It appears (note that carefully selected verb) that Glenn Youngkin has prevailed over former governor Terry McAuliffe in the race for governor of Virginia. The margin wasn’t a large one – slightly more than 1% of the votes cast – but it appears (yes, again) to be safe at this time. So for the next four years, Virginia will have a GOP governor, who appears (best I can do, Gentle Reader) to be rather in the style of President Donald Trump, to attempt to undo the mess created by Ralph Northam.
Has the bitching started yet? I can’t hear it from this far away, but I can’t imagine that the silence from the Democrats will prevail. You see, there’s a little matter of 300,000 “absentee” ballots that the Democrats claim – and the Postal Service denies – were held up in the mail, and therefore could not possibly reach the voters they were intended for in time to be filled out, returned, and counted. Why so many “absentee” ballots in a state where slightly more than 3 million people voted? Unclear.
The McAuliffe campaign was already complaining bitterly about those ballots a few days ago. It seems (I was getting tired of “appears”) they had hopes for them. Margin of victory hopes.
The shenanigans the Democrats pulled with mailed-in ballots in November 2020 are now famous. Aware that the Virginia governor’s race was attracting national attention as a “bellwether” election, they were determined, even desperate to win it. For a Trump-like outsider candidate to wrest supposedly blue Virginia from their arms would embarrass them terribly.
And now it’s happened. Looks like it, anyway. These days, an election can go on for weeks. Remember Election 2000 and the Florida recounts?
What about those 300,000 ballots? What about the lawsuit? Does any conceivable development have a chance of overturning the reported election results? Well, the numerous, multiply documented, videoed and attested irregularities in the November 2020 elections haven’t had much effect…yet. But the Democrats’ lawsuit might just open a bigger can of worms than they realize. If they can press, successfully, for the November 2 tally to be set aside on the grounds of the foofaurauw over the “absentee” ballots, it will set a marker in place: a precedent for deeming all election results to be “apparent,” strictly provisional pending the outcome of innumerable challenges, until all the lawsuits have been settled and the dust has cleared. We might not have another “one and done” election in our lifetimes.
Allegations of irregularities in the handling of the mails are inherently a matter for the federal courts. There’s been a lot of nonsense from those courts lately. Verdicts that contradict unimpeachable evidence. Verdicts that require one to accept that black is white. I would not dare to predict the outcome of the McAuliffe campaign’s suit, nor could I predict what would come of it in either case.
We are watching a development whose consequences could exceed anyone’s imagination. As usual.
2 comments
Mail in balloting should be limited to the disabled and to those serving overseas. McAuliffe won’t concede until “all the votes are counted.” And voter ID should be enacted into law. North Korea has better election integrity than the US.
Hit the problem of ID from multiple angles:
All voters must, at some point BEFORE their vote is accepted (even provisionally), must provided either REAL ID drivers license, a current US passport, or fingerprint ID (use those scanners that are connected real-time, PLUS a hard-copy print that will be kept with the voter sign-in sheets). No ID, no vote – even provisional.
Voter rolls must be searchable by address. All unusually large alleged registrations from the same address should be checked out by independent teams, with video recording of interactions. If 10 or more people are said to reside at one single-family address, the housing authorities/courts must be informed of the possible occupancy violation.
Start the registration challenges early – LONG before the voting. Pay special attention to those groups most likely to have two addresses – the college students who are attending out of state, and the seniors who hop between the Sunshine States and their summer residences.
All mail-in votes must be accompanied by a copy of ID, PLUS fingerprint. No exceptions.
Only those who are disabled (with physician agreeing that they are unable to vote in person), or who have CURRENT handicapped permit, may request mail-in ballot. Other than military voters, that is IT. Military should have a 2-3 week window during which the military can set up remote voting, with opposite-party oversight. Cell access to voting is easy enough to manage; with a real-time use of fingerprints (the DOD has those on file), this could be REASONABLY secure. I know, I know, never underestimate the willingness of Dems to cheat, but…
Cut the window for voting to 2-3 weeks, in person. ALL voters have to show one of the 3 methods of ID verification – REAL ID DL, passport, or fingerprint. For fingerprint ID, the person has to scrub down the finger with a mild solvent that will dissolve plastics/polymers (so they can’t ‘dummy up’ an overlay).
If crowding seems to be a problem, have appointments available, during which time the person with one can skip the line. Make those appointments during the off-times. Hell, you could set up 24-hour voting places.
Put people in charge who have been thoroughly trained on Election Law, and who will NOT budge and accept provisional ballots without a fingerprint. Have poll-watchers get access to backup when they are kept from keeping a close eye on shenanigans.
NO BALLOT accepted at facilities without proper chain of custody, AND a number of ballots that matches the number at the polling place. Don’t even let them in the building. For that matter, stop those moving ballots – ballots should be counted at the original site, then taken, with poll watchers on the truck, to a central facility. Boxes will be locked, signed and sealed, including fingerprints. All doors to the central will have round-the-clock watchers, with FULL access. If the Dems can go into a room, so can the watchers. Trackers on everyone involved.
Will that stop it?
Hell, no. Our goal is just to minimize it.
BTW, if a location uses machines, any reset will result in criminal investigation, plus a mandatory paper copy repeat.