Aan we set aside politics for a minute and discuss the last election? Not about who won the presidency but about the election process itself. It was a convoluted mess.

First, let’s not simply swallow the idea that the 2020 election “was the most secure in U.S. history.” That was the conclusion of government and industry officials who are in charge of election security. What do you expect they would say — that they fell down on the job? Highly doubtful. And their grandiose declaration came just nine days after Election Day. Much suspicious information has surfaced since then.

Private citizens presented hundreds of sworn affidavits alleging all sorts of suspicions about fraudulent vote counting, backdating and transporting of ballots, and voting machine irregularities in several states. These statements were offered by citizens who swore under penalty of perjury and could be jailed if found to be lying.

It would be easy to swat away all these complaints by saying they came from supporters of the Republican Party, but that’s too easy. It also leaves us with the conclusion that everyone — from poll watchers to postal workers — is lying as part of a big conspiracy. The problem with complex conspiracies is that they ultimately fall apart because someone steps up and tells the truth.

After all the complaints we’ve heard about the 2020 election, wouldn’t you like to know the facts? Shouldn’t citizen claims of fraud against our most sacred system of democracy be taken seriously and fully investigated? If they are found to be false, then the liars can be prosecuted, and the truth about the election will be on the record.

Almost as disturbing as all these accusations of wrongdoing is the mainstream media’s automatic scorn for the idea that voter fraud could happen. They might as well run headlines that say: “Shut up. Go Away. The Election Was Perfect.” We have known as far back as the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon contest that election outcomes can be fraudulently manipulated.

Why does big media jump on all manner of political gossip and accusations but not this? When the outcome of our most important civic duty is in question, much of the media is content to take the lazy way out and proclaim: “There’s nothing to see here. Go back to your homes.”

Shouldn’t we care that some states may have illegally changed the rules on mail-in and absentee ballots under the guise of pandemic protection? Critics passionately believe some of those changes invited fraud and violated state constitutions.

Shouldn’t the nine states that sent out massive numbers of ballots to everyone on their voter registration rolls reconsider that procedure? No consideration was given to whether those voters may have died, moved away or been convicted of a crime, making them ineligible to vote. All those unclaimed ballots floating in the ether were easy prey for the unscrupulous bent on tipping the outcome.

A flurry of state and federal lawsuits has been filed citing these various allegations. As I write this, some are pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Many of the suits have already been dismissed, but that doesn’t mean the remaining suits lack merit. Attention should be paid until all disputes work their way through the legal system.

If a state’s constitution or the U.S. Constitution is believed to have been violated, isn’t it logical to challenge that? If not now, when exactly do we start to question the status quo and investigate whether our voting systems are truly secure? When do states begin to seriously cull out-of-date voter rolls to ensure votes are not cast in the name of nonresidents or the dead?

Many will pooh-pooh this, saying there are just not that many illegally cast votes and surely not enough to change the outcome of the election. While that is very likely true in the 2020 race, that is beside the point here.

Our election process should be above reproach. Any election system that includes more than 160 million participants is going to have security problems. We need to acknowledge that. Every citizen who wants free and fair elections should be alarmed at the discombobulated state of our current process. Everyone should want to improve it before the next election.

To find out more about Diane Dimond, visit her website at www.dianedimond.com.