There is a lot of discussion about elections these days. Some of it happens around the Fire Ring at Refuge Farm, and none of it is approved for release because it could be used for partisan purposes. Some aspects of the issues do appear reasonable fr discussion. Our regular participant Loma used to live in a square state out west, and he outlined his particular issue this morning.

“I am having great difficulty getting my name off one of the Square State voter rolls. I registered to vote here in Virginia last spring when I moved to The Farm.” He waved languidly toward the Bunk House. “The Virginia folks said they sent a notification to the Square State Secretary when I did it. Here is the problem: I’ve been sent ballots twice for Square State elections since then, and I could have voted in both states without question jus by mailing it back in. I can’t see if they have actually updated my departure, since my registration status isn’t accessible in their online system.”

We had all heard the stories of people registered in more than one state, with one who was identified in seven. There was some general nodding at that as Loma continued. “I had some friends raise the issue in person at the County Clerk’s office out West. They told me the staffer at the Registrar’s Office was a little obnoxious, but said she could see my name in her system still registered as a voter. I’ve sent in a written request to take my name off, but I may never know if it happened, and there is no direct way for me to check. The only reason I checked was the number of similar reports I have seen from other states, including the ones with squiggly boundaries.”

“So the number of registered voters may be erroneous?” Splash had a frown and our Attorney knew he was liable to launch off into speculative topics that would only take up more of her time and have to be redacted later.

Loma laughed. “I could be voting for some Square State Candidates for the next century – or at least my name will.”

“Could be longer than that. I heard there were more than 2,000 voters aged over a hundred years old in New Jersey, with some who are registered long enough that they could have voted for Lincoln.”

Our Economist Buck looked concerned. He tugged at his t-shirt and rose to speak. “So, there are documented problems that feed uncertainty. That is a bad thing in a nation that has always been pretty fair in elections. There are documented problems though. Some fraudulent institutional traditions that go back to the Tammany Hall days in New York City. But on the whole, the elections used to be pretty fair. Virginia took action on participation in person for the disabled a while back.” He looked at his smart phone before continuing. “In fact, I voted yesterday in what Virginia calls “Absentee in Person.” As you know, I have a disability after that leg injury I had when I fell down the faculty lounge steps while I was still teaching. You guys know I can still walk, but standing around in line for an hour is a painful deal. What our state allows you to do is vote in person at the County Clerk’s office for the couple weeks before election day. In order to provide security, you have to show up in person, present some kind of photo identification, and vote. Yesterday, I voted for a fellow named Alexander in the VA-7 primary. He had five deployments to Iraq on his resume, so I know he is someone I could sit down and talk to like you guys, if necessary. We share some of the same issues and the same enemies.”

“So, that takes all that ballot harvesting, mass mail-ins and unsupervised drop boxes out of the equation. That sounds pretty secure,” said Loma firmly. “That is why I trust it. I was tempted in this one to make a vote of confidence for that female candidate of Salvadoran ancestry. She is a Mom and a Deputy Sheriff in Prince George County and she might be the best candidate in the General election. But I wanted to at least show support to the Veteran community in the Primary.”

“Do you have to be a registered party member to vote in the Primary?”

“No, and that makes it interesting, since the other Party’s registered voters can vote in the other party’s Primary. They would naturally vote for the candidate they think they can beat. So there is still some strange stuff in the process, but at least it is limited to one vote for each citizen. There is only one Primary here in the 7th District, since the incumbent is running unopposed in the district that was re-drawn after the decadal census. Her name is Spanberger, and she used to work for the folks at Langley like some of you guys. She is a pleasant lady who I like as a person, but unfortunately she votes the Pelosi line, which I oppose.”

“I think a lot of people are emotional at the moment with everything going on. We will see who is on the November slate after the primaries are done. Absetee-in-person is a bit of a challenge, but I think you should have to prove who you are and that you are actually alive to vote. You have to show ID for everything else in this world- checks, credit, alcohol, tobacco, driving. Voting is the most important of those perfectly routine interactions with the Government. Since messing around with even a single ballot is a felony criminal offense, we ought to at least demonstrate who we are and that we are only voting once.”

“But what about people in confined circumstances?”

“I hope you don’t mean jail. But for nursing homes, hospitals and assisted living facilities there should be the same rigor attached to those votes as any other. If that means a certified election official has to stop by the facility instead of an unidentified health assistant, so what?”

“Yeah. I drove to town to participate as an “Absentee in Person” for the Primary. I clambered out of the truck and hobbled to the County Registrar’s Office on the second floor of the building downtown. It was a little difficult, but there was no crowd, two certified election officials and I produced my driver’s license to prove who I was. It took a couple minutes to fill in the little circle next to my candidate’s name, and I fed it into the scanning machine myself when I was satisfied. Someone could screw around with that, but I have a reasonable certainty my identity has been used to vote only once. Accordingly, I have a certain confidence that my vote has a reasonable chance of being counted the way I voted.”

“So you think the in-person option of Absentee voting before Election Day is a real benefit for the disabled?”

“Right on. I do not trust any system without appearance at the polls and confirmed identification. If there are folks who want to vote but can’t get to the polls, we ought to spend the money to provide certified an reliable evidence that they are actually casting a ballot. And that they are alive when they did it.”

“Seems fair. The way they are doing it in the Square State seems to be intentionally unaccountable. That sounds like a recipe for fraud.” There was some nodding around the Fire Ring. And then we went on to talk about some of the things the government they say we elected is up to these days. Amanda let us go on for a while before she announced that story-time was over. Every word after that had to be accountable in a court of law in a land where voting is supposed to be secure, but speaking about it is not.

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