Did “ballot harvesting,” not a rejection of Trump, cost Republicans Orange County?
Republicans were out-hustled by Democrats in the use of this recent change to California law
What started as a good night for Democrats in the House on Election night 2018, turned into a very, very good result after paper ballots were counted days and sometimes weeks later.
In Orange County, often referred to as Reagan Country, it was a wipeout (see Map above).
The conventional wisdom is that Trump lost California Reagan Republicans in Orange County.
This November 18 CNN analysis is typical of the conclusions the mainstream media and Never-Trump Republicans drew:
It was where “good Republicans go to die,” Ronald Reagan often quipped.
Now, with the final ballots counted, Democrats have achieved a total takeover of congressional seats in the one-time Republican bastion of Orange County….
“We are seeing a realignment with college-educated voters and Orange County is ground zero for this phenomenon,” said Sean Clegg, a California-based Democratic strategist who advises US Sen. Kamala Harris and California Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom. “This election was a clear referendum on Trump and Trumpism and people want the reality show to end, particularly suburban women.”
The Democrats’ success in flipping all four seats from red to blue is a stunning development for a county that served as the North Star for Reagan-style conservatism.“The cataclysmic losses in Orange County are the manifestation of changing demographics that have been in motion for a couple decades. Trump has accelerated the political consequences the GOP,” said Rob Stutzman, a California-based Republican strategist, noting that the lesser-known GOP candidate for governor, John Cox, is still winning the county by a slender margin, according to the latest results posted by the Orange County Registrar of Voters.
“That’s good evidence that the congressional losses are a Trump effect,” said Stutzman. “The GOP can compete to win those seats back in two years and new district maps in 2022 will possibly yield a clear GOP seat. The ‘Orange Curtain’ has fallen but Republicans will still compete in Orange County for the next few election cycles. They’ll be more likely to succeed without Trump on the ballot.”
While simple, that narrative may be wrong in Orange County and throughout California, where Republicans fared okay on Election Night, but lost numerous seats as paper ballots were counted.
Paul Ryan expressed his surprise, and the term “ballot harvesting” that most people likely had not heard before. The Daily Caller reports on Ryan’s reaction:
“California just defies logic to me,” said Ryan at a Washington Post live event. “We were only down 26 seats the night of the election, and three weeks later, we lost basically every California contested race. This election system they have — I can’t begin to understand what ‘ballot harvesting’ is.”
Bre Payton at The Federalist explained what ballot harvesting is, and how it is one of many features that leaves California open to voter fraud:
2. ‘Ballot Harvesting’ allows political operatives to drop off other people’s ballots.
A new state law allows third parties to pick up ballots and drop them off at polling locations on behalf of that person, a practice known as “ballot harvesting.”
In video footage that surfaced last month, a woman who identifies herself to a California resident as Lulu is seen knocking on someone’s door and offering to deliver their absentee ballot, but “only to, like, people who are supporting the Democratic Party.”
Patton pointed to an e-mail to supporters from Orange County GOP chair Fred Whitaker attributing the party’s losses in longtime Republican districts to ballot harvesting as the San Fransisco Chronicle reported:
‘The number of election day vote-by-mail drop-offs was unprecedented — over 250,000. This is a direct result of ballot harvesting,’ Whitaker wrote. ‘That directly caused the switch from being ahead on election night to losing two weeks later. … We have to develop a response to this new law that allows us to remain competitive while recognizing the realities of Republican voter attitudes towards handing over their ballot.’
Others also have pointed out the problem. Joel Pollak at Breitbart writes:
The practice explains several mysteries about the 2018 election, such as: why mail-in ballots caused massive shifts toward Democrats in races Republicans thought they won on Election Night; why Republicans won the turnout battle in the primary, but lost it in the general election; and why Democrats with party backing defeated fellow Democrats without it — even when the latter had more money.
“Ballot harvesting” by Democratic Party operatives — a surprise tactic they likely saved for the general election — appears to have made the difference. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday that Democrats ran a disciplined, door-to-door campaign offering to deliver voters’ ballots to the polls:
…. “We beat Republicans on the ground, fair and square,” said Katie Merrill, a Democratic consultant deeply involved in November campaigns. “Many of the field plans included (ballot harvesting) as an option to deliver voters or their ballots” to the polls.
