Vote early, vote often …

The story  about vote fraud charges filed this week by Wake County’s district attorney is continuing to snowball into the weekend.

The number of suspects in the case has expanded from four to nine.   The Civitas Institute, a conservative public affairs organization in Raleigh, has sounded off on the case in its blog:

It’s true; voter ID would not have prevented the type of fraud that we are reading and hearing about today.   As I stated in my blog yesterday, North Carolina is in dire need of election reform and this type of fraud is crying out for changes in early voting processes and schedules. Right now, our laws allow anyone to register to vote whenever they want and allow everyone to vote wherever they choose.

The General Assembly was on the right track when they entertained legislation to shorten the one-stop, early voting period.

(Click here to see the June issue of the Capitol Connection – includes a list of election reform legislation introduced in the 2011 session)

To curtail the type of voter fraud reported on today, one-stop voting should end several days prior to Election Day in order to give election workers time to update their absentee lists before the polls open on Election Day.

And, as the Republicans proposed in the 2011 session, one-stop voting should be abbreviated to give the local board of elections time to complete their work on last minute voter registrations.  Sites should open on the third Monday before Election Day and close on Wednesday, the week before Election Day.  That’s 10 full days including a weekend of voting — certainly more than enough time for every eligible voter to exercise their duty and vote ONE TIME!

While they are at it, the General Assembly should change the deadline to register to vote to 25 days prior to the onset of one-stop voting instead of 25 days prior to Election Day AND eliminate the worst election related legislation passed by the Democrats voted out of office in 2010 – “Same Day Registration.”

It’s true that the vetoed legislation would not have prevented fraud like what is alleged in these charges.  All of the suspects did their work with absentee ballots.  I say the legislation should be expanded to include ANY and ALL forms of voting.  You should be required to show some form of positive ID before you cast a ballot — whether it is an absentee ballot you mark at home, or a ballot you cast at a polling place.  There also needs to be a confirmation process that documents your ONE and ONLY vote in that election.

I agree with The Civitas blogger about “Same Day Registration,” and the one-stop, early voting period.   Local Democrat machines abuse those practices all over the state during each election.  Don’t believe me?  Talk to some very frustrated Republican / conservative activists in Robeson County — where Satan would win big if he was the Democrat nominee. Leaders in the Robeson Democrat machine can give you the final election results THE DAY BEFORE election day.  (Robeson was the ONLY county carried by George McGovern in the 1972 presidential race.)

Voter ID is just the tip of the iceberg, as far as cleaning up and protecting the sanctity of our elections in North Carolina. The Wake County Nine are not the only ones who have ever cheated on election day — not by a long shot.

Madame Governor and her friends in the legislature need to stop obstructing this important work to help restore the people’s faith in our election process.