By CRAIG E CAMPBELL
Do you think the election process in America is corrupt? The process unfolding in Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania and other states is confirming, on a minute by minute basis, that voter integrity is not being protected and voter manipulation is happening.
How can you trust an election outcome if you doubt the legitimacy of the process?
- A box of mail, which included three trays of absentee ballots, was dumped into a ditch in Wisconsin.
- Military ballots from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania were found discarded.
- Poll watchers in Philadelphia, who had validated Watcher Certificates from the Philadelphia County Board of Election, were denied entry into a polling place.
- People illegally handed out campaign brochures to voters while waiting in line to vote at the Olney Recreation Center in Philadelphia.
- Mail-in ballots received after election day with no postage date are counted. No way to verify that the ballot was completed on or before the election. Is the United States Postal Service complicate in voter fraud? Is the Division of Elections allowing post-election ballots to be counted to skew the results a certain way?
Voter integrity is a cornerstone of democracy. Without it, our election process is subject to fraud and abuse, resulting in a lack of confidence that those elected were, in fact, the choice of the people. Voter integrity requires five fundamental absolutes.
The first and foremost is to ensure that every American has the right to vote.
The second is validation that the voter voting is the registered voter and not someone else.
The third is a requirement that every voter be allowed to vote without any undue interference or external influence.
The forth is that each vote is actually counted, as was cast by the voter. Not changed, discarded, or disallowed.
The fifth is transparency, to ensure that every vote is counted as was marked by the voter.
As President Ronald Reagan once said about working with the Soviets, “Trust but verify.” So it is with politics. Observing the ballot counting process protects the integrity of the system. It has been a traditional method of voter verification for decades.
I am appalled by the actions taken by some election officials in this election to potentially manipulate the outcome. Allowing a vote counting process to be conducted by denying poll watchers their legal ability to observe the vote counting process creates the perception that unlawful activities are permissible.
I am equally offended by election officials that have permitted ballots counted that were not signed, could not be verified that the vote cast was actually completed by the registered voter, counted people who no longer lived in that district or state, had died, or it could not be confirmed that the ballot was cast on or prior to election day.
It should not be this way. Voter registrations can be verified and purged of individuals no longer eligible to vote in a specific location. Elections can be conducted with full transparency and accountability, where all participants can agree on the end result, win or loss. I speak with scar tissues from past elections.
While serving as Alaska’s lieutenant governor, I had the honor (or rather the responsibility) to oversee our states election process during a very contentious election cycle. As you may recall, that year Joe Miller ran against Senator Lisa Murkowski in the Republican primary. Joe Miller won the primary. Senator Murkowski subsequently filed to run in the general election as a write-in candidate.
In the 2010 General Election, Miller garnered 35% of the vote; however, 40% of the total votes were write-ins that were not counted until after election day. To finalize the general election vote count, a hand count was conducted in Juneau. Both Miller and Murkowski were allowed to have poll watchers at the site during the count.
In fact, poll watchers from both sides were able to look directly over the shoulder of any person counting votes to verify the vote. They were able to challenge the marking or spelling of each and every ballot cast. At the end, I affirmed that Murkowski prevailed. Miller sued the State and lost in court. He conceded in December.
Compare that to today, where in Philadelphia poll watchers were restricted from being in close proximity of the people actually counting the vote. How can you verify the marking if restricted from being close? How can you verify the legitimacy of the ballot? This restriction on an open process only leads one to conclude there must be some nefarious actions being taken to manipulate the voting outcome.
Maybe I’m wrong, but their actions certainly don’t convince me I am.
Objective voter verification is an absolute requirement if we want to convince the public that elections are fair. I would submit that verification by government officials alone is not convincing. Verification needs to be done by all affected parties, which means candidate representatives that have been identified as certified poll watchers. This does not create an unfair election process. Rather, it confirms the fairness of the system, process, and outcome.
I have some recommendations for changes in Alaska:
- The Legislature should enact a law mandating that all ballots must be received by midnight on Election Day to be counted. None of this one week later stuff to count absentee and mail-in votes.
- We must reinstate the requirement for witness signing of all mail-in and absentee ballots. To hell with a stupid court ruling. They are wrong when it comes to maintaining voting system with integrity. When you vote in person, verification that the person voting is the same person registered to vote is required.
- Prohibit ballot harvesting from any third party. This idea that someone can go around and collect ballots is ludicrous. It allows for gross voter manipulation by opening the door that the person collecting the ballots could also be influencing the voter or worse, marking the ballot for them.
- Increase penalties for campaigning at polling places.
- The State Division of Elections must pursue an aggressive voter registration verification process to remove from the voter registration list prior to every election those who have moved out of state; those who have moved between districts; those who have died; and those who are no longer eligible to vote.
