We’ve all heard rumors for the last few years about election fraud.
Some say it is what got Democratic President Joe Biden into the White House. Others say it’s possible there was some but that it wouldn’t have mattered. And others are steadfast in their insistence that election fraud is an urban myth created by the alt-right to overturn the 2020 election and get Trump put back in the White House.
In any case, it should be worth a look. After all, were election fraud to exist, even on the smallest of levels, shouldn’t our elected officials and government leaders want to eradicate it, ensuring that the true voices of the people are heard?
You’d think the answer to this question would be ‘yes,’ no matter what side of the political aisle you sit on. In fact, it should be a “hell, yes,” right?
Thankfully, some in our offices of leadership agree, or at least in a court of law. And in Los Angeles, one election has even been overturned because of it.
Enter Compton city councilman Isaac Galvan who supposedly won his election in a June runoff election of last year against challenger Andre Spicer. The vote was close. And by close, I mean that Galvan won by a mere one vote, 855 to 854.
However, not long after the election and Galvan’s seat claimed, it was discovered that not all of the votes for him may have been legit.
In a call recorded a mere six days after the election, Kimberly Chaouch of the Los Feliz neighborhood admitted that she had voted in the election for Galvan despite not living in Compton. According to her, Galvan and his primary opponent Jace Dawson had come up with a plan to ensure that Spicer wouldn’t win.
Basically, it involved a number of individuals who lived outside of the voting lines casting a ballot and using Dawson’s Compton address for their registration, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Naturally, a lawsuit against Galvan and his plan began a short time later. What has since been found is that Chaouch was one of four individuals who used Dawson’s address and then sent in ballots for Galvan, despite not living in Compton.
This means that Galvan’s win of 1 is really a loss of 3.
And on Friday, Superior Court Judge Michelle Williams Court ruled that accusation to be true. In her 10-page ruling, Court noted that Galvan lost to Spicer 854 to 851 and that Chaouch and Dawson, as well as other fraudulent voters Reginald Orlando Streeter and Toni Sanae Morris, would be charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud each.
As for Galvan himself, he has been charged with election rigging and bribery by the Los Angeles district attorney’s office. Of course, he has also lost his seat on the city’s council.
Interestingly enough, Chaouch says that Galvan and Dawson came up with this plan to “stop the long-standing corruption that would only continue if Andre Spicer were to be elected.” Now, isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black? I mean, isn’t rigging an election the very epitome of ‘corruption?’
But I digress…
Clearly, most of you will not be affected in the least by this overturn. However, it does bring to mind more than a few other elections in which election fraud was also alleged and, as of yet, hasn’t been determined.
Largely, we are talking about the presidential election of 2020, as Donald Trump has made no small matter of the supposed record amount of fraud that it included. However, on the opposite side of the fence, the political left has been quick to disregard such allegations as nothing more than right-wing conspiracy theories meant may give Trump back the reins of power.
And while this recent overturn does not prove either is the case for any other election, it does prove that election fraud can and did occur, at least on some level. And that gives the idea that it could have happened elsewhere much more weight.
Additionally, it hammers home, even more the need to ensure that, going forward, our elections are as secure and legal as possible. And if that means changing a few laws to require voter IDs or such, so be it. At least, we will have elections that give America an honest voice.