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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 24, 2020 10:32:53 GMT -5
Good post! I don't know that I would have thought of using the heat gun. Makes perfect sense, though. I've often used a propane torch to free up a lug nut. The locking ring being relatively thin and aluminum should respond even better to even the mild temperature rise.
I still haven't used Kroil, but have heard that it's even better than my P B Blaster that I've sworn by for a couple decades. I've got a stuck PVC connection that's resisted everything else I can think of and I need to free it up to change a water filter. May give the Kroil and heat a try before sawing the whole assembly off and replacing with new pipe.
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 23, 2020 9:58:56 GMT -5
My favorite pet peeve with government spending has long been the continued minting of pennies.
Various estimates have placed the cost to the taxpayer at or above three cents per penny distributed, for three or four administrations now, I think, and the best economists and administrators that money can buy don't appear to have the ability to see this as an unnecessary expense. Or as a nuisance to most of who haven't picked up a penny we noticed on the sidewalk in many years. Lots of others have now gone pretty much cashless and enjoyed the complete lack of pocket change as a benefit. Seems like the more business oriented administrations we had in the past would have at least given it lip service.
Maybe Kamala and Sleepy Joe can shut it down as a completely needless waste of energy and environmental damage in mining and minting the useless things....but I doubt it.
I think it's only a few billion a year total, but if they can't even stop that one, how much hope can we have on the bigger ones?
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 22, 2020 14:29:33 GMT -5
We switched to the internet service from South Central REMC about a year ago. Took their highest power package (one gig). Our previous provider for the last several years had been AT&T, and had gone from about 1.5 Meg to around six tenths of a meg, on a good day. When we finally got the long-awaited fiber optic here, two separate companies were racing to supply the area, SCIREMC with delivery through overhead cable and company out of Monrovia that was burying the fiber line along the roads. Package costs were very similar as were the available promised speeds.
We chose SCIREMC because the buried service would have required a small box sitting out in the yard, and I didn't want another obstacle to mow and trim around, and I have a nephew who works for REMC, and they have become much more reliable in delivering uninterrupted electrical service in our area the last few years.
We've been completely satisfied with their service, and unlike AT&T, their promised speed is really there when tested.
The 1 gig package was on a special sign-on deal at $83/mo. I think it was something like ten bucks higher after that deal expired, but was certainly well worth it, IMO. So far it has been uninterrupted except for a routine service break occasionally that they warn you about and it is scheduled for a few hours in the middle of the night, so as to not inconvenience many customers. Dealing with them on the few issues that have come up has been very friendly and easy. and the resolution was quick and satisfying. I recommend them highly if they are one of your options.
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 20, 2020 1:42:59 GMT -5
Used to work with a guy who had a basset that he hunted rabbits with, and he really liked it. He was another bowhunter and enjoyed the slower working dog. He said the beagles would push the rabbits harder and they would come around moving faster, but with the basset they tended to come around at a slower pace, which gave him much better shot opportunities with the bow.
We had one at the farm for a while and he was a character. Didn't seem at all slow in his thinking. I also had a beagle at the time and the basset was definitely the smarter of that pair. He wasn't with us long enough to try to hunt rabbits. He was welcome enough to come inside for a brief visit, but wasn't supposed to get up on the furniture or sleep in the house. He'd get in when someone wasn't careful coming in the back door, and he'd run through the kitchen and around the corner to into my sister's room and jump up on the bed, and when any of us who quickly followed him to put him out got to her doorway, he'd be lying there like he'd been there all day, eyes closed, with the bed still shaking from his landing. He was a cute one, and was also one dog over the limit for our household and he got adopted by another family member pretty quickly.
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 19, 2020 12:43:53 GMT -5
I can and do have a nip once in a while, but keep it down to one smallish drink, and nothing on a regular schedule. I never really developed a serious problem with it but a few times when I was a young adult I had enough of a brush with it to see how addictive it can be after being a regular part of my routine for just a short time.
