Does anyone here remember the good ole ‘ days when you went with your parents to vote? You stood there and watched them cast their ballot and get a receipt, and before you went to bed, you knew who had won because Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, and David Brinkley would tell you.

The great part was that you believed them and trusted in the American electoral process. Now, we have seen some old-school chicanery in our process—talk to folks in Texas about Lyndon Baines Johnson. We all remember the wacky “hanging chads” of Florida and the 2000 presidential election. Heck, I remember ten years ago learning that you could have more than 100 percent voter turnout in St. Lucie County. I saw, like clockwork, how a little after midnight, there was a mysterious 4,000 vote shift, which in the end, no one could explain.

What has happened? We have gone from a process that was relatively simple, easy, and disruption-free to a time when we are now told you don’t get results for a week. And, oh yeah, we have always had absentee ballots coming from our men and women in uniform, and they got counted.

Something must be done because certain places in America have become laughingstocks. Consider what has transpired since the year 2000 in Florida. Folks in the Sunshine State do not go to bed without knowing the election results in their state, regardless of who is declared the winner. When Ron DeSantis was elected as governor four years ago, upon inauguration, he immediately put a laser focus on election integrity. He fired the Palm Beach County supervisor of elections, Susan Bucher, whom I knew quite well. His action inspired long-time electoral integrity nemesis Brenda Snipes of Broward County to resign. Additionally, it put others, like St. Lucie County Secretary of Elections Gertrude Walker, on notice.

It is quite unconscionable to me that elections were much easier when we had less technology. Now, we have machines that “go down.” We have a lack of voting ballots, even printers that run out of ink. The level of incompetence is rather disconcerting, if not intentionally malicious and nefarious. The result is a lack of trust and confidence when we have very specific places, — Arizona and Nevada come to mind — where we cannot get election results promptly. Not to mention a candidate for governor who is also the Secretary of State, Katie Hobbs, who is in charge of elections.

So, what must be done? I have a few recommendations.

First, it only comes every two years, so make Election Day a national holiday. Heck, New Year’s Day is a national holiday. If we make it a national holiday, there is no reason not to be able to cast your vote, no excuse for having to go to work or needing to take the kids to school. Take your kids with you to vote, as Mom and Dad did with me in Atlanta, to their polling location at Henry Grady High School, where I ended up graduating. Our kids could use a lesson from their parents on civics.

Second, this “early voting” thing has gotten doggone out of hand. Next thing you know, early voting will be extended to September in some places. I am not a fan of early voting, but when you address it, the progressive socialist left says you are trying to suppress the vote. Well, if you have a national holiday, you are certainly not suppressing the vote. If there is to be early voting, then it cannot extend past one week, just the week before the national election day, Monday through Friday. And, over the weekend, all early votes should be tabulated.

Third, no more unsolicited mail-in ballots or voting by mail in America. You have two choices, request an absentee ballot or vote in person during the one-week early voting period or on the national election day. This whole mail-in ballot scheme was part of the progressive socialist strategy as articulated by Eric Holder in his April of 2020 Time magazine op-ed. No more ballot harvesting and drop boxes. Let us make voting easy again and cheating harder. Let’s ensure our seniors are not abused and made subject to voter fraud.

Fourth, we need to implement safeguard systems for our electoral process. There must be paper trail backups to these voting machines. There must be top-level testing of voting machines, and they must never be tied to the internet. Voters should receive a voting receipt. I remember my parents getting this. No, not purple fingers, but some type of receipt that can be issued to the voter. We get a receipt to show proof of purchase, so why not show proof of voting? There must be a voter ID. You cannot get onto a plane without a picture ID unless you are an illegal immigrant. By the way, no illegal immigrants should ever be allowed to vote in America, at any level: federal, state, or local municipality. Voter ID is not racist. All this hyperbolic “Jim Crow 2.0” rhetoric must cease. After all, Jim Crow was the brainchild of the Democrat party.

No one is allowed to change election law except the legislative branch. When governors, Secretary of State, and judges change election laws, that is a definitive threat to our representative democratic process. I reiterate, America is not a democracy. When a judge decides to interpret election law, such as was done in Pennsylvania on undated mail-in ballots, no slick suit partisan lawyer like Mark Elias should be able to file a lawsuit.

Elections are executed at the local county level. However, we are experiencing too many irregularities and disturbing actions. The federal government must operate within the rule of law, according to the Supremacy and Guarantee clauses in the Constitution and provide a republican form of government to every state in the Union. Republican governors and State legislatures need to continue to focus on election integrity, as Governor Ron DeSantis did.

We must once again make voting easy, reduce this lag time on presenting results, and make it harder to cheat and cause confusion.

Steadfast and Loyal.

This article first appeared on Townhall.com