No Vote Unguarded

Securing Our Constitutional Republic

We the People Newsletter

By: Carol L. Snow | July 24, 2025

Guarding the Priceless

Imagine a security guard tasked with protecting the Hope Diamond, a priceless American treasure.

One night, he falls asleep, leaving the vault door wide open. When challenged, he shrugs, “Was it stolen?” His negligence is unforgivable. As his boss, you’d fire him for failing to protect what’s invaluable.

Our votes are the Hope Diamond of our Constitutional Republic—the bedrock of our democracy, defended by soldiers who died to preserve our right to fairly elect our leaders. Yet, vulnerabilities like duplicate voter registrations, double ballots, deleted personal identifying information and a lax voter ID law leave the vault door ajar, inviting fraud.

A WTP reader recently asked, "How often do duplicate registrations lead to multiple ballots?” The question, though well-meaning, misses the point: the possibility of fraud is unacceptable. One eligible voter, one ballot—nothing less will do.

A Bipartisan Failure

Before we dive deeper, let’s be clear: this is not a Democrat or Republican issue—it’s a systemic one. Both parties have failed to fully protect our elections. When you read about a Democrat’s dismissal or a Republican’s complacency below, know that we’re holding all leaders accountable.

A Democrat’s Dismissal

At the June 24, 2025, North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) meeting, one of the Democratic state board members downplayed voter fraud, stating (34:45–35:14):

"I don’t think we have any evidence of the votes being diluted. I don’t think we have significant evidence of people voting twice."

This is false and reckless.

The NCSBE Investigations Division documented one of the voters who cast both a mail-in and in-person ballot, mistakenly believing her mail-in vote missed the deadline. Both ballots were counted. This is documented fact.

Absentee and voter history records from the 2020 and 2024 general elections confirm double ballots.

Duplicate registrations, which the NCSBE has failed to eliminate, create opportunities for errors—or intentional fraud.

The board member’s use of "significant" is, well, infuriating.

How many illegal votes are "significant"?

The federal government allows a tiny error rate for voting machines—1 in 125,000 votes—because perfection is impossible. But North Carolina’s systemic failures, like unchecked voter rolls and weak ID laws, aren’t mere technical glitches; they’re preventable breaches that threaten our elections. [See Resources for Accuracy Requirements.]

We are rightfully outraged when even one eligible citizen’s vote is suppressed. For over a century, Americans fought to secure voting rights for all citizens, regardless of race, sex, or economic status. The 15th Amendment (1870) prohibited racial disenfranchisement, the 19th Amendment (1920) secured women’s right to vote, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed to enforce the 15th Amendment in all states, eliminating barriers like poll taxes that disenfranchised the financially less fortunate.

Why isn’t there equal outrage when one illegal ballot dilutes the value of every legal vote?

This double standard—condemning suppression but downplaying dilution—undermines the constitutional principle of fair elections. One ineligible ballot is one too many.

This state board member’s partisanship was clear, as he went on to say:

"I think the only evidence we’ve had of voter fraud, or significant voter fraud, was in 2019, and that was not as it relates to the voter rolls, that was as a result of individuals just being evil."

This jab at the 2019 Mark Harris campaign scandal implies election fraud is a Republican problem. We expect that type of rhetoric from the Chair of the NC Democratic Party. Election board members must uphold the law, not push party narratives. Such bias—whether Democrat or Republican—has no place in election oversight.

A Republican’s Complacency

On the other side of the aisle, Senator Warren Daniel, Republican Co-Chair of the Senate Elections Committee, responded via email to a constituent’s August 2024 concerns about North Carolina’s voter ID law. Sen Daniel was asked:

“Do you find it odd that full grown young (or older, e.g. employees) adults lack Driver Licenses, hence require a school photo to vote? … Any plans to match 'school ID used' with the many, many NC voter registrations that lack the legally required DL/SSN? … These people are throwing the last shovel full of dirt on our Republic’s grave. Our fake voter ID law helped.”

Sen Daniel’s reply was dismissive:

“I don’t think the electoral process is in as dire straits as the activist groups portray, but some of what they propose as solutions is either unconstitutional, impractical or would be enjoined by a court in a matter of days.”

What constitutes "dire straits" for Senator Daniel? How many ineligible ballots cross that line?

North Carolina’s voter ID law—one of the weakest in the nation—allows employee identification cards issued by a state or local government entity [§ 163‑166.16(a)(1)(h)] in lieu of a NC Driver License. Furthermore, state law allows a utility bill as "proof" of identity when a voter's personal identification information can't be verified [§ 163‑166.12(d)] with another government database, leaving the vault of our elections vulnerable.

If that's not bad enough,

for over 15 years, North Carolina election officials treated required identification information as optional, and
processed applications with unchecked "Are you a citizen of the United States of America?" boxes.
SEIMS deletes critical registration data when it doesn’t validate identity, and
often creates multiple registration records when teenagers preregister, and
cannot prevent or even detect multiple ballots cast by one voter in an election.
SEIMS fails to comply with the federal mandate for local officials to have real-time statewide voter registration access, and
when one voter casts two ballots in a county, SEIMS requires the voter history record for the 2nd counted ballot to be deleted. Yes, the election record is destroyed.

If this isn't "dire", what is?

As a Republican co-chair of the Senate Elections Committee, Senator Daniel should champion robust safeguards, not dismiss valid concerns as exaggerated.

A Personal Betrayal

I know a couple who has been married for over 40 years—one a Democrat, one a Republican. They joke about being sure to get to the polls so they can cancel out the other’s votes.

But if one spouse is allowed to vote twice - whether it's accidental or not - the other’s voice is undermined. That’s not a joke—it’s theft. If your spouse, child, or neighbor’s vote was nullified by a system that tolerates "insignificant" flaws, would you accept it? Downplay it? Dismiss it? Neither should we.

Secure the Treasure

The Hope Diamond of our Constitutional Republic demands unyielding protection. We call on the NCSBE, Senator Daniel, and all leaders to:

Acknowledge documented double ballots, duplicate registrations, and voter ID gaps.
Overhaul SEIMS and strengthen the voter ID law to eliminate ineligible ballots in real-time.
Encourage non-partisanship among elections board members and demand accountability from elected officials.

One illegal vote, one duplicate registration, one unlocked vault is one too many. We’ll demand secure elections until the system is airtight.

Join us in urging the NCSBE and legislative leaders like Senator Daniel to secure our elections—because fair, lawful elections safeguard our Constitutional Republic from tyranny.

Resources

US Election Assistance Commission

Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 1.1

Maximum acceptable error rate: 1 in 125,000 votes

Page 79 (.pdf page 87):

Click here to subscribe

No Vote Unguarded - Securing Our Constitutional Republic

Comments