Declaration — To Assure Election Integrity | Eastern North Carolina Now

    WHEREAS, the nation's state Secretaries of State are committed to protecting an individual's right to vote by ensuring access, accuracy and integrity in elections, and;

    WHEREAS, the administration of elections is a complex enterprise involving thousands of polling places and election jurisdictions, millions of poll workers, hundreds of thousands of voting machines, more than 210 million registered voters and tens of thousands of election officials, and;

    WHEREAS, the United States was founded upon the principle of self-government in which the right to vote is the most important and fundamental right of the people, and;

    WHEREAS, our US Bill of Rights, and our state Bill of Rights (Declaration of Rights), requires the government to protect and secure the Natural Law Rights of the sovereign States and their sovereign citizens. Free and secure elections are the only way to preserve faith in government and individual freedom.

    WHEREAS, if one side loses but you believe the results are honest and accurate, a rational person would conclude that, for the next election and indeed, subsequent elections, you have to work harder to convince others that your political agenda is better for the future. If one side loses and there is ample evidence that the other side cheated in numerous ways to win, you stop believing in the system and your ability to effect change in the process. You dishearteningly conclude that the system is broken, that your vote really doesn't count, and that, at its core, the election was rigged and manipulated to ensure a specified and certain outcome.

    WHEREAS, the conduct of elections is primarily the responsibility of state and local election officials, and;

    WHEREAS, America's voting systems and election procedures must ensure that all votes are counted accurately and that voting is as, convenient, accessible and secure as possible, and;

    WHEREAS, our collective expertise with election issues and our strong commitment to fair, secure and accurate elections will enhance our democratic process, and;

    WHEREAS, real election reform MUST have as its goal to ensure equal access to the ballot box, to record an individual's personally-chosen candidate (ONLY ONCE!), to ensure absolute honesty in the process, and to assure election integrity. Confidence in our election system is tied to honesty and integrity.

    WHEREAS, the John Locke Foundation advocates that election reform must occur in two ways: First, States should nullify any federal act of Congress or federal court decision that infringes on the state legislators exclusive right to make rules regarding presidential elections. And Second, States need real election reform, enacted by their legislatures, that must include:

• The elimination of early voting & Same day voter registration
• Strict Voter ID requirements [See the remarks below from NC Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson]
• A requirement that absentee ballots can only be requested for limited, specific and documented reasons
• A requirement that absentee ballots must be notarized
• A requirement that election rolls must be updated in a timely manner, to remove the names of those who have died, moved, or been sentenced as felons, to ensure accuracy and validity
• Require paper ballots and easy auditing processes
• Election observers must be allowed with no pre-registration requirements
• Easy and equal ballot access
• A requirement that ALL votes are counted and reported at the precinct level
• A requirement that ALL vote tallies are released in a short-time window so urban areas can't wait to see vote totals of rural areas in advance
• An acknowledgment that the State has the authority, under the Tenth Amendment, to nullify all federally-mandated election laws
• A proviso that only the legislature may change standards of what votes are valid

    WHEREAS, to ensure that all eligible voters are afforded their constitutional right to vote and unfettered access to the election process, The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) recommends that state and local governments and election officials continue to work to:

• Ensure non-discriminatory equal access to the election system for all voters; including elderly, disabled, minority, military, and overseas citizens.
• Encourage the adoption and enforcement of rules and procedures to ensure equal treatment of all voters.
• Modernize the voting process as necessary, including voting technologies and systems and implement well-defined, consistent standards for what counts as a vote throughout the election process to ensure accurate vote counts and minimal voter error.
• Encourage states to adopt uniform state standards and procedures for both recounts and contested elections, in order to ensure that each vote is counted and to provide public confidence in the election results.
• Encourage states to conduct post-election audits to ensure the public has confidence in the security of the election equipment and integrity of the election results.
• Provide election officials with increased funding to implement the recommendations of this resolution.
• Conduct voter education and broad-based voter outreach programs.
• Expand poll worker recruitment and training programs by adopting the innovative practices of other states and localities, with the ultimate goal of providing a satisfactory Election Day experience for all voters.
• Maintain accurate voter registration rolls with a system of intergovernmental cooperation and communication.
• Enhance the integrity and timeliness of absentee ballot procedures.
• At the will of the states, adopt and adhere to the federal Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines (VVSG) for Voting Systems.
• Provide continuous training and certification for election officials.
• Collect data and election information on a regular and consistent basis to provide a nexus for public consumption and systemic improvements.

    WHEREAS, The NASS further recommends that the US Congress:

• Fully fund the continuous update of the federal Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines developed in consensus with state and local election officials.
• Fund the compilation and dissemination of successful practices in election administration developed by state and local election officials that support the federal Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines.
• Support intergovernmental cooperation and communication among state and local elections officials to facilitate the maintenance of accurate voter registration rolls.
• Provide full federal funding to the states to implement mandates imposed by NVRA, HAVA and the MOVE Act impacting election administration.
• Hold hearings to assess how the current language in the National Voter Registration Act can accommodate for technological advances.

    WHEREAS, there is overwhelming evidence of mass election fraud, voter fraud, election irregularities, ballot machine tampering (hacking, by both individuals, groups, and other countries), off-loading our election data to foreign countries (such as China, Iran — hostile regimes), human tampering, boxes of pre-filled out ballots, abuse of mail-in ballots, lack of clearing or refusal to clear state voter rolls (purging the rolls of ineligible voters — those who have died, moved, or been sentenced as felons), lack of any meaningful election audits, lack of inadequate checks and balances the questionable nature and designs of volunteer poll workers, and the fact that across the nation, polling mechanisms, the design of election ballots, voting rules, hours, and allocation of financial resources vary significantly between states and localities. In many jurisdictions utilizing older types of voting equipment (such as manually filling the ballot and individually submitting it to a poll worker, or using punch-card machines) ballots were disqualified at significantly higher rates than in jurisdictions employing more accurate and reliable equipment (such as optical scan machines).

    [Refer to the resources provided in the Reference section by The Heritage Foundation on Election Fraud and Election Ingegrity issues]

    "Voter Fraud Map: Election Fraud Database," The Heritage Foundation, 2020. [Referenced at: https://www.heritage.org/voterfraud] and "More Resources on Election Integrity," The Heritage Foundation. [Referenced at: https://www.heritage.org/election-integrity]