Remember the days when voting was easy, and we accepted the results of the elections? Well, Donald Trump wants to end those days.
Trump has signed an executive order that would ban mail-in voting. That’s alarming.
Trump claims we’re the only country that allows voting by mail. The reality is, more than 30 countries use it.
Trump opposes mail-in voting so much, that he actually uses it himself.
Trump said, “Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating…Cheating on mail-in voting is legendary.”
Actually, Trump’s lying is legendary.
“Our mail-in system has worked well,” Republican North Dakota Secretary of State Michael Howe told me. “We have checks and balances in place to make sure people are who they say they are, and are only voting once.
In North Dakota’s Cass County, 40% to 60% of voters use mail-in ballots or vote early.
“Mail-in voting is just as secure as voting in person on Election Day,” former Cass County Auditor Mike Montplaisir told me. He should know. He was auditor for 33 years, covering 16 election cycles.
Mail-in ballots are compared to the ballot applications to make sure the names, addresses, driver’s licenses and signatures all match.
“Our judges are checking signatures,” Montplaisir said. “If the signatures don’t match, the voter is contacted…The equipment counts the ballots. It’s about as secure as you can be.”
In 36 of North Dakota’s 53 counties, voting by mail is the norm. That’s because the counties are so vast. Thus, there’s only one in-person voting location that’s open on Election Day in those counties.
“As a very rural state, we rely on absentee voting,” Howe said.
Another factor is North Dakota’s weather, which can be nasty in November.
“Our weather makes mail-in voting really important,” Montplaisir said. “You never know what’s going to happen on Election Day. A lot of the older population likes to vote early.”
In Clay County, Minnesota, 39% of voters use absentee ballots.
“There’s no way to cheat the system,” Clay County Auditor Lori Johnson told me. “We’re checking ID’s. You can’t make one up and send it in. We do vigorous checking.”
For many people in North Dakota, Minnesota and elsewhere, voting by mail is a necessity. Voters could be disabled, elderly, live far from voting locations, or be serving in the military.
Of course, what Trump is doing shouldn’t even matter. Presidents have no legal role in operating elections or changing voting laws.
It clearly states in Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution that states run elections, while Congress can alter voting regulations.
“The latest unconstitutional power grab will meet the same fate as the rest. It will not stand,” said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon. “The president does not have the authority to make unilateral changes to election laws…Voting by mail is secure and trustworthy. Millions of Minnesotans have used this service for decades…The president’s attempts to create chaos, stroke fears and undermine our elections will not work.”
He’s spot on. Trump has no right to ban mail-in voting.
There are two things going on. First, Trump, with his enormous ego, can’t accept the fact that he lost the 2020 election. He knows he lost, but isn’t man enough to admit it. So, he blames mail-in voting, even though there’s no proof of any irregularities.
Second, the man who claimed the 2020 election was rigged is trying to rig future elections. Whether it be trying to ban mail-in voting or pass the frightening “SAVE Act” (Shamefully supported by Senators Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven and Representatives Julie Fedorchak and Michelle Fischbach), Trump is trying to prevent millions of eligible American citizens from voting.
The “SAVE Act” is allegedly going after noncitizen voting, which is extremely rare. In fact, the North Dakota Secretary of State’s office told me there have been no confirmed reports of noncitizens voting in the state.
—I’m just trying to figure out why Melania Trump held a news conference to deny any connections to Jeffrey Epstein. Nobody had been talking about that. Of course, it’s easy to understand that in a place as small as New York City, how they kept bumping into each other.
The man who should be talking about this is Donald Trump, who is mentioned 38,000 times in the Epstein files. Also, how come Trump’s Justice Department hasn’t prosecuted any American for having sex with Epstein’s women and girls, many of whom were raped and/or under 18-years-old?
—Congrats to former Forum Opinion Page Editor and Columnist Jack Zaleski on becoming a new columnist for the North Dakota Monitor. Jack is an excellent writer with tons of expertise and experiences to share. The Monitor is a terrific source for news that covers news from across the state.
(Jim Shaw is a veteran newsman and journalist based in Fargo, ND. Read his weekly column at kfgo.com and listen Thursday afternoons.)
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