Undermining the Democratic Voting Process in the United States
Waseem Mahmoud, Fall 2022
The United States of America is known for its democratic elections which take place every two years. In order to vote in the elections, you must be a U.S. citizen, meet your state’s residency requirements, be 18 years old on or before Election Day, and be registered to vote by your state’s voter registration deadline. To even become eligible for citizenship in the United States the process is long and arduous, requiring heaps of fees and paperwork, as well as an understanding of U.S. history, and declaring loyalty to the country and its constitution. These provisions are implemented to ensure that votes being cast are done genuinely without any chances of fraudulent practices [1].
The United States democratic voting process was incepted in the 1700s, which only gave a very small and privileged group the right to elect officials to office. Even when the right to vote was extended to other groups methods of suppression such as poll taxes and literacy tests were leveraged to deter many disfranchise groups from voting.[2] However, with time, vital protesting, and legislation, voting rights now extend to virtually the entire country. We are now facing a familiar problem in our nation with even more issues with voting amid state legislature creating many barriers to entry for voting such as ID laws. Although, many are quick to dismiss voter fraud claims as just myths, some sources are present that support these claims. The popularity of this topic has been soaring, especially after the 2020 presidential election between Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden and instances of voter fraud on the state level. These are only the known instances where assailants have been caught, but there are quite possibly other instances of voter fraud that were not identified by federal officials.
To begin, after President Trump’s election where he lost there were many claims of voter fraud from the Republic Party and its supporters in a multitude of forms. Reliable media sources such as the Washington Post found extremely limited amounts of fraud in election ballots. Although much of the 2020 fraudulent voting claims are not backed by evidence, there are some scenarios which have been reported which may imply cases of voter fraud. This is evident in the several court cases nationwide in which restrictive laws requiring voters to show identification have been thrown out. Furthermore, there are also extreme incidents of voter fraud that have been identified but think of this as the identified instances (some may go under the radar). With the 2020 Presidential Election, instances of multiple votes being cast by one voter, non-citizens voting, voter-mail fraud, and election results being counted incorrectly were documented. There are known instances of multiple votes cast by the same voter such as the two Florida men who admitted to voting more than once in the 2020 election [3]. These are instances that wholly goes unnoticed by the ballot counting process in the election process meaning these are one of the many groups of people who have implemented this tactic to push elections in a specific direction. Furthermore, there is a lack of voter ID laws in many states which makes the conditions possible for repeat casting of ballots with little to no chances of being identified or charged. Next, there is also the potential for the vote of non-citizens in the United States due to the aforementioned lack of voter-ID laws in many states. It could be in the interest of non-citizens for the elections to go towards specific candidates in the presidential election. There is also the case of voting through the mail which became vastly popular during the 2020 election due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The process of voting by mail creates a condition ripe for concerns over voting fraud due to the anonymity of the process. Votes could be easily taken on behalf of people without their knowledge if their information has been compromised — however no evidence of this was present in the 2020 election. Next, there is the process of election counting if wholly unsupervised by any real election authority. These numbers could be in the hands of counters who hold no real incentive to report numbers accurately, in fact, they have much incentive to skew data if they hold extreme political views [4]. Although no blatantly obvious evidence shows the 2020 election was entirely rigged, the impact the election had on the nation created division.
There are instances of citizen fraud in state elections. To begin, there’s the case of Courtney Llewellyn, a Nursing associate for East Longmeadow City, Massachusetts, who conspired together with her husband to cast absentee ballots in her husband’s race for state office. She modified the party registration of 285 registered Democrats to Independent and so requested Republican primary ballots for all of them. She and her husband took the ballots on the pretense of mailing them to the voters, however, but were not able to fully carry out their plan. This is only 1 of the various cases during which double voting occurred and would have gone overlooked if implemented [5].
Finally, there’s another case, that of former elected official Enrico Villamaino, a candidate for the Massachusetts House of Representatives, who was found to have interfered with an election official, forging documents, perjury, and conspiring to commit an unlawful act by changing the party affiliations of 280 citizens. Even if high-profile administrations are capable and active in the skewing of election information shows that the method of voting in the United States can and is being fraudulently skewed [6].
