America faces a critical threat to our guaranteed freedoms, and we are mere weeks away from it getting worse if we don’t start now to protect the vote.
CPAC has built an international network of political activists spanning five continents. In every one of the dozen countries where we have CPAC events, including CPAC Mexico, which was held the weekend of Aug. 23, people from around the world have expressed grave concern over how the United States conducts our elections. They are dumbfounded by the idea that America makes voting so complicated, drawn out and acrimonious.
Most democracies conduct their elections with so little problems that their elections will produce a clear winner, whether they like the results or not. France will vote in a day with the results published before tomorrow’s baguettes are put in the oven. The European Union holds elections with lots of dispute, but no coverage of voting system “malfunctions” or court attempts to change rules at the last second.
Let that sink in. Across the globe, large segments of people no longer believe that American elections will go smoothly because of issues with voting machines in the past, noncitizens voting and changing the rules so close to an election. It is beyond dangerous for our allies, enemies and the rest of the world to believe that America can fall into further division if its citizens do not feel that they can protect their vote. No matter your political persuasion, without restoring confidence in our election outcomes America will continue to rip itself apart, weakening our Republic and leading our enemies to conclude that we are a declining and vulnerable has-been superpower.
Unfortunately, we are on a dangerous path to that end, and it could become worse in a matter of days, unless Americans of good will work together to force change.
At last count, 30 states will begin deploying drop boxes on their streets. Consistent with the Constitution, the rules about the use of drop boxes are regulated by the state. Implementation, however, is left up to the politicians in our large cities that are nearly universally run by socialist Democrats. Like the south of old, these broken cities are one party ruled. And it is a legitimate fear that election night could be filled with strange occurrences that never seem to happen in other countries.
CPAC strongly opposes the myriad ways the left is delegitimizing our elections, but we also are practical enough to understand that we must work to immediately improve the system as it is with less than 70 days. Demanding transparency and public monitoring of these new forms of voting should satisfy the public goals of both sides: Make it easy to vote and impossible to cheat. If these public goals are not also privately espoused, then we will be stonewalled at every step by those who control blue cities.
In that vein, CPAC sent election officials in every major jurisdiction a letter calling for the ability to observe and monitor election drop boxes. Because we must, as we wrote, ”ensure that drop box observation activities are performed in such a way as to renew public confidence in fair, free and transparent elections.”
We hope that our efforts reduce voter uncertainty and diminish post-election chaos by strengthening state protocols that allow for observation of ballot drop boxes consistent with how we monitor traditional methods of voting.
As of today, we are in a very dangerous place. Consider:
Michigan law admits the need for video monitoring of boxes, but conveniently, municipalities don’t have to add cameras to old boxes until after this presidential election. Pennsylvania, the ultimate battleground state, requires no monitoring of boxes whatsoever. Nevada only requires that the boxes be constructed of “rigid” materials, ironically ensuring no security from casting illegal ballots, but instead protecting dubious ballots from theft!
Anyone interested in fair voting should be working with us to increase confidence in our system. Every voter, regardless of party, should expect that election fraud will be eradicated, and partisan party operatives will be stopped if they engage in any illegal voting schemes to manipulate the outcome of our elections. Even the appearance of impropriety fuels the belief across our country and around the world that a president-elect is illegitimate.
Quick, responsible responses to our written requests for a better observation process, including from the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ), will be a step in the right direction. The clock has started, and we await their response.
Let’s send Nicolás Maduro, Vladamir Putin and the ayatollahs in Iran a message from America that we can fight like hell and demonstrate to the world that we are taking the necessary steps to secure our elections where each legitimate vote counts. America is at her best when she acknowledges a serious problem and works with transparency and integrity to mend what is broken. The old catchphrase is appropriate now: We are all in this together.
Matt Schlapp is Chairman of CPAC and Bill Walton is Vice-Chairman of CPAC.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.
