A choice of democracy or authoritarianism GOP gets sneakywith ‘ballot-harvesting program’

In response to a letter dated Oct. 13, 2020, I offer a point of clarification. This election is not about a vote for democracy or a vote for socialism. The choice is clearly between democracy and authoritarianism (One person telling us how it is, and how it’s going to be, no matter what; laws don’t matter; a Constitution doesn’t matter).

All during this administration, we have been blatantly losing our democracy step by step, right in front of our eyes; laws don’t matter; our Constitution doesn’t matter. However, I do agree with one part of that Oct. 13 letter: “… if you don’t think we can’t lose our democracy, you’re not paying attention.”

— Lily Bowen , Chico

Why is the flood of illegal Republican ballot boxes that mimic “official” California ballot boxes showing up at churches, gun shops and other locations — often in our larger cities — an issue? California Republican Party spokesman Hector Barajas unabashedly calls this their “ballot-harvesting program.” His party has defied court orders to remove these boxes.

Pages of voter registration information are considered to be public domain and can easily be obtained by party operatives and other groups. Both parties in their door-todoor and phone bank voter canvassing efforts routinely use these voter registration pages widely. These voter registration pages contain the voters’ full names, addresses and party affiliations.

Just by using a sharp blade to carefully peel up the flimsy paper “window” that covers the voter’s signature on the sealed ballot, an operative can quickly cross check the voter’s name on the voter registration information pages. If the voter is a member of the operative’s party, the ballot can be forwarded on to the County Clerk — after a couple of small dabs of rubber cement are used to reseal the loose flap.

If the voter is a member of the opposition party, the ballot can be destroyed. There would be absolutely no way for a voter to trace what happened to their ballot, aside fromthe fact that the Elections Office would report that it never received the ballot.

Absolutely intentionally, our voting system in California closely models California’s law enforcement’s “chain of evidence” system, for very good reason.

— Mark S. Gailey, Chico