Election integrity is a moral issue. With just over a week to go until what will (hopefully) be  the conclusion of this highly contentious presidential election on November 5th, the fly in the ointment remains whether those results will be trusted – particularly by the losing side. As the above video clearly demonstrates, the much-derided MAGA voters so demonized by the current administration and much of the media are are not the only ones capable calling elections results into question. In fact, they’re relative novices at it.

The reason election integrity is a moral issue is because it goes to the very trust that must be present to maintain civil society -and without civil society everyone suffers. In a true democracy when there are questions about the way an election process is conducted, the people are allowed to voice their concerns. Those concerns should be transparently dealt with – not coercively shut down with censorious government and corporate media chants like “The Big Lie.” Clearly, the Capitol riot of January 6th, 2020 should never have happened – just like the George Floyd-inspired riots of 2019 shouldn’t have happened. In both cases, however, the fact that the riots were not justifiable doesn’t mean that the questions and frustrations leading up to them should have been ignored.

I’ve heard it said that the questioning the results of a close election is like questioning the results of close football game. I think that’s a good analogy. In the latter case, you accept the fact that, whether you like it or not, the ref’s controversial call means your side officially lost – but you’re not required agree with the call. The same principle holds for an election. Most everyone accepts that President Biden is the official legal winner of the previous election because the Supreme Court (which is supposedly in the tank for former Donald Trump) refused to hear the challenge to it. That means, in effect, that Biden legally won whether the former president and his supporters like it or not. That’s the way the system works. Disagreeing with that decision, however, does not make him and his supporters “insurrectionists.” Rioters, of course, are rioters and should be held accountable as appropriate. On these points I believe most people agree.

The mission going forward is not to allow doubts about the electoral process to be repeated, to be ongoing and to fester. Toward that end Pastor John Graves, CEO of the non-profit association of churches Million Voices has some thoughts on how to ensure that this election doesn’t further corrode Americans’ trust in the electoral process.

JWK: Why do you see election security as such an important issue.

John Graves: I would say without fair and secure elections nothing else we are about can be dealt with or fought for (including) the 1^st Amendment, 2^nd Amendment, life, taxes, etc.

JWK: How would you rate the current level of security going into this election?

JG: Our elections are more secure than 2020, we have more eyes on them and we now have X which will allow people with real concerns not to be blocked by leftist propaganda. Sunlight is the best disinfectant and having a free speech platform is critical to fair and secure elections.  For example drop boxes are limited – at least in North Carolina and Georgia as compared to 2020. Many states have outlawed Zuckbucks (aka private funding of government elections).

JWK: What, if anything, can people do to bolster election security at this late date?

JG: If you see something – say something on X, Truth, etc. We have one large free speech platform available in 2024. We created a free tool that works for all 270 million people to connect them to (their local election officials). Go to MillionVoices.org and sign up. When you select Fair and Secure Elections, we will connect you to your county and state official who oversees this issue. We give you their name, address, email and phone.  Plus, we give you a simple way to connect with them.  We go so far as to send a letter monthly to them for a small donation!

JWK: What reforms would you like to see going forward?

JG: I would love to see fair, auditable, constitutional, transparent, and secure elections…I want to see our elections be SO Fair and Secure that the loser believes they lost the election to the citizen voters!

JWK: In your estimation, how much of an actual security threat does the internet pose to voting machines across the nation?

JG: It is a massive threat, especially given AI advancements. Any election machine connected to the internet is susceptible to attack. It is not difficult to make all machines be traceable and auditable. There are also legitimate accusations by well-qualified cyber experts that many software systems are not secure. They do not even have encrypted entry and the encryption keys – which allow for votes to be changed without detection – are left in the plain text of the code and are hackable. These claims need to be inspected by people’s local county and state officials.  We lay this out in our A Team tool on MillionVoices.org.

JWK: You say there are three specific questions voters can ask their county commissioner to ensure their votes are counted. What are they and how do they do that?

JG: Go to MillionVoices.org and sign up for A Team (Activist Team). Make sure to select Fair and Secure elections – and we will connect you to the County and/or State official who is most responsible for Fair and Secure Elections.  We will give you their name, office, address, email and phone…We give you example language if you want to call, email, and/or write to them. 1. You will ask them if the election software is traceable. That should be turned on and is off on many systems inspected; 2. is secure from a standpoint of encryption  – (with) the encryption keys NOT being in plain text section which makes it unsecure; and 3. if they can do an independent inspection and report back to both political parties and secure the voting information until both sides can inspect the voting.

JWK: How do we balance the legitimate need for voter integrity – ensuring that only legal votes are counted and are done so accurately – with the legitimate responsibility to see that no legal voter is disenfranchised?

JG: This is simple to address. One analogy is found in banking. If I send you five dollars from my bank to your bank we both can verify that no more and no less than the five dollars was sent. In addition, both banks can verify this transaction. I can see and audit it. You can see our transaction and audit it. We transact billions with this system daily. Our votes are SO much more important than five dollars. If we can do this for five we can do it for our votes. Transparency is critical for trust. People do not trust our elections (because) they are not allowed transparency or auditing when problems occur.

JWK: In your view, how much of a security problem does the border situation pose to the election?

JG: I think it is massive given the fact that many states are NOT requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. There is a lawsuit filed in Wisconsin over this. Many states are giving driver licenses and/or allowing online registration without documentation of the voter’s citizenship. Many states are not giving access for audits or transparency to US citizens. The second threat is the radical left wanting to allow people who illegally came to our country to vote for who governs us.

JWK: The way things stand now, do you have confidence that the election results will be accepted by the losing side – which ever one that may be?  What is your advice to those who may not be confident in the results? What is the best response?

JG: Great Question. I have been advocating for years that the losing party accepting the results is exactly the goal both parties should have! I have more confidence than in 2020 but I am still unsatisfied as we have many steps(to go) to obtain fair and secure elections. I DO think we can report many problems this time on X and Truth but this is far from complete and perfect. Twenty-six states have outlawed private funding of our elections. Zuckbucks…in my opinion flipped the 2020 election as shown by Biden underperforming the losing 2016 candidate Hillary in all non Zuckbucks counties – while outperforming Obama in the Zuckbucks counties. I would say if you are not confident in the results in November ask what else can be done, who is the person that is in charge of that in your county and how can you put pressure on them. If your candidate wins, I would encourage you to not just look the other way but keep doing everything you can until our nation agrees that our elections are fair and secure and those who lose elections no longer blame the lack of security or fairness. The Best response is 1. VOTE; 2. Get as many as you can to VOTE; and 3. Demand your local county and state officials continue to improve our elections until they fair and secure.

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11