New Method for Election Tallies Accurate to a Single Vote

Ethical Markets - RCommunity Development Solutions, Advisors' Forum

“New methods show how to produce election tallies accurate to virtually a single vote, and still practical, acceptable-to-all, fraud-free, and money saving.”

by Alan F Kay, PhD, © November 2010, Ethical Markets Media Advisor

Stopping election fraud has been seriously studied by hundreds, possibly thousands, of people who have been frustrated and angered by the many corrupt ways federal and state officials get elected and re-elected, and election fraud is particularly infuriating to those who support a campaigning president.  Numerous and diverse ways to alleviate fraudulent elections have been developed in extreme detail in the decade beginning just before the year 2000 and are available as proposals www.alanfkay.com under Stop Election Fraud.  Over the years, it has become clear that enabling any one of the proposals would require the strong support of many top officials and little opposition.  The likelihood of that happening ultimately seems to be about zero.

Absentee ballots for decades frequently were counted if received by election day.  A dozen states have also accommodated early voting.  Mail-in early voting was used in every one of the 67 counties in Florida by the Supervisors of Elections for both the primary and final elections of the year 2010.  Each of the 67 election supervisors was required to produce (and did succeed in producing) for each individual registered for voting in the county, the correct and appropriate ballot that contained the information necessary for voters to choose among those running for office at all levels in cities and counties.  In addition, all ballots included the opportunity for voters to choose pro, con or abstain from acceptance on state-wide legal proposals and constitutional amendments, the text of which appeared identically on all returned Florida ballots.

All those who wanted to vote had to be registered by the county election supervisors that among other things gave the supervisors the addresses to send by mail envelopes containing information on voting and including the ballot appropriate for each recipient.  Supervisor’s envelopes, along with other mail, were delivered by postal workers – given by hand, dropped in the mail box, slipped under the door.

The supervisor’s envelope received by the voter contained (a) information on how to vote and the possibility of choosing several options of the voter’s choice, (b) one ballot ready to be sent back to the supervisor when check off marks were made by the voter whose choices were among all those offered on the ballot, (c) another ballot, identical to the first but labeled as a sample to be retained if desired by the voter for reference.  If two or more registered voters were located in the same address, each individually received a supervisor’s envelope.  The way the counties made these features and methods suggest that the whole development was best based on the county level in all elections.

Travelers/tourists, unreachable diplomats and executives, those in a war zone unable to receive and/or return mail prior to election date, appreciate absentee ballots and may also find that early voting is a boon. Voting envelopes in Florida 2010 were delivered three weeks before election day.  This extra time was valuable both for voters and those delivering and returning mail to have more time for receiving, filling out ballots and returning them by election day.  The US Post Office in every case in 2010 was organized and set-up to deliver and receive voting mail rapidly.  In the US, moving mail was accomplished within one day and in other countries at the same cost as standard inter-country first class mail.

For preventing fraudulent votes the ballot returned by the voter had to be put into what was called a sleeve.  That was done by requiring the made-out ballot to be in an envelope that was covered by another envelope (the sleeve) that was sealed by a tough flap, not easily removed from the rest of the envelope when the glue is attached by closing the flap. The voters who wanted their election choices to count had to sign the sleeve envelopes themselves, not by power-of-attorney.  They were asked to use their own names and birth date entered on the flap and continuing onto the rest of the outside envelope. This arrangement could not readily be undone nor later replaced.

In future elections, the features and methods determined by Florida in 2010 could become compatible with many other states with absentee and early ballots. The larger the number of such states the more accurately the vote counts for President of the US and other federal officials. With all 50 participating properly, the counts should be accurate with no errors.  Re-counts would be a thing of the past. The success of the Florida 2010 elections based on cooperative county executions suggests future elections in all states should be based on the county level.

This development would make the USPO uniquely qualified to deliver and receive real mail.  While there is much pressure to cut-back on post office buildings and services to reduce financial losses, the USPO can provide this valuable service at minimum cost. Commercial global delivery services do not have the capacity to pick up and then return in a few days the ballots of a hundred million voters at home. E-mail cannot be used for this delivering and receiving, vulnerable as it is to hackers operating worldwide.