Republicans, in contrast, simply focused on traditional turnout operations — and lost badly….
But as Democrats point out, there is no reason that Republicans cannot use the same methods in California. So Republicans should take them up on it. There is no alternative.
This should not have come as a surprise. The video above and the Democrat effort to ballot harvest was exposed at Redstate on October 16, CA Dem Party Sinking To New Lows To ‘Harvest’ Absentee Ballots
Since the Kavanaugh debacle (and I mean debacle for the left, and not for the right), many have said that the Democrats will say or do anything to make their hoped-for Blue Wave in November a reality. Election fraud isn’t a new tool in their toolbox, but recent changes in California’s vote-by-mail law regarding “ballot harvesting” make the state an attractive target for Democrats to easily influence (or steal) a few seats.
In the state’s hotly contested 25th Congressional district, in which two-term Rep. Steve Knight (R-Palmdale) is fighting off a challenge from Katie Hill (D-Newhall), footage from a Santa Clarita family’s Ring camera is telling.
The results of Republicans falling asleep as to ballot harvesting were devastating.
Republicans were out-hustled, out-muscled, and out-maneuvered. The result not only was a wipeout in Orange County, but also the risk that we may draw the wrong conclusions as to the cause of the Orange County wipeout.
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“But as Democrats point out, there is no reason that Republicans cannot use the same methods in California.”
If by “methods” it is meant that California Republicans can adopt the practice of ballot harvesting, that is not necessarily enough to level the field. If the Dems involved in the practice use it to commit fraud, then they will still win. Republicans can only beat the Dems at this game if they both adopt the practice and its abuse, a scenario that is highly unlikely. The only practical action is to ban the practice.
We the People, through our elected represemtatives, have finally thrown it all away.
Good luck with banning the practice when it has taken the CA Socialist-Democrat Party so long to figure the scam out. And their control of the US House ensures no ban for Federal elections will happen either.
CA only has changes to their election laws when it will absolutely, without fail, benefit the Socialist-Democrats.
More and more I believe that this nation would be better off without California. There is something truly terrifying at how blatant they are with fraud and other means to bolster leftist power and ideology in that state, and it affects the whole nation.
Short of them falling into the ocean, I foresee further erosion of this nation due to that screwed up state.
This was done to California with the support of the GOP at every step. It is coming to Florida and Texas very soon. If all you do is complain about California then you are missing the big picture.
I really had to restrain myself from sending a nasty reply, btw.
What has happened to California is endless, unrestricted immigration. While I agree that ballot harvesting is a problem, it is not the source of the problem; illegal immigration is. And Texas will follow, if we don’t stop it. We cannot import the Third World and expect to maintain First World status.
The Democrats and Progressives would be willing to settle for 3rd world status….just as long as they have the power and can be treated like the elite.
Our immigration system needs repair. Under the new Democratic House, this will happen, perhaps in 2019. Immigrants have always made America stronger, not weaker. People who are threatened by immigrants who don’t look like them are like trees who refuse to bend in the wind. Eventually, the wind will just blow them over; it’s inevitable. Why don’t you get to know some California immigrants and help them acclimate to America, rather than just bitching about immigration using Trump talking points?
I could go full blown Leftie Troll methodology on you, but since you refrained from the usual profanity, you are obviously on the wrong site. We appreciate immigrants, just not those who believe the law doesn’t apply to them, and their facilitators – like you.
And that is my self-imposed sole reply to any Socialist-Democrat for today.
Man! What a load of crap! 63% of all immigrants are on welfare! How does this make us stronger? As for your stupid comment about immigrants not looking like native Americans, it is as stupid as the makes us stronger crap. Of course, there are good immigrants among the mass of all of them but we didn’t have any say on who gets to come here when they are illegal. They absorb an enormous amount of money and that means our own homeless/ mentally disturbed people are not being treated or cared for. Just look around and show me the immigrant neighborhoods that you would like to raise YOUR family in. Open your liberal eyes and see the truth.
