Apr.23

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

What Can Be Done to Protect the Midterms from Federal Interference?

Free elections are important—especially if a country is on the road to autocracy. Just ask Viktor Orbán. Will the U.S. have free elections in November? Many people are worried about that. The administration is doing nothing to reduce these fears. Instead, it is doing everything it thinks it can get away with to maximize them. Donald Trump clearly understands that the only way for the Republicans to win is to cheat, one way or another.

Politico reached out to a number of voting experts for advice about how states can protect their elections. From interference. By the government. The U.S. government, not the Russian government. Here is a summary of the advice:

• Harden Deadlines for Certification: One possible hack on the system is for losers to try to delay members of Congress from being seated by Jan. 3, 2027. States need to tighten their laws to make sure election results are certified well before that. Many states give the SoS a lot of time for canvassing. That can be shortened in many cases by procedural changes. For example, absentee ballots and ballots voted early could be counted in real time (and the results kept secret until the polls close on Election Day). Then on that day, only that day's votes would need to be counted. In some states, if the results are close, an automatic recount is forced. States could give the SoS the authority to start a recount if the SoS thinks it might be needed, even before the full count is done. If it is not needed, no harm is done. Also important is for states to write laws ordering lawsuits to be handled quickly. Instead of 30 days to file an appeal, how about 3 days to file an appeal?
  
  
• Prepare for Ballot Seizures: States should be aware that the DoJ may try to seize ballots and voting machines and should prepare their defenses now. That means have the briefs to fight a seizure ready long before Election Day so they can be filed within minutes of an attempted seizure. A fully prepared legal team should be ready to appear in court within an hour of the attempted seizure. Here is an example plan. Also, staff lawyers need to be aware of what constitutes a valid federal warrant and be prepared to simply refuse to obey one that is not legally perfect. Improving tabulation speed is also important. If the near-final results (including all early voting) are publicized at 10:00 p.m. on Election Day, the public will not have to deal with an initial showing that the Republican won and days later that the Democrat won. The faster the (un)official result is in, the smaller the window to interfere and stop the counting.
  
  
• Chain of Custody: It is essential that no federal agency gets control of any ballots or machines until after the all the votes have been counted (and recounted if need be) and the election has been fully certified. This is called the "chain of custody." As soon as local officials give up the ballots to any third party, including the federal government, the local authorities and the courts can no longer be sure that tampering or ballot destruction didn't take place. Once the chain of custody has been broken, the public will completely lose faith in the election. This must be prevented at all costs. Again, states and counties must physically resist handing over anything without a valid warrant and states and counties need to have legal briefs ready to file to oppose seizure the minute the federal government tries it.
  
  
• Interference at the Polls: Federal law bans the deployment of federal agents to polling places. States should pass identical laws. In that way, if a federal agent shows up at a polling place, that agent is violating state law. State law-enforcement officials are authorized to arrest people who are in the process of committing a state crime. When the federal agent screams: You can't do that!" the state trooper can yell back "Tell it to the judge tomorrow" and haul the federal agent away. States could recruit and train volunteers to be at every polling place to look for interference and have a way to report it immediately.
  
  
• Election Tours: Declining trust in elections is a big problem. One way to deal with this is giving candidates, officials, and even the public tours of election offices before the election to show how things work and what the procedures are. Having candidates do the tour and recording it is especially important. After the tour, the candidate can be asked: "Are there any aspects of election administration that you disagree with and think need to be changed?" If the candidate says everything is fine before the election, making a claim after he loses that the procedure was incorrect is vastly weaker.
  
  
• Adequate Election Funding: What Congress and states can do is make sure that election offices are properly funded and that there are enough well-trained workers to do the work quickly and accurately. There is potentially a fund available. On tax returns people can check a box to provide for public funding of campaigns. No one has used that fund since 2008. Congress could pass a law allowing it to be used to fund election administration.

Of course much more could be done, but it is unprecedented for states having to worry about being attacked by the federal government. (V)