In all the “sturm und drang” about stolen elections, the threats of lawsuits, the mathematical “proofs” that there must have been fraud. Rumors of election machines that change votes fake boxes arriving etc etc. One thing seems very clear to me.

The problem is not what we think it is.

The idea of a free election is that no-one knows how each individual voted. The process we have separates the physical voting from the counting. Or, at least it is supposed to.

We are about to embark on two run off elections in Georgia for the two Senate seats there. The elections will happen on January 5th. Inauguration is January 20th 2021. This is IMPORTANT.

It is safe to say that there is going to be enormous pressure and vast amounts of campaign cash flying around.

How do we work to ensure that this election is a secure as it can be? How do we help prevent any suggestion of hi-jack?

There will be lots of organization and money involved in turning out the vote. The GOP probably has observers named for the vote counting.

But there is a gaping hole in this process. Especially for mail in ballots.

The verification of the vote is based on the envelope. Before the envelope is opened the signature on the envelope needs to be scanned and approved. There is also another step that needs to be done.

The envelope needs to have a code that is tied to the voter who is submitting it. Both the envelope and the signature should be scanned and, if they do not match they must NOT be opened. Period. Bear with me for a few moments. The key point is to PREVENT false votes entering the system.

There need to be observers at every in-person voting station and they need to verify, by inspection, that the voter is correctly checked in by the judges. A count must be kept of a) verified voters who have cast ballots b) the number of ballots in the boxes . The observers (Dem and GOP) need to be able to verify the information and to sign the affidavit that reports how many votes were received at that polling station.

There are anecdotal reports from various voting locations that Party observers were either prevented from accessing the polling station or were prevented form being able to observe the verifications or the counting. There needs to be a mechanism for enforcing the needed access. If an observer is prevented from entering a polling station there needs to be IMMEDIATE action. The polling place should be flagged, the overseeing authority needs to be immediately informed. Everything at that polling place should be sequestered from the vote.

There is more to this than these steps. Voting machines must be tested beforehand and must be checked and signed off on by technical experts from each main party involved. Each machine. No exceptions – including any slated as substitutes. The location of each machine needs to be specified and logged. Each machine needs to be tested after use as well to make sure it is functioning correctly.

I do not know all the wrinkles and in and outs. But what I do know is that once the votes are separated from the voters it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to then prove fraud. You can assert it with confidence based on mathematics but it is the gateway that needs to be protected and verified – for in-person voting by ballot of by machine and for write in ballots with the envelope and direct correlation of envelope, signature and code for the voter.

No mailed in ballot that has been opened before election day should be allowed in the system unless there is a proven way to do it with all observing parties present and to sign off on the totals of verified ballots received.

If the GOP does not organize to take care of business in this regard then we kiss goodbye to sorting out anything afterwards as we are finding out now.

You cannot un-stir the cream out of the coffee once it has been added. Once you have opened the door to adding illegal votes to the process you lose the ability to control the integrity of the election.