Of course there was voter fraud

As a process quality expert, I can tell you why there will be again.

I taught Quality and Manufacturing Statistics to Fortune 100 companies for many years. We talked about Zero Defects. Every process should try to have Zero Defects.

But there is variation in everything, and there is a cost to controlling variation. Life and death situations may justify the costs, but even then, there is no guarantee of Zero Defects.

When you want to reduce errors and defects, you assess the processes, look for the areas with potential for failure, and put changes in place that will reduce or catch them.

Voting is complicated, with many processes, many opportunities for breakdown, and lots of human involvement, starting with the voter themselves.

Fraud is “wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.” The risk is prison. What financial or personal gain is available for an individual voter that is worth going to prison? It’s highly unlikely large numbers of individuals would risk it. That isn’t the place to focus.

If there are widespread errors in the voting process, the errors or defects would occur later in the process. Lost ballots, double counting or systemic failures that could have large scale impacts. As a quality expert I am 100% in support of efforts to make sure these potential failure points are assessed and systems here are strengthened.

Putting the focus on the voters by cutting back early voting hours, banning drive-thru voting,or further clamping down on voting-by-mail rules is not where to focus. That is not where the voting fraud would occur.

Look at the definition again: “to result in financial or personal gain.” Who gets financial and personal gain from doubting the validity of the elections? That’s where we should look for voter fraud. Who is creating deception about voting? That’s where the fraud is.

There will always be a few defects in the system here and there because the system isn’t perfect. The system can’t catch everything. No system can.

So of course there is voter fraud. But finding a few instances here and there does NOT indicate widespread fraud that would have changed the election. If someone is telling you that, they are misguided, lying, and/or just plain Poor Losers.