Rep. Mike Sylvia: Everyone's vote is necessary to maintain legitimate election system

To The Daily Sun,

Many voters are still concerned about election integrity. They ask me what can be done to assure all the votes get counted properly. The general answer that they receive is to not worry, the system is fine. Still, they have their doubts and even Hillary Clinton questioned the 2016 results.

Here in New Hampshire we have three polling locations that were found to have mishandled ballots. So telling people everything is fine is less than satisfying. While we know that three locations in the state have had problems, we don’t know what we don’t know (that’s roughly from Donald Rumsfeld). The problems in Laconia had been going on for a while and yet were just revealed. Where will the next discovery be made?

If the people are not confident in their elections, one of their first thoughts is "then why bother voting?" Fewer voters gives more control to those whom have a higher incentive and receive special privileges from their government.

We need more voters, not fewer. We need to turn out voters at such a high number that it overwhelms their ability to rig the system. We have to have faith that justice with prevail.

Another thought just popped up over at Granite Grok: Ken Eyring suggests contacting the Secretary of State’s Special Committee on Voter Confidence.

Others are working on grassroots solutions. Check out The Resolve for some ideas. As is in all politics, we sometimes need to respectfully disagree; I support John Plumer over their preferred candidate for senate in District 2.

There is no quick and easy solution. And even if there were, we would still need to remain vigilant to maintain a legitimate election system. Have faith, be hopeful, and most of all take action; bring your neighbors to the polls on Sept. 13.

Rep. Mike Sylvia

Belmont