More chaos may be attributed to failures of the Registrars of Voters (ROV)

 

• The ROV has a responsibility to train election workers effectively and see that laws, policies and procedures are faithfully followed.

 

• Each office receives generous federal funding earmarked specifically for poll worker training. Much of the money appears to be poorly and ineffectively spent.

 

• Voters upset because of the issues discussed so far had many options for quick and painless resolution, but under-trained poll workers were not prepared to guide them through the process.

 

EIPCa documentation shows that ROV employees answering the phone when voters called in their concerns and questions were by-and-large uninformed and gave voters mis-information more often than not.

 

Even in counties where poll workers were well-trained, the elections office employees were woefully ignorant.

 

EIPCa documentation also shows that poll workers in many counties were misinformed or untrained in proper resolution of these issues, which led to disenfranchised voters and many unnecessary provisional and conditional ballots.

 

California laws allow for voters in e-pollbook counties (at least 32 of the 58 counties and ALL of the most populous counties) to:

 

• Change their party affiliation or address at the moment of voting without a full re-registration.

 

• Register at the moment of voting if they attest to being eligible.

 

• Cast a non-provisional, same-day ballot at the polls without surrendering their vote by mail ballot.

 

• Use their vote by mail ballot, free of its return envelope, as a paper ballot at the polls.

 

California laws allow for voter in all other counties to:

 

• Change their party affiliation or address at the moment of voting by filling out a simple re-registration form.

 

• Register at the moment of voting if they attest to being eligible.

 

• Cast a non-provisional, same-day ballot at the polls by surrendering their vote by mail ballot and envelope.

 

And yet, EIPCa documentation shows that often voters were:

 

• “strongarmed” into submitting their mail-in ballot in the return envelope, thus denying them the right to vote in person.

 

• told they could not receive the ballot of their chosen party without voting provisionally (and not given a re-registration or cross-over opportunity).

 

• told their qualified county failed to implement the AB 626 mandate to allow voters to use their mail-in ballot as a “naked” paper ballot.

 

The passage of SB 626 gave a segment of California’s voting populous a sense of hope.

 

• Those citizens with a reasonable skepticism of the vote by mail system elect to vote in person. However, many counties now use Ballot Marking Devices so voters can no longer receive a blank paper ballot to mark for themselves.

 

• Many voters have justifiable distrust of the “machines” and are left with nowhere to turn. This situation acts as a form of voter suppression. Voters deserve and must have an election system in which they can have faith.

 

• AB 626 promised voters the blank paper ballot they desire, allowing them to vote without machine intervention.

 

• When eligible counties such as Orange, Los Angeles and Kern failed to implement the law, their voters experienced further disappointment and lack of faith.

 

California’s election process is a mess,

and voters are suffering as a result.

Each successive law that passes simply

further confuses the process.

 

Please join us for the rest of the articles in this series, “California and the Laws that Divide,” as we explore the fallout from more of the allegedly unconstitutional laws being challenged by EIPCa.

 

And please join in supporting that challenge by remembering EIPCa with your generous gifts as the lawsuit progresses.

 

 

Please continue to support EIPCa as the lawsuit progresses.

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Thomas Paine wrote, “The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected.”

 

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black wrote when justifying the majority opinion in Wesberry v Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 17 (1964),

 

“No right is more precious in a free county than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined.”

 

It is important to understand that “the right to vote” does not simply mean to participate in an election by casting a vote. That phrase also encompasses the right for that vote to be accurately counted and have equal value to all other lawful votes cast while being protected from dilution by the counting of illegitimate ballots.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court found in Reynolds v Sims, 377 U.A. 533 (1964) that

 

“…the right of suffrage [to vote] can be denied by a debasement or dilution of the weight of a citizen’s vote just as effectively as by wholly prohibiting the free exercise of the franchise [right to vote].”

 

Suffrage, the right to vote, means not only to cast a vote,

but also to have it accurately and equally counted without dilution.

 

All thinking Americans are aware that the election processes of the various U.S. states are far from perfect, and many are fatally flawed.

 

Many of those flaws are caused by human ignorance,

carelessness or error.

Others are caused by malicious intent.

 

When it comes to determining the validity of an election, the cause of the flaws does not matter.

