Condos: Congress can put an end to restrictive and unnecessary obstacles to voting

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos.

This month we celebrated the birth of our nation. Since its inception, American democracy has undergone continual transformation. Over the last 245 years many activists and advocates have fought tirelessly to expand the franchise that our democratic ideals depend on: the right to vote.

From suffragettes to civil rights leaders, their work has ensured that the march of progress has been oriented forward, focused on increasing access to the ballot box.

Photo courtesy of state of Vermont

Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos

This Independence Day was an opportunity to reflect on the resiliency of our country, and of our democracy. There has been no shortage of challenges over the last year and a half. Despite these challenges, we achieved record breaking turnout for a general election, which non-partisan experts have described as the most secure and the most scrutinized election in U.S. history. We were able to do so with common-sense voting reforms, providing voters with more options for receiving and casting their ballot.

After the ballot counting was completed, and the careful town by town certification process took place, we had official results and a list of election winners and losers, just like every other general election in memory.

Unlike other election years, what has followed has brought our democracy to a crossroads.

Without producing any evidence, the former-President and his allies have used knowingly false voter fraud claims as justification for their attempts to use state legislatures and phony ‘fraudits’ to supersede the will of the people and, more significantly, to restrict access to the ballot box.

Our democratic principles should have to endure constant debate. However, willfully disregarding the certified, official election results in an effort to circumvent the will of the people and prevent the peaceful transition of power sets our country on a dangerous path.

Sending us even further into treacherous territory, some state legislatures are using ‘the Big Lie’ to roll back the voter access expansions made during 2020, and to further suppress voting rights, such as the implementation of more restrictive voter ID laws, limits on the ballot-by-mail request period, elimination or reduction in ballot drop boxes, and closure of polling precincts.

After record-breaking turnout in 2020, and with zero evidence of widespread fraud or election rigging, why would they want to make it harder for eligible Americans to vote? The answer is simple: because they were unhappy with the results and want less people to vote.

Overall, there have been over 350 bills introduced in 47 states with the sole purpose of reducing access to the ballot. In June alone, 17 state legislatures enacted 28 new voter restriction laws. A small few include reasonable, understandable reforms. Most make no sense at all. It is clear that some lawmakers would prefer to pick their voters, rather than voters picking their representatives.

Frankly, I am concerned for our nation. We stand at a crossroads, and the decisions we make now will ripple throughout time.

There is hope. In Vermont, we saw the record turnout as a positive, so we made the mailing of ballots to all voters a permanent fixture of Vermont general elections. We also created a new pathway for voters to correct a defective ballot so that their vote will count. We did this by working across the aisles with the support of Democrats, Republicans, Progressives and independents.

In the face of the alarming rise in state-level attacks on voting rights, we cannot afford to wait for solutions one-by-one in all 50 states. With the gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court, we no longer have the luxury of a “wait and see” approach. Congress can, and must, create minimum voter access and fairness standards that states must abide by, so that eligible voters are not being denied their voting rights.

The true voter fraud in this country is denying any eligible American their right to register and vote.

Congress alone can put an end to restrictive and unnecessary obstacles to voting, prohibit race-based and partisan gerrymandering, make automatic, online and same day voter registration the law of the land, and make voting by mail accessible for every voter, regardless of which side of an invisible line you live on.

Two federal bills pending, the For the People Act, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, give Congress this opportunity to act. The time has come for the partisan, political games to stop. Those who are prioritizing the promotion of politically motivated falsehoods about the security of our elections, over the voting rights of the people who put them in office, are committing a severe dereliction of duty.

In 2021 our democracy has come to a crossroads. Fortunately, we have a roadmap, we just need to follow it.

Image courtesy of Flickr/Robert Stinnett

24 thoughts on “Condos: Congress can put an end to restrictive and unnecessary obstacles to voting

  1. Comrade Condos:
    Congress needs to put an end to the mechanisms in use in the last election that were and are FRADULENT!!!! There is no two way street here, Mr Condos; you and your like minded brethren who promoted this kind of activity have a nice warm (maybe scorching is a better description) place all set aside, just waiting for occupancy.
    The more we hear from you, the worse the situation smells.
    Just do yourself and the rest of Vermont a huge favor, and vacate the premises.
    We’ve heard enough from you.

  2. Wow, exaggerated lies – does he really believe that people can’t see through the hype? The emperor’s clothes are non-existent – someone just say it. It seems like he and others are getting afraid now because the truth is coming out and traitors will be exposed. (He keeps calling our government a democracy…thankfully its a Republic.)

  3. Condos should tell us how he will prevent EARLY preparation of mail-in ballots. as was done with 288,000 ballots in Bethpage, Long Island, NY

    Those ballots were shipped from the Bethpage Postal Center to the Harrisburg Postal Center and then to the Lancaster Postal Center.

    This means the management of these postal centers were in cahoots with the management team of the party operatives.

