Indian Land Republicans – June Newsletter & Recap of Meeting
After opening with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer, we conducted an overview of recent elections illustrating the importance of primary elections. For the 2022 South Carolina elections approximately 17.6% of eligible voters voted in the primary, which is the election that decides who represents the parties in the general election. Of the registered voters the turnout was 20%. The general election had 44% of eligible voters showing up at the polls, which mean a small number of voters decided who are the final candidates and still less than 50% registered voters cast a vote. The SC primary for the 2024 presidential elections are in February 2024 and we are hoping to get more voters engaged, informed and voting.
Guest Speaker – Laura Scharr with South Carolina Safe Elections
Laura discussed a number of topics including the mission of South Carolina Safe Elections (www.scsafeelections.org), which is to make sure our elections are transparent, simple and secure. She shared the following information:
· Recent studies show 60% of likely voters said it is more important to make sure there is no cheating in elections as opposed to making it easier to vote.
· In August 2021 – 90% felt it important to prevent, cheating in all elections.
· In December 2021 – 59% of likely voters believed that cheating affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, with 41% of Democrats believing this, as well.
· Cast Vote Record (CVR) is the electronic record of a voter’s selection, which is collected from the scanned ballot image. There is NO VOTER IDENTIFICATION ON THE CVR and ballots can’t be tied to a voter. CVRs are provided by 27 states and the District of Columbia, but South Carolina will not provide.
· According to the South Carolina Constitution, elections are to be held by secret ballot to protect the right of suffrage, but the ballots shall not be counted in secret.
Laura encouraged us to move to one day voting with minimal absentee ballots utilizing secure hand-counted paper ballots and paper poll books to ensure our voter rolls are accurate and maintained in a timely fashion. She encouraged citizens to be more involved with elections at the local level providing more decentralization of the process.
She also said that electronic records need to be analyzed to keep our elections free from irregularities and to comply with federal and state law. South Carolina Safe Elections is now involved in a lawsuit with South Carolina to get the information for their review to assure the votes are counted properly and look for any questionable activity. The estimated cost of the lawsuit is over $70,000 and they have only raised slightly over 50% of that amount. The trial date is expected in August of this year.
Next Speaker – Tibi Czentye
Tibi spoke about the horrors of communism and told us about his harrowing experiences fleeing communist Romania in 1989 so that he could provide a better life for his family. After kissing his children and wife one last time and not knowing if he would ever see them again, he began his escape. He was captured and put in prison and, after showing he was a “good prisoner” and able to be trusted, he escaped.
Years later he was able to bring his wife and children to America and settled in San Francisco. He came to the United States, legally applied for asylum and is now a U.S. citizen. He then mentioned he has “escaped from communism and San Francisco and finally arrived in South Carolina.”
He discussed the freedoms many take for granted, as well as, pointed out that the while America is not perfect, it is the best country and form of government in the world. That is why people the world over want to come here – especially now with the government giving so many benefits to those who come here legally or not.
Tibi is a firm believer in our constitution and all the amendments such as freedom of speech, right to bear arms, freedom of religion, etc. He pointed out that in socialist or communist countries, they promise a better life but are really interested in power and a better life for those in control. What eventually evolves is usually a dictatorship and taking from those that work hard and giving to those that do not. Eventually the government controls all – including potentially your movement, rationing of food and health care, etc.
He urged everyone to GET INVOLVED NOW! Learn what is happening, get involved and don’t ignore where some are trying to take us. If we lose what we have, it could take generation to recover – if we ever do.
Closing
Kathy Storm mentioned some items the Social Committee is working on, including a possible group viewing of the movie “Sound of Freedom,” followed by a group dinner in July. The movie is about Human Trafficking and will be playing at the Red Stone Theaters.
John Saul is heading up the “Watch Dog” committee and encouraged people to sign up. Please let us know any topics of interest that you are interested in and email us. We are looking for people to attend county council meetings, school board meetings and also to help follow and research those running in the primaries, as well as, their voting records, etc.
