It appears, as has long been evident in the blogosphere and now has been formally recognized by FBI raids and a federal judge, that ACORN has been very very naughty and needs to be spanked. Voter fraud is tacky, and doing it on a grand scale and then flinging ones hands in the air and claiming that quality control is impossible doesn't make it any better.
But that, of course, is just the warm up. Knowing that the voter rolls have been significantly corrupted in up to perhaps 22 states (i.e., if ACORN operated in a state, it appears reasonable to consider the voter rolls in that state suspect) and that the Presidential race is tight enough that relatively minor tampering could swing the election one way or another, what can be done to cleans the voter rolls and hold an honest election?
There comes a time when it's time to pull the pin on the grenade and hurl it squarely in the center of the manure pond - it'll be messy as all get out, and all will be splattered with some fairly nasty stuff, but the crap will at least get broken up a bit.
Similarly, when faced with a corrupted election the answer isn't to just shrug ones shoulders and soldier on to a dishonest result - handing the saboteurs their fondest desire. Rather, the answer is to act to clean up the election (delaying it, if necessary) and make the process as painful as possible for the bad children trying to export Chicago political tactics.
Purge the voter rolls and, outside of verifiable military or other absentee ballots for verifiably absent persons, suspend absentee ballot usage. If necessary, delay the election a month or two, along with the inauguration - it's more important to have a verifiably honest election with real live breathing voters (as opposed to Bugs Bunny, the animated Warner Brothers cast, and the residents of various cemetaries), than to have one that's held on schedule.
If necessary, dump entire states voter rolls (say, the irretrievably corrupted Illinois, for instance) and insist on re-registration and verification of the entire voter base in affected states.
The process should, intentionally, be so hideously painful that the very mention of commiting voter fraud in the future causes mass rebellion in the ranks. Let it hurt - a lot. Honest elections are important, and it's taken us a long time to get them as clean as they are - reverting to the casual corruption and bullying of Chicago and New Orleans is simply not acceptable.
Voter registration should be handled by the government. Ideally this should be by a neutral ideology branch--signing up when you get your driver's license is fine, but not when picking up your welfare check or hunting license.
ReplyDeleteWho would declare an election so tainted that it doesn't count? Incumbents are far more likely to declare taint when the opposition is ahead, and nobody else will be able to enforce a do-over.