Monday, January 25th, 2010 Photo identification presented at the polling place when receiving a ballot is the best available procedure to ensure accuracy and security while protecting citizens' right to vote.
Several states have implemented weaker forms of voter identification and I fear Kansas may follow. These weaker forms allow for utility bills or a piece of mail to serve as valid identification at a polling place. The requirements vary, but the national law allows for more than 15 forms, including cable bills and telephone bills.
What causes a problem at the polling place is the complexity of the current national law being applied to every voter during every election. Right now only first-time voters are required to show one of these weaker forms of "ID." When all voters are required to present an ID, the ID's must be uniform and free from interpretation, otherwise we risk reducing voter turnout by causing the elderly, the infirm and the disabled to leave long lines caused by reviews of varying forms of identification.
I've served as a certified international elections observer in several countries where photo voter ID is used and have witnessed the impact of varying forms of voter ID firsthand. Besides not being a secure form of identification, the weaker forms of ID cause confusion at the polling place. Our best option is a state-issued identification, such as your drivers license or a similar state ID card.
Here's a scenario to illustrate my point: If the national law were put into effect for every voter in Kansas the law would allow your telephone bill from AT&T as a form of identification, but not your cellular phone bill... also from AT&T. The poll worker is then in a position to decide whether your bill is eligible as a form of identification. This takes time. Time causes the line to grow, the voters grow weary, and some voters go home or back to work. I've seen it happen and it is a tragic sight to see those who are elderly, those who've sacrificed in battle for their country, those who simply can't handle the elements any longer, walk out of a line and back to their homes because the heat of summer or the cold of winter is too much to bear.
Don't let anyone fool you, the voters who are waiting in that line deserve to have their votes counted. Obtaining a photo ID for a one-time $14.00 fee at the DMV is no more burdensome than having cable TV or a landline phone in your name. It is a small price to pay to avoid the errors that lead to an inaccurate vote. Photo ID will also maintain the uniformity necessary to keep lines moving quickly. In some cases lines move faster when an ID is present as poll workers scan the voter rolls for a voter's name.
The chief elections officer for the state will set the agenda for voter security procedures, including Voter ID, and will be responsible for accurate vote counts and accurate filings for small businesses and other entities.
There is no substitute for experience. I've served on the ground, overseeing and verifying vote counts, implementing procedures to eliminate error and prevent fraud, and I've personally participated in stopping a foreign national from voting illegally at a voting center. There is simply no room for mistakes when it comes to our vote. I've released a comprehensive plan to secure our vote from fraud, entitled Securing Our Vote, which is available on my web site at www.JoinJR.com.
The Kansas Secretary of State race may be the most important election on your ballot this year. It is an office that often goes unnoticed, but it plays an important role in defending our liberty.
If elected as your secretary of state, I'll cut red tape for small business and run free and fair elections in Kansas -- where every vote is counted and mistakes are not tolerated.
The streets filled with Morales supporters around 5:30 p.m. local time.
The streets filled with Morales supporters around 5:30 p.m. local time.
Voter ID and registration security were effective at preventing several types of fraud on election day in Bolivia. Only scattered reports of attempted double-voting occurred and very few people were turned away for lack of appropriate documentation.
The people of this country, and many others like it, have faced fraudulent, sham elections for decades. Any time a people has their vote robbed en masse, like the people of Bolivia have for two centuries, the ruler is a de facto dictator. Believing that Morales or Chavez or Castro is a legitimate leader, is like believing Saddam Hussein really earned 100% of the vote every time an election rolled around in Iraq.
As observers we witness the process. And the process inside the polls may be fine, but the process outside, consisting of pressure, intimidation and rumors that the voter identification system would be used to punish those who voted against the sitting president, are enough to call the results of this election into question.
A woman stands in front of the presidential palace to see Morales speak.
A woman stands in front of the presidential palace to see Morales speak.
I've met plenty of people who are happily voting for Morales. I've also met a few who were afraid that they couldn't vote for anyone else, so they were voting for Morales for safety. Issues aren't the biggest campaign theme. Regionalism, cronyism, and intimidation have more of an impact than the issues facing this country.
We will report the results of our mission, stating that the process worked at the polling stations and that the voter registration systems worked. Regardless, I fear that a socialist dictator has taken the reigns for life in this South American country.
Voters exit the polls after voting in La Pax, Bolivia.
Voters exit the polls after voting in La Pax, Bolivia.
The streets of La Paz have filled with Morales loyalists. We were outside the presidential palace when Morales emerged to declare victory. The early results were possible due to the electronic voting system that was used at the polls. The final official results will be known late tonight.
It is not surprising that the people of La Paz are happy about the outcome. La Paz is a stronghold for pro-Morales forces. Voting is also very regional in this country. The lowlands and the south are more likely to oppose Morales. We will see the voting breakdown tomorrow.
Election Day in La Paz, Bolivia was very quiet. Voting is compulsory, otherwise turnout may have been extremely low. The outcome was known at 3:00, but for many the outcome was known after polling showed Morales winning by a wide margin.
Bolivian police guard polling places on election day.
Bolivian police guard polling places on election day.
The quiet streets were attributed to a law that prohibits public and private transportation on election day and a law that makes illegal walking in groups of more than four. These laws come from a history of fraud, where parties would ferry the same voters from polling place to polling place to vote multiple times under different names. Protests and violence on election day in the past prevents formation of groups of more than four in public places.
The voting centers are dispersed, much like in the United States where polls are located in government buildings and schools. This is a sharp contrast to the observation mission in El Salvador earlier this year where polls were located at large fairgrounds.
The voting process went smoothly at the polling place. Individuals entering were registered appropriately and there were few instances of people turned away for improper documentation. I was impressed with the technology being used to combat voter fraud. Countries like this, where fraud is a part of their history, provide a great opportunity to see how government can give the people a reason to finally believe that their vote will count.
Tomorrow we will report our findings from the elections observation. There is little doubt that the systems functioned properly and the process worked well at the polling places. Being prevented from entering the country and then being detained in Santa Cruz hurt our efforts to fully understand and observe the registration systems and the battle between the courts and the Morales government.
Saturday, December 5th, 2009 Today we visited with party leaders and visited the presidential palace and legislature in La Paz. Since it is Saturday many of our prior meetings from the week we were detained in Santa Cruz could not be rescheduled. But with the election tomorrow, party leaders are working diligently to win seats in the National Congress. The polling may show Evo Morales winning an easy victory, but all the competing parties are looking for wins to hold power in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Currently, Morales' socialist party does not control the Senate.
The Bolivian Legislative Building in La Paz.
The Bolivian Legislative Building in La Paz.
The political system in Bolivia has something of a fresh start under a new constitution that allows for more than a single term for presidents. If Morales' one term under the previous constitution is not counted, he could be the first three term president, serving until 2018. Many Central and South American countries distrust the permanent president model that Chavez and Castro have used to stay in power for a lifetime. In Bolivia, the same fears exist, but Morales promised not to run in 2014. Most Bolivians I've spoke to do not believe Morales will live up to this promise.
Morales will have an unprecedented amount of time leading Bolivia if elected to this second term. The country has averaged a new government every 10 months, with one president serving for just six hours.
La Paz is the world's highest-altitude capital city at about 12,000 ft. above sea level. It is situated among the Andes mountain chain.
La Paz is the world's highest-altitude capital city at about 12,000 ft. above sea level. It is situated among the Andes mountain chain.
The area where we are working is densely populated, however public transportation is closed on election day and we are told cars are not allowed in the streets. Everyone is expected to walk to the polls. All businesses will be closed as well, except for essential services and hotels.
We will be observing voters outside the polling place as well as inside to attempt to detect instances of voter intimidation. Morales has been accused of numerous human rights violations and has a history of punishing political opposition according to a report by the Organization of American States (OAS). Their report accuses Morales of implementing mob tactics and holds him directly responsible for the deaths of 74 opposition members.
During the observation effort, we will also be looking at how long lines get and if it has an impact on turnout. Often, we see the elderly and the handicapped leave long lines due to the wait and inability to stand for long periods in the heat or cold.
We will be seeking information from anyone turned away from the polls. The requirement in the past week of a birth certificate could make voting difficult in a country where the process for obtaining a birth certificate is not easy. Individuals were to have already proved their eligibility and citizenship at the time of registration.
The weather forecast calls for rain, but temperatures are in the lower 60s in La Paz.
Friday, December 4th, 2009 We landed safely in La Paz about an hour ago. It is about 2:00 a.m. on Saturday in Bolivia and we have spent the last 20 hours detained in Santa Cruz. The delayed entry caused all of our Friday meetings to be cancelled as we dealt with getting clearance to leave for the capital city. We originally had a direct flight into La Paz, but our flight was forced to land in Santa Cruz, a hotbed of election-related violence we were trying to avoid. The picture above is of a spontaneous crowd that formed when an opposition candidate arrived at the airport where we were detained.
The current president's name has become a type of political party symbol. Instead of naming the party on their signs, many in the party are placing the "EVO" logo on their ads.
The current president's name has become a type of political party symbol. Instead of naming the party on their signs, many in the party are placing the "EVO" logo on their ads.
Relations between the United States and the Morales government have been strained. Just one short year ago the ambassador from the United States was kicked out of the country and Peace Corps volunteers were evacuated over security concerns. Just this past week, Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, visited to lend his support to the current leadership.
During our long, and unwanted stay in Santa Cruz I had an opportunity to speak to a Bolivian who lives in the United States and was returning to vote in the elections Sunday. He was eager to tell me about the slow march toward socialism, the high taxes, the redistribution of wealth and power, the nationalization of industries... in the United States.
His good humor added some levity to a tense situation. But, it also begs the question of why I do this when the outcome can be a winner who is ideologically opposite from what I believe. The short answer is that I'm not here to pick a winner, but to assure that the process and the will of the people is respected. It isn't that I don't care or have opinions, but those are set aside on election day to allow the people to decide.
The mission also gives me an opportunity to see how voter identification procedures work on the ground in a real election. New technology can be an amazing and useful tool to combat fraud. In this day and age it isn't so much if we can do it (we usually can), but if we should do it. The biometric voter identification system used in Bolivia is one of the first uses of this technology and we will be there to see it in action, along with photo and signature identification cards.
The job of an observer is much like the duties of the secretary of state in Kansas. The job of chief elections officer is not to influence the outcome, but to assure that every vote is counted; that every voter is registered; and that every registration is valid. That is why I believe in a process that includes photo voter identification and registration security. We must have confidence in our elections to achieve higher turnout and greater civic participation.
Some meetings from Friday were rescheduled for Saturday. We will visit the presidential palace and the legislature to learn more about the many local and regional elections that are taking place on the same ballot.
On a side note, the opposition to Morales could put up a fight if they were to rally around a single conservative candidate. They won't, but they could. The reason they won't is the legislative and local elections taking place. If the minor parties have no one at the top of the ticket, turnout will drop and down-ballot races for those parties will lose potential votes.
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 This news video is of recent clashes between campaigns in Bolivia.
While waiting for clearance to enter Bolivia we had an opportunity to visit with many Bolivians at the consulate in Miami. They discussed the sometimes-violent clashes between campaigns that are taking place in regions of the country where the current president is less popular. The heated exchanges are due to the current president's efforts to nationalize industries and redistribute wealth and power to a select set of people.
The United Nations has issued condemnations of the most recent clashes between opposing campaigns.
The country has two capital cities. La Paz, where the president and legislature are located and Santa Cruz where the traditional capital and the supreme court is located. The National Electoral Court (CNE) is also located there.
The courts oppose much of what the current president has done and went so far as to issue a last-minute ruling requiring birth certificates at the polling stations on election day as a requirement to vote. The court believes there are over 400,000 undocumented individuals in Bolivia who may attempt to vote. We will learn more about this issue in the coming days and determine the best course of action to prevent attempts at fraudulent voting.
New York and Washington, D.C. will host polling stations for Bolivian citizens living in the United States. The recently-passed Bolivian constitution allows for polling stations in the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Spain. Though a law limits the number of votes allowed from outside the country to a total of 210,000 votes. Like many other poor Central and South American countries, Bolivian citizens migrate to the United States to work and send money back to their families. These remittances often make up 25 to 50 percent of a nation's GDP.
Tomorrow we will be visiting the legislature and the presidential palace to speak with party members on each side of the election. There are three major candidates and dozens of other party nominees on the ballot. Two are splitting what would be considered the conservative vote, giving the socialist Morales an easy path to victory.
Monday, November 30th, 2009 Today, we visited the company responsible for the voter registration technology being used in Bolivia. The company makes the biometric voter identification systems that are used in the registration process. 3,000 of the portable systems were deployed to register millions of voters at a rate of 60,000 per day. Some are used in fixed-location registration centers and others are portable systems carried into less populated mountainous regions.
The system takes a photo of the voter, then scans in all ten fingerprints, then accepts a digital signature to complete the process. All that information is tied to the identification shown by the voter at the point of registration. The voter leaves with a receipt of their registration and two other copies are filed with the National Electoral Court (CNE).
Registration centers were also set up in the United States and other countries where Bolivians living abroad are constitutionally guaranteed a right to vote without returning to Bolivia for election day.
This type of voter registration goes a step farther than traditional voter identification systems with the fingerprint scanning, though this type of technology has been used recently in other elections. Bolivia also has a largely unenforced compulsory voting law, requiring those over 21 to vote and those who are married over 18 to vote.
We leave Thursday from Miami and arrive in La Paz, Bolivia early Friday morning. Due to a travel restriction we were unable to leave Miami this evening.
There have been some reports of scattered violence in clashes between pro and anti-Morales groups. Morales is opposed by those who stand to lose their livelihoods as Morales nationalizes many industries and redistributes wealth and power to the indigenous population.
"Day Two" of the mission (and my next blog post) will occur Thursday, rather than Tuesday due to the delay caused by the travel restriction.
Saturday, July 11th, 2009 John Bradford, chair of the Leavenworth County Republican Party, put on one heck of a barbecue in Tonganoxie today. What looked to be 150 people showed up to hear from candidates and elected officials, including myself. Sam Brownback, Todd Tiahrt and Lynn Jenkins spoke to the crowd before lunch was served. Luckily I spoke after lunch, and as Todd Tiahrt said, growing up on a farm, you never want to stand in front of a trough at feeding time.
I told the Republicans gathered today about my roots in Kansas. As a fifth-generation Kansan, born and raised in Salina, I have a vested interest in my state. I talked about my conservative values, the values of hard work, of smaller, more efficient government, and of less regulation on Kansas businesses. The paperwork and red tape have become a strain on small businesses in a struggling economy. I know. I've been an advocate for small businesses most of my adult life, working with the National Small Business Association, the Bush Administration Office of Advocacy at the Small Business Administration, and as the CEO of a national business association. More importantly, I know, because I run a small business of my own.
In a tough economy the last thing we need is more regulation, more paperwork and more of the same. It's important we start calling added regulation and paperwork mandates exactly what they are: a tax on small business and a threat to good jobs in Kansas.
I shared with the crowd the foundations of my conservative values and my work for Republican and conservative causes as a fundraiser for the RNC, as a participant in the March for Life, as chairman of a conservative scholarship organization and as a member of the executive board of the Kansas Young Republicans.
I closed my talk by noting my experience with elections as an international elections observer. I've been on the ground for elections where photo Voter ID and registration security procedures are used to make sure the right to vote is protected, and I believe Kansas needs the added protection these laws offer to keep our elections fair and free.
Stop in Johnson County
Later in the afternoon I stopped by the grand opening of the new Johnson County Republican Party offices and talked with area legislators and party officials. Ronnie Metsker has done a great job of making the dream of a central party headquarters a reality, and all his hard work, and the hard work of everyone involved, will pay off with Republican victories in 2010.
Saturday, July 4th, 2009 Today, I visited four of the Independence Day Tea Parties held across Kansas. We started in Wichita at the Sedgwick County Courthouse, made our way up to the train in Kenwood Park in Salina, headed east to the Gazebo in Ottawa, and ended up south, in Chanute.
In addition to celebrating our independence with readings of the Declaration of Independence, the Tea Parties continue to be a grassroots movement of citizens who have had enough of government corruption and waste. With a debt of $13 trillion looming over us, it is no exaggeration to say our nation has a spending problem.
Today, in Ottawa, I spoke about the need for reasonable, responsible and accountable government. We all know government at it's best can be a hassle, and at it's worst can be a burden. Growing up, my parents taught me the value of hard work, and the important principle that you just don't spend more than you have. The bottom line, is this: We need less government, not more government.
I'm running for the Republican nomination for Kansas Secretary of State to cut red tape for small business, to grow more jobs and make doing business easier for Kansans. I will run free and fair elections and fight for a Voter ID law and registration security procedures to clean up our voter rolls.
Monday, May 25th, 2009 Today, at events and in private reflection across the state, we celebrate the efforts of so many who gave their lives in defense of freedom. We also remember there are men and women prepared to make that great sacrifice for our country today.
Today, I attended the Fort Riley Memorial Day ceremony at the post cemetery on base.
Col. Richard Piscal, Fort Riley Garrison Commander, spoke about the great sacrifices made by generations before us. "The ecolquence of words cannot match the sacrifice made by so many," said Piscal. He joined Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Ian Mann, along with Cpl. Avery Abbott, Noncommissioned Officer of the Year, and Spc. Clancey Henderson, Soldier of the Year, to lay a wreath at the cemetery.
The service concluded with a 21-gun salute and benediction.
