Category Updates

SC Pathway to Safe Elections

RNC Resolution Issue 5

Keep it small, simple, and local

WHEREAS, Election officials are obligated to apply polling place access equitably in states, and should not eliminate polling places in order and to move to “vote center” models that make polling place access more difficult in more conservative areas;

Vote centers mix ballots from multiple precincts making recounts tougher to execute and creating longer drives for voters. Plus, early voting has the counterintuitive effect of reducing voter turnout.

Ideally, we should have small precincts with no more than 1,500 registered voters. (Currently, over 900 precincts exceed that with the largest being over 6,200.) If there is a 65% turnout that would result in 975 ballots to be counted.  Even if you had to hand-count these ballots it would take about 3 1/4 hours to count with 3 teams of 3 or 4 people which is doable in one night. Local small precincts also enable us to better know our neighbors and verify their legitimacy. Minimizing absentees also reduces fake registrants.

Did you know that our elections that were traditionally held and counted at the precinct level are now controlled by corporations, and the state and federal government?

RESOLVED, The Republican National Committee calls on all Republican officeholders to defend the historic practice of geographically-defined and assigned precinct, ward and localized polling places for means of balloting and tabulating paper ballots by geographic unit;

RESOLVED, The Republican National Committee hereby opposes any and all efforts for states to unreasonably expand time periods for early or vote-by-mail that makes ballot counting procedures intentionally unmanageable or incapable to complete expeditiously following the conclusion of an election on election day;

Problem:  Centralized voting centers obscure results, depress turnout; centralization of power has the potential for corruption.

Solution: Abolish early voting and early voting centers and return to one day of precinct level voting limiting registrations to no more than 1500 electors.  Return control back to the local level.

Ban early voting and reduce reasons for absentee; make election day a state holiday;

Bill 4260 achieves this by striking 7-13-25 (Early voting). Ideally, all absentee ballots for the precinct should be processed and or tabulated at the precinct level.

Over the last few months 13 county Republican parties that comprise the majority of the state’s population (57% of our GOP delegates and roughly 60% of our population) of our state passed resolutions for hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots. These resolutions had very similar language.  Specifically, they asked for hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots.  In addition, many of these counties also ratified the RNC Resolution for Election Excellence.  Please see this related post. Note that this is the RNC for which Mr. McKissick is co-chair.

Apparently, neither of these resolutions were put forth for a vote in the past State EC GOP meeting on September 30th.  Instead, a substantial modification of the RNC resolution was passed that simply seemed to refer to our current system. It had no mention of hand-counting or hand-marked paper ballots. Below is a comparison of the RNC and State GOP resolutions.

There is a misunderstanding that our current system is a “paper ballot” system.  It is not. It is a coded ballot system.  The tabulators scan the bar code at the top of the paper “receipt” from the Ballot Marking Device. There is no way that a voter can verify their vote as they don’t have a barcode reader and, according to the State Election Commission, they can’t take a picture of their ballot.

Furthermore, our votes are counted in secret via the tabulators which are manufactured overseas –a serious security issue.   We can’t even verify the vote detail as we are not allowed access/view audit records (CVRs), the same records to which 28 other states allow public access.

The only hand-count reference in the election integrity resolution that was passed was for audits and recounts, not to count the actual election.

The only way that a voter can feel confident that their vote was counted in a transparent way is to have a system of hand-counted, hand-marked paper ballots that are counted at the precinct level (preferably with one day of voting, not 15 days+) while the count is publicly observed and videotaped.

The proposed system above is one that voters can trust. According to a Rasmussen survey, over 62% of likely voters believe there was cheating in the 2020 and 2022 elections and are concerned about cheating in the 2024 election. Unless we modify our current system, we will have voters and candidates who are disenfranchised and thus don’t participate in the process of elections in our state.

Contrary to the current narrative by some of our state leaders, our electronic voting system has numerous vulnerabilities that have been documented not only by cyber experts across the state and the country, but also by CISA itself. All systems are hackable. Period.  Ignoring the vulnerabilities of the electronic systems that are currently in place is naïve as well as suspect.

We are supposed to have a representative form of government in our state and country, and our counties deserve to be heard. What is the point of passing resolutions in multiple counties only to be ignored at the state level?  These resolutions that have been passed in these 13 counties should be heard and brought to a vote at the state GOP Executive Committee.

Our state has the opportunity to be the gold standard for election integrity. Let’s use this opportunity to ensure that is the case. Passing a weak version of the RNC Election Resolution shows that our state GOP isn’t willing to walk the walk when it comes to true election reform. Act 150 was not enough. The people want paper.

SC Pathway to Safe Elections

South Carolinians have lost local control of their elections to corporations and governments via centralization

WHEREAS, Ensuring the integrity of our voting and election administration is critical and foundational to

maintaining a civil and decent society decentralized from a federal government as the Founders intended;

Increased involvement of our state and federal government and other NGOs (DHS, CISA, CIS) via centralization has increased over the last 20+ years. American voters don’t trust or want their government agencies in the back end of their voting systems. This provides an opportunity for potential infiltration by nefarious actors, both foreign and domestic. Recent press regarding ongoing intrusion of our systems by Albert sensors is of particular concern. Furthermore, voting system manufacturers have total access to our data and we don’t have the ability to review the machines or source codes in depth.

