RP ranking criteria

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

Mr. Cretney wrote in part-

I can already imagine Demorep tapping away about how changing votes is
election fraud, so I'll just say this.
-------
D- I'll let the election law in one U.S.A. State speak for itself (building 
on the experience of about 800 years of Anglo- American election law).  Note 
932 (b) especially. There are about 20- 50 more specific felony sections and 
many dozens of general and specific misdemeanors in the election law.  Every 
government has similar election laws about basic election crimes.

Any addition, removal, alteration of ballots and willful miscounting should, 
if anything, have a much higher punishment -- such as life in jail --- since 
it is *democratic* elections which keep down the machinations of monarchy/ 
oligarchy which has devastated various countries at various times (World 
Wars, civil wars, etc.).
****
MICHIGAN ELECTION LAW (EXCERPT)
Act 116 of 1954
168.932 Prohibited conduct; violation as felony. [M.S.A. 6.1932 ]

Sec. 932. A person who violates 1 or more of the following subdivisions 
is guilty of a felony: (a) A person shall not attempt, by means of 
bribery, menace, or other corrupt means or device, either directly or 
indirectly, to influence an elector in giving his or her vote, or to 
deter the elector from, or interrupt the elector in giving his or her 
vote at any election held in this state. 

(b) A person not duly authorized by law shall not, during the progress 
of any election or after the closing of the polls and before the final 
results of the election have been ascertained, break open or violate the 
seals or locks of any ballot box or voting machine used or in use at 
that election. A person shall not willfully damage or destroy any ballot 
box or voting machine. A person shall not obtain undue possession of 
that ballot box or voting machine. A person shall not conceal, withhold, 
or destroy a ballot box or voting machine, or fraudulently or forcibly 
add to or diminish the number of ballots legally deposited in the box or 
the totals on the voting machine. A person shall not aid or abet in any 
act prohibited by this subdivision. 

(c) An inspector of election, clerk, or other officer or person having 
custody of any record, election list of voters, affidavit, return, 
statement of votes, certificates, poll book, or of any paper, document, 
or vote of any description, which pursuant to this act is directed to be 
made, filed, or preserved, shall not willfully destroy, mutilate, 
deface, falsify, or fraudulently remove or secrete any or all of those 
items, in whole or in part, or fraudulently make any entry, erasure, or 
alteration on any or all of those items, or permit any other person to 
do so. 

(d) A person shall neither disclose to any other person the name of any 
candidate voted for by any elector, the contents of whose ballots were 
seen by the person, nor in any manner obstruct or attempt to obstruct 
any elector in the exercise of his or her duties as an elector under 
this act. 

(e) A person who is not involved in the counting of ballots as provided 
by law and who has possession of an absent voter ballot mailed or 
delivered to another person shall not do any of the following: (i) Open 
the envelope containing the ballot. 

(ii) Make any marking on the ballot. 

(iii) Alter the ballot in any way. 

(iv) Substitute another ballot for the absent voter ballot that the 
person possesses. 

(f) A person other than an absent voter; a person whose job it is to 
handle mail before, during, or after being transported by a public 
postal service, express mail service, parcel post service, or common 
carrier, but only during the normal course of his or her employment; a 
clerk or assistant of the clerk; a member of the immediate family of the 
absent voter including father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, 
sister-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandparent, or grandchild; 
or a person residing in the absent voter's household shall not do any of 
the following: (i) Possess an absent voter ballot mailed or delivered to 
another person, regardless of whether the ballot has been voted. 

(ii) Return, solicit to return, or agree to return an absent voter 
ballot to the clerk of a city, township, village, or school district. 

(g) A person who assists an absent voter who is disabled or otherwise 
unable to mark the ballot shall only render his or her assistance by 
showing the absent voter how to vote the ballot as the absent voter 
desires or by marking the ballot as directed by the absent voter. A 
person who assists an absent voter who is disabled or otherwise unable 
to mark the ballot shall not suggest or in any manner attempt to 
influence the absent voter on how he or she should vote or allow any 
other person to do so. 

(h) A person present while an absent voter is voting an absent voter 
ballot shall not suggest or in any manner attempt to influence the 
absent voter on how he or she should vote. 

(i) A person shall not plan or organize a meeting at which absent voter 
ballots are to be voted. 

History: 1954, Act 116, Eff. June 1, 1955 ;--Am. 1957, Act 220, Eff. 
Sept. 27, 1957 ;--Am. 1982, Act 201, Imd. Eff. July 1, 1982 ;--Am. 1995, 
Act 261, Eff. Mar. 28, 1996 .

Popular Name: Election Code
***
168.935 Felony; penalty. [M.S.A. 6.1935 ]

Sec. 935. Any person found guilty of a felony under the provisions of 
this act shall, unless herein otherwise provided, be punished by a fine 
not exceeding $1,000.00, or by imprisonment in the state prison for a 
term not exceeding 5 years, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the 
discretion of the court. 

History: 1954, Act 116, Eff. June 1, 1955 .

Popular Name: Election Code