By Coach Dave Daubenmire

If you are old like me, you probably remember when there was such a thing as Election DAY all across this nation. It was officially set as the “the Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in November.” In fact, it was not to long ago that Election Day was a holiday in America to assure all American citizens could exercise their duty and right to vote.

Absentee” ballots have always been available for those who were not able to make it to the polls. There was a process, controlled by the respective states, by which a ballot would be provided to those who were unable to make it to the polls on Election DAY.

But somewhere along the way, Election Day has morphed into Election MONTH. Today, in most states, ballots can merely be dropped into a collection box without any proof or trail of who exactly cast the ballot. This has opened our elections to rampant fraud.

Say what you will, ballot harvesting and ballot stuffing has called into question the validity of our elections. Isn’t that exactly what the Jan 6 “insurrection” was all about? Didn’t men and women show up in Washington, DC to “petition the government for a redress of their grievances?” Wasn’t the accusation of “voter fraud” at the heart of the 2020 election?

In fact, DEMOCRATS have been complaining about election issues for years. Hillary Clinton rambled on about how the election was stolen from her. Watch this brief video of Democrats carping about unsecured elections. Evidently, Democrats can question elections, but Donald Trump cannot. They want to put him in prison for wanting to verify the outcome.

In sports, they have developed a technique called “instant replay.” I remember when it was first introduced over 30 years ago with the advent of video tape. For the first time in sports the judgment call of an umpire or referee could be “reviewed” by replaying the tapes and determining if the judgment of the official had been correct. This simple concept of “upon further review” changed the nature of the sports by verifying the veracity of the umpires.

Gradually, the call to “kill the umps” drifted away because the “eye in the sky” was reviewed to eliminate “bad calls” during a game. Are sports events more important to our nation than elections? Isn’t the correct outcome of an election more important than whether a runner was safe or out at first base? Are we sure there are no “bad calls” in election results? Isn’t “upon further review” simply the sports’ world’s manner by which they offer a “redress of grievances?”

Has the integrity of our elections gotten better or worse since we extended Election DAY to Election MONTH? Why wouldn’t both teams want a fair game? No one wants to win a game over a “bad call” by a referee. In fact, Pete Rose has been kept out of the Hall of Fame for the APEARANCE of behavior that was not above board. Major League Baseball did not want to tarnish the image of the Hall of Fame by admitting a “cheater” into its hallowed halls.

Evidently, the integrity of Baseball is more important to America than the integrity of our elections. Pete is banned for what he “might” have done, while potential cheating is not serious enough to have a “further review” in regards to our election of our national leaders.

Early voting opens the door to all types of corruption scenarios. Politics is BIG Business and TRILLIONS of dollars often hang in the balance as a result of elections. Both sides cheat because both sides have a vested interest in incumbency. Did you know that re-elections rates for our “representatives” in DC is over 90%? Check this out. Do you think the “foot on the scale” only applies to Democrats? Have you noticed how few Republicans have fought for President Trump? Why is that? Could it be that they all benefit from the current fair-election facade?

Most of the “ballot harvesting” happens in the larger cities because it is so much easier to fake names, addresses, and signatures. Some states allow up to 30 Days early voting with very little verification of the voter’s identification with ballots dropped in stand-alone boxes throughout the city. At most poll locations some means of identification is required for IN PERSON voting, but mail in and drop-box voting requires no such verification.

Many of you have played sports and understand the importance of the scoreboard. Strategy often changes later in a game depending on whether a team is ahead or behind. Why have we not demanded that early voting results be posted EVERY DAY so that both teams know whether they are ahead or behind. Can you image a basketball game where the scoreboard is covered until the end of the game? Why is this not important in an election? Wouldn’t it be fair to BOTH teams to post the vote tallies each day so that supporters would know if they were ahead or behind before the game is over?

What fun would it be watching a game if you did not know the score during the game?

We need significant reform of our elections if the creed of “one man, one vote” is going to have any validity.

Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.” Joseph Stalin.

We are rapidly become the old Soviet Union that Americans laughed at a half-century ago.

We must demand a return to mandatory same-day voting with paper ballots.

Otherwise, our elections are meaningless.

Let’s make Election Day honest again.