Dakota Beacon

My first article in this series, “Voting 101”, detailed the roots of voting during the deliberations leading to our constitution. As time went on, our sophistication regarding voting matured, as detailed below.

Vote-buying

Vote-buying, a practice that had become pervasive in the century following our constitution (June 21, 1788 -1888), drove a movement to adopt the secret ballot between 1888 and 1950. Secret ballots made it harder for vote buyers to monitor which candidates sellers actually voted for.

The bi-partisan “Commission on Federal Election Reform”, chaired by former President James Earl (Jimmy) Carter Jr. and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, found in 2005 that “absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud” and that “vote-buying schemes are far more difficult to detect when citizens vote by mail”.

So when today's media state that President Trump's allegations of potential voter fraud resulting from “vote by mail” are unfounded in fact, they ignore the “Commission on Federal Election Reform” and insult former President Carter, who has done more for election credibility around the world than anyone else in history.

For a detailed and impartial treatment of the ongoing election security debate, I strongly recommend reading “Election Security Debate Heats Up Over Mail-In Ballots” the front page article in the August 12-18 weekly U.S. edition (No 316) of The Epoch Times published in New York, Washington, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco by Epoch Media Group. I have found my $139.00 for a one-year subscription to be the best investment I have ever made in “Truth and Tradition”.

Federal Penalties for Election Fraud

52 U.S. Code section 20511 Criminal Penalties is referenced.

Election fraud usually involves corruption of one of three processes:

• The obtaining and marking of ballots
• The counting and certification of election results
• The registration of voters

Our election laws generally require the presence of election “judges” from each political party on the ballot at each of the official polling sites. This has been very effective in preventing fraud by several or numerous conspirators. The exceptions noted in the media in recent years involved the sudden “appearance” of a box (or boxes) of ballots that was/were allegedly “misplaced” such as in the trunk of an election official's car...

Individuals who commit fraud in connection with casting a vote are also liable to prosecution. The penalty for fraudulently voting when not legally qualified or for voting more than once when qualified is a fine of $300 to $500, one to two years in prison and disenfranchisement.

Anyone who votes or attempts to vote by assuming the name of another is subject to a fine of $500, one year in prison, and disenfranchisement.

Voting in violation of absentee ballot laws is punishable by a fine of up to $5000, up to five years in prison or both.

The penalties regarding voting listed above are from the Spatz Law Firm, PL web site:

spatzlawfirm.com

Voting in 2020 requires Work in being well informed on the various issues, walking or driving to your polling place, protecting others by wearing a mask and physically distancing from other voters, and the Courage to vote in person after determining that you do not fall within groups seriously at risk of death from Covid-19. If you are one of those seriously at risk, the absentee ballot option is probably best for you.

Love  + Work + Courage