CHAD ENNIS: Conservatives Push For Simple Election Rules While The Left Embraces Chaos

On election integrity, we tend to discuss the hot issue at that moment. Usually, it is a new court case or piece of legislation. But we only get a piecemeal view of each side’s goals. Let’s step back and look at each’s ideal system.

The rightwing view is straightforward. Voter rolls should be accurate and only contain eligible, citizen voters. In-person voting on election day (or shortly before) is best with mail or other options for elderly, disabled and folks truly out of town. A voter should show a photo ID and votes should be captured on paper.

All votes should be in by election day and there should be near final results available on election night. There should also be robust reconciliation and post-election audits to ensure that the number of ballots cast equals the number of voters.

The left, on the other hand, advocates for electoral Thunderdome. No rules.

Even left-leaning legislators balk at their ideas, forcing liberal activists to use courts to jam through their vision. The left’s preferred electoral system is not to convince voters to vote for them. Instead, it is to empower activists to find and collect enough ballots to push them to victory.

Accurate voter rolls are the left’s first target. Progressives push for automatic registration which bloats the rolls with people who don’t know they are being registered and may not want to be. Mistakes are inevitable — this is the DMV after all. Once rolls are bloated and inaccurate, the left fights efforts to fix them. This includes removing obviously ineligible voters, including non-citizens.