The biggest problem is that people being polled dont always give honest answers.
By Kerby Anderson
AUSTIN Texas (Texas Insider Report) Most people had never heard of Vote Harvesting until some voting irregularities surfaced in the 2018 election. In North Carolina a Congressional Election was overturned due to charges of illegal vote harvesting.
In California some unexpected losses by Republicans especially in Orange County where the city of Los Angeles is located were also attributed to the same issue.
Lest you think these concerns are unwarranted all you need to do is look at the election fraud database put together by the Heritage Foundation. It includes convictions of political officials in a number of states who were coercing absentee voters.
Vote harvesting occurs when a third party (like a campaign worker) collects absentee ballots from voters and delivers them to election officials.
Hans von Spakovsky has served on the Federal Election Commission and is concerned about the potential for abuse.
Allowing individuals other than the voter or his immediate family to handle absentee ballots is a recipe for mischief and wrongdoing."
Think about this. Neither the voter on the one hand nor the election officials on the other can verify that the secrecy of the ballot has not be compromised."
- How do we know if the ballot that was submitted accurately reflects the wishes of the voter?
- How can we be sure that the vote harvester didnt fraudulently change the ballot?
- For that matter how do we know that the vote harvester didnt toss out a ballot from a voter whose political preferences were for the opposition party?
Another reasonable concern is about voter influence or intimidation.
When a voter is filling out a ballot in front of a vote harvester there certainly is potential for influence. In fact there is no one present to ensure that voters are not being coerced intimidated threatened or paid for their vote."
Vote harvesting is a threat to the integrity of our elections.
POLLING: Are the right people being polled? And are they giving honest answers
With polls coming out nearly every day on nearly every topic it is time to revisit the topic of national polling. The first issue is statistical accuracy.
A typical three-day poll of 1000 people if proportioned among the 3000 counties can accurately represent American adults 19 out of 20 times within 3. We should assume that reputable polling firms do conduct polls that accurately mirror race sex age geography and educational makeup.
The real question about the polls isnt whether they are statistically accurate but whether they are polling the right people and whether the people being polled are giving honest answers.
This presents a problem in trying to determine if the right people in the right percentages have been polled.
Too often one party or group ends up being over sampled.
And if the poll is about likely voters there is the problem of accurately determining if someone being polled will actually be voting in the election.
But the biggest problem is that people being polled dont always give honest answers. Two researchers at the University of Arkansas found that people with unpopular opinions feel the need to conceal their true voting intentions."
In the past this was called the Bradley effect." Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley was an African-American who lost in 1982 despite being ahead in the polls. Some voters told pollsters they were undecided or going to vote for Bradley because they didnt want to say they werent voting for the black candidate.
But this has become an even bigger problem when you are polling people about Donald Trump.
They have seen videos of what happens to a person wearing a MAGA hat.
They have heard about people being fired abused and doxed if they say they voted for or will vote for Trump.
This means that the polls may be even less reliable because voters are even less willing to reveal how they feel and how they will vote.
Kerby Anderson is host of the Point of View Radio Talk Show and serves as President of Probe Ministries. He holds masters degrees from Yale University (science) and Georgetown University (government).
