In 1677 the British enacted a law called the Statute of Frauds and Perjuries.
The Statute of Frauds and Perjuries was based upon the premise that without paper evidence of the essential terms of a business transaction, the transaction was ripe for fraud and the case became little more than a contest of who was the best perjurer.
The statute of frauds became the law of the colonies, and later, of each and every state, because the courts recognized the value of paper as a deterrent to fraud.
Likewise for most of the USA's history, it was recognized that a paper ballot was the best electoral fraud prevention device known to man.
After all, voting is a transaction between the government and the people.
But in the early twentieth century our legislatures lost sight of the principle of the statute of frauds and began to eradicate paper-based voting systems. That was a huge mistake.
We need to again recognize the principle that paper is the greatest deterrent to fraud ever invented.
We need a national statute of frauds for voting. Not just for some but for all of us.
There's more of course.
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