 

The evil intent consists in disobedience to the law.

In re Coy, 127 U.S. 731 (1888)

 

Whether that “disobedience” is intentional or accidental is irrelevant.

Election results produced through any process that bends or breaks the “rules” deny all legal voters their voice.

 

 

This situation is unacceptable, and must be remedied.

 

In California, Election Integrity Project®California (EIPCa) and our predecessor Election Integrity Project® (EIP) have, for over 14 years, directed our efforts meticulously and unwaveringly toward fulfilling our Mission Statement, which in part reads:

 

• The electoral process is the cornerstone of self-governance and the preservation of our Constitutional Republic.

 

• EIPCa’s mission is to ensure the integrity of that part of our Republic through which citizens exercise our most fundamental right - the right to choose our representatives by fair and honest elections.

 

EIPCa’s motto is “Every Lawfully Cast Vote Accurately Counted”.

 

As even a small amount of research will show:

 

• Not every vote is lawfully cast in accordance with Constitutional and California election code principles

 

• Nor can reported election results be accurate (an objective term) when produced by insecure means.

 

According to the DOJ document Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses, Eighth Edition, December 2017,

 

“Election fraud usually involves corruption of one of three processes: the obtaining and marking of ballots, the counting and certification of election results, or the registration of voters.”

 

EIPCa tackles all three types of corruption:

 

• Through the efforts of EIPCa’s trained citizen observers at the polls, there is at least some oversight of the processes by which voters obtain and mark ballots.

 

• Through the efforts of EIPCa’s trained citizen observers at ballot processing centers, there is some oversight of each step by which returned ballot envelopes are accepted, verified, opened and ultimately tabulated.

 

• Through the efforts of EIPCa’s skilled data analysts, the corrupted state of California’s voter rolls is consistently exposed.

 

EIPCa’s 2017 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), Section 8 Lawsuit against the California Secretary of State and the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters for mismanaged and inaccurate voter rolls resulted in a huge success for EIPCa with the 2019 settlement of our lawsuit.

 

The number of inactive voters on CA rolls was

as high as 5.4 million in mid-2020.

As a result of our suit, that number is now 2.9 million.
A new low!

 

This shows that clear, evidentiary data coupled with robust legal action can make a difference in the integrity of our elections!

 

But EIPCa will never rest on its laurels.

 

As CA laws continue to compromise the integrity of the electoral process, Election Integrity Project®California continues to work to ensure that every lawfully cast vote is accurately counted.

 

EIPC’s active lawsuit (filed in 2021) challenging California’s unconstitutional laws used to manage elections and govern the way ballots are obtained, marked, counted and the results certified is the first one of its kind to be filed in the history of the United States.

 

The judicial system is slow and ponderous, but with your support we continue to make encouraging Progress.

 

• Initially, the District Court upheld a motion to dismiss our case claiming we didn’t have Standing.

 

• Upon appeal, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled we DO have Standing and remanded us back to the lower court to begin Discovery.

 

• The District Court then upheld a second challenge to dismiss our case claiming our evidence was “garden variety”.

 

• EIPCa’s second appeal is now again before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

 

All written briefs have been read; oral arguments were heard; currently deliberating as to whether our 10,000 signed under penalty of perjury affidavits from 43 out of 58 counties is are “garden variety”.

 

• EIPCa has every reason to believe the Ninth Circuit judges will again rule in our favor.

 

EIPCa’s lawsuit addresses the origin of California’s loss of integrity in the election process - unconstitutional laws. Our success will positively impact all other states with the same or similar laws.

 

However, no one effort will not completely fix everything.

 

Thankfully, there are myriad groups and organizations nationwide also understanding the deplorable condition of the election process in every state and determining to tackle the problem in their own unique ways.

 

While EIPCa puts most of its efforts toward returning California election law to a constitutional foundation, other organizations are following their own roads aimed

directly at resolving the issue of inaccurate voter rolls and the very real concern over potentially compromised electronic election machinery.

 

Large or small, each effort is separate, unique and distinct. Each has chosen its own path to reach the same end. And each deserves respect and support.

 

It will be the combination of each individual effort that will finally repair this Republic and its most fundamental element.

 

When those roads converge, America will

once again truly be a Republic.