Voting in 2026

 by J.R. Dunn

I live in what’s popularly called an “unc” – an unincorporated township inside a much larger metropolis. That means less in the way of services, but also a lot fewer people out to mind your business for you.

Another result is that the public facilities tend to be low-key – no towering twelve-story plate-glass monstrosities to house the Department of Lost Pets. The city hall here is a low, one-story structure that also houses the police department and city jail, along with a small banquet hall that served as a polling station.

I was able to park directly across the street yesterday and walk right in. It was the standard setup that I’d grown used to over several elections. Walk to the table, sign in, accept the ballot. No ID needed, of course – this is the 21st century -- and then go to a stall where I could fill it out in private.

That’s where things got problematic. The ballot itself was unexceptional – the accustomed list of candidates and spending proposals. I marked “GOP” and “No” on all of them and then went over to the machine and fed it in.

There was no copy. There was no receipt. There was no identification number. There was nothing at all with any proof that I’d voted, or how. What I got was a cute little sticker with “I voted” on it, suitable for slapping on the side of the fridge.

What there was were plenty of opportunities for cheating. Once that ballot entered the scanner, it was gone. Anything could happen to it, and neither I nor anyone else would have any idea. I’m aware of the privacy argument, and I don’t really disagree with it. But there are a number of ways that can be handled.

As it is, when you create opportunities to cheat, somebody, somewhere, will take advantage of them. That’s unquestionably what happened in 2020, and likely what happened in many places yesterday as well.

I can’t escape the thought that systems such as this don’t come into being on their own. They exist because somebody wanted them to work exactly that way. That is not a feeling that you want to have when you’re walking away from a voting booth.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/11/voting-in-2026/