Did you know that electronic voting systems can be hacked even if they aren’t connected to the internet?  There are proven vulnerabilities that have been documented by local cyber experts as well as CISA.

Here is a great video about how easily these systems can be attacked.

And elections have been hacked for decades as testified by Clint Curtis who was paid to program the election in a candidate’s favor.  He stated that it would be impossible for election officials to detect unless they saw the source code—which of course they don’t have access to.

NOTE: It’s not just a Dominion problem: ES&S, DOMINION AND HART INTERCIVIC are on similar platforms so issues with any one of these systems are going to be seen in the others.

All SC qualified electors should have the option of voting on a secure paper ballot hand-marked and hand-counted and this system should be available in the event of an emergency.

RNC Resolution Issue 1

Voter confidence and participation is waning, how can we fix this?

WHEREAS, To present a formal Resolution from the Republican National Committee for declared opposition to voting manipulation schemes and to return to the functional and historic balloting and polling experience that Americans understand, appreciate, and love;

WHEREAS, The mission of the Republican Party is to act as the party that encourages and allows the broadest possible participation to all voters and to assure that the Republican Party is open and accessible to all Americans;

Why do we need to revamp our voting system? Voter confidence in our system has dropped and 62% of likely voters according to Rasmussen believe there was cheating in 2020 and are worried about cheating in the 2024 election.  In fact, this is a bipartisan issue.  Here is a powerful video that shows that even democrats want to reform the system.

This lack of trust decreases voter participation. Less than 18% of registered voters participated in our midterm elections of 2022. 

Did you know that A study from the Heritage Foundation shows that early voting decreases voter turnout.

Our state, which now hosts the first Democrat and Republican primaries in the nation, should consider further reforms to maximize trust in our process. For example, our legislators in SC should strongly consider getting rid of early voting. This will help increase turnout and also decrease costs and complexity.

I attended a silent retreat at Mepkin Abbey in Monk’s Corner, SC for three days to disconnect from electronics and society in general so that I could decompress—no phone, no wireless, no talking, just quiet time in solitude with nature. The abbey is located on over 1,000 acres in an old plantation from the 1800s. Its beauty is timeless and indescribable. 

Among the gardens is a huge labyrinth of wildflowers and plants. The directions on the sign ask that you pace slowly through the maze and notice what thoughts bubble up.  I embraced this meditative exercise and entered the maze.

As I traversed the path, I noticed that the journey through this labyrinth was a metaphor for my personal journey the past few years fighting for election integrity.

I started out mindfully placing each step on the grass but suddenly thick brush would encroach the path requiring more effort on my part. In some areas, I had to move obstructive branches out of the way to move forward or take high steps to move across them.  At times I wondered if I was moving in the right direction, or alternatively, if I was retracing the same path I had already traveled. There was a sudden sense of being lost and disoriented.  

At one point I became impatient picking up the pace wondering how much longer this task would take.  It seemed longer than I had bargained for and I wondered if it was worth the effort.  Frustration had set in. And then fear. What if there were snakes in the grasses here? Or ticks?

I noticed the irony of the situation and the parallels to my life and I started to laugh. This exercise that was meant to be restorative was showing me the many sides of my personality and journey.

The frustration and fear melted into humor. If I believed that there would be snakes and other bugs that could hurt me, I might create that reality, so I cleared those thoughts from my mind as I tugged the long blades of grass out of my way. 

After what seemed like forever but was probably only about 15 to 20 minutes I wanted to give up. This was taking too long and I couldn’t seem to find out where the path ultimately led to the center.

I decided to leave the labyrinth to by jumping over the border that I could reassess the map and get an overhead view.  I needed the big picture perspective. What I realized was that I had jumped out just steps before I was going to reach the center. Ugh! So back I went to where I had jumped out and finished, finally reaching the center which had a clearing and a few benches.  I made it. 

How often do we become impatient during our journey of truth? We all want things to happen our way and on our timeline. But if we give up, we may miss a huge breakthrough just around the corner.  The labyrinth of life is not our design, but God’s. Only He knows the path. We need to trust in Him and cultivate faith, patience, fortitude, and a good sense of humor if we want to make it to the finish line.

Never give up! God has the plan and He wins.

Author: Jane P.

We are told that we have “paper ballots” that we can verify to confirm our vote, but do we really?

Our ballot is really a receipt, and not a good one at that.  The piece of paper has bar codes at the top, but a voter has no idea if that bar code reflects their intent.

See the comparison below where the current process is compared with a hand marked hand counted ballot.

Transparency and trust are greatly enhanced with the system on the right.

THE PEOPLE WANT PAPER