“I am asking if some of my friends and also their 18-year old children are voting and if they are not, I am asking them if I could have their ballot ‘to help them vote’ to make it easier for them.”
This post is about the threat of voter fraud, not about the Douglas County Board of Education election. (As you read this, please know that the author – who I do not know personally – now says this was a joke. It does not come across that way, to me, although your opinion may differ. )
I saw this on a public Facebook group page last night, and down the rabbit hole I went.
We are going through a contentious school board election here in Douglas County, Colorado. I find it bizarre that something as benign as a local school board race has inflamed so many people. Our current school board has enacted reforms in the past several years that have enraged staunch public school advocates and delighted those who desire change. That seems like a good, healthy debate to have, right?
And yet, it is not. The environment has become virulent and the online dialogue poisonous. One side publishes someone’s DUI conviction. The other makes public a candidate’s possible tax liens. The discourse is toxic, deeply personal and wrong.
However, it took the specter of voter fraud to knock me off the fence. Perhaps the author was not actually saying she was going to take her friends’ ballots and vote on their behalf. But they certainly seemed to be endorsing that approach.
My husband, who also read the post, took screen shots of my phone screen. Then, I clicked on the link to refresh it – and the post, with its related comments, was gone. Deleted. Along with any responses that might explain what the individual had intended. It was easy to conclude that someone took the idea of someone suggesting voter fraud on the board – and the stigma that would attach to the board and the candidates they support – seriously enough to remove the conversation thread.
I discussed what I should do with my husband. I decided to send the screen shot to a friend. I’ve known this friend for eight years. The spouse is a mentor for our son. This person has been very active in the debate, and I have always found them to be fair-minded.
My friend sent it to an investigative reporter. He followed up. In fact, he went on the Facebook page and asked for someone to contact the poster and have them get in touch. He was ridiculed and vilified. Then, the Facebook page members started speculating on who took the screen shot. Things got, predictably, mean.
So, here you go. It was me. No one is intimidating anyone. Please stop blaming the advocates for the other side, because it was not one of “them.” It was moderate, maybe libertarian, live and let live me. Take no sides, hope to be nonjudgmental, like to bring people together, “I love the world” – me.
I have taken no sides in this election, in fact, except when I chose to send the screen capture to my friend. I did know this individual was on the opposite side of the debate from the Facebook group, and that bothered me. But the Facebook group administrator deleted the post and its comments, did not remove the poster who made the comment, and did not publish anything repudiating the concept of voter fraud. So, I was sure nothing would happen if I complained to the administrator, except that I would be banned from the group (as a fair-minded but outspoken friend of mine recently was. They said she was “nice.” But her views and statistics were “contrary” and that got in the way of the “nonpartisan” conversation.)
Did I want my friend to contact a reporter? Not particularly. I’ve spent my entire life trying to bring people together to find common ground. I am now stepping into a divisive area, and I hate that. Absolutely hate it. But, I passionately want respect for every vote.
People fought and died for our right to vote. No one has the right to negate someone else’s vote by obtaining…”their ballot ‘to help them vote’ to make it easier for them.”
So, what this has done is move me – forever – onto the bandwagon of supporting voter identification rigor. I love voting by mail. It never occurred to me how easy it is to take advantage of the system. I know now, though.
Voting by mail has to stop. We need to be able to verify that the person casting the secret ballot is the one to whom that secret ballot belongs. To be clear: this is not about the school board race, except that it has created the toxic environment for the wrongheaded thinking that spawned that post. And it’s not about me. I would like to go back to being somebody who tries to bring people together, finds common ground, and figure out how we can all get along while doing what is best for our children and our community. This is about our basic right to vote, have our voice heard, and not have anyone’s voice silenced because someone else wants a different outcome.
What was meant, but horribly stated by this post, was that she had offered to drop off already completed and sealed ballots to her friend. Was it horribly worded, yes it was HORRIBLY worded. I was the first person to point it out to her. There was no fraud taking place though.
Sorry forgot to add, that the site administrator did not remove the post, but the actual poster removed the post. She HAD explained herself in the comments, but was encouraged to remove the post by a friend because of how badly worded it was.
Hey, Tasha, thank you very much for commenting and clarifying. I don’t see how the author could mean anything but what the text appears to mean. But, I am glad you sought to explain it. I am actually really happy you saw this at all – particularly since the Facebook group page involved removed my link to this page and apparently deleted my post explaining what it was as well. I am utterly confused as to why, since there was so much prior speculation about who had started this particular controversy.
