Restoring Trust In Our Elections!

In the late 1800s, elections in America were in a crisis. Secret ballots were not widely used so vote buying and outright coercion were distorting the election results. The secret ballot was the solution and it spread quickly across the country. Many states updated their constitutions and in Idaho, whose constitution was just being developed around that time, the secret ballot guarantee is the first clause of Article VI, which covers elections and suffrage.

Today, we have a similar dilemma. Right or wrong, half the country thinks cheating is impacting our elections (Rasmussen polling). Like we did in the past, we need to solve the problem and that is what this substack is all about.

Transparency is Key

A key element of restoring trust is transparency. Because technology has been adopted rapidly after the ‘hanging chad’ issues of the 2000 Bush v Gore race, we no longer have the visibility into our election systems that more manual methods provided. This substack will attempt to demystify our elections, identify areas where transparency could be improved, then seek solutions to restore transparency.

Bio

I have been a small business owner for my entire career, working to help automate other businesses both public and private. I am an information technology professional with over 30 years experience not only developing software but helping my clients improve their business processes.

Since the 2020 election, I have been learning how our elections work. The tools and technologies used in our elections are very familiar to me but it has still taken time to understand the ins and outs of these systems.

As the senior admin with Election Integrity Idaho, a grassroots volunteer group, I have participated in analyzing our voter rolls, poll watching, meeting with clerks and election officials, and have connected with election integrity groups all over the country.

I welcome your constructive comments and feedback and any help you can offer to restore trust in our elections.