Through these cases, you’ll see the light being shone on the terribly unsecured method of selection in the United States elections; fraud exists; however, many deny it to save face. There are many cases being enforced on a good scale that were simply barely caught. Thus imagine the innumberable variety of conspirators who could have implemented their plans and with the assistance of connections, luck, and the lack of security and legislature in our ballots be able to securely vote and be represented in our elections.
There is also the case to be made for how this fraudulent voting derails the security of U.S citizenship. One of the main rights of being a citizen in the United States is the right to vote and elect government officials. If this process is being undermined through fraudulent voting, then one of the most vital and unique aspects of U.S. citizenship is at risk. How can we call ourselves citizens of the United States if our voices are not heard through the appointing of representatives in the government? One of our jobs as citizens is to create a better future for all citizens by abiding by the principles outlined in the constitution. If voting isn’t considered one of these core principles, then what is?
Our elections whether on the state or federal level should be ensured to be an accurate representation of the views of citizens around the country. Every two years our federal elections could possibly be tainted with fraudulent votes which can deter many people from even going to the ballots. More and more we see many voters become disillusioned with the idea of voting and deciding that since their ideas and opinions aren’t being represented in our government there is no point in voting. Especially many young voters see the efforts of the generations before them being completely and utterly ignored in the legislature and not accurately represented in the election of officials. This problem will be exacerbated more and more if the idea that voting in the U.S has no impact in the outcome of the elections. Some cases may fly under the radar the combating these laws is important to securing the principles outlined in our constitution.
The Constitution established the United States as a democratic republic it was meant to have the people govern themselves. A governmental power derived from its people. Our government regardless of the level- federal, state, and local – is elected by the citizens. These citizens vote for their government officials and these officials represent the concerns and ideas of the citizens in government. Our governors, mayor, and city officials are elected by the voters to carry out laws legislation and causes on our behalf. Voters want to make changes to their community- building bigger schools, improving roads, and creating public infrastructure, and basic amenities for all citizens. Voters are meant to be able to contact their government officials and have those views represented in the legislature. But now our elections have become one in which the goals of those willing to enact fraud are the ones represented in the government. The views of those who repeat votes, case votes on others’ behalf without their knowledge, or just vote fraudulently, in general, have their views being represented by the average citizen. In order for the United States to be a truly democratic nation in which the voting process is representative of the wants of the average citizen this fraud must be curbed and order must be restored to the voting process. One of the many important rights of being a citizen is to have the right to vote and have your views represented accordingly. will this basic right for a secure democratic process be protected or will election fraud rule over our elections?
Notes
[1]Who Can and Can’t Vote in U.S. Elections | USAGov. www.usa.gov/who-can-vote Nov, 7th, 2022.
[2]York, Carnegie Corporation Of New. “Voting Rights: A Short History | Voting.” Carnegie Corporation of New York, www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/voting-rights-timeline Nov, 7th, 2022.
[3]“Two Florida Men Admit to Voting Multiple Times in the 2020 Election.” The Hill, thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3266711-two-florida-men-admit-to-voting-multiple-times-in-the-2020-election Nov, 7th, 2022.
[4]Kilgore, Ed. “Unraveling Trump’s Bogus Election-Denial Arguments.” Intelligencer, 26 Sept. 2022, nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/09/election-denial-explained-unraveling-trumps-bogus-claims.html Nov, 7th, 2022.
[5]Courtney Llewellyn Gets Probation in East Longmeadow Voter Fraud Case. thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/Voter%20Fraud%20Database/Massachusetts/Courtney%20Llewellyn%202013%20MA%20Source%202.pdf Nov, 7th, 2022.
[6]Enrico Villamaino Sentenced to Serve 4 Months in Ludlow Jail in East Longmeadow Voter Fraud Case. thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/Voter%20Fraud%20Database/Massachusetts/Enrico%20Jack%20Villamaino%202013%20MA.pdf Nov, 7th, 2022.