SCAMMERS SCAM…BUT NOT ALWAYS FOR MONEY

By: Dale E. Livingston, 1-31-26

 

Recently, our Sheriff’s Department sent out a video concerning scams that were perpetrated in our County by anonymous people posing as Deputies calling from the Sheriff’s Office.  According to people interviewed, the calls, evidently, sounded legit.

 

I can imagine how scary that would be to get a phone call – out of the blue – from the Sheriff’s Office about an incident someone had no idea about.  Fortunately, our Sheriff advised people that if they received such a call, to just hang up and then call the Sheriff’s office directly to find out if they were being called for a legitimate reason.

 

Some people, unfortunately, have been scammed out of hundreds, thousands of dollars this year by this and other types of scams, and they will never be able to get that money back. 

 

As I listened to the video, it brought to mind a thought that not only were people being scammed by very nefarious individuals who have become very sophisticated in how they manipulate people, but all Marylanders have been and are still being scammed on a regular basis.  Not by sophisticated anonymous scammers who want their money, but by our very own Maryland State Government, including our Election Officials.

 

The scamming being performed in our Election Community is not necessarily noticeable by the majority of the people.  It is almost a stealth operation within the System.  And it’s not necessarily about money.

 

The scamming occurs on a regular basis.  For example, voter records are not being updated regularly, as is the law (NVRA), yet we are being gaslit to believe that they are.  While the Election Administrator and local Directors are being provided with clear, verifiable data, they are choosing to ignore it.   For example, there are many deceased people who are still on the voter rolls as Active Registered Voters, even though this Election Community has been given provable data since 2024 that these people are deceased.  Some of these deceased voters died over 10 years ago.  One might think that the reason these people are not removed from the voter rolls is so that the voter numbers do not decrease.  Hmmm, why would that be?

 

The Postal Service no long date stamps the mail, any mail.  So how can you track Election Mail or verify that the ballot was mailed when the law says it should have been. 

 

Care and Custody of mail-in and drop box ballots is not occurring, which creates a perception of no security for the voter’s ballots.  And when drop boxes are emptied during Election time, it is not always by a bi-partisan team who perform that duty together, but by only one person.  That is a problem.  That one person may be ok, but they are putting themselves and the ballots at risk.  They are at risk of having their credibility questioned and scrutinized.  And if anything were to happen to those ballots, what would they do then?  What would they tell the public, the voters who trusted that this Drop Box system was safe?  The Election Office who allowed one person to pick up ballots has now jeopardized their credibility as an agency that cannot be trusted.

 

Treating the public, who go to election board meetings, as a bother that the Election Office shouldn’t have to deal with, and then pushing the public out in order to have a Closed Session meeting where the public has no idea what is being discussed, is another way to show that the Election Community has no use or respect for the public – other than having them on a voter list is to up the numbers for increased funds.

 

Most people would not take note of any of this because they are all busy with their lives.  When people go to vote, they want to get in and out as quickly as possible so they can get back to their day-to-day activities and responsibilities. 

 

This, unfortunately, can open the door to scamming in our election system.  If people are not paying attention, who knows what can happen.  Who knows what is happening.  And when our Election Officials refuse to answer questions and act as if the public does not have a right to know what they are doing, that opens another door to complete collapse of their credibility and trust.

 

No one wants to think that there is scamming within our Elections.  No one wants to believe that our Election Officials would brush off issues that the public has concerns about.  No one wants to face the fact that Maryland Elections are not what they appear to be to the average person, but rather are deeply flawed in their processes, procedures, operations and administration.

 

Scamming doesn’t always involve money.  Gaslighting is scamming. Misdirection is scamming.  Preventing scrutiny is scamming.  Misinformation is scamming.  Defying requests and concerns is scamming.  Laying the blame on someone else is scamming.  Pretending there is ‘nothing to see here’ is scamming.

 

As we, in Secure the Vote Maryland, continue to work tirelessly to provide verifiable data; communicate with our Election Officials; work with our Legislators and other State Agencies, and help the public understand their rights and that their concerns matter, we are slowly, but surely, moving the needle toward a more credible and trustworthy Election System.  

 

IN GOD WE TRUST!!!