Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

   The people that work to count the votes need to be able to come to work and not be harassed by anyone for any reason concerning elections. They go through a screening process that verifies they will be true and honest in their completion of the task assigned.

   To have someone harass them because they want a certain candidate to win makes no sense. How would these people put enough fraudulent votes in the system to cause a certain outcome to win seems rather farfetched. That kind of interference should be treated as a felony with more than just jail time and a fine being part of the punishment. Take away that person’s ability to vote and drive as well. If a number of threats are received from a known support group, then have the candidate they support removed from that ballot. That would definitely cut down on the chaff as the polls.

   That action would be used to hurt other candidates as some of the less honest would figure a way to have an opponent taken off the ballot through cheating. I don’t believe that all the rats in the pack could hide their true loyalties so it would have to be done very judiciously.

   It truly seems that intimidation is the answer to all situations. Want a trial to go a certain way, attack the jury members, want a bill to be passed or killed, attack those that have a vote, and if you want an election to go a certain way you fall back on the one tactic you know will work, intimidation of all that vote. This is especially true if those voters have to go to a polling site and cannot just fill out the ballot and drop it in the mail or voter box.

   We can make all these rules about no food, drink, talking or whatever in the line and make it as uncomfortable as possible. Have the force patrol the voting site to make sure people are either obeying or being removed for violations to all the rules. Makes it very unattractive to vote and that is what we want, the few to stay the course the more likely the outcome for our candidate.

   The loser part of elections is that when the votes are counted and you win you get to celebrate and if you lose you get to concede, in private you get to pout. Being polite during the entire process makes for a much more civilized appearance to everyone, it may not get as much attention in the press as the finger pointing, name calling and back biting that has been present of late.

    The other part of the picture is that if your mouth overrides your brain someone may take you to court to make you prove the slander of eat crow. Not nearly often enough have we had a rubbish politician taken to court and then announced to the world that not only was this person wrong but he is also a liar and not fit to run for office again.