FEDERAL OFFICIALS DO NOT STOP ELECTION CRIMES before or during elections. Their policy is to investigate
and they may prosecute after elections.
The Justice Department has published Federal Prosecution of
Election Offenses in eight editions from 1976 to 2017, under Presidents
Ford, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush and Trump. The link compares six of the
editions which are online.
Sentencing guidelines are too light to deter major fraud. Election
offenses start at "level" 8
to 14, which give prison terms for a first offender of
0-21 months and a $2,000-$75,000
fine. Sentences can be adjusted up or down depending on circumstances. Actual sentences
range from nothing
to 3 ½ years
Citizens can sue over discriminatory effects, but lack standing
in court to challenge procedures which hurt everyone:
·
Courts found that almost
no one has standing in the US to challenge results, or get evidence.
·
"Ultimately, and as
our sister courts have found, a vote cast by fraud, mailed in by the wrong
person, or otherwise compromised during the elections process has an impact on
the final tally and thus on the proportional effect of every vote, but no
single voter is specifically disadvantaged."
·
The European "Code
of Good Practice" sets an
international standard that "All candidates and all voters registered in
the constituency concerned must be entitled to appeal." "The appeal
body must have authority in particular over such matters as the right to vote –
including electoral registers – and eligibility, the validity of candidatures,
proper observance of election campaign rules and the outcome of the
elections." "It is necessary to eliminate formalism, and so avoid
decisions of inadmissibility, especially in politically sensitive cases."
Federal officials pretend
that cyber defenses are effective, even when many states do not audit.
Federal officials also hide
actual attacks by hackers:
·
Florida
registrations,
·
VR
Systems (election night reporting and voter lists),
·
Russian
ownership of election web host (minute 6:54 of video),
·
August 2016 email
to states (pp.146-151), etc. States ignored the August and October 2016 warnings,
because states are used to internet scanning; federal officials did not say
this scanning was from a nation state, and could not answer questions (pp.49,51
of Senate
report)
Federal
law requires old
election materials to be kept for 22 months (pp.75-79)
Each FBI office has an Election Crimes Coordinator (ECC) "to assist state and local election officials with any incidents related to an election crime." FBI explains election crimes to its agents & the public.
Each US
Attorney's Office has a District Election Officer (DEO) with a 2-year term,
whose number is publicized
locally to hear about fraud.