The Election Fairness Institute, Inc. [EFI] is an Internal Revenue Service [IRS] approved Sec. 501(c)(3) entity engaged in election process research and publication of such research for the public interest of advancing transparent, secure and fair elections, free of special interest influence over the suffrage of U.S. Citizens.
Currently there is no firm, legal or accountancy, that specializes in election audits —forensic audits of elections— critical to solving the lack of transparency necessary for trustworthy elections. Moreover, organization that should provide oversight have themselves been captured by an interest in the outcome. “‘Given the vital role elections play in this country, it is clear that certain systems and assets of election infrastructure meet the definition of critical infrastructure, in fact and in law,’ Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said in a statement.”1https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/313132-dhs-designates-election-systems-as-critical-infrastructure/ Building such a firm grounded with SixSigma rigor at its foundation, provides State and County governmental units, as well as citizen’s groups with the missing component in the elections oversight space.
To comply with Internal Revenue Service regulations concerning 501(c)(3) status, we do not support nor do we advocate for any party, candidate or ballot proposal, no electioneering whatsoever. Our focus is on election process and compliance with statutes and regulations regarding election contests; the mission can be summed up with our slogan, “Let’s Be Fair.” Regardless of party affiliation, office or position, the system that appoints representation of the People’s will must indeed, compete in an ecosystem that is transparent and open to inspection of tools and processes.
Executive Summary
The Election Fairness Institute, Inc. is currently engaged in pro bono evidence-based research to match evidence with law, and validate Arizona Election Law as it pertains to election “contests” between major party candidates. The Election Fairness Institute does not provide research services to any candidate or party, which would invalidate the 501(c)(3) charter of the organization. The work product of the various content contributors to EFI is available to all who request it.
A critical project in the planning stage is to examine “vote-by-mail” systems all across the United States. For perspective, vote-by-mail is a relatively new archetype for elections that arrived on the scene after the election of 2000. In a report made by a “bipartisan commission”, chaired by former President Jimmy Carter (Democrat) and former White House Chief of Staff James Baker (Republican), the Commission took aim at “vote-by-mail” as the most effective means to corrupt elections at every level.
Elections are held at the county government level, but are certified—directed/managed/overseen—at the state level. The most significant number of votes cast in 2022 were by mail. A key feature in most states that have a “vote-by-mail” system, is that they require a signature on the return envelope, which is in form and function an affidavit. The counties and courts have blocked most attempts to examine critical records to verify that all legal votes are counted and votes outside of the law are not. Votes—ballots—outside of the law are those which do not confirm to Title 16, Arizona Revised Statutes.
Under the Help America Vote Act [HAVA] Tile III, all legal U.S. Citizens have standing to redress their grievances in the Federal Courts regardless of party affiliation, but they do not have the resources to conduct research of pure fact. That is the mission of the EFI.
U.S.C. 52 § 20701 is explicit on the subject of records retention: “[E]very officer of election shall retain and preserve, for a period of twenty-two months from the date of any general, special, or primary election of which candidates for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives,” yet many political subdivisions of states like Arizona mishandle election documents. Preservation of documents has no maximum time line, only a minimum period specified by law. Inspection of original documentation has been the source of ever-increasing controversy since 2000 and the case of Bush v. Gove, 531 U.S. 98 (2000). EFI will act in the public interest to verify that the public record does indeed support the election outcome.
Action
It is the mission of EFI to support strict compliance with the law, for if anything else stands, then the Body Politic becomes a sloppy society reliant on opinion and feelings instead of the black letter of the law. There are three areas of process focus:
EFI will not charge for access to content unless such content is the result of a contract with County, State or Federal governmental units, but will solicit for contributions to make the corporation sustainable. The expert work product of contributors will be open and transparent to all.