Tag: Raleigh county

Are US Elections Fair – My day as a poll worker

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

Citizens across the country worry about America. Voters wonder if their vote counts. In my admittedly limited time as a poll worker, I believe that it does.

By Mark D. Harris

“Stop the Steal” was a common phrase used by conservatives in the aftermath of the 2020 Presidential Election. Official counts indicated that former Vice President and long-time senator Joe Biden had prevailed over incumbent President Donald Trump. Trump, however, refused to concede the election. His followers peacefully protested, but a few rioted, at the Capitol in Washington DC on 6 January, although claims that this was a coup are overblown.

The election occurred during the greatest pandemic since 1918, COVID-19. As a result, mail-in ballots and non-traditional voting skyrocketed. Safeguards like correcting voter rolls (eliminating ineligible people) and requiring official photo identification were neglected or even opposed. Election laws written for another time were incapable of coping with modern technologies and a global pandemic. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg poured $419 million of his private fortune into mail-in, get-out-the-vote (GOTV), and shadier efforts for the Democratic Party in 2020.[1] Other deep-pocketed influencers did the same. Their money gave the Democrats a huge advantage in the gray zones of elections where laws are opaque and lawyers lurk. Small-time voter fraud occurred, but whether it was widespread enough to change the election is doubtful. We will probably never know for sure.

Concerned about the past and wanting to improve things in the future, I chose to serve as a poll worker in Raleigh County, West Virginia on 5 November 2024. I wanted to see firsthand how my corner of the system worked. To put the bottom line up front, I was encouraged by what I saw.

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How Should I Vote?

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

Christians must render unto God what is God’s, but also render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. In our representative democracy, that means that every Christian must vote, and be informed and prayerful. Many will be called to be poll workers, a few activists, and a tiny minority…candidates.

By Mark D. Harris

Primary elections are fast approaching, and the political storms are surging in this presidential election year. West Virginia’s primary elections are on May 14th. Many people are just now beginning to pay attention to the races, and many do not know who they should vote for. National races, like Trump and Biden, swallow up media time and space, and local candidates rarely gain publicity.

For Christians, the question of who to vote for is secondary to the question of why and how to vote. Christ-followers are first citizens of heaven and only second citizens of our earthly nation. Our allegiance lies first with Jesus and only second with the United States (in our case). The direction of believers’ allegiance is not new. Followers of Jesus refused to worship Roman emperors and perform religious duties that would put Rome above God. Often, these Christians were killed for their “disloyalty.” Killing Christians was a bad move for Rome.  Christianity was spreading like wildfire through the Empire regardless of the persecution. Further, the sterile and abortive Romans needed to have their failure to make more Romans offset by the fecund Christians.

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