Action 226: Election Security
Background: The radical right has been making noise about “voter fraud” since Trump came on the scene, with bogus canards about illegal aliens voting, ballots being changed electronically, ballot boxes being stuffed, etc. ad nauseam. In Maine, this sort of nonsense hasn’t had much traction, because we know better. Too many of us, Republicans and Democrats alike, have been involved as volunteer ballot counters, election observers, poll watchers etc. to fall for this crap. Nonetheless, it does no harm to bone up on exactly how our elections are made secure, before the fascist operatives make their move to skew elections in their favor through gerrymandering and voter suppression, such as removal of legitimate voters from the rolls through “interstate cross check” or “address confirmation notice”, spreading the meme that your vote is insignificant, and spreading the lie that elections are not secure.
Action: If you are near Blue Hill, attend this informational presentation next Friday. Have your questions answered and be prepared to debunk the conspiracy theories with facts! Timely info for canvassers!
Extra Credit:
- https://www.brennancenter.org/topics/voting-elections/vote-suppression/myth-voter-fraud
- https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/us/politics/trump-mail-voting-elections-fact-check.html
- https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/108824/documents/HHRG-116-JU00-20190129-SD020.pdf You can trust your “friends” at the Heritage Foundation to look into every instance of voter fraud. They have come up with a total of 1,176 instances since 1982, which they say (without evidence) is “just a sample”. There are only 30 “outcome determinative” cases, where the election was overturned when the fraud was adjudicated. These are all local elections, often primaries – and Heritage conveniently doesn’t list the political party involved. The descriptions do make for interesting reading! The same reference cites only TWO instances in Maine, both in 2010. In both cases, the individuals involved had property in two towns and thought they could vote in both towns because they pay taxes to both, and they were voting on local issues on the same ballot as national elections.