Someone saw the grift about election cheating and thought to themselves, “I can make money off this,” and I think we’re seeing that now:
But the specialized inks and watermarks also would limit the number of companies capable of selling ballot paper — potentially to just one Texas firm with no previous experience in elections that consulted with the lawmakers proposing the measures.
Mark Finchem, an Arizona state representative spearheading the initiative, said in an interview that he developed ideas for the proposals after discussions with executives of Authentix, a company in Addison, Tex. The firm has since hosted other GOP lawmakers at its office and given presentations about the idea to legislators in two states, according to participants and social media posts. …
Finchem said he thinks there will be a “foot race” among states to adopt the measures as a way to alleviate skepticism that elections are secure. Authentix, he said, would not be able to overcharge for the special ballots because he said the company would otherwise lose the support of public officials. But, he added, “it certainly does offer the opportunity for a company to engage in commerce.” [WaPo]
My suspicion is that “footrace” will be among five to ten States that have State leadership teams committed to the idea that private is always better than public. Then problems and drawbacks will start popping up. Supply issues will occur and be incurable by election officials, only by companies – some fly-by-night. The article notes that what few estimates of the cost is that it’ll be higher. Much higher. And the monopoly situation will continue, protected by patents. The libertarians’ standard Competition will Lower Costs! card will be played, but it won’t work because switching costs are very high when dealing with a system that Can Not Fail. The first mover will be the big, and only, winner.
Then someone will be caught corrupting the process. Or maybe they’ll find a need to encrypt something, and forget the cardinal rule of encryption: don’t roll your own.
And those five to ten States will quietly return to administering the elections with proper technology. And no one will mention election cheating because, it turns out, it only happened on the Republicans’ watch.
Just a feeling on my part.