The first time was when I had received a quart of Canadian Club as a wedding gift, and had put it on a back shelf and forgotten about it until the next summer when I was studying mechanical drawing through a correspondence course to boost my chances for getting into an apprenticeship at work. Those summer afternoons sitting at the drawing board in our little rental house with no A/C went easier when I fixed myself a large Coke. And one day I spotted that CC bottle and thought that a shot of that might make the Coke even better. It did, and a week or so later, a second Coke and CC tasted even better, and soon it became two shots in each one. Never got loopy or wobbly in the least, or really felt any physical effect at all from those amounts. But when I finally ran out of that one quart, I found myself the next afternoon standing in the section of the drugstore in town that every guy at high school had known was the place that never checked ID's, counting my pocket change to see if I had enough for one of the tiny bottles and still could buy the necessaries for rest of the week until payday....and I realized what I was doing, and put my pocket change back in my pocket and got the heck out of there!
After a couple years of being careful about even small amounts on a regular basis, I was in a car pool at work while my car was in a shop. The guys in the pool were in the habit of stopping at a local bar every pay night for a few beers and some games on the shuttle bowling machine. The old semi-retired mechanic who was rebuilding the engine in my car took six weeks to get it done. Probably had something to do with the empty beer cases he had stacked in his garage. Anyway, when that first pay night ended at work and I was driving my own car again, I went a couple blocks out of my way on the way home and drove past the bar..."be a good place to cash the paycheck"....
Had to fight the steering wheel a bit to keep going for home instead. Another little alarm bell had gone off just in time. That taught me that I had to watch out for weekly habits as well as daily ones, and I eventually learned that I wasn't safe in developing monthly ones either, a few years later, so I became very wary about ANY drinking on a regular routine. That has been the rule that has kept me out of trouble for fifty-plus years since. I will still have the glass of wine with a good steak or a beer with a nice spaghetti, but not every time, and not more than one on a given evening.
Never had to even come close to "hitting rock bottom" to get the message, but I've seen it with family members and in-laws, and others and can appreciate the battle they fight and sometimes win. Our biggest family get-together these last several years has been the Christmas party at my sister's place, and has long included the adult gift swap where the gift can be "stolen" three times after being opened. One or another "adult beverage" had become one of the more popular gifts to unwrap and the most frequently and repeatedly "stolen" after opening. Last year, there was a new rule passed around well in advance of the party that the gift exchange should not include any alcoholic beverages whatever, due to at least a couple of the guests having difficulties or being in recovery. Took just a little of the fun out of the gift exchange, but not really that much. We still had a very good time there without any alcohol being served or available with the meal, or inside any of the gifts. And if anyone felt like THAT was a downer, I bet this year changed their minds! This time it will be a Zoom party if there even is one.
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 18, 2020 22:46:41 GMT -5
I'm not in any hurry to take it, personally. Not so much a lack of trust for me as it is that I'm probably more comfortable than most with the level of social distancing we've been achieving for these last 8 months or so. Being retired for a while, we were in a better position than most to just hunker down and rely on reducing contact as much as possible. Our family is small, one son and a daughter in law that we're very much missing but we're high risk and so are they, and we've been in contact using Zoom. It's not the same as personal contact, but it's safer for all concerned.
Our son is a health and safety director for a large corporation and is very involved with the virus and dealing with the effects of it on the company and on the employees on a very personal level daily. The stress level of making decisions that affect the lives of so many people has been pretty intense for the entire period of the pandemic, but he's seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now, still some months away but almost surely coming. Most of our extended family has been careful, but a few have had it and survived. WE have had a fairly big family reunion on my side for the last twenty years or so, usually in September, but it wasn't even suggested this year. Hopefully we can resume it next fall safely.
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 17, 2020 21:08:57 GMT -5
Looks mighty familiar. I've been shooting the Powerbelt 245 gr. that looks very much like that for several years. They loaded much easier in my CVA, have been very accurate and completely reliable.
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 13, 2020 12:44:12 GMT -5
I bought a Hobart a few decades ago and it has been completely reliable for the occasional uses that I, my son, and neighbor have put it to over the years. I found an alternative to the auto-darkening helmet that worked well for me was a twelve volt "million candle power" spotlight, duct taped to a homemade mounting bracket that allows me to aim it at the work from overhead. With it on, I can see the work through the regular dark replaceable windows, so the protection is there full time. I discovered that by accident, as I set up the table out in the drive for a midday welding job and found that I could see just barely well enough with the dark lenses in and full sunlight. It was much better than my attempts to stab the work in the dark after dropping the helmet. I never got practiced enough to make the smooth blind starts I'd seen real welders do, but that spotlight got 'er done!
