The GOP needs to roll back election rigging rules, not play along with them

“We need to have the biggest legal ballot harvesting operation this country has ever seen.” – Lara Trump

Expected incoming RNC co-chair Lara Trump has enthusiastically embraced ballot harvesting, which has been an effective tool for Democrats to engage in shenanigans in furtherance of their election-rigging strategy. However, Lara Trump is extremely naive if she thinks she can outmaneuver the all-time champion of ballot manipulation, the Democrat Party.

It would be as if a novice magician would boast that he could perform sleight-of-hand tricks more proficiently than the all-time master, Harry Houdini. A more effective strategy would be to attack and repeal ballot harvesting, especially in swing states. In addition, efforts should be made to shorten early voting time windows. It may be too late in this election cycle to pass voter ID laws in these crucial states, but it should be attempted where feasible.

Lara and other Republicans favoring ballot harvesting have not considered the perils of pursuing this strategy. The Democrats have shown no reluctance to use lawfare to counter Republican electoral tactics. Local and federal prosecutors, many funded by George Soros, are willing to go after Republicans on the flimsiest of charges and evidence.

It is easy to see that they’ll go after Republican ballot harvesters for supposed election fraud while leaving Democrat ballot harvesters untouched. In fact, this already has happened in North Carolina in recent years. Expect this type of selective prosecution to be ramped up on a massive scale if the RNC enacts Lara’s ballot harvesting plan.

Not so long ago, former President Trump condemned unsolicited mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting as invitations for massive fraud. Unfortunately, he has now been convinced to support the practice. That’s a catastrophic mistake.

Democrats have expertly exploited the security flaws inherent in mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting. If Republicans try the same tactics at this point, Soros-backed prosecutors stand ready to arrest and indict their operatives and effectively neutralize them.

At this point, the only effective strategy would be to work to repeal ballot harvesting and no-excuse mail-in voting in the critical swing states. Democrat attorney Marc Elias caught the GOP flatfooted in 2020 by filing numerous lawsuits that opened the door for electoral shenanigans. Elias and Biden’s reelection team have recently parted ways over strategy disagreements. However, Republicans should follow Elias’s tactical plan of fighting on every possible front — filing a flurry of lawsuits and exerting public pressure through the media. In addition, a sustained voter ID push should continue and accelerate.

It’s not too late to change course and knock Biden and the Democrats back on their heels. But it can’t be done by trying to play catch-up with Democrats who have perfected ballot sleight-of-hand and other manipulations of election law. The solution is to tighten election law security and rules. There are no easy shortcuts.

Michael A. Bertolone, M.S. is a past executive V.P. of the Monroe County (N.Y.) Law Enforcement Association and a freelance writer in Rochester, N.Y. His eBook, The War on Equality: How Equity is Destroying Our Society, is available on Amazon.

Image: San Francisco ballot drop box by Sarah Stierch. CC BY 2.0.