LETTER: Ballot harvesting is just plain wrong

In allowing the harvesting of votes, the Legislature has created an easy way to twist the electoral process. The most vulnerable — the elderly, uneducated, those not fluent in English, the poor — may be pressured to vote a certain way. Harvesters can help these voters fill out their ballots. For example, union harvesters can essentially force or pressure their members to vote a certain way.

Candidates cannot advertise within a certain distance of a polling place, but we are going to let them or their supporters into our homes or workplaces to help fill out ballots? This newfangled ballot box stuffing is just wrong.

How many layers of harvesters can there be? Will there be a rush from harvesters from both sides to get to voters first in order to exercise this influence? Can people vote more than once because more than one harvester came to the door?

Harvesters should be treated as any election official. They should be registered with the state and swear an oath not to influence voters in any way. There must be a verifiable chain of custody for harvested ballots. There must be a followup with voters who have been harvested to verify that there was no undue influence or advice on how to vote. There must be confirmation that every single harvested vote was actually submitted and counted.

The fact that this legislation passed, late at night and without proper public input, causes me to be concerned that we are witnessing the birth of a “dictatorship of the proletariat.” Remember that one? Remember Karl Marx? The Democrats are swinging far left beyond just socialism. We should all be very worried.