And the coastal areas of Oregon and Washington.
Let me understand this. California Democrats are against Voter Identification Laws. They also believe that a political operative should be allowed to collect raw unprotected ballots and just drop them off.
I can’t think of a better recipe for election disaster.
Is it permissible for Democrat operatives to go to the Alzheimer’s ward of Nursing Homes to collect ballots?
What could possibly go wrong with this system.
I suspect that it would elevate the Average IQ of California voters.
Are local cemeteries totally out of the question for honorable Democrat Operatives?
They’re not allowed to pick up raw unprotected ballots. And as this Lulu makes clear, she’s been trained not to. The problem is that there’s nothing to stop them from doing it anyway. She’s not doing it, and others who received the same training and are as honest as her aren’t doing it either, but we have no way of knowing how many others are doing it, and no reason to trust that they’re not.
See? Here come white knight Mulhouse to the defense of the dems again.
Liar. I care about the truth; you have just openly admitted that you couldn’t give a sh*t about it.
You just seem to almost always presume truth is on the side of democrats, no matter how despicable the behavior you are defending. You saying ‘liar’ doesn’t make it so – only not riding in with chords of ‘holding out for a hero’ playing in the background when democratic honor is besmirched would do that:
Damn Yankees — “Whatever Lulu wants, Lulu gets”. It just has to be true. Now click your heels together to return from OZ
She is clearly telling the truth. She has no idea she is being recorded, and her actions match her words.
LOL — You are funny Milhouse.
This practice is about as safe as asking a stranger to deposit cash in your bank account. What could possibly go wrong?
As it is being done by Lulu, it is perfectly safe for the voter. They give her a sealed envelope, and she delivers it. She can’t tamper with it, and since she’s verified that the voter is on her side she has no reason to.
Tampering is not the issue here. There are many potential problems, but the most important and likely is vote-buying.
Just because you have seen a video you are making huge assumptions about this program and this girl. You have no first-hand knowledge about any of it and you are talking out of your a$$. How do you know that she wasn’t trained to answer this way? O’Keefe has taught the Dems all about videos and they are learning from him.
One way to have an honest vote is to centralize the process of casting a ballot in a secure location. “Harvesting” makes the polling location literally the size of California, where cheating becomes easy and enforcement of voting laws near impossible.
Yes, exactly. Really it only exacerbates a problem that’s created by the widespread and easy availability of postal voting, but it makes abuses much easier. I’m sure the Dems are happy training all their Lulus to go around doing their work honestly; but at the same time they may have a whole operation of dishonest vote-buying, vote-manufacturing, all kinds of cheating, for which the honest Lulus are a cover.
funny thing, 300k votes in Orange County didn’t include votes for governor, only house races. wanna tell me again how this system didn’t fail and is utterly corrupt to the bone?
don’t defend anything election-wise here in the once golden state. our progressive overlords have put all their thumbs on the scale of elections. and our feckless GOP establishment sits by and does nothing – nothing locally. nothing nationally. other than Ryan calling it out, zip, zero, nada.
signed – Orange County resident and poll monitor
go here and do some research, please. it’s a good start on the issues that were found this election.
http://instituteforfairelections.org/
On the contrary, if there was no vote for governor that proves almost beyond all doubt that the ballot is genuine. Nobody would bother manufacturing a vote and not vote in the governor’s race. Genuine voters often do so, either on purpose or because they didn’t see it.
How does that follow?
In Orange county, votes were needed after the election to make up for the Republican win on election day in HOUSE RACES.
Voila. Enough votes were found. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
Not needed in Gov race or any other. And who just votes for your congressman and not senator or Governor??
If 300k people didn’t care which Democrat “finalist” won the Governor’s race, why would they bother to vote? Your argument only makes sense if there were candidates from all parties in the General Election, but we know that will likely never happen again in CA, in fact it would be close to a miracle if there were candidates from two parties on the ballot for Governor, etc.