Fair elections are crucial to the survival of a healthy democracy. Our democratic republic is based on the principle of “one person, one vote.” That means a legal and legitimate vote by each of us eligible to vote, not multiple votes by individuals; not votes cast by someone other than the actual voter; not votes cast based upon undue influence to a voter at the time the vote is cast; and it certainly means having all votes counted, not lost in ditches, misplaced, or discarded.
If this election has taught us one thing, it is that our election system needs a major overhaul. Without it, we will only see more corrupt voting shenanigans by corrupt people, organizations, and governments who have contempt for the American people, and intend to continue manipulating elections to deprive us all of our constitutional rights for fair and honest elections.
Why? Because to them the ends justify the means.
Craig E. Campbell served on the Anchorage Assembly between 1986 and 1995 and later as Alaska’s Tenth Lieutenant Governor. He was the previous Chief Executive Officer and President for Alaska Aerospace Corporation. He retired from the Alaska National Guard as Lieutenant General (AKNG) and holds the concurrent retired Federal rank of Major General (USAF).
I agree! We need some laws that will protect our votes! We need some legislation that will protect our elections. I hope our new legislature will step up and get it done!
Well stated, Craig. Ironically, what you have requested puts no undue burden on anyone but those who want to deceive or manipulate an election. You propose that all people and timely votes are treated equally and that makes some people angry. And then when we show our disdain at changing rules misgame, WE are called the crazy ones who are destroying America.
Again showing that the Left predictably accuses the right of exactly what they are doing. I have only recently concluded that their playbook is published every time they accuse….
All of the suggested reforms is applicable and the Legislator’s in the State should reform the system. I think this is something I will propose to my Senator Shelly Hughes and Representative Cathy Tilton.
100%
Unfortunately, I do not expect our Division of Elections to do anything proactively. When Anchorage first went to mail balloting, I did not receive one when they were first sent out. I did receive a letter the next week saying that I did not get a ballot because MOA records differed from State Division of Election Records. Turns out that someone at the Division of Elections had decided my zip code should be 99503, instead of the 99517 it has been since I moved into the house in 1988. I was able to get my address fixed with a phone call (and my wife’s, as well), but they would not modify my neighbor’s address when I told them he was in the same situation.
When I suggested that this might be a problem for all of the people west of Minnesota who were in House District 18 and that they might want to investigate, I was told that they would wait for each voter to call or write. No proactive action was to be expected on their part. So I will not hold my breath waiting for DOE to do anything regarding dead voters or voters who have moved in or out of state.
This election will be the last meaningful election if Trump does not prevail. The mideast will go up like a Roman candle, China will do as they please, North Korea will push into the nuclear race, Russia will act out to it’s neighbors, and the economy will tank. Alaska will lose any ability to develop it’s resources and the state is not going to have enough cash to support all the welfare programs for individuals and towns. People can’t see past the end of their noses and it is glaringly obvious this year.
I mailed my ballot with the USPS with tracking (paid the extra $) to the Division of Elections in Fairbanks the 2nd week of October.
As of today, November 5th, tracking information shows my ballot and my votes ‘In Transit’ and not delivered by the USPS. I wonder how many other thousands of ballots the postal service in Alaska has thrown in the ditch and not delivered?
Save that tracking number, Eagle One. This is prime evidence that mail in voting is not working. What House District are you in?
Our chance to correct that was years ago, back when our leaders had a semblance of morality. Now the ones who have to make the changes are the very ones who don’t want it to change. It’s like our Anchorage assembly. They now make the rules on how we recall them. Their little pet city attorney does their dirty work and their judges will hold it up. It will get stuck in the dog and pony court show and after all that, the only thing that happens is the lawyers get richer. They have their mail in voting that is so easily manipulated and our banana republic is born. Too little too late.
Don’t for get the corrupt Media because without the media giving these corupt polticians protection they could not continue to get away with what they are doing!!!
The current assembly is criminal in it’s ignorance of adhering to the municipal charter and they are funneling millions into nonprofits that have CEOs that rake in 6 figure incomes.
They locked the villages down with the covid fear. They made it to scary for the people that needed the money from the pfd. They hammered the airways with paranoia laden PSA from public radio. They emergency closed all schools in the lksd district the Friday before the election. They didn’t deliver voting packets to quarantined homes in a lot of villages.
So far a 1000 less votes than the last election.
Quinhagak was the first village to lockdown this spring, for the sole reason of keeping me penned up or being seen as a threat to the health of any village I traveled and campaigned in.
Stella and I saw this coming since the lockdown was first announced in Quinhagak.
I’m caught up in the war between America and Socialism.
