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Notes from the Desk of BCR Chairman, Peg Cage
The Election Show – Will We End It, or Will It End Us?
Stalin purportedly said, “It’s enough that the people know there was an election…” If they think they voted for it, people are willing to tolerate the hopelessness of an oppressive government and the resulting burdens of over-regulation and over-taxation.
But we didn’t vote for it. We apathetically ushered it in by allowing government to perpetuate itself and increase its power by giving it control over our “elections.” As Stalin reportedly continued, “The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”
I agree with Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and many more people who said the American elections are corrupt. Consider that the government’s Election Shows feature many opaque magic box processes that can’t be verified, including mail ballots, programmable counting machines made with foreign parts, and foreign and domestic technical and internet interference. Just knowing there was an election can no longer be enough. The biggest magic elements in the whole show were convincing the public that the party organizations that reflect members’ values and principles are bad, and that a government with the means to keep itself in power by cheating in elections would bother to run honest elections.
Colorado’s election statutes, Title One, explain explicitly that the people are to control the elections through their party organizations. People organize into parties and work under a set of bylaws and a platform with shared principles and values for the purpose of putting forth candidates to represent them at different levels of government. A party whose governor or presidential candidate receives more than ten percent of the total vote becomes a major party. (Technically, we could have several Major Parties.) The others are minor parties. Major parties appoint Election Judges to conduct the election and Canvass Board members who, along with the county clerk, verify, and if possible, certify the election. The County Clerk and Recorders and Secretary of State are authorized by virtue of their election as partisan political officers to administer and record elections. They can be removed from office by a vote of the people who elected them.
In an honest election, neighbors would gather in their precinct and vote for the people and issues that best reflect their values. Each voter would be verified as eligible in that polling place and given the proper paper ballot to vote in secret and would cast their ballot right there. The ballot box would never leave their sight, and they could watch the ballots being counted or even participate in that civic duty themselves. Each vote marked on each ballot would be recorded in duplicate by teams of four, with every vote in each batch being compared and accounted for prior to counting the next batch. No magic boxes, no undue trust granted to anyone. When the winners are announced at the end, there would be no doubt that there was an Election, not a Show.
Legislation dictates the current broken election process. Who made the corrupt election laws? Legislators elected in corrupt elections. Although apathy and hopelessness are up, we could easily reclaim our elections, and therefore our government, by taking simple steps towards honest elections.
Associate. Join the party that most closely reflects your values and work with that organization to elect your party’s candidates.
Vote. In person, on paper, on election day. It’s the closest we can get to taking part in an honest election. Currently only about 3% of voters bother to vote in person. We cannot demand honest elections while fully participating in their Election Show.
Don’t Certify! Voters throughout Colorado should implore their county’s major party Canvass Board Members to refuse to certify the election. The Colorado County Clerk’s Association and the Secretary of State want us to think that we must certify the election, but why should we? They can’t prove the validity of every ballot. Their people would be unseated in an honest election. They benefit from perpetuating the Election Show.
Actively participating in making good government takes effort. But it would be worth it to stop the government from actively participating in oppressing us in every detail of our lives.
Sincerely,
Peg Cage, Chairman Boulder County Republicans
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