STEVE KNOBLOCK, San Clemente councilmember
I recently introduced a resolution asking the State Legislature to consider election integrity measures, like verification of voter citizenship and traceable paper ballots. This would help ensure safe, reliable and accurate elections.
Unfortunately, those suggesting safeguard methods by which our government leaders are chosen are often responded to by being called names like racist, xenophobic, etc. Or, in the case of Ms. Dooley, with accusations like lies, deceit, alternative facts, extreme partisanship, conspiracy theorists, incendiary misinformation, fomenting lies, pester and insurrection.
This would be laughable if it were not so sad.
Computerized voting machines and ballot drop boxes are not foolproof or safe. The safety of a ballot drop box is not determined, as she suggested, by surviving a truck running into it, but whether it is safe from someone dropping hundreds or thousands of fraudulent ballots into it.
Fraudulent acts like this were clearly video-recorded in many states during the 2020 general election and can be witnessed in the documentary entitled 2000 Mules.
Those vested in the political status quo claim electronic voting machines are safe and immune from nefarious tampering. However, the Federal Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, reported in an election integrity key finding: “…even jurisdictions that implement cybersecurity best practices are potentially vulnerable to cyberattack by sophisticated cyber actors…” (July 28, 2020 Report).
Those that oppose traceable paper ballots also argue machines are safe because the Secretary of State and the County Registrar of Voters do a good job of tabulating votes. By law, they have no choice but to tabulate the votes obtained from the very computerized machines that are vulnerable to cyberattack. Nor are the computers able to distinguish in any way, whatsoever, if the voter is a citizen of the United States and even authorized to vote.
Election integrity is something that should be taken seriously. It is the foundation of our democracy. Until the majority in Sacramento changes, do not expect anything related to improved election integrity to occur.