WASHINGTON - Nov. 10, 2020 - This brief editorial may help the general population with the notion (or conspiracy) and realities of impropriety in this 2020 Presidential election process.
After working within the intelligence community and having a stint developing covert communication platforms that could be applicable for destabilizing foreign nations, I saw the proverbial "playbooks" and am aware of technical tools that can —in theory—disrupt voting. I also created a model for mediated message resonance to sew discontent, prey upon fears, and exploit social fissures via social media to disrupt groups, populations, and foreign nations. Later I became a fraud investigator and fraud cyber forensic examiner to identify and stop malfeasance.
So, with that said, and having experience in this area, I'll share that committing nationwide voter fraud down to local county level is pretty difficult. The most difficult part of true mass voter/ballot fraud is getting people to keep their eyes and mouths shut, not having an insider expose the scheme via pillow talk or bragging, and of course not getting caught in or before the act. Somewhere in the supply chain is a vulnerability for discovery and a whistle blower interceding.
Do small batches of isolated incidents occur? Or can an inspired lone wolf attempt some form? Sure. Can clerical errors happen such as mailing out deceased voter mail ballots, and will families fill those forms out? Yes. But not likely with an impactful volume to offset legitimate votes.
The same holds true of electronics and exploits being claimed falsely (i.e. HAMMER and SCORECARD) as used by the Deep State in collaboration with the CIA to disrupt data transfer from voting stations to storage and counting hubs. Pure bogus. This activity isn't even successfully pulled against most foreign nations (Psst. We're not as good at overthrowing governments as people would like to believe). It is extremely difficult to get the precise data to know how much or how little to tweak numbers without discovery, and the tech usually has glitches due to low cost vendor contract bids, but I digress.
The best way to create a rigged election or to sway voters is actually through a slower process of deception and disinformation as "Active Measures" to disrupt and demonize the opposition with frightful, mocked, or illegitimate depictions of enemies deemed to be threats to dreams and strategic objectives. It can be done from the outside (OCONUS) but most effective with a local figurehead who has supporters tied to similar belief systems, struggles, or points of view.
If done well, it challenges citizens to actively question, analyze, and seek a new vision of truth, which is fed in a blend of micro and macro doses of falsehoods to win popular or voter support. The intent is to create an us vs them polarization.
If someone or a group is capable of undermining perceived authorities of truth and expertise, it leaves a targeted population more susceptible to persuasive verbal, conspiracy allegations, false persuasion, manipulation, etc, to create that fissure that can be filled with lies or a counter-narrative within cultic social media bubbles that expand outward.
Do I see a state of deception occurring during this election? Professionally, I do. Evidence? Flagrant. But not in the physical voting process. Rather, a catalyst trying to influence a lot of public perception to amplify and generate media attention with doubt and discord that differs from reality. This appears to be ignored by governing and regulatory bodies. Certainly it is unbecoming for the Office it is emerging from.
The evidence of impropriety according to the typical ways of disruption, if people want to know truths of how election rigging or fraud can happen, is in now partisan bullying backed by an executive level misinformation campaign. Mind you, just like physical vote tampering is illegal, any untruths knowingly disseminated by a US government official targeting Americans through mediated messaging may be illegal under the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 protecting citizens from propaganda. Unthinkable, right? And yet it is and has been happening.