I just clipped the light wires to a trolling motor battery and hooked it up to the charger to stop it from running down while I was stumbling through my amateur welding.
I think it might also be a sort of slow-cooker option to actually striking the spark, but never left the stuff laid out together to see if that would eventually work 8^). OK, kidding about that part, but it does light it up even better than full sun on a bright day, and cost less than I could find a decent auto-darkening one for at the time.
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 10, 2020 11:47:35 GMT -5
Simmered mine after skinning them, in a cheap stock pot (had to buy the wife a new stainless one to get her to turn loose). I used a Coleman camp stove just inside the garage with the door open a little ways, and the fire turned down to just barely a simmer and a tent of aluminum foil protecting the antlers. I also used the Dawn dishwasher soap added to the water for the simmering, and changed water once or twice during the three hours or so. Don't recall the time exactly but it was pretty much two full football games, with the few minutes of in-person attention coming mostly at halftimes or between games.
I was satisfied with the more naturally weathered look of the skulls without further whitening, but I've seen them both ways and it depends on other factors like the area they're displayed in and the personal preferences as to which way looks best to me.
I found out recently that I made a mistake on my first one about twenty years ago. I was using a method of attaching the skull to the mounting plate that I had made from a piece of scrap wood I had in the garage, that included the use of a "Molly Bolt" that has an expanding threaded nut that spreads to prevent it from coming out of the hole it goes through. They're usually used for attaching heavier items to drywall, and it worked well for a couple decades, then apparently had a little too much pressure or the skull had dried to the point of becoming more fragile after years of hanging on my wall , and it popped off the base and fell to the floor disintegrating so much in the process that it would be impossible to repair. Not a huge loss, really, since it was just a memento that I enjoyed seeing there and was just a medium-sized eight, but I was disappointed that it failed after all those years. I'd recommend a method of hanging them that I've seen since, that just involves drilling a hole in the mounting board that holds a dowel the right size to go up into the brain cavity. Then you can simply park the skull on that peg with no pressure from any mounting hardware.
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 10, 2020 10:50:31 GMT -5
I used to leave my ML in the truck between hunts to prevent condensation issues, but after a few years of doing so I realized that the temps in the back of my truck had varied more than they would have in my garage. This is Indiana and the temp range in November and December, exacerbated by the solar gain through truck or camper windows on the sunny days, is normally quite a bit on a daily basis and more over the three or four days that often pass between hunts.
I began loading inside the house before opening morning, and keeping a cheap party balloon over the muzzle the entire time until the first shot removes it. I actually began that practice after hunting in a light rain a couple of times while trying to remember to keep the muzzle pointed downwards at all times, and discovering at the end of the season that my attempt to keep my powder dry had failed miserably. The party balloons were about a dollar for a bag of 100, and I still have about 95 of them left after shooting a few times with one on to check for any effect on impact point. There was none at 100 yards. And I've never had a failure of my end-of-season barrel cleaning shot since either, so it seems to work well. I did need to remove the front sight from my CVA to permit the balloon to fit securely over the muzzle, but I had no plans to hunt without the scope anyway (old eyes).
I never thought about capping the nipple with a used 209 primer for indoor storage. Seems shaky at first blush, having a primer in place while indoors, but it should actually be completely safe as long as it's ABSOLUTELY, 100% SURE a USED primer!! I never had any condensation issues just leaving it uncapped, but I suppose capping with a used one would provide an extra measure of protection against it.
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 8, 2020 11:17:42 GMT -5
Hunter, I had actually made a sort of attempt at making fire that way several years ago. It wasn't an actual try as much as a trial run just to be how difficult it might be even under good conditions. I was messing around in the garage with a couple of other projects at the time, and noticed I had some sho matters, rt pieces of 3/8" dowel rod nearby, and a couple of short lengths of pine 2x4 in the scrap pile, so I took a few minutes to satisfy my curiosity. Drilled hole about halfway through the 2x4 and clamped it to the workbench, stuck one of the dowels in the jaws of my electric drill and made a whole bunch of smoke. 8^)
Much later, watching u-tube videos, I saw that there were several "details" I should have investigated before going to the trial stage. The species of wood matters, but the most important thing I was unaware of was the need to "burn in" the hole to get a contour that resembles that of the spindle rod, and the notch that needs to be cut into the hearth board at an angle to cause the charred embers to collect in a neat pile as you drill.
