It’s time to assess how our voting system performed after the 2020 election and identify areas for improvement. Recent revelations by Brian Freid, a former employee of the Orange County Supervisor of Elections, have revealed that some votes were cast unlawfully as a result of the existing voter fraud rules not always being observed. To ensure a safe and fair election in the future, stricter voter protection legislation is urgently needed, as demonstrated by this scandal.
Freid filed allegations of election irregularities in December 2020, which he later supported with an affidavit in March. In this declaration, Freid made a number of alarming revelations, including the fact that dead voters may still request ballots and that slack rules allowed convicts to vote unlawfully. Furthermore, Freid was fired from his county position in October after he requested the removal of another official due to wrongdoing. He has persisted in speaking out against infractions of state laws guiding the voting process notwithstanding this humiliation.
His most recent affidavit claims that despite being told by the State Office of Election Crimes and Security about fraudulent voting during the previous election, corrective measures were not done. Additionally, mail-in ballots are distributed 10–20 years after a voter’s passing, voter addresses are changed in bulk without the voter’s consent, drop boxes can accept an unlimited number of ballots in violation of state law, and blank envelopes are filled out without oversight or outside review before being mailed to voters.
If we are serious about guaranteeing a fair and safe election process moving forward, it is obvious that our current electoral system requires more powerful defenses against such activities given the multiple security protocol breaches that have occurred. States must enact stricter regulations that safeguard qualified voters while outlawing unethical practices like ballot harvesting and multiple voting. In order to ensure that only employees who have cleared background checks have access to sensitive voter information, we must also ensure that everyone working at voter registration offices has gone through the required screening procedures.
No matter which party you support or who you vote for, we cannot be confident that our elections will continue to be free from fraud or meddling until these modifications are completed. When it comes to exercising one of our nation’s most valued traditions, the right to vote freely and fairly without being threatened or intimidated by individuals or groups outside of the democratic process, we must tolerate any form of illegality.
