Author’s Note: Now that this transformational mid-term hoo-haa election with the impact of a small dry fart is dissipating, I have this short piece to offer.

-Marlow

Let’s talk a bit about today’s subject after a decidedly ho-hum election where hair-on-fire predictions of coming possible frauds were rampant. Despite some huffing and puffing on various legacy, broadcast, print and digital media news outlets, in brief it’s legal in most states with some states being very specific about the who’s, when’s and why’s.

To be more specific, I’ve seen it up close and personal since the early 1970’s across the country, by both parties, and in some locales, the party affiliations changed over time as the north-to-south waves of retiree migration washed over our fair lands and amber waves of grain.

A brief historical note – it’s an old practice (see below image). https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_harvesting_laws_by_state

My personal experience was observational not participatory, across in five disparate states — Florida, California, Hawaii, Virginia, Louisiana — over half a century. Almost always its participant voters were the elderly, the shut-in, and/or the infirm. Most were residents in congregant settings. The harvesters were unpaid, volunteer locals with a decidedly local electoral focus. The “help” sessions were jovial, low-pressure affairs in dining and meeting rooms. Never saw alcohol or cash — just finger food, snacks, sweet tea, and sodas. Many of the helpers were known by the voters — family, former neighbors, facility staff and so on.

The sole times I objected were two harvest operations involving incompetent facility residents who were not capable of informed consent.

To be blunt:

· simple oral and written messages sufficed to end the harvesting of incompetent voters and
· the scope and scale of these overall efforts had no demonstrable effect beyond local election outcomes in small communities

And now back our regular programming.

Copyright 2022 My Aisle Seat
www.vicsocotra.com