Another thing I just saw fairly recently was use of another stick with a partway through it to act as a hand protector to make the drilling and smoke occur more on the bottom end of the spindle, and less on the top end. Besides being much more comfortable, it allows you to increase the downward pressure on the spindle to increase the friction at the working end.
Good luck with your efforts. Hope you amaze the boys with your skills.
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 7, 2020 14:54:30 GMT -5
I think that in this time of increasing polarization seeming to involve every decision we make, it's easy to be led into making a decision in a way that we wouldn't have in quieter times.
I do understand the rebellious feelings of fighting against the trampling of our rights.
But there's another side to the question of how to respond to that trampling. If we take the most direct opposition route, and ignore the mandates and mingle, and don't wear masks, and just pretend that the entire pandemic is a made-up crisis, we are taking the side of the virus in the very real battle that's going on that has already killed nearly a quarter of a million Americans, and is now more present than ever. There is surely a better response than that available. I'd rather not be partnered with a virus.
I keep remembering a lesson a nanny goat taught me while I was a kid new to life on our small farm. We had bought a goat because my brother needed the goat milk because of his severe allergy to cow's milk, and I was put in charge of milking the goat, and repositioning her and her "house" to a fresh section of the yard for her grazing. Being a goat, she responded to my pulling on her chain with a determined resistance to move in the direction I was pulling her towards. And since I was at the time outweighed and far overpowered, the struggle was moving in the opposite direction. But I noticed that as soon as I quit pulling her chain, she quit pulling in the opposite direction...hmmm! I walked around her to the opposite direction and pulled on her chain again, and sure enough, we went back in the direction from which we came, and continued on past her previous territory and on to some fresh pasture, where I stopped pulling and drove the stake in the ground, and dragged her shelter over to her new area. Happy goat-keeper, happy goat, job done...all is good.
Sometimes it might be better to modify our resistance even if it gives our opposition a temporary sense of victory, if we can achieve the greater victory in the long run. Or we can think like a goat, and be out-maneuvered into being an ally with a virus.
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 5, 2020 12:10:11 GMT -5
I'm pretty well stocked up on the practical aspect of making fire. Bought Bic lighters by the dozens back in my working days, and have enough of them to be sure I won't have to search for one when needed. I've used them in extremely wet weather camping, and after a canoe capsize on a December duck hunt, and haven't had a single failure that wasn't corrected by a few hard shakes to remove any drops from the working parts and another attempt to light. At least two are with me at all times on a winter hunt, just in case.
But there is a certain fascination with making fire by the older ways of our ancestors. I've felt the urge to try it since my days as a Boy Scout, just never got around to putting in the time and effort to give it a serious try until the last couple years of watching the u-tube wilderness warriors, where making your fire with a roll of your thumb creating a nice shower of sparks onto a wick soaked with lighter fluid is seen as cheating and sacrilegious.
Still have too many things waiting in line for my attention right now, but if I ever find the time to do some more winter camping, I'll probably give a bow drill a more serious effort. But I'll be carrying a couple of Bics in a pocket, just in case. 8^)
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 3, 2020 12:32:23 GMT -5
You might need to update your requirement for the respondent to be in their right minds to get more answers.
Those who see the invaders as citizens regardless of their failure to legally qualify as such, although generally regarded here as suffering from mental illness, do occupy positions in some state and local governments. And they tend to see anything that brings more money from the federal government as being a gift, rather than a loan from our grandkids that will have to be repaid with compounded interest eventually to prevent the collapse of our entire economic system.
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Post by Russ Koon on Dec 3, 2020 11:29:27 GMT -5
My choice was to join a political party that has the reduction of governmental size and overreach and the protection of our personal liberties. Pretty sure you'd also like most of the positions taken by the Libertarian Party if you check them out.
