Editor’s note: This commentary is by Meg Streeter, of Wilmington, a realtor/small business owner who is on the board of Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies, an affiliate of Brattleboro Development Credit Corp. She previously served on the Wilmington Selectboard and School Board.
Among the many interesting leftovers from Nov. 3 are the lectures about civility and unity by politicians and media types who have been bashing President Donald Trump for the past four years. I’m enjoying reviewing some of the hypocritical lecturers’ prior insults of those they deem deplorable. And I’ve reread Orwell’s “1984” and “Animal Farm” for perspective from an author who dealt with pondered real totalitarianism. I can recommend both books as reminders of how easy it is for people in power to manipulate the populace and how seamlessly Orwell’s “Thought Police” have reappeared with the help of big tech and the media.
I have always enjoyed considering and debating political issues but until now I never thought much about the likelihood of voter fraud. I did wonder why Hillary Clinton’s claim that the presidency had been stolen from her didn’t get more traction given the various rumors over the years about dead people voting in Chicago and Philadelphia. I remember various government officials saying in 2016 that wholesale hacking was impossible because voting machines weren’t connected to the internet. Really?
Vermont’s secretary of state and governor assured us this year that it was perfectly safe to mail out 400,000 unrequested ballots. To me, this seems like another example of some complacency in our Vermont attitude about honesty. Remember the Quiros/Stenger EB-5 fraud involving Jay Peak, Burke Mountain and Newport? Without VTDigger’s lengthy and ongoing investigation, would any of that have come to light?
Another question I’ve been pondering with no help from journalists: Why did several states stop counting votes in the middle of the night? I have participated in my town’s ballot counts over several election cycles and, having seen the process on a micro level, l it seems unbelievable that the process would stop before completion.
My other questions include – where is the reporting about how each state actually conducts elections? Further, how much fraud has occurred in the past and how does it relate to the type of voting that occurs – paper ballots, machines, mail-in ballots, absentee ballots. What is ballot harvesting? How many states decided to send unsolicited ballots to voters? Does Vermont’s absentee ballot process need updating in order for that efficient and thrifty process to continue?
I won’t go on because presumably it is clear that there is a lot of missing information. All of us who voted deserve to have voting fraud exposed. If unity is a desirable outcome, a first step would be honest and comprehensive reporting rather than continued lecturing.