID requested. Voters who do not possess an acceptable form of photo ID and cannot obtain one, may present a supporting form of ID and execute a Reasonable Impediment Declaration	Photo ID required for a mail ballot. A household member, relative or person lawfully assisting a voter who is disabled or cannot read the ballot may return the mail ballot	C
Utah	No	No, all mail-in election	No	Unspecified if ballot harvesting is allowed	F
Vermont	No	No, and everyone receives a mailed ballot	No	Unspecified if ballot harvesting is allowed	F
Virginia	No	No	Yes, but non-photo accepted	Witness signature required for mail ballots. A designated representative can return ballot for a voter who is incapacitated or hospitalized	C
Washington	No	No, all mail-in election	No	Unspecified if ballot harvesting is allowed	F
West Virginia	No	No, but an excuse is required	Yes, or be identified by a poll worker	Anyone can return up to two ballots	B
Wisconsin	No	No	Yes	Unspecified if ballot harvesting is allowed. Photo ID required for a mail ballot and witness signature required	C
Wyoming	No	No	No	Unspecified if ballot harvesting is allowed	F

Mad Libs: Write Your Own Joe Biden Speech

Have any of you ever wanted to be a political speechwriter? This year could be your chance! Our media is so biased that they are pushing a candidate who has trouble remembering where he is, much less stringing two sentences together, just because he is the Democrat. We have already seen him talking about kids rubbing his hairy legs, roaches, and kids jumping on his lap. He has told us that, “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.” He recently gave a speech that was completely unintelligible where he rambled about Covid taking 100 years. Just last Friday he actually read “end of quote” straight from the teleprompter during a speech. Joe Biden needs your help!

It’s actually easier than you think to help out Joe. It was sitting right under my nose the whole time. On my bookshelf there is still an old Mad Libs book from when I was a kid. You may remember them. They would ask you for random words and then you would fill those words into a story to make it your own zany version, just like Joe does with his speeches. To make our own Joe Biden speech, all we have to do is take a section from a recent speech, take out some words, have a friend pick some replacement words without looking, and fill in the blanks. Let’s try it with the section right before his rambling Covid quote, which starts at the 11:07 mark in this link. First, I will give you the template to write an extremely realistic Joe Biden speech of your own! Then, I will show you an example Joe Biden speech using the template.

First, ask your friends for corresponding words to the list below without looking ahead at the speech. Then fill in the blanks with the words they gave you. Then use it in your portfolio to apply for a job with the Biden campaign!

VERB (PAST TENSE): ________________________________
ADJECTIVE: _______________________________________
ADJECTIVE: _______________________________________
PLURAL NOUN: ____________________________________
NOUN: ___________________________________________
A PROFESSION: ____________________________________
A PROFESSION: ____________________________________
PLURAL NOUN: ____________________________________
ADJECTIVE: _______________________________________
NOUN: __________________________________________
VERB: ___________________________________________
A FAMOUS PERSON: _______________________________
A PROFESSION: ___________________________________
PLURAL NOUN: ___________________________________
NOUN: __________________________________________
A NUMBER: ______________________________________
NOUN: __________________________________________
NOUN: __________________________________________

Now read the speech with your words to fill in the blanks.

I’ve ____(1)____ with police in this country for many years. I know most cops are __(2)__, __(3)__ people. I know how they risk their ___(4)___ every time they put that shield on and go out the door. I’m confident I can bring the police to the ___(5)___ as well. I’d make sure every ___(6)___ and ___(7)___ had the support they needed from the federal government. But I wouldn’t be looking to use the United States military against our own ___(8)___. If I were president, my language would be less ___(9)___, I’d be looking to lower the ___(10)___ in this country, not raise it. I’d be looking to ___(11)___ the nation. But look, if ____(12)____ wants to ask the question, “Who will keep you safer as ___(13)___?” Let’s answer that question. First, some simple ___(14)___. When I was vice president, violent ___(15)___ fell _(16)_% in this country. We did it without ___(17)___ and ___(18)___.

Finally, as I promised, here is an example Joe Biden speech by speechwriters Uncle Mark and my friend Nikki.

I’ve farted with police in this country for many years. I know most cops are ugly, questionable people. I know how they risk their testicles every time they put that shield on and go out the door. I’m confident I can bring the police to the beer as well. I’d make sure every insurance agent and sex therapist had the support they needed from the federal government. But I wouldn’t be looking to use the United States military against our own baseball players. If I were president, my language would be less stupid, I’d be looking to lower the woman in this country, not raise it. I’d be looking to eat the nation. But look, if George Clooney wants to ask the question, “Who will keep you safer as mechanic?” Let’s answer that question. First, some simple puppies. When I was vice president, violent birds fell 69% in this country. We did it without pizza and speakers.

There you have it! Had I not told you how it was made you probably would have thought it was straight from the campaign trail of the best Democrat the party could come up with.

How did yours turn out? Leave it in the comment section and let us be inspired!