Thank you for your courage and commitment to fair voting. Please add me to your e-mail list if you publish this blog.
Thank you for posting; very informative. I hate, hate, hate this election. It has become incredibly poisonous and has driven those of us that want to see some reform (but perhaps not vouchers) into hiding for fear of being vilified, ridiculed, and ostracized.
I admit that I am too afraid to help my candidates in the way that I would like to- for fear of retribution from the other side.
I happen to know the person who wrote this post- she is a good friend of mine. She is also the most ethical and honest person I know. She wrote a JOKE on a FB page, which you apparently decided to misinterpret and are now slandering her good name.
Because you decided to misinterpret her words, she had a crazy psycho show up at her house last night and threaten she and her kids.
She is innocent- and I will stand up for her. Instead of going to her to find out the truth, you went to friends- and started a whole rumor mill full of lies. A bad joke, yes- but she has done NOTHING wrong. She had NOT committed any type of voter fraud, nor would she as she is honest to her core.
The fact that her children were threatened by this pshyco path who came to her house is appalling. She had to file a police report because she now fears for her children.
And why? Because of a FACEBOOK post.
Isn’t that the ridiculous part????
In fairness, I have not slandered anyone. In fact, I have protected the author’s identity on the public Internet. Unfortunately for her, she posted on a public Facebook page, about which I can do nothing. (Particularly since I am now blocked from that page because, I suppose, this blog post does not fit the us-vs-them narrative the admins seek to provide to the members.) I have not sent a “crazy psycho” to anyone’s house. Was this the reporter? If so, I believe he had a camera man. So, if he was abusive or threatening, I’d suggest obtaining the footage, since they recorded the encounter in its entirety. The same investigative reporter who contacted her contacted me, and I was as surprised as she was. I responded by posting this on my blog, under my name, so I could take responsibility for whatever harm or good I might have done. He agreed to use my blurred picture, so I could protect her anonymity. It seemed like the right thing to do, to me. You responded by (anonymously) accusing me of slander and misinterpretation, which tells me you apparently did not even read my blog post. This *was* not about your friend, who I do not know. This *is* about the ease with which someone could commit voter fraud using the mail-in ballots.
Mary, I think you mean to call Ms. Brownrigg’s actions libelous and not slanderous. More importantly, though, is that TRUTH is an absolute defense to both. It is admirable that you defend your friend, but at the end of the day, your judgement appears just as questionable as your “victimized” friend. And, Mary, if your friend is “the most ethical and honest person [you] know,” then why shouldn’t we all take your friend at her word?
I can not see how one can misinterpret what this person has posted. I think she took the post down was because she could have been accused of voter fraud. In my opinion that was exactly what she was trying to accomplish.
Please let this go, it truly was a mistake and a stupid one at that. She is a concerned, scared, and passionate woman when it comes to her kids, who utterly used the wrong words.
For most of my life, I saw only the best in people and didn’t think they would “go there” because I wouldn’t. I then spent 2 years at a site where how I worded things made others think the worst so I had to resort to using smileys to get my point across. It was that or learn how to be a writer!
My theory {was} that those who would “go there” assume others would too, and that those of us who wouldn’t, assume the best in people.
I’ve since learned that those who seek power/position/money/status will use *every* means available to attain their goal, and instead of being the outliers, they’ve become the norm.
So now I hope for the best but expect the worst. I accept that voter fraud is a means to an end. As such, it *will* be used if we don’t treat it as seriously as we do other facets of life where we need ID confirmation.
“As such, it *will* be used if we don’t treat it as seriously as we do other facets of life where we need ID confirmation.”
I agree. Thank you for posting this. This is not about the individual in question. It is about how easy it must be to vote by mail using someone else’s ballot, which she made clear, at least to me, when she posted this – joking or not.
“This is not about the individual in question. It is about how easy it must be to vote by mail using someone else’s ballot, which she made clear, at least to me, when she posted this – joking or not.”
That’s the issue for me too.
I usually see all sides on an issue, but this appears pretty cut and dried – voter integrity should be at the top of *every* to-do list, from dogcatcher to POTUS.