    Here is an excerpt of an article, which describes all in detail.
    .
    EXCERPT:
    .
    PREPARATION OF 288,000 MAIL-IN BALLOTS IN BETHPAGE, NY FOR USE IN PENNSYLVANIA MONTHS BEFORE THE ELECTION
    https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/preperation-of-288-000-mail-in-ballots-in-bethpage-ny-for-use-in

    This article describes a multi-month project, started about August 2020, to fabricate up to 288,000 mail-in ballots near Bethpage, Long Island, NY, for use during the 2020 Election in Pennsylvania, a swing state.

    This article is a work in progress, because of on-going developments.

    Folks should know this huge, premeditated, 288,000-vote fraud took place several months BEFORE the election.
    It likely was not the only premeditated fraud.

    Biden “won” Pennsylvania by 80,555 votes

    Preparing the Mail-in Ballots near Bethpage, Long Island, NY

    Sometime in August, Democrat operatives in NY (Schumer, Senate Majority Leader is from NY) likely talked to Democrat operatives in Philadelphia, regarding how to use mail-in ballots to fix the election for Biden, just in case Trump would be ahead by too many votes.

    It was decided, PA would supply to NY:

    1) The ballots for each PA district,
    2) The envelopes and
    3) Copies of the registered voter lists, marked to indicate people who always vote.

    The 280,000 ballots would be filled in for many of the remaining voters, which typically include dead people, people who moved out of state, plus various ineligible people, such as non-citizens, legal or not, felons, under age people, etc. They are purposely kept on registered voter lists to have more names to “vote”.

    As reported by the media

    Some of these “unlikely” voters showed up to vote in person.
    They were told they already voted.
    “How could that be? I never received a ballot!
    Our records show you did.
    Just sign this affidavit, and we will give you a provisional ballot

    Organizing the Ballot Fixing

    It was decided, NY would have people in about spread-out locations (to avoid people having contact), who would fill in the ballots (using the PA voter lists), put them in envelopes, fill in the addresses, sign them, and put them in USPS-supplied trays.

    It was decided to have about 288,000 fake mail-in ballots to secure Biden’s win, so they thought.

    However, they grossly underestimated the number, because Trump was leading by about 700,000 votes at 10 PM, Election night, in PA. Shortly after 10 PM, as if someone had blown a whistle, counting more-or-less stopped in 6 swing states.

    Time to Complete the Mail-in Ballots

    If an average worker could complete one ballot, ready for mailing, in about 2 minutes, there would be 30/h x 8h/d x 5d = 1200 ballots per week, per worker. If there were 100 such workers, it would take about 16 – 17 days to complete 288,000 ballots.

    It was decided the ballots would be stored in a secure location, ready for transport, to the USPS mail center in Bethpage, NY, a few weeks before Election Day

    Transporting the Mail-in Ballots

    Watch Jesse Morgan, the driver, relate the details of his trip:

    https://www.facebook.com/officialteamtrump/videos/435425457454094/
    https://www.facebook.com/officialteamtrump/videos/jesse-morgan-a-tr

    Jesse is a truck driver for a USPS subcontractor.
    He drives a USPS trailer-truck from the USPS Bethpage New York Logistics & Distribution Center, Long Island, NY, to Lancaster, PA, almost every day.

    His trailer was loaded with standard USPS trays with ballots, which were packed in 24 very large, cardboard containers, aka “Gaylords”.

    Such USPS Postal Packs are 69” high x 48” x 40”, on a plastic pallet, for sack and tray mail, capacity 2000 lb.
    The units are laid down, loaded through the top, tilted up, and placed in the trailer.

    Jesse saw handwritten addresses in the upper-left corner of the envelopes.

    He had dispatch tickets, dated October 21 (two weeks before the election), to drive to Harrisburg, PA

    In the back (near the tractor) were the Gaylords to be unloaded at the USPS Center, in Lancaster, PA.
    In the front were the Gaylords to be unloaded at the USPS Center, in Harrisburg, PA

    He arrived at Harrisburg, as usual, but nothing was unloaded, which he thought was odd.
    He asked the Dispatcher what was going on, and asked for a standard USPS ticket to be paid for “wait-time”.
    The Dispatcher told him to wait until the Supervisor of Transportation would tell him what to do, which he thought was odd, because he had never talked to a supervisor in the past, he had always talked to a dispatcher.

    After a 6-hour wait, the Supervisor appeared and told him to go to Lancaster, but he refused to give Jesse the:

    1) Standard USPS routing ticket, and
    2) Standard USPS wait-time ticket Jesse had asked for.

    Jesse thought, going to Lancaster did not make any sense, because the Lancaster cargo was in the back of the trailer.

    He drove to Lancaster, parked his trailer in the usual USPS loading dock, and drove his tractor to his nearby home.

    His Trailer was Gone the Next Morning

    The next morning, October 22, he drove his tractor to the USPS center in Lancaster, to hook up his trailer, but to his surprise, the trailer was gone. He has not seen it since.
    He had been making this mail run every day for about 18 months. This was the first time his trailer was gone.

