America used to have the most democratic elections in the world. It doesn’t anymore. Antiquated technology, along with the failure to clean dirty voter rolls of dead and moved voters, plus gridlock blocking efforts to fix the problems have left our system in shambles.
The highly respected Pew Center reports that 1.8 million dead people are still on the voting rolls. And with an electorate so closely divided, vote fraud could easily swing key races and even determine who sits in the Oval Office in January 2013.
The problems have become so systemic that a 100-member observer mission for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, is flying in monitors to see if our elections are still fair.
The Moscow Times is reporting among the observer mission are Communists such as Olga Alimova, she is a member of the Russian Duma. This will be the second time that Alimova has worked as an election observer; she recently watched the parliamentary elections in autocratic Belarus.
How embarrassing for America. Communists like Alimova have to come and watch our elections.
Regardless of who wins, for an election to be successful in a free society, everyone needs to leave the polls feeling they have had a say, and the election was fair. Distrust of elections will continue to heighten the tensions between parties and lead to the alienation of Americans that believe the outcome was rigged.
As a voter there are steps you can take to help improve the system. A number of organizations have sprung up in the last few years to help you protect and secure the voting in your area.
First consider offering to service as an election official. Many communities are still searching for volunteers to work on Election Day.
Also immediately report suspected fraud to your local elections board.
Finally, speak out in favor of reforming the system. Rep. Joe Walsh recently re-introduced the Federal Election Integrity Act. This bill would mandate that citizens present a government-issued photo ID to vote in federal elections and provides money to states to provide IDs to those who cannot afford them.
Rep. Walsh knows the problems; he was elected in Illinois, a state with a history of vote fraud and stolen elections. Walsh said in his statement about the bill, “I want to be clear on something. I want to make sure every American eligible to vote has the opportunity to do so, and more importantly, I want to ensure that everyone who does vote has their vote counted.  However, every fraudulent vote cast cancels out any cast by honest Americans – and that is what I am opposed to.”
Voter fraud exists. It is the duty of every American to help safeguard the integrity of the system. This year, keep your eyes peeled and on the alert.  Maybe next time the Russian Communists will stay at home.
The Browns are bestselling authors and speakers. To comment on this column, e-mail browns@caglecartoons.com. Together they write a national weekly column distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Floyd is also president of the Western Center for Journalism.