Your editor is an American patriot. Through his veins courses the reddest blood.
And under red, white and blue... his heart beats true.
He cherishes American democracy in its high pristinity.
Thus he tumbles into the deepest deeps of despair today.
For he has learned that 21% of American voters flouted election law in 2020's presidential election.
Rasmussen is his source. It conducted a recent poll of voters. That poll revealed that:
21% of likely voters who voted by absentee or mail-in ballot in the 2020 election say they filled out a ballot, in part or in full, on behalf of a friend or family member, such as a spouse or child...19% of those who cast mail-in votes say a friend or family member filled out their ballot, in part or in full...17% of mail-in voters said they cast a ballot in a state where they were no longer permanent residents...Among all voters, mail and in-person, 11% said a friend, family member, co-worker or other acquaintance has admitted to them they filled out a ballot on behalf of another person in 2020.Lest doubt linger in the air: All of this runs contrary to the electoral laws of the American states.
Some 154.6 million Americans cast a vote in the 2020 presidential election.
65.6 million of them cast mailed-in votes. Thus we conclude that 13.77 million American voters mocked election law.
Yet were we not assured assured that the 2020 presidential election was the most "secure" election in all of history?
Mr. Justin Haskins is with the Heartland Institute which collaborated with Rasumssen on this poll. From whom:
For the past three years, Americans have repeatedly been told that the 2020 election was the most secure in history. But if this poll's findings are reflective of reality, the exact opposite is true. This conclusion isn't based on conspiracy theories or suspect evidence, but rather from the responses made directly by the voters themselves.
Adds a certain Christopher Talgo of the same Heartland Institute:
The 2020 election was unlike any other in history as tens of millions of Americans voted by mail due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, many experts warned that massive mail-in voting could result in widespread voter fraud. Unfortunately, these concerns were prophetic, as the results of this poll clearly show that a large number of voters did indeed fraudulently cast ballots in the 2020 election.
And let us restate our profound grievance with those 13.77 million voters who have pitched American elections into darkest infamy.
They have blackened our nation's excellent name and shattered its electoral sacraments.
"This isn't a big deal," you say.
"It's mostly just people helping out their elderly parents and things like that. It doesn't mean the ballots were fraudulent. Don't make a story out of a non-story."
Just so. And in many instances you are likely correct.
Yet we might remind you that each of these ballots, in all likelihood, harbored a forged signature or no signature whatsoever.
In either case... that is... they are disqualified by law.
They were registered nonetheless. Yet a more sinister question hovers in the air...
The poll only reveals the 21% of hellcats who conceded their misdemeanors.
How many voters... who may have committed authentic election crimes... did not concede their violations?
A dozen? A thousand? Ten thousand? One hundred thousand? Zero?
The answer is not known.
Yet a well-intentioned fellow who assisted his aged and debilitated mother will concede his conduct.
If he has fractured election law, perhaps it rates a wrist slap. He has jaywalked. He is not attempting a concealment of his illegality.
He will even confess his guilt to a pollster.
Yet a man who willfully and knowingly shatters election law perhaps by cramming dozens or hundreds of ballots into a drop box he is a man highly conscious of his felonies.
He is unlikely to concede his guilt to a pollster. He will, nearly certainly, deny it.
What if they find out? I'm not going there.
Again we ask: How many such individuals cast illegal ballots in the presidential election of 2020?
And again we concede that we do not know. We will likely never know.
Yet that is the central dilemma of the thing.
We simply do not know. All is in shadow.
It is as if an impeccable counterfeiter loads false money into an economy.
The counterfeit cannot be distinguished from the genuine.
Who can trust in the bill a fellow hands him?
And so with elections. A counterfeit vote is democratic sabotage.
It invites upon itself every manner of conspiratorial speculation.
"It was rigged!" the losing faction shouts.
The loser of the last presidential election did in fact shout it. He still does.
Is he correct? Is he partially correct? Is he entirely incorrect?
We hold no official position. We entrust that determination to you, our very dear reader.
Yet what about next year's presidential election?
So long as the mailed-in ballot remains heavily in use, we hazard Pandora's lovely box will remain opened.
Assume for the moment Mr. Donald J. Trump wins the Republican presidential nomination.
Assume also that he loses the election in question. Assume further that his defeat is authentic to the last degree.
That is, assume the election is not rigged or stolen in the least.
13.77 million voters have re-acquired their consciences, heeded the scolding angel on their shoulders and were seized by the spirit of George Washington "I cannot tell a lie."
Would Mr. Trump believe it? Would his voters believe it?
They will cite the Rasmussen poll presently under discussion.
They will remind you that 21% of 2020's mailed-in ballots 13.77 million of them were illegal.
They will proceed to ask you why the 2024 presidential election was any much different.
They will further ask you why they should trust the results.
What will be your response? That the election was "safe and secure"?
How will you know it was? 21% of respondents conceded their 2020 illegalities.
And you do not know how many did not concede their 2020 illegalities.
Thus begins a beautiful chasing of the tail.
Round and round the two of you go, world without end... "It was stolen!"… "It was safe and secure!"… "It was stolen!"… "It was safe and secure!"…
Et cetera, et cetera. Et cetera, et cetera.
Is this the granite foundation of American democracy? That millions of Americans cannot agree upon the authenticity of its elections?
If they cannot agree upon the validity of their president... upon what can they agree?
And so today we sob. We sob for the nation we cherish so.
The challenge likewise presents us with a professional grievance...
If we cannot trust election outcomes... how will we know which bloc of voters to ridicule... for electing the one scoundrel over the other scoundrel?
We will be denied that high joy. And so we take a personal interest in the resolution of this profound dilemma.
Thus, in the high spirit of national reconciliation, we depart with a proposal...
Put the mailed-in ballot under the ban. Grant its use exclusively to those who apply for it under color of law.
All others must march into an actual vote booth on the day of election.
This proposal will not bridge the nation's vast political divisions.
Yet it may restore to some slight degree perhaps the dwindling American faith.
And, as said a certain Helen Keller:
“Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light."
The Daily Reckoning