We need voting reform. Nationwide. I don’t know if we need a commission, or an amendment to the Constitution, or what, but this is embarrassing.

We all see the loopholes and trapdoors and flaws so big you can fly a 747 through them. We have people on video committing fraud and the secretary of state or the local DA (always from the party that would benefit) “looks into it” and pronounces it fine. The excellent 1940 film “The Great McGinty” opens with a vote-buying scheme that would still work today so long as you have a corrupt election judge who knows the names of eligible voters who won’t be voting. When Iraqis voted and dipped their fingers into purple ink to prevent their voting twice, I can’t be the only American who said, “And we don’t do that in America because………?????”

There are tons of good ideas, but let’s start with the very basics:

• Photo ID. You are required to show a photo ID with the correct address, or along with proof of your recent move to a new address. There is no reason not to do this, and it’s an insult to Black people that Democrats keep openly saying that it will deny them the vote. Go watch the videos of black people being asked if they know anyone without a photo ID. Any such photo ID law will include the proviso that IDs will be provided at no cost to anyone who doesn’t have one. The effort that Democrats have made fighting this could have been put into finding IDs for anyone that needs them. Of course, the real reason Democrats fight this is that they have a lot of Democrat voters that shouldn’t be voting.
• Purge the voter rolls every 4 years, right after the presidential election. By “purge” I mean keep the data, but deactivated. That way, no one’s retyping everything. Every voter will be required to re-register. Send out reminders six months before the next election to anyone on that list who hasn’t, and permanently purge any returned cards. Anyone who hasn’t re-registered gets permanently wiped from the rolls. No dead people voting, no people who moved voting absentee, The parties will help with re-registration efforts. (See next.)
• Registration ends 30 days before the election. No registration on election day. Once this is established, there will be plenty of ado (incessant reminders from Facebook, for example) to get registered or you won’t be able to vote on Election Day. One nice thing about this is that anyone who couldn’t be bothered to register won’t be dragged to the polls on Election Day, and the parties won’t have to make such a “find every last voter” effort all the way to November.
• Election Day is Election Day. It’s not Election Month. It should bother everybody that voting started before there was a single debate. Think that doesn’t affect anything? The TOP GOOGLE SEARCH after the last debate was “How do I change my vote?”
• Absentee voting is only for absentees. A pandemic is one thing, but absentee votes are problematic. They are NOT ideal and they are NOT the way we should be going. There are numerous problems including untrustworthy mail carriers, but let’s start with the simple fact that you are voting insecurely. Just one cliched example: What if there’s some brow-beaten wife whose husband stands over her watching who she votes for? We are guaranteed a secret ballot. Absentee votes are necessary for military, election judges (like me), and plenty of other situations, but you need to have a reason and you need to request them. Mailing out requests for ballots willy-nilly this year may be the single easiest way to corrupt our election, and certainly could explain the high results. (Powerline pointed out step-by-step how easy it would be to cheat if you get mailed a request intended for someone else.)
• Nursing Home Voting. While we’re on the subject, we need to do more to have mailed ballots in nursing homes witnessed by party observers. Nursing home workers are not sworn to any kind of fairness. They are not election judges.
• Absentee ballots need to be in by the election, not dribbling in by a certain cutoff day. Yes, even for military working remotely, and we just need to make sure they have the time they need to mail them back. Some states will take them WEEKS after the election (looking at you, California) so long as they’re postmarked by election day. You’re telling me in this huge country no cheater can possibly get hold of a postal stamp?
• Don’t worry about making voting easy. It’s easy enough. You make sure you’re registered, you show up, you vote. If toughening up the rules means someone who couldn’t be bothered shows up on election day complaining that no, they didn’t register, but they have a right to vote, tell them to register for the next one.
• Anyone registering on election day will be registered for the next election. Those registrations will be first in line to be processed after the purge. Hey, I’m not a monster.

That “making voting easy” part is in direct opposition to the notions of the Democrats. Every idea they come up with for improving elections is aimed at making it easier. The sloppiest standards, the easiest requirements, let people have an entire month because being there a certain day is too hard, let them just mail it in, at least until we can just all vote by Internet. They want it to be easy because the lazy and the stupid are the most likely to vote Democrat.

Frankly, if not for the Democrats using Jim Crow chicanery to deny Blacks the vote for 100 years after Republicans secured their right to vote, I’d be for making it tougher. For everyone of every color. I’d have a brief little quiz you have to pass. Simple things, like the three branches of government, which branch controls the budget, what’s the name of the current vice president, etc. (Democrats may find it appealing that all the newly-naturalized immigrants would pass and the white kids going to public school would be baffled.) I watch all those videos of people on the street who can’t find the USA on a globe and don’t know the first POTUS’s name and I’m OK with not everyone voting. But, that’s a fantasy. A well-intentioned one, but I’m sure someone somewhere would twist it to their own ends. So no, no quizzes required to vote.

I watch the news every election year and I think I’d prefer strict to sloppy. As this Trump/Biden thing goes through legal challenges and we learn about the precincts with 125% turnout, you tell me if I’m wrong.