In Arizona we had similar elections (US Senate seat, gov, all House seats of course). Vote totals (from SecState Website)
Gov race – 2,325,204
Sen race – 2,383,742
All house races combined – 2,337,180
CA : (more of a pretty close rough estimate)
Gov race – 12.2 million votes
Lt Gov – 10.3 million votes
Senate – 10.9 million votes
House seats combined : 12.9 million votes
This is fishy…
Edward, there was a statewide contest between a Dem and a Republican – the governor’s race. Not that he had a chance. And as far as statewide races go, there were a lot more votes cast in the race with both an R and a D in the race for Gov.
Now explain to me how in almost every other election, the statewide races get more votes than the House races but not in Orange County.
That is fishy.
But it’s not a disaster if you’re a democrat. And that’s the point, in California.
I’ll bet the ballot harvesters also picked up Republican ballots and made sure they never reached the ballot boxes. This system lends itself to all kinds of cheating, and I’m sure the Dems used every one of them.
Rather than fighting a losing battle to clean up the system, the Republicans will probably have to adopt the same dirty tricks the Dems are using.
This Lulu clearly didn’t do that. And she says she’s been trained not to. But yes, there’s nothing to stop a dishonest person in Lulu’s position from doing just that, which means it’s bound to happen; the only question is on what scale.
That might depend on how much “walking around” money is thrown at the campaign workers to distribute.
Finally, after moaning about voter turnout for years, the democrats have discovered a remedy. Note to the GOPe, you’ll be extinct in CA within a few more election cycles.
“Republicans were out-hustled by Democrats…”
WHEN will we learn? The GOP is a dead party.
Courteously, what is your solution? Vote for Democrats until the GOP is literally dead? I will readily support a party who policies I disagree with 50% of the time to one I disagree 100%.
Shocked by that ring video – LuLu misrepresented the facts and the law. The Rep who lost that district should sue LuLu and thereby the Democrats of that county for fraud – or at least attempted fraud.
What did she misrepresent? It seems to me she gave the law exactly right, and if I could be sure all the Dem workers were behaving as honestly as she was I would be happy. But if she weren’t so honest there are so many ways she could cheat that this is worrying.
The law, at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1921 provides for transporting the completed ballot by a 3rd party IF the voter is “unable” to mail or deliver it themselves to the polling station. The same law also provides for ballot secrecy and the integrity of the process / person collecting the ballot. Fraud, intimidation, etc., are prohibited.
So, how is Lulu’s offer to go into the woman’s house and help her complete, sign and seal the ballot consistent with the law concerning secrecy and intimidation? Especially since she announced she was there to collect DEMOCRAT ballots? Further, how does “unable” translate into the democrat operatives push to collect fully “half” the absentee/mail-in ballots that are never returned?
The bill seems to set forth a process whereby it’s the voter who determines they are “unable” to deliver their completed ballot, and thereby appoint a 3rd party to transport their ballot. I suppose “unable” could mean no time to do so just as much as it could mean “disabled” and “shut-in”. But where returning a ballot by mail is the normal absentee process, “unable” would seem to be intended for a shut-in who can’t even get out to their mail-box.
If that had happened to me, my reaction to Lulu would have been “I’m more than able to do this myself” and send her away. That I believe was the woman’s message to Lulu if I read between the lines of her post at Ring correctly.
Where the law typically disallows signs and electioneering at or near poll stations, how can ballot harvesters announce their intent to collect DEMOCRAT ballots? That’s potentially intimidation and interference in the voting process and deprives the voter of secrecy.
As long as the counting dragged out in Orange Co, I’d like to know whether all the so-called “harvested” ballots were in fact turned in by the close of polls on the 6th, as required by the law. And whether there’s a record of each ballot and when it was turned in as also required by the law.
The R candidate in LuLu’s district should sue her, the Democrats, and the state to overturn the results of the election based on the video evidence alone.
Example #597 gazillion billion that the (R) party, in general, does not care about winning and/or defending anything it allegedly stands for.
Republicans have 2 options other than give up (which appears to be their current status in California).
