While exploring substack publishers, I stumbled upon an article that claims a Sheriff’s organization "illegally confiscated voting machines and other election equipment" across the United States. According to the publication, the Sheriff is “empowered to ignore any law they deem unconstitutional." The question I had at first is why should or should a Sheriff not be able to inspect election equipment? Voter Verifiable Paper Trails is an idea that is long supported which would allow post-election audits.

In another conversation, what form of audits and election equipment inspections would make sense? Do organizations specifically formed for this work do it or does it make sense for a Sheriff to do so?

As far as I know, there are already government entities/bodies that are tasked to do this. They oversee and ensure the integrity of elections from the method used for collection, to tallying, transportation, storage, and so on and so forth. The agencies in question do a good job. Election fraud (assuming there is no proof) is relatively rare and marginal of an occurrence as to never have comprised the integrity of a national election in history. Yes, I know the Trump loyalists will come after this exact statement, but if it was 2016, the Democrats would as well. Either way, in my opinion, if elections are rigged, it’s not at the voter box, but somewhere deeper or further up on the chain.

The organizations already tasked with the duty should continue to do so. Altering the system due to something unproven such as functional problems, but due to misinformation campaigns by a liar and those with a vested interest in his success, would do more harm than good by legitimizing the lie. In a sense, it would prove that if you lie hard enough, you would eventually get your way.

That is all assuming the Sheriffs in question are acting in good faith. Most people would say that they aren’t. Add in the fact that they are bad faith extremists (some) seeking not to clarify, reassure, or secure, but to muddy, obfuscate, and scare their way into a crisis out of which they may leverage the power trip. Overall, it’s a bad idea up and down the suggestion scale. We all know that in some places Sheriffs are individuals elected by the people and only the governor can order the arrest of Sheriffs. However, that doesn’t mean they can ignore anything they deem unconstitutional.

The question I leave you with, or in my opinion the better question, is: What do Sheriffs know about voting machines in the first place?