Facts undermine conspiracy theories

I generally don’t believe in conspiracy theories. I actually find most of them silly and baseless. The John F. Kennedy assassination in 1964 was likely the place where these alternate conspiracy theories were born. Along came the moon landing and the conspiracy theories questioning the authenticity of the event abounded. Then we have 9/11, one conspiracy advocate suggested the Twin Towers were rigged by the government to fall down.

All of these alternate scenarios have something in common and that is: no proof, no facts, just conjecture.

Our recent presidential election has been fraught with inconsistencies and abnormal activities providing an outcome that gives pause to many or most Americans. Some believe there were those that collaborated in an insidious manner to change the election results, thus another conspiracy theory is born. The differences between these election schemes and the baseless theories of the past are facts, plausible details and evidence.

We were told that mail-in ballots would be rich in fraud; that has been proven to be true. We were told that early voting would be problematic; that, too, has been proven to be true. Since many more ballots had to be processed, in most cases the signature verification step was all but eliminated to benefit a faster process.

Another anomaly was the software that allowed the ballot counting machines to function properly, only to learn that the software could be manipulated to change a vote count. This was confirmed by a former employee of the company that produced the software.

Unlike the conspiracy theories of yesteryear, which are overly populated with speculations, assumptions and guesswork, the irregularities of this national election are directly related to truths. Therefore, when someone questions the legitimacy of this election, they should not be deemed a conspiracy theory nutcase; they are simply looking for an explanation.

The bottom line is: If our democracy is to be protected, our elections must be foolproof.

G. Kevin Savord is currently a professional pilot and former small business owner. He can be reached at gksavord@gmail.com.

The opinions expressed above belong solely to the author and do not represent the views of the Boulder City Review. They have been edited solely for grammar, spelling and style, and have not been checked for accuracy of the viewpoints.