Censorship, Vegas, and Convention Craziness

This is my first article in a few weeks because as you might know, I’ve been busy working on getting my new book, The God Bet, released. The premise of the book is that I will bet anybody a million dollars on which party God would vote for. It is getting good reviews, but so far I have been unable to add it to my “shop” page on Facebook. They rejected it and you won’t believe why. Here is the reason that they sent me:

“It looks like we didn’t approve your item because we don’t allow the sale of adult items or services (ex: sexual enhancement items, adult videos).”

Now, here is a link to the book. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735532916

As you can see, there are no sexual enhancement items or adult videos related to the book cover. As most of you probably know, the cover is taken from Michelangelo’s famous painting The Creation of Adam, which is on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It depicts God reaching down to give life to Adam, but on my book cover God is reaching out to cast a vote on stone tablets for the party He would support. There is a butt in the painting but it is entirely artistic and non-sexual. In fact, when I looked at the community standards that Facebook has posted it shows a bunch of examples of sexually suggestive pictures that are unacceptable, and then a picture that they say is artistic so it is acceptable. The acceptable example; a picture of Michelangelo’s nude sculpture of David.

The other thing that kept me busy this week was a trip to Las Vegas to visit some friends. It was very interesting to see how the casinos and the people inside were reacting to a disease that is only slightly more likely to kill you than a sharknado. The good news is that nobody was afraid of the coronavirus. People were mingling with each other, dancing together at the bar with a live band, high fiving, gambling, and drinking together. There was only one fear going around Vegas and I agree that we need to fight to end it. The real disease to fear is government licensure. You see, the way that the government controls businesses and takes away freedom is by issuing licenses to conduct business and then threatening to take those licenses away if they don’t do exactly what the government wants. This is why so few restaurants and bars are able to stand up to the government and open without restrictions. If they do, many states threaten to take away their liquor licenses, and most of their profits come from liquor sales. Proponents say that licensing is to protect the consumer, but in reality the free market already does that. If there really was a disease worth being afraid of and you opened your business, people would voluntarily stay away. Think about it. If there was a business that said they were open to people with ebola, would you need the government to take away a license to keep people away? No. And I doubt there was ever a very long waiting list to vacation at a leper colony.

The funny thing is, the people who actually push for licensing are the people who are already in those lines of work. As the brilliant economist Milton Friedman said, “If the real true function of licensing was to protect the consumers, you’d expect the consumers to be lobbying for licensure, but you will discover that it’s always the plumbers or the beauticians or the morticians… there isn’t an occupation you can name that hasn’t been down to the Statehouse trying to get licensure.” Why would businesses want licensing? Because it is a barrier to entry, so it keeps out competition. Less competition lets those who are already in control stay in control. The people who are hurt by licensure are competitors wanting to enter an industry and the consumers. In Las Vegas, the consumers are hurt right now because the casinos are afraid of losing their gaming licenses, so they are forced to require a bunch of silly rules. The one I thought was funny was that to walk through the hotels and casinos they required that you wear a mask, but if you were smoking you could keep the mask down. In a related story, I now smoke three packs a day.

The other big thing that happened this week was the Democratic Convention. I must admit, I didn’t watch it. I already knew what they were going to say. Trump is bad. Then the media would fawn over each speaker. I do have 2 observations, though. First, the media narrative that Republicans are turning on the president because John Kasich spoke is ridiculous. John Kasich spoke because he has a fragile ego and President Trump hurt his feelings 4 years ago when he beat him in the primaries. All his speech shows is that his hurt feelings are more important to him than his principles. He claims to be pro-life, but if he’s supporting Joe Biden he is not. He claims to be a fiscal conservative, but if he supports Joe Biden he is not. He has completely lost any respect from conservatives. If he had any backbone he would handle it differently. Ted Cruz, for example, has proven that he actually cares more about doing what is right than his ego. President Trump ripped on Senator Cruz relentlessly during the primaries 4 years ago. I’m sure his feelings were hurt by some of the brutal personal attacks, but Senator Cruz cares more about America than holding personal grudges, and has put the campaign behind him and become a strong ally of the president in conservative policies. I have gained a lot of respect and confidence in Cruz. John Kasich should toughen up and stop crying about sour grapes from 2016.

The second observation is that the Democrats actually did it. They nominated a guy that they admitted was corrupt just months ago. It wasn’t even the Republicans who were accusing Biden of being corrupt. It was his own party, the same Democrats who just picked him to top their ticket. You may not remember it because that isn’t how they framed it in the media. They framed it this way. “President Trump should be impeached because he tried to gain an advantage over his future political opponent, Joe Biden, by asking Ukraine to investigate him.” Think about what that’s saying. If Joe Biden didn’t do anything wrong, how would it be an advantage to President Trump to clear him? It wouldn’t. The only way it would be an advantage is if an investigation would uncover corruption. Democrats can’t have it both ways. Either they are saying that they impeached the president for trying to clear their candidate of wrongdoing, which doesn’t make sense, or they’re saying that their candidate is corrupt. Yet they chose him as their best. Remember that when you vote.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: