DEMYSTIFYING THE MYSTERIOUS: California’s Election Laws

Part 11: Election Season

 

To everything there is a season….. Baseball. Football. Hunting.

Etcetera., Etcetera, Etcetera.

 

But many occasions are special enough to be celebrated on a single day.

Wedding Day. Opening Day. Graduation Day.

Election Day?

 

There should be nothing more important to a citizen of a Constitutional Republic than Election Day.

 

Let’s say it again - Election DAY, when we gather with our fellow citizens to peacefully determine the course of our collective futures.

 

And yet, since 1998, California has slowly expanded voting activities so that now there is no Election Day, only the official LAST DAY of voting.

 

  • That day is preceded by 29 days of early voting and ballot processing, and followed by 30 more days of continued ballot processing.

 

And then, finally, after a SIXTY-DAY ELECTION SEASON,

we are privileged to find out the official results of the election.

 

Unfortunately, by then not many people care anymore. It’s a long season, with so many moving parts that we cannot follow them or even comprehend how it all works.

 

When we lose track we lose ownership.

 

  • Making voting accessible and convenient has been the stated goal associated with all the expansion.

 

  • But the side effects have been voter confusion, unreasonably and unnecessarily expensive elections and worst of all, countless doors open to error, malfeasance, voter impersonation, election manipulation and fraud.

 

  • All of that has resulted in the biggest side effect of all: diminishing voter confidence.

 

This is NOT an acceptable trade-off.

 

If voters would stop participating so enthusiastically in an unreliable system, perhaps the efforts by so many groups to restore integrity to the election process would be successful.

 

Voters may be provided with mail-in ballots.

They do NOT have to mail them in.

 

Instead, they can trade them in and vote in person with a ballot that:

 

  • cannot be anticipated and countered with phantom ballots

 

  • cannot be mishandled or manipulated during transport or processing

 

  • will not suffer considerable time delay between receipt and counting

 

  • will be immediately counted as cast the same day.

 

Voters may be offered the “convenience” of voting

up to 29 days in advance of Election Day.

 

They do NOT have to vote early.

 

Instead, they can vote in person on Election Day, AVOIDING:

 

  • every machine possible in their county.

 

  • the counting delay and potential loss or alteration of any ballot submitted by envelope.

 

  • giving advance notice to election manipulators of the direction the election is trending, thus depriving them of the major tool they need to succeed in shifting the outcome.

 

By their choices and actions, voters can send a strong message that:

 

  • too long a season is detrimental.

 

  • they are perfectly capable of fitting 10-30 minutes to vote, twice every two years, into their schedules.

 

  • they know by doing so they are depriving election manipulators access to information and ballots needed to steer the election results. 

 

To everything there is a season.

But sometimes, to preserve integrity and importance,

the most precious seasons last only a single day.


  

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Demystifying the Mysterious - Part 11: Election Season     ©Election Integrity Project®California, Inc. copyrighted 2023