The reasons given to NOT validate votes via in person voting with ID *seem* fallacious – just think of how often we need to show ID for myriad reasons that *don’t* have the potential to impact others like voter fraud has.
I get that a lot of what the media/etc. choose to focus on are zebras they attempt to conflate into horses, and that while voter fraud may look like a zebra to some {so much so that some may feel free to joke about it never thinking anyone would believe they were being serious} that’s really not the point.
To be against voter integrity is to tacitly admit one is just fine with the potential for fraud so long as it benefits a good cause/issue/candidate.
Many of the backers of the pro-union slate of BOD candidates (yes endorsed by the teachers’ union – a fact that is irrefutable) have become so overly strident and vociferous that it is pushing people off the fence to vote for the candidates that have not been union-endorsed. These people may think that they are winning the day by exaggerating and aggrandizing, but they push people like me underground and makes us more determined than ever – the “silent majority.”
I may not like some of the things that the current Board is doing (lack of transparency which I do not like in the least) or has done (vouchers without any sort of income limits – if well-to-do parents want to send their kid to Valor don’t make me subsidize THAT, but if a low-income single Mom in Castle Rock wants her kid out of a low-performing elementary school there, then I will) but at least the Board is shaking up the status quo with merit-based pay, market-based salaries for hiring, refusing to subsidize the union’s officers and officials, and refusing to be the union’s collection agent for dues.
Agreed. The thing that bothers me the most is that I have close friends on the Involved Citizens and Teachers Facebook page (which supports the anti-Board/4 Candidates 4 Kids/ union-endorsed candidates Chase, Keim, Hodges and Scholting. I have no idea if any of them support the return of the union, by the way.) That’s the Facebook page referenced in this blog. I’ve been a member of that page for over a year. I respect my friends who are members. Yet, I cannot understand why they don’t see that the groupthink on that page is, in fact the bullying they’re condemning the other side for perpetuating. One of the reasons I wrote this is because they were blaming my actions on people I don’t even know and attributing motives to those people that did not belong to me. Then, when I said it was me and not some right wing conspiracy, they deleted my link (twice) and banned me from the group, so I can no longer see their posts – and the members cannot see what really happened. That kind of truncating of free speech is troubling, and it probably will affect my vote at this point.
One more. I find it absolutely deplorable that someone would threaten this poster over something she posted. Even IF she was advocating to engage in fraud – which by accounts does not appear to be the case – that gives no one license to threaten another. And at the woman’s house??
Can not we be civil in our discourse without resorting to this sort of thing?
I am confused about this incident. If someone threatened the poster, I, too, find that frightening and – hopefully – actionable by the police.
Maybe the poster was joking. I can’t help but be reminded of airline passengers who also joked about having a bomb in the security line. How is anyone to know it’s just a joke? Voter fraud is real, and happens regularly, even if hardly anyone is caught or convicted. With all the comments about stealing flyers and signs, I don’t think you overreacted.
Responsible citizens should think twice about joking about criminal behavior on Facebook in a heated election.
I reluctantly agree about mail ballots being problematic for voter fraud, since I sure like the convenience!
The lady who posted on Facebook meant to encourage voter fraud. Now she’s acting like an eighth grade girl pretending she didn’t mean what she said or was just kidding. I’m not buying it.
Did she Laurie? Did she intend to encourage voter fraud? Is she acting like an 8th grade girl? Do you know her? Can you see how she’s acting? Maybe throw out your opinions about another human being when you personally know her, know her intentions, talk to her directly. It was definitely a crazy comment she wrote, and I was taken aback also, however after talking to her now, I get what she was trying to say. It’s such a passionate race right now, and we’re seeing it first hand, it was only words (poorly chosen words). Please try to think about others feelings…
The original posting was a clear invitation to commit voter fraud. No indication at all that it was a joke, and clearly not a request to drop off completed ballots. It is pure spin to attempt to label it otherwise. How accepting would the anti-BOE types be if this reprehensible action had been taken by the other side?
Knowing some of the anti-BOE types I can guarantee that they would not be accepting at ALL and would be really going nutso and running to their house organ – the Highlands Ranch Herald – and in-their-pocket reporter, Jane Reuter. Honestly, I have never witnessed this type of zealousness in a school board race which some characterize as “passion” but I characterize as “rude,” “boorish,” vindictive,” “fear-inducing,” and with other decidedly negative adjectives.