Soap Box

There is an old saying that “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.” Well, when it comes to elections all the fat lady can do is stand in the wings and wait until the votes are counted and that seems to depend on some pretty tenuous circumstances involving a cast of shady characters who have a tendency to balk when the vote tally doesn’t add up to suit them.

Our elections are supposed to be fair and impartial, the one place where a truly level playing really does exist and every American who took the time and trouble to register submits a vote that is guaranteed to be counted exactly as cast.

Politics are supposed to stop at the doors of the polling places and those charged with counting the votes are supposed to leave all personal, political convictions and party affiliations at home, counting every vote just as it is marked, and taking great care to make sure that none are misplaced or tampered with.

How many times have national and local elections been in question long after the polls closed because the state of Florida, or at least parts of it, cannot deliver a certified count in a timely fashion?

Something is wrong in South Florida, something that should have been remedied a long time ago, and it looks like the person who was at least a big part of the problem is now out of the picture.

If the people who are charged with collecting and counting the votes cannot keep the prescribed schedule they should be dismissed and replaced with honest, competent personnel who can and will get the job done efficiently and accurately without stonewalling deadlines in hopes of finding a way to throw an election in a direction the majority of voters never meant for it to go.

We need to take a long and serious look at the mechanics and processes our nation employs in our elections.

First of all, any official who allows anyone without a valid photo ID to vote, and is not properly registered should be in violation of some stringent federal statute forbidding this practice and face jail time.

Not requiring a current form of identification that proves not only identify but valid citizenship is baseless, groundless, and is supported only by those who stand to gain from such a careless policy.

There is no other serious transaction in our country that can be carried out without such a document, banking, cashing a paycheck, even boarding an airplane or operating a motor vehicle requires such an instrument and voting should require no less.

Voting machines are wonderful inventions, but they can be confusing and are certainly susceptible being tampered with, and, at least in my humble opinion, all propositions and codicils should be removed from the general election sheets and placed in a section of the ballot the voter does not even see until all candidates have been voted on.

I remember the day when paper ballots were still used and it took a lot longer to count the vote but it really cut down on the magnitude of fraud that electronic voting makes possible.

But in this age of fail-safes, redundancy systems and the indelible trails any online transaction leaves behind, there has to be a way to put together a system that would make voting machines tamper-proof.

Then we come to the meat of the subject, the dishonest people who worm their way into positions of power in the election process, the few who seem to always be able to find uncounted votes in an audit, and a way to stall the tabulating process casting around for votes that favor the candidates or party of their personal choice.

Such people are the worst kind of criminals, the kind that would steal your birthright, and invalidate your vote for their own greedy reasons.

Such people should face trial and serious incarceration, they should be disgraced, branded as a traitor to democracy and never allowed to serve in a public capacity again.

Folks, there are those who are trying to steal your country, to make it into their deformed image of a socialist servant to a central global government that would control every facet of your life and if they win at the ballot box there is little that can be done to stop them.

Election Commissions should be staffed with honest, reliable people who will brook no fraud, tampering or intimidation at the polling places.

The very freedom of our nation depends on it.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, our police and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

— Charlie Daniels

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