1. Fight as dirty as the Dems and try to beat them at their own ground game.
2. Challenge this kind of behavior under the Voting Rights Act.
As I understand the VRA and Shelby County vs Holder is the only provision found unconstitutional was its sole enforcement in the South. Is there any part of the VRA that would apply to this in California? If Republicans were ballot harvesting like this in North Carolina and only going to white households, how illegal would it be? I say challenge it. Send it to the courts. Force the Democrats hand at their own game. At this point California is 90% of the way to keeping Republicans off the ballot entirely, counting votes as “unpledged”, the way Alabama and Mississippi did in 1960.
That may be closer than you think. Right now the “top two” primary format results in general election contests in many jurisdictions between two Democrats. In some of those locales there is still enough of a GOP presence to require the top two Dem survivors to compete for those GOP votes. No doubt the Dems resent having to do this, so watch for movement to return to the prior closed primary. That will shut the Republicans out completely, as only Dems will be allowed to choose their party’s candidates to run in the general election unopposed or against token GOP candidates.
If Republicans were ballot harvesting like this in North Carolina and only going to white households, how illegal would it be?
Not at all. They’d be completely free to do so (supposing state law allowed this sort of thing in the first place.)
There is nothing even slightly dishonest or immoral about vote harvesting the way Lulu says she has been trained to do it. It is not the Dems’ job to help Reps vote, or vice versa. Just as it is not the job of count-watchers to challenge invalid votes cast for their candidate, or of poll-watchers to challenge invalid voters they think will vote for their candidate. The other party has watchers too, and that’s their job; if they don’t do it, tough luck.
The problem with this system is not what Lulu is doing but the fact that nothing but her conscience is preventing her from cheating badly, and trusting people’s consciences is not a good way to achieve anything. This system is wide open to fraud, and for every Lulu who isn’t cheating there’s bound to be someone who is.
“…there’s bound to be s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ one hundred who i̶s̶ are.”
FIFY. We ARE talking about Socialist-Democrats here.
They’d have to grow balls first.
Sadly, there’s a lot of mouth and little action among most GOP “activsts”, all too many of whom are senior citizens who not only haven’t got the stamina or the motivation to do the door-knocking that ballot harvesting would require, but won’t even make phone calls or stuff envelopes.
About 30 years ago I volunteered for Right To Life, calling every name in the voter’s roll conducting a “poll” to find out how they felt about abortion. My job was not to persuade them, just to ask the questions and record the answers, whose purpose was simply to identify who supported us and who opposed us. Once we had those lists, I was told, the get-out-the-vote effort would call only those who had been identified as supporters. They would be encouraged to vote, helped if they needed it, they’d be given rides, or have absentee ballots arranged for them, whatever was necessary, while those not likely to vote our way would be ignored.
That is how politics is done. It is completely honest and proper. And even back then it was nothing new; this was how it had been done for decades. The problem is not that they’re only helping their known supporters vote, it’s the wide-open potential for abuse and fraud. There doesn’t seem to be anything to detect or stop it if it’s happening, which is almost a guarantee that it must be happening.
So strange, I remember when “absentee” ballots were only for people who were actually absent, not just to lazy to carry their rumps to the polls.
I have voted every year since I turned 18 and no matter what job I had with the exception of 2 deployments where I used absentee ballots I have made it to the polling place on election day every time.
If you aren’t responsible enough to go vote at an actual polling place, then you are responsible enough to vote (with the noted exceptions of people who actually need to use absentee ballots).
Correction: “then you are NOT responsible enough to vote”
The question of who should be allowed to vote remotely is separate from how they should be allowed to do so. This law is about the how. Must they have their ballot delivered by USPS, or may they entrust it to someone to hand-deliver? On the surface the answer seems obvious; if some helpful person offers to convey their sealed ballot to its destination how can we object? Surely that would be putting up an artificial and arbitrary barrier, and thus suppressing legitimate votes. Think about it for five minutes, and the answer becomes equally obvious in the other direction. The ways this can be abused are so obvious and many. It’s reassuring that Lulu in the video has been trained to do this honestly; but not very reassuring, because not everyone is Lulu. If you leave the vault door open because no honest person would steal, you will soon find yourself robbed blind. And if you leave the ballot box open, it’s inevitable that someone (likely a Democrat) will see this as a gilt-edged engraved invitation to cheat.