Look at rural Alaska public radio. KDLG, Dillingham goes all in for Al Gross, yet Bethels KYUK throws him under the bus in favor of protecting their cash cow, Tiffnay Zulkowski. They have her on the radio with newcasts and PSA’s fear mongering the risk of Covid, most every hour of the work day. She’s YKHC’s spokesman/lobbiest/ legislator.
Week after week of YKHC stressing stay home, don’t get in lines, stay away from your neighbors and anything else they could do to imprint the idea of standing in line to vote is likely to give you the Spanish Flu of 1918.
The real reason they had to stop me from getting elected is because they knew I’m all about launching investigations into their long practice of double and triple charging for services and medicine that is a huge contributor to the massive depletion of the States budget with their phony claims to medicade and Medicare reimbursements, which stole the people’s PFD to pay.
They succeeded, the poorest people in the villages didn’t go vote. Most don’t have internet, nevermind a printer to print a ballot. It’s a travesty what happened in rural Alaska.
Also, the media should be prohibited from broadcasting their opinions/phony statistics on election night while polls anywhere in the country remain open, as that can be construed as election meddling. Just look at Arizona!
As Joseph Stalin was once alleged to have said…”Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.” That is the reality today in Democrat states and Democrat controlled areas. Democrats have corrupted our election system to ensure they never lose control of the country again. At the rate we’re going, we’re going to be like Venezuela within a few decades.
Mr. Campbell,
I’m still waiting for your explanation about John Binkley’s 25 years on the Alaska Rail Road Corporation, mostly as Chairman, and his personal involvement with the bidding on the soon-to-be Seward Cruise Ship Terminal and the ARR Depot in Seward. Is this bid going to be awarded to Norwegian Cruise Lines? Like it did in Ketchikan with Binkley’s business partners? As chairman of ARRC, are you really comfortable with this kind of arrangement? Alaska Cruise Ship President. ARRC Chairman. Redistricting Board Chairman. CEO of huge private tour businesses. Owner of ADN. These are some of Binkley’s power positions. Is all of this square in your conscience?
Yes. Craig Campbell needs to step-up and respond. Otherwise, he looks like a big part of the problem with ARRC. Good questions, Chrissy.
Agree. Craig Campbell’s silence hints of some kind of uneasiness. A detailed explanation about Mr. Binkley’s shenanigans with Alaska RailRoad, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and his own cash machines up in Fairbanks is long overdue. As ARRC Chairman, Craig Campbell has a duty to clarify these business arrangements. Please use MRAK to respond, sir. Mr. Binkley’s newspaper, ADN, will not provide the true, honest version of facts. Hopefully, you will
Thought I already responded. John Binkley is one of seven on the Board of Directors for the Alaska Railroad. He is also in the tourism and cruise industry. In accordance with Alaska law, whenever the board discusses any matter related to operations or development in Seward, Director Binkley declares a potential Conflict of Interest, for which I, as Board Chair rule he may not participate, may not be part of any presentations or discussions, and may not even hear anything presented to the board or discussed by the board as a board director. He is excluded from all board executive sessions pertaining to our Seward project. Hope that clarifies my strict enforcement of our Alaska conflict of interest laws in regards to Director Binkley’s involvement in our Seward project.
Like to hear Joe Miller’s rebuttal of your explanation of the Murkowski 40% you mentioned. I don’t believe he would be in agreement with your version.
Good start, General.
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Bring it home. Call it your Vote Integrity Act, polish it up, keep it going:
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4. Deliberate or knowing campaign or electioneering misconduct violations under Alaska Title 15 shall be construed as Class B felonies.
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5. The State Division of Elections shall, within 60 days, (a) enact a quarterly voter-registration verification process to remove from the voter-registration list prior to every election those who have moved out of state; have moved between districts; have died; and those no longer eligible to vote, and (b) submit a concurrent, publicly available report to the Lieutenant Governor containing the numerical results of the process.
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6. Unsolicited ballots for state and municipal elections shall not be mailed or sent by any other means to any individual or group.
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7. Mail-in voting through use of unsolicited ballots is prohibited for municipal and state elections.
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8. Vote counting and election certification shall be completed within 48 hours from the last day of municipal and state elections and include a report of the total number of votes cast and the total number of registered voters.
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9. Poll watchers from Democrat and Republican parties shall have meaningful access to all phases and processes of municipal and state elections.
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10. Municipal and state elections shall not be conducted without poll watchers from Democrat and Republican parties having meaningful access to all election phases and processes.
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11. The Alaska Division of Elections shall maintain a publicly available list of poll watchers, and their party affiliations, who were present at municipal and state elections.