Will they ever gain the political strength to win election at the state or national level? I don't know. But I'm sure that they have already shown enough strength to alter some political positions of some regional politicians and I suspect that both the statist parties have examined what positions they could take to attract the growing Libertarian numbers for their next close races.
It's a definite step to take in the right direction, and the annual membership is a minimal cost to elevate your voice to being heard and counted at a higher level than it is now. You don't have to promise your vote to join. Some of us may vote a straight "L" ticket, but there are probably more of us who split our votes to include the party while still supporting the major party we consider "the lesser of two weevils" in races that appear to be close and might be more crucial in immediate issues.
It's also feels more satisfying than ranting at the computer continually. My wife and our cat both just leave the room after a certain amount of being educated about the issues, and I suspect that increasing the volume or the length of my tirades will only have a negative effect on their votes.
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Post by Russ Koon on Nov 26, 2020 12:39:58 GMT -5
I expect they'll catch some heat on the rule making twelve gauges illegal for turkey. 8^)
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Post by Russ Koon on Nov 25, 2020 12:01:05 GMT -5
I've always enjoyed math, but not so much when it gets into statistical analysis and such murky pools of mystery.
My mind runs for cover and ends up hiding in the bushes and recalling the study about the statistics that revealed that more than 90% of death row inmates had been fed mashed potatoes as children, offering an undeniable argument that such a diet has a terrible effect on a child's social development. A lot of what might appear to be "proof" of suspicious tampering in vote totals in some counties seems to me could also be explained by an unusual amount of resistance to voting for the individual at the top of the ticket because of a personal reluctance that did not carry down to the rest of the ticket, and that tendency was so prevalent with many of the people I heard talking about the election beforehand that I find it easy to accept as probably truth. The folks who were tuned in to the actual issues and the policy changes likely with the change of leadership were often saying they would vote while holding their noses, but also saying things like they they would vote for a third party or leave the top of the ticket blank out of a personal aversion to Trump while still supporting the policies of the GOP.
I don't know how much of the personal rejection of trump is the result of the non-stop attack of the media pretty much since his primary victory in 2016, and how much might be well deserved. I know, he accomplished many of his stated objectives, and at least landed three SCOTUS seats that promise some protection from the lib attacks, unless they succeed in their expected attempt to stack the court.
I was also very slow to warm up to his personal charm, and figured since the primaries four years ago that he was probably the worst mistake we could be making, but voted for him that time in the fall, and would have this time if it hadn't been quite so obvious that he was going to carry IN easily without me, so I was free to support the Libertarian party that much more fully supports my views. I still get the feeling that we'd have been further ahead in the long run with a candidate with a more acceptable personal demeanor and a history of successful compromise across the aisle in the House, like Paul Ryan. Can't imagine that friendly bowhunter not gathering more support for his reelection than the guy we had representing us.
As far as finding real proof of enough voter fraud or ballot stuffing to overturn the results, I doubt it will happen. It has always been very hard to prove voter fraud, due primarily to the fact that we value the secrecy of our votes above all else. That basic tenet of a free election is also what makes it extremely difficult to police, especially in city districts with tens of thousands of voters. Heck, I went to a couple of meetings at our local union and saw firsthand how difficult it could be to undo even some blatant "ballot box stuffing" that was done right out in the open and without a secret ballot. Does it exist? Of course it does, and both sides know it. Even the liberal media which has little respect for truth in their versions of "news", always couches their commentary by saying there's "absolutely no evidence" or more often, "zero proof" of any misdoing. Weasel words to disguise that they know there is some, but we can't prove how much or where. The above studies do seem to show some impressive evidence toward the existence of highly suspicious voting, but if it's not clear enough for us to figure out, I wouldn't expect it change many minds.
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Post by Russ Koon on Nov 14, 2020 10:33:31 GMT -5
Of course, that's the sentimental reaction we probably all agree on and emotionally accept as truth. And it IS the truth, from her standpoint.
But the truth from ours may honestly differ from hers, with neither of us being liars.
If we add the phrase "..even if it means that some of those children and grandchildren will catch the virus and die or be intubated because of their visit.", it changes to something we can't imagine a beloved and caring grandmother of saying or intending to say, and I am certainly not accusing your mother of saying or meaning any such thing. As a 75yo father living about 40 miles from his only child and and seeing him and our wonderