They are a single state. We are a federation of 50 states.
We need each state to adopt common-sense controls for their elections. Unfortunately, short of a supreme court ruling, there really isn't a good way to do this.
The constitution does grant the congress the power to oversee elections, and put pressure on states to reform their election systems, but this only kicks in when they are discriminating against people. The supreme court ruled not too long ago that the states have fully complied and now congress cannot oversee their elections anymore (barring new behavior.)
The president could issue an executive order, but at best, he can just investigate. He has no jurisdiction over state affairs.
What we can do is the following:
Write a law that says that states must adhere to some basic set of standards to ensure election integrity. The punishment is that the federal government will take over their elections if they do not. That means federal agents will control all of the voting places and such. If a law isn't good enough, then we need to pass an amendment, which requires a lot of effort nation-wide to pass, and if there are too many states that don't want to comply, the amendment will never get ratified.
Get congress to refuse to read the electoral college votes from states that do not comply. Also, refuse to seat members of congress who come from states that do not comply. It takes 2/3rds to refuse to seat a congressman, and I think it takes a majority vote to refuse to read ballots. We did exactly this right after the civil war, basically disenfranchising several states.
In reality, the best way to combat voter fraud and vote fraud is to simply take control of the election controls in your state. Get familiar with election laws. Volunteer your time to ensure that things are done properly, and report and and all infractions, even minor ones. Get elected as Secretary of State, and take control of your state legislature, and write laws demanding photo id and proof of citizenship and such, and requiring voters re-register if they fail to vote in an election.
This is a battle that unfortunately the president can't fight for us. We have to fight it in our own backyards.
They are a single state. We are a federation of 50 states.
We need each state to adopt common-sense controls for their elections. Unfortunately, short of a supreme court ruling, there really isn't a good way to do this.
The constitution does grant the congress the power to oversee elections, and put pressure on states to reform their election systems, but this only kicks in when they are discriminating against people. The supreme court ruled not too long ago that the states have fully complied and now congress cannot oversee their elections anymore (barring new behavior.)
The president could issue an executive order, but at best, he can just investigate. He has no jurisdiction over state affairs.
What we can do is the following:
Write a law that says that states must adhere to some basic set of standards to ensure election integrity. The punishment is that the federal government will take over their elections if they do not. That means federal agents will control all of the voting places and such. If a law isn't good enough, then we need to pass an amendment, which requires a lot of effort nation-wide to pass, and if there are too many states that don't want to comply, the amendment will never get ratified.
Get congress to refuse to read the electoral college votes from states that do not comply. Also, refuse to seat members of congress who come from states that do not comply. It takes 2/3rds to refuse to seat a congressman, and I think it takes a majority vote to refuse to read ballots. We did exactly this right after the civil war, basically disenfranchising several states.
In reality, the best way to combat voter fraud and vote fraud is to simply take control of the election controls in your state. Get familiar with election laws. Volunteer your time to ensure that things are done properly, and report and and all infractions, even minor ones. Get elected as Secretary of State, and take control of your state legislature, and write laws demanding photo id and proof of citizenship and such, and requiring voters re-register if they fail to vote in an election.
This is a battle that unfortunately the president can't fight for us. We have to fight it in our own backyards.