Some months ago while I was visiting Houston and watching Fox News in the hotel, a reporter was explaining that two delegates were running in for election themselves, and one had lost by a very small margin. After some days, the reporter added, they found out that many dead people had voted in this tight race.
One election official assured the reporter that they had carefully counted all votes.
But, of course, they are aware of many problems that are difficult to solve.
For example, if one of their residents traveled to a neighboring state and died there, his information would not appear on the voter list in his home state.
Sounding frustrated, he said they still do not have a perfect system to report and register all their residents who have died or left for other states. Meanwhile, their relatives vote in their place.
Then they gave an email address of fraud@foxnews.com in order to receive new ideas on how to stop the fraud.
New Experience
The first time I voted in the U.S. after receiving my citizenship, as in France, I took my driver’s license and my registration paper and went to vote.
I did not know how it worked in the U.S. I approached the table where volunteers were guiding the voters.
A volunteer asked my name and address. The book was open on my page, and I pointed to my name and address. They handed me the voting card and told me to go to the booth.
I was surprised. I asked them if they did not need to see my ID?
They replied negatively.
I asked: “How come?”
They replied: “We trust you.”
I asked them if they knew me. Then added that “if you do not know me, how come you can trust me.”
Some years later, my older son went to college but still received his voting papers at home.
My younger son was 13 years old, but he was very tall and looked much older than his age. When I was going to vote, I was very tempted to ask my son to come and vote instead of his older brother.
My Strategy
After he had voted, I was going to announce that the name was not his but his brother’s.
But I did not do it. I did not want to give a bad example to my son nor have any problems with the law and authorities.
I know that sometimes a real criminal walks free in the city while a man who has stolen a loaf of bread stays in jail for years.
I was so sure that if my younger son had voted, no one would have realized the deception, and no one would have asked a question because “they trust you!”
Now I am not sure why I should write a suggestion to fraud@foxnews.com. Is it really necessary to suggest any solution to the voting problem when the solution is so evident and so easy?
Everyone Has Identity
In every country, people have identification cards, real cards issued by authorities. In Europe when a person votes, he shows his ID card, authorities check the picture, the name and address. After you vote, they pronounce, loudly, that Mr. So-and-So or Mrs. So-and-So has voted. When you vote in Europe, at least you feel that you have made a difference by voting.
In Middle Eastern countries, people do not trust voting system as they know the results of the votes are already decided in advance.
How can in a democratic country 98 percent of the population votes for an existing government.
Usually the citizens vote because they are afraid and obliged to vote. They are watched by the authorities in important votes.
Talk About Payoffs
Or they vote because they have been paid in advance. Sometimes they have free transportation to the voting location. For them, that is like going to picnic.
Who cares about the result?
Voters do not have a choice.
When you see a big crowd in front of the voting precinct, usually people will say, “They have been paid $5 for their votes.”
Unfortunately, by experience, I do not believe in the accuracy of voting results because I do not believe that all the voters are real.
Trust Misplaced
Therefore, my vote is not contributing much or making any difference in the result when there are so many dead people or pets are voting.
How can I trust the outcome when I vote?
Election authorities do not check my identity. I know for sure they do not know who I am?
I can be any one who shows up, using the name and address on the book and they would trust me.
Every day that we see the poll numbers of the two Presidential candidates on the TV that suggest the popularity of each one.
Sometimes they give the favorite voters of young people, of men, of women or of the elderly.
I have not seen the popularity of the delegates with dead people voting for them.
That can change a lot of election results.
It will be interesting to see who will be the real voters on Nov. 4 in the Presidential election.
Dr. Rosemary Hartounian Cohen, who lives in the Fairfax District, received her Ph.D in sociology from the Sorbonne in Paris. She lived in two other countries before moving, with her husband and children, to Los Angeles in 1984. She has published three books in America and is working on her fourth. Since 1985, she has operated Atelier de Paris, an international art business, on Robertson Boulevard. Her email address is Rosemary@atelierdeparis.com
