Mail-in ballots will keep Mass. hacks in office

Mail-in balloting has nothing to do with the noble cause of getting more people to vote.  It is just another way for incumbents to rig the system for their re-election. Not only does it make it easier to cheat, but it also shortens the time span for a challenger to make their case to the voting public. Let’s call it what it is — incumbency protection!

While the legislature is feverishly working to make mail-in balloting permanent, there is a Massachusetts court case currently happening challenging the 2020 election process.

Five former Republican 2020 candidates, Caroline Colarusso, John Moran, Ingrid Centurion, Steven Hall and Craig Valdez, have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Charlie Parker and Secretary of State Bill Galvin regarding the rigging of the system. Their lawsuit asserts that Parker and Galvin did not follow the Constitution.  How we vote in the Commonwealth is specified in our state’s constitution. Thus, changing to a mail-in balloting system requires a constitutional amendment. Hence, the legislation passed by Bacon Hill and enacted by the Governor and Secretary of State was illegal. 

Our state Constitution allows for absentee balloting only if you are out of town or state; or if you are physically disabled; or if due to religious beliefs you have a conflict on Election Day. There is no pandemic exception for changing the rules!

The lawsuit correctly points out numerous other problems with mail-in balloting such as the lack of verification of the person voting and failed security of drop boxes. Moreover, the Constitution doesn’t say voting month.  It is called “election day.” 

Of course, Attorney General Maura Healey has filed a motion to dismiss the case. She claims that the right to challenge has expired and the plaintiffs lack standing to sue. Sound familiar?

Healey is correct that candidates can challenge election results via a recount. However, a recount doesn’t investigate the validity of who voted. There is no review of stuffing drop boxes or ballots being mailed to and cast by dead people. You just get a number of ballots cast. This lawsuit is the only reasonable way to address the issue. 

For example, in the Special Election for the Plymouth and Barnstable State Senate seat hundreds and hundreds of ballots were stuffed into the Plymouth drop box.  There is no way to determine by a recount which ballots came via the drop box.  To verify these votes, every voter would need to be called to ensure that they had actually voted.  A recount doesn’t call voters to see if they cast a legal ballot.  There was no way to address what happened outside of the polling place or who might have voted. 

So, as always, Healey is wrong to say that the plaintiffs had remedies to address any election issues. 

Colarusso and company have done us a big favor in filing this lawsuit. I don’t see how the courts can get around the Constitutional issues in granting the Democrats their banana-republic elections. But then again, this is the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.