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12. The Alaska Division of Elections shall provide concurrent with each budget request: (a) a publicly available, annually updated report on specific electronic equipment and software versions used in municipal and state elections, (b) a list of procedures that Division of Election employees use to assure the integrity of signature verification and vote-counting processes, (c) a current list of contractors/vendors who provide these services, and (d) a list of specific measures that prevent software-counted votes from being awarded to the wrong candidate.
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13. Persons ineligible to vote under federal election laws, including convicted felons, and illegal aliens shall not be eligible to vote, or registered to vote, in municipal and state elections.
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14. Violating any of the above sections constitutes a Class B felony.
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Sure and it’ll stir up a hornet’s nest among Alaska’s lobbyist-legislator team whose livelihoods depend on such things never seeing daylight but damn them, (kindly of course) enough is enough.
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Ready to lead, General?
Good observations. Well presented. Craig
Morrigan,
From the sound of it, he needs to clean up his Rail Road first. What I’m gathering from some comments here, and at other MRAK columns, the general needs to lay down some clean tracks, tend to his switching yard, and get the train rolling for the passengers……not just hauling freight for one greedy board member.
….”I’ve been WORKING on the rail road….”????????
Craig Campbell’s gentlemanly response above to Chrissy’s questions are much appreciated. Campbell didn’t have to respond either, but his professionalism and good sense at MRAK led him to do the right thing.
I understand Chrissy’s lines of questions, though. There has to be full disclosure and accountability provided by the Alaska Rail Road. It is a state run corporation and belongs to Alaskans, not to one individual.
John Binkley’s 25-year seat on the ARRC Board is a curiosity. He was Chairman of the Board longer than anyone, including Governor Bill Sheffield. Binkley personally brought onto the Board an Air Force general who became the CEO of the ARRC under Binkley’s watchful eye. That man later became the President of the University of Alaska statewide system. Mr
Campbell, presumably, was also brought into ARRC by Binkley. This is Mr. Binkley’s calculated MO, to run the entire operation through a surrogate. More evidence at the Anchorage Daily News, where his son Ryan is the front man, but John Binkley calls the shots. Same up in Fairbanks, where he fronts his son to be in charge of family business operations. Now, Binkley is Chairman of the State Redistricting Board. And, a major business partner in Ketchikan for the new Norwegian Cruise Line floating dock facility at Ward Cove. Now, Mr. Binkley is angling to get his business partner NCL the contract in Seward for a new cruise ship terminal, AND a new AK Railroad depot to serve the tourist industry all the way up to Fairbanks, Binkley’s homeport of business operations, where he has the tourist market monopolized. Did we mention that Binkley was President of the Alaska Cruise Ship Industry too. There it is. Full coverage.
Add all this up and you start to get the picture. State money, state Boards, state assets, and clever manipulation of key individuals, all to benefit one man. And its all done without one vote by the people. Thank you again, Mr. Campbell, for your valuable input. But I’m sure these facts won’t easily disappear.
I wonder if John Binkley reads MRAK? I’ll wager on “yes.”
Facts always disappear in the Anchorage Daily News. Doesnt Binkley own the ADN too?
I’m wondering if NCL will get the Seward contract now that all this had been exposed about Binkley?
My first hint of concern regarding election security came when I realized that I could show a voter identification card with no picture as proof of person. But the first time I really began to doubt the integrity of Alaska’s elections came in that very Miller-Murkowski race cited in this article. When hundreds of ballots came in all in the same handwriting (and all for Lisa the Lib), I began to smell something very fishy. Nonetheless, the former Lt. Gov. who oversaw that suspect election makes some good points in this article. The fifth point is very important. We really need to clean up the voter roles. Dead people, especially those dead for more than say 90 days before an election, should not have the chance “to vote”. Ever. The state issues death certificates, and there is absolutely no reason why they cannot forward that information to the division of elections. There is one additional critical issue that the author of the article failed to fully address. The court system should NEVER be allowed to override the legislature’s election law just days before an election. If some contradiction to the state or national constitution exists in a law that is passed, then they should have to rule on it well in advance of any election with plenty of time for adjustments or appeals before rejection. Which brings me to another point, Alaskans MUST change the way that judges are selected if they harbor any hope of judicial accountability. The governor should be able to nominate his own candidate without being subject to the liberal bias of the un-elected Alaska Judicial Council and the liberal lists they put forward.
The Us Constitution is quite clear – only state legislatures can write election laws. State judges do not have this authority. Hopefully, the US Supreme Court will side with the Constitution on this one, as this is one of President Trump’s lawsuits to be filed today. It is quite clear that Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court violated the US Constitution.
We are supposedly the leader of the free world, yet we have an election system that couldn’t rival Third World Nations. Think about that!
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