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Holding Unabridged Elections
We can prevent election fraud the way we prevent financial fraud, but to get this done we have to elect representatives who use their constitutional powers against others in government.
James Anthony
November 13, 2020
Voting is a substantial moral and financial transaction.
Votes are citizens’ only decisive input about war, abortion, and government spending. Votes impact life and property on a massive scale.
Governments’ spending, for instance, forcibly takes away people’s property on a scale [1] that rivals people’s mostly-voluntary spending on such major products as housing, transportation, and food, and people’s nominally-voluntary spending on healthcare [2].
Prevention lost
To minimize losses in all other walks of life, people focus on prevention. We don’t expose people to needless risk and then afterwards work to discover and mitigate losses. Instead, any losses we can prevent, we prevent.
We prevent alcohol purchases by minors by using IDs. We prevent air-travel terrorism in part by using IDs. We prevent thefts involving notarized transactions by using IDs. We prevent thefts using debit cards by using PIN numbers. After all, if sellers played fast and loose with customers’ finances, customers would buy elsewhere.
Voters, though, don’t have the choice to vote elsewhere. So while customers and business people everywhere do the due diligence that’s required to prevent fraud, always, government people in the USA don’t, especially lately [3].
As compiled in Ballotpedia, absentee or mail-in voting procedures have been modified for 2020 for 37 states. Absentee / mail-in applications are mailed out automatically in 11 states. Absentee / mail-in ballots are mailed out automatically in 3 states and in some counties of a 4th state. Early voting is allowed in 42 states. Voter ID isn’t required when voting in person in 18 states [4].
To what end?
Why would government people in the USA not protect voters against fraud? We can’t observe these people’s internal motivations, but we can make educated guesses about their likely incentives.
Government people from the Democratic Party hope that the less-informed voters will vote for them. Government people from the Republican Party may hope that a larger share of the less-informed voters will vote for them. Government people from both parties hope that a larger share of the less-informed voters will vote for their Progressive candidates than for any constitutionalist candidates.
All these hopes work against constitutionalists and, as a result, against we the people.
For we the people, what’s best is when government people don’t collude with each other but instead each use their constitutional powers against other government people, limiting governments. This is the only way that our life, liberty, and property can be made secure from government people.
Election-lawmaking rules
The powers that control elections are delegated plainly in the Constitution:
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators (USA Constitution, art. I, sec. 4, cl. 1) [5].
The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative (USA Constitution, art. I, sec. 2, cl. 3) [6].
Primary power to hold elections is delegated to the state governments, for the state legislatures to pass and therefore for the state executives to execute.
As a fallback when needed, offsetting power is delegated to Congresses to pass and therefore for presidents to execute. Amendments later add that such offsetting power explicitly protects all races [7], both sexes [8], non-taxpayers [9], and people 18 or older [10].
Primary power over allocation of representatives is delegated to Congresses to pass.
What has been happening with elections and with allocation of representatives for decades now, and what is happening on a larger scale in the current election, is that state legislators, state executives, congresspeople, and presidents have each to a significant degree not been using the powers that we the people delegated to them. Instead, they’ve each been acting as if we the people delegated these powers to judges.
Not using constitutional powers is the defining operating mode of Progressives. Progressives in government collude with one another by not using their constitutional powers against others in government to limit our governments. When our elected representatives don’t use their constitutional election powers, our natural rights to life and to secure property are not secure from unelected government people.
Under our current major parties, this fiduciary malfeasance [11] will continue, since both parties are controlled by Progressives.
Visualizing constitutionalist governance
It’s helpful across all government operations to have a clear picture of how constitutional governments would operate under a good party. Although constitutional operation is hard to get from candidates selected by our current major parties, constitutional operation is in principle simple and clear.
A judge’s opinion about elections immediately goes on record. Despite this opinion, every other government officer remains fully responsible for his own actions. Each officer is obligated by his conscience, and formally compelled by his oath of office, to only take actions that he regards as constitutional [12].
A judge’s opinion that an officer considers constitutional is binding not because the judge opined it but because the officer himself considers the opinion constitutional.
A judge’s opinion that an officer considers unconstitutional not only is not binding but also must not ever be followed by that officer, if that officer is faithfully honoring his oath of office.
The first layer of protection of elections will become effective when in at least one state government, constitutionalists are elected in majorities.
Constitutionalist state legislators will pay no heed to unconstitutional opinions from judges. These legislators will pass election laws that uphold legislators’ fiduciary duty to prevent fraud, by adopting commonsense measures statewide that are proven to prevent fraud when customers and sellers voluntarily cooperate.
Constitutionalist state executives will pay no heed to unconstitutional opinions from judges. These executives will simply enforce the constitutional state laws on elections.
So in the states where constitutionalists are elected, voting integrity will be protected.
The second layer of protection of elections will become effective when in the national government, constitutionalists are elected in majorities.
Constitutionalist congresspeople will pay no heed to unconstitutional opinions from judges. These congresspeople will simply pass fallback national laws on elections that uphold congresspeople’s fiduciary duty to prevent fraud, by adopting fallback commonsense measures nationwide that are proven to prevent fraud when customers and sellers voluntarily cooperate.
Constitutionalist presidents will pay no heed to unconstitutional opinions from judges. These presidents will simply enforce the constitutional fallback national laws on elections.
So in the nation, too, when constitutionalists are elected, voting integrity will be protected.
Boundaries in government
The Constitution defines boundaries. The Constitution is supported by government people only to the extent that government people respect and defend these boundaries.
Boundaries are essential in personal life [13]. Boundaries are equally essential in governments.
References
James Anthony is the author of The Constitution Needs a Good Party: Good Government Comes from Good Boundaries and rConstitution Papers: Offsetting Powers Secure Our Rights. Mr. Anthony is an experienced chemical engineer with a master’s in mechanical engineering.
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