Oklahoma gets elections right
A news conference this week by members of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee should have left Oklahomans feeling good about the state’s election protocols.
The committee discussed Russia’s efforts to disrupt the 2016 presidential election. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., committee chairman, said Russia tried to hack into 21 states and “we know they were successful in penetrating at least one voter database.” He and other members said they support state control of the election process, but that the federal government can help, particularly by providing the resources for states to upgrade and improve their systems.
“We need to take a hard look at the equipment that actually records and reports votes,” Burr said. “We all agree that all votes should have an audible paper trail.”
In 2016, Burr said, five states used electronic machines that had no paper ballots. Oklahoma was not one of those. Indeed, Oklahoma has long used paper ballots that are marked by hand and then fed into optical scanning machines, providing a hard copy of the vote and an electric tally. Also, every precinct in Oklahoma uses the same machines. Problems of any kind have been minimal.
Committee member Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, said the Russians “have set a pattern that others can follow” and that the goal is “not just protecting our elections from future Russian intrusion, it’s protecting our elections, period.”
We have said this before: States interested in a userfriendly, reliable and secure voting system should check out what Oklahoma has had in place for years.
Rave review
We were heartened this week to read the comments by the head of a company that wants to bring 550 goodpaying jobs to Oklahoma City. Ken Asbury, president and CEO of CACI International, said his company evaluated 50 cities before choosing Oklahoma City over two East Coast locations. Those two cities were closer to CACI’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., but Oklahoma City “trumped those others in every other category” considered, including cost of living, availability of a quality workforce, and the quality of its primary, secondary and university educational programs. “When the data came back, it was very clear what Oklahoma City has done to attract businesses,” Asbury said. CACI helps the federal government do business with other contractors, and provides information solutions and other services related to intelligence and defense programs. The Oklahoma City Council has the final say on a $1.25 million incentive to bring CACI here. The city’s Economic Development Trust says the deal would produce jobs paying an average of $56,999 per year— the more of those we can land, the better.
Not clean enough
The decline of coal as the nation’s primary fuel source delights those who despise fossil fuels. Those same parties harbor no love for the new No. 1, either, as can be seen in deep green California where natural gas is in the cross hairs despite being much cleaner burning than coal. As The Wall Street Journal reported this week, regulators in California “are saying no to new gas plants and looking to get rid of older ones.” The agency that regulates California utilities has ordered the state’s largest utility to seek bids for renewable energy and storage projects to take the place of three gas plants. “Power companies in California also recently abandoned plans to build two gas plants, a result of the state’s preference for batteries, wind farms and solar panels,” the Journal said. That’s because California, which gets 30 percent of its electricity from renewables, wants that to be 50 percent by 2030.
Popular targets
Caring children advise their parents and grandparents about the potential dangers of providing information online or over the phone. Yet scammers find plenty of targets who lose a bundle. Last month, the Justice Department announced a sweep of elder fraud cases involving 250 defendants worldwide. They’re accused of victimizing more than 1 million Americans to the tune of more than $500 million. The Federal Trade Commission says scammers bilked Americans out of about $1 billion in 2017. Seventy percent of reported fraud began with a phone call. USA Today reports that scams dealing with tech support, tax refunds and online dating are increasing. “Technology has given scammers the ability to reach more people at a lower cost,” an AARP official told the newspaper. “You can reach millions of people with one hit of a button.” Younger people are frequent targets too, of course, but statistics show seniors lose larger amounts. Simply put, seniors should remember never to open emails from senders they don’t recognize, click on a website they don’t know, or provide personal information over the phone.
Disturbing
Nationwide, there have been many high-profile instances where school officials changed grades to mask failure, obtain federal funding, or avoid greater oversight. Chickasha Public Schools in Oklahoma may be joining that list. The state Department of Education has asked officials with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to assist in an investigation of alleged misconduct including fraud and tampering with student grade and attendance records at Chickasha. Department officials found “unexpectedly high levels of district personnel logins and grade changes” within the online Self-Paced Learning Center (SPLC) system used at the district. Between October 2017 and January 2018, approximately 5,500 student course grades and 18,800 individual assignment grades were overridden. According to state records, there are only around 2,500 students in the district. It’s bad enough when adults behave badly, but far worse when adults potentially sacrifice the education of children in the process.
Schwarzenegger’s call
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a registered Republican, is now active in a group called New Way California, which argues the GOP needs to move to the left to improve its electoral prospects, particularly in that state. The problem for that theory is it’s already been put to the test. Schwarzenegger was no conservative firebrand during his time as governor, and often tacked to the left. If being a “moderate” increases support for a politician’s party, there’s little evidence in the aftermath of Schwarzenegger’s time in office. Instead, Democrats today hold every statewide office in California, dominate both chambers of the Legislature, and Republicans account for just one in four state voters. Providing a clear alternative and stark contrast to the ruling party doesn’t always generate wins, but transforming into a watered-down version of the ruling party seldom achieves success either, as the Schwarzenegger experiment demonstrated.
Listen to the kids?
Following the Florida school shooting, gun control advocates argue policymakers should “listen to the kids,” meaning students who recently walked out of school in support of gun control, not students who take an opposing view. It’s always a stretch to tout the “wisdom” of teenagers, but at least some teens understand issues. In contrast, two teachers at the Harbor Elementary School in New London, Connecticut, took the “listen to the kids” argument to its extreme. According to the local NBC affiliate, kindergarten students were among those participating in the walkout even though the school had no written permission from any parents and school administrators were not informed in advance. As a crossing guard noted to NBC, “I thought it was pushing it with that age group. I don’t think they understood what was actually happening.” Are we really supposed to “listen” to children who still require nap time?