There is a simple, time tested and secure manner of conveying a ballot. It is called the United States Mails. They even make house calls. Why would you trust a stranger with your ballot anymore than you would with cash and a promise to go to the Bank to pay your credit card bill?
I take it the video shows Lulu SAYING what is right. Does it also show Lulu DOING what is right, or is that simply an inference the viewer is supposed to make from what she said?
She didn’t know she was being recorded, so she must be telling the truth. But the person answering the door, presumably one of the Republican parents of the Democrat voter she’d come to see, sent her away, so we don’t see her doing anything at all.
That is a terribly naive statement coming from you. I have had people deny they have stolen items while watching a security video of them putting items in their pockets and walking out the door. I think it is possible James O’Keefe has taught the democrats to start training to assume you are always being recorded.
Sounds like Milhouse is sweet on Lulu. What happened to Lisa Simpson?
Naivete on lone from Jethro Bodine. You are funny Milhouse.
This is the stuff that leads to civil wars.
Lulu took a quick glance at the doorbell and understood that it was a camera. This new pick up system will make every election into a race to obtain fraudulent ballots. There will be a rush to sign up every nursing home/assisted living person for an absentee ballot that will be brought to them personally for signature. This is as undemocratic as the idiotic petition system for candidates in NYS. The road to dictatorship is being well paved.
Sorry, fraudulent ballots is the wrong term. What will/is happening is that the Lulus will not say that they are from a particular party . Lulu only said that she was picking up Democratic voters because because she knew the doorbell was also a camera. They will say they are a service picking up absentee ballots as a favor to the voter and one party’s ballot will see the sewer.
What most people fail to mention is the registration of voters in CA and how easy it is for illegals to register. Motor Voter greased the skids for this with a voter registration office opening up in every DMV across the country.
The next step for CA was to pass a law allowing illegals to get drivers licenses. Only if a box is checked for “yes” or “no” on citizenship status question will there be scrutiny of the applicant. A ‘yes I am a citizen’ will trigger a request for ID and proof of such and a ‘no’ will obviously be rejected.
To get an illegal on the voter rolls, all the applicant need do is leave the citizenship question blank. Its is then processed as legit and the applicant is added to the rolls. Now the stage is set for “voter rights groups’ like Lulu belongs to to organize bus trips of illegals to the DMV to get their DL and instructions for them to leave the citizenship question blank.
The last step is ‘ballot harvesting”…the redefined law that now allows anyone to collect votes (instead of family) and hand them in. The illegals don’t even have to go to the polls, the voter rights group just shows up at the house and collects their illegal ballots. Presto…millions of votes for democrats.
After 8 years with a Chicago politician as President, it’s no surprise that Chicago-style political tricks are going national.
Republicans should just leave California, let them have it! It won’t take long for them to destroy themselves, they are well on the way already!
Why don’t one of you fine legal practitioners challenge the “ballot harvesting law” on the grounds that the chain of custody is sketchy at best. Also, as with the SCOTUS ruling in Bush v. Gore, it violates the equal protection clause of the 14 ammendment.
SAYING what is right is not always followed by DOING what is right. There are many people who are DECEPTIVE, and who will say whatever they think is needed, including the truth, in order to gain an advantage. The camera does NOT show what Lulu then DID with the ballots. Probably she did what was right…but that is merely an INFERENCE from what was seen and heard.
I guess the old tradition of getting out the deceased voters wasn’t sure enough for the Commiecrats this election in Orange county.
As a reformed Community Organizer we used to do voter registration as a civic duty. We would only register people in poor communities that could be manipulated into voting Democratic. What astounded me was most of these folks spoke from conservative values but voted Democrat. Another thing I noticed these poor communities just grew poorer.. Trump is right in my eyes. What in the hell did these poor people stand to lose by voting Republican? They sure could’t get any more poorer.