  4. Only honest elections can put an end to fraudulent, installed, compromised officials such as Condos, Donovan, Scott, et al. What they have done here is secured fraudulent elections until such time they are removed from office and constitutional rights and law are restored. Until then, they continue to mock, gaslight, intimidate, and lie like the corrupted criminals they are aligned with in DC and Beijing.

  5. CONDOS, a very partisan person
    He OPPOSES VOTER ID

    That would be considered beyond rational in any EU country.
    I know, because I voted in the Netherlands

    In the Netherlands, everyone over 18 has an OFFICIAL ID, issued by the national government.
    You have to carry it at all times, similar to license and registration when you are driving.

    Forging an ID, if caught, automatically gets you the minimum 3 years in jail.

    If you show up to vote without your OFFICIAL ID, you do not vote.
    There are absolute no exceptions.

    All voting centers have video cameras at many locations.
    You just cannot cheat, without it being recorded.

    Europeans just cannot understand why the the US has such fraudulent elections, time after time.

  6. I wonder if these people who say these new laws suppress voters have really rear the laws.

  7. To see Jim Condos crusading for protecting the integrity of the vote is laughable!

  8. July 15, 2021
    It looks as if there was massive election fraud in Fulton County, Georgia
    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/07/it_looks_as_if_there_was_massive_election_fraud_in_fulton_county_georgia.html

    “The VoterGA team found 7 falsified audit tally sheets containing fabricated vote totals for their respective batches. For example, a batch containing 59 actual ballot images for Joe Biden, 42 for Donald Trump and 0 for Jo Jorgenson was reported as 100 for Biden and 0 for Trump. The seven batches of ballot images with 554 votes for Joe Biden, 140 votes for Donald Trump and 11 votes for Jo Jorgenson had tally sheets in the audit falsified to show 850 votes for Biden, 0 votes for Trump and 0 votes for Jorgenson.”

    • Jay,

      More and more s… about the 2020 election is being revealed in multiple swing states every day.

      Just wait for the ARIZONA forensic examination report
      DEM/PROGS are opposed to such reports, because they know what they did.

      The revelations will continue, as more and more people “spill the beans” about the THIRD WORLD shenanigans that went on regarding the PROCESSING of the ballots in DEM/PROG-controlled counting centers.

      All that is nothing new.
      All that has been done before

      However, it HAD TO BE DONE ON A HUGE SCALE in 2000, because Trump was so far ahead.

      DEM/PROGS, with help of the media, we’re able to suppress the revelations just long enough to take over the White House to complete their power grab, their COUP D’ETAT

      The various new election laws, that make it more difficult to have future THIRD WORLD elections, are opposed by DEM/PROGS, because those laws constrain their FREEDOM OF ACTION, I.E., TO COMMIT FRAUD.

  9. Voter ID is even more important with mail-in ballots.

    Look at all the steps you have to go through to get on a plane.
    That system has prevented another 9/11.

    We need the same steps regarding voting, otherwise we will just repeat the chaos of the 2000 Election

  10. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FACK CHECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Your a liar jimmy! Anyone with two functioning brain cells can see that.
    You can paint a turd any color you want but in the end you are still a turd.

    ENJOY THE SHOW!

  11. There is no evidence of fraud because you aren’t looking for it. I can assure you that it occurred. It is really pretty simple. Once a ballot goes into the mail, it is immediately tainted. Those at the polls have no idea where ALL the mailed ballots actually came from or who really sent them.

    Good Grief Secretary Condos, do you really think there was no fraud ? You really think that the international criminals did not play a part in messing up our election process ? Dream on, because that is what you are doing. Remember, these gangs just ripped off the states for over $300 BILLION in fraudulent unemployment gains. This has happened in Vermont and yet no one knows how much. Perhaps you should get off your high horse, stop complaining about the constitutional rights of other states, roll up your sleeves and help solve the enormous problems that this state is facing.

  12. Talk about having blinders on! Have you followed the forensic audit in AZ and now moving on to GA and PA, Mr. Condos? You can hide your head in the sand but the freight train of audits showing election fraud is going nationwide and more and more States are getting on board. Just because you Democrats SAY there was no fraud doesn’t make it so. The receipts are coming and we’ll see proof of an election fraught with fraud!!

  13. Oh, by the way……I understand that VT got a bunch of money from ?? [Facebook/Zuckerberg?] to “help” us with managing the 2020 election. Is that so, jim? And if so who got how much for what?

  14. Apparently, there are 87 court cases to date based on the 2020 election, and only 24 have been decided on the merits of the cases. Investigations into the other 63 cases were never allowed, being dismissed on what some of us find to be questionable technicalities. And there are still 12 cases that are active. Of the 24 cases that were heard, the Trump administration and Republicans prevailed in 17 of them.

    The reason I don’t trust Mr. Condos is because he exaggerates when he characterizes these cases, across the board, as ‘false voter fraud claims’. When 71% of the cases that were actually investigated were decided in favor of the Trump administration and Republicans, one can only wonder who the ‘big liar’ really is.

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