Election Day has come and gone. Republicans have regained control of the House, the Senate remains in limbo, and the predicted “red wave” is now history. So, what happened?

Some blame GOP campaign underfunding and GOP spending priorities, while others blame the “quality of republican candidates” put forth to the American public.  These theories may have been acceptable during pre-COVID elections; however, they are no longer convincing. The rational and much more persuasive argument rests on the opportunistic conduct and strategies implemented by the Democrat party cashing in on the unforeseen circumstance of newly created fast and loose voting laws in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home, social distancing, and quarantine mandates that followed.  To this end, in the wake of COVID-19, states abruptly amended their voting laws to permit widespread early voting, mail-in ballots, and absentee voting, all of which have a well-documented history of casting aside safeguards like voter ID requirements and bans on ballot harvesting, otherwise known as ballot-collecting.

Turning specifically to ballot harvesting, ballot-harvesting occurs when organizations, groups, or individuals, make coordinated efforts to collect absentee voters’ ballots and drop them off at polling locations and/or in ballot collection boxes.  Some argue that ballot-harvesting assists elderly voters and increases overall voter participation.  Some see it a different way – as an impairment to the ability to elect representatives in free and fair elections.

Eligible Americans are entitled to vote in a manner that is meaningful and not diluted.  Vote dilution is most often connected to notions of gerrymandering and redistricting.  But we are in a new age and ballot harvesting, without adequate controls and oversight, is positioned to be the most powerful and aggressive system of vote dilution to date, taking place locally but with far-reaching national impact.

Ballot harvesting is a ground-game mechanism used to collect and deliver early voting ballots on behalf of one party or the other – knocking on doors, targeting voters registered as either Democrat or Republican to ensure a vote is cast in his or her name.  This tactic is accomplished, and ballots are submitted even if the target voter had no intention and would otherwise have not taken part in an election.

This “knock and vote” scheme is rife with controversy and intrinsically dilutes votes cast by citizens who participate at the polls and in elections on their own accord and absent prodding, coercion, or bullying by strangers who knock on your door and now know where you live and other details about your private life and affairs.

Ballot harvesting inherently increases the likelihood of federal and state law violations, voter intimidation, unlawful “assistance” with casting a vote, and the fraudulent use of absentee ballots through “Requesting absentee ballots and voting without the knowledge of the actual voter; or obtaining the absentee ballot from a voter and either filling it in directly and forging the voter’s signature or illegally telling the voter who to vote for.”

At least since the 2020 Presidential election, the integrity of our elections is highly suspect and must be a priority for all Americans. Ballot harvesting should be among those issues investigated if future elections are to be free, fair and transparent.