I live in coastal California so my Representative has always been a Democrat. I imagine that I’d be only a bit more livid if I resided in Orange County. This state has gone to crap. Literally, in some areas. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. My daughter is a high school senior and will likely be attending out college out of state. I’m so out of here…….
Ballot harvesting is just one part of the corrupt system that the Democrats have managed to put into law to make it possible for them to steal elections. It works in conjunction with the extended absentee voting, early voting, provisional ballots, registering hordes of fictitious and unqualified voters, not requiring identification, etc. They’ve built a system so loose and unaccountable that corrupt election officials can simply manufacture and destroy votes to get the outcome they want, provided there isn’t too much of a difference to overcome.
1. Go door to door and offer to turn in ballots for people
2. Open ballots to see which ones need fixing
3. With name of everybody whose ballot you collected, create new ballots and vote them straight D
4. Turn in to polling location to operative volunteers (who know exactly what is going on)
5. Win every district across the state
I really hate California. The people have done this to themselves either through allowing propositions or voting for people who pass laws that allow these kind of shenanigans.
The mail-in ballot system is, by far, the least secure method of casting a vote. Ballot harvesting is only one way in which this process is wide open to abuse. Ways of tampering with mail-in votes include the following.
The easiest way to tamper with the vote is to have someone other than the registered voter actually fill out the ballot. We see this practice happening in ballots from nursing homes, ACLFs, hospitals and from senior citizen service centers. It is relatively easy to do for two reasons. The first is that the voters, living in these institutions, may and often do have cognitive problems. And, the second is that most of these ballots depend upon matching voter signatures. Usually, there is a fudge factor built into this process to allow for discrepancies which do not allow an exact match. So, it is often unknown exactly who filled out the ballot.
The second is vote harvesting techniques. Vote harvesting can be used to collect only those votes likely to help a particular candidate or party. It can also be used to intercept ballots likely to aid an opposing candidate or party. In this case, these ballots may mysteriously go missing before they can be delivered to the elections office.
The third is the ease with which mail-in ballots can be lost in a partisan elections office. Unlike a polling place, where there is usually a record kept of both the number, and identity, of voters arriving to cast votes, the casting of the ballot is recorded on-site. There is no record of the initial receipt of a mail-in ballot, at the elections office. Usually, it is not recorded until the signature scan is done. This provides ample opportunity for ballots from voters registered with a specific political party to be ignored or destroyed. Then we have the practice of “cleaning” ballots which, supposedly, do not scan properly on optical scanners.
As Voter ID, at the polls, increases, the mail-in ballot becomes the best means of influencing elections.
The California GOP surrendered long ago. The Republicans in other states should use this as a warning, and work damn hard to prevent this from occurring in their regions.
I must say that California has reached a new low even compared to 19th century vote fraud. In
those bad old days, bought voters were expected to actually arrive at the polling place in person–even if they had to rise from the grave to do so.How anyone could trust another person to hand in his ballot without tampering escapes me. Clearly California is the land of fruits and nuts. I think even postal voting is open to large-scalefraud. And even if it were not, I would argue that the person who–minus actual physical impairment– can not make the effort personally to cast his or her vote, shouldn’t be allowed to vote. What happened to voter secrecy?
The bottom line is until mail-in/absentee ballots are more closely regulated the Dems will win more and more close races. This one area is fraud in the making and now CA has added another level of potential fraud to it. How do we not know that the “Harvesters” are not getting paid for their work by the ballot? Does it take any stretch of our imagination to realize what greed can do? I personally like the purple finger that Iraq used and there is no cheating with it!
And the Democrats make sure the harvest is a good one.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/voter-fraud-california-man-finds-dozens-of-ballots-stacked-outside-home
Jerry Mosna was gardening outside his San Pedro, Calif., home Saturday when he noticed something odd: Two stacks of 2016 ballots on his mailbox.
The 83 ballots, each unused, were addressed to different people, all supposedly living in his elderly neighbor’s two-bedroom apartment.
“I think this is spooky,” Mosna said. “All the different names, none we recognize, all at one address.”
His wife, Madalena Mosna, noted their 89-year-old neighbor lives by herself, and, “Eighty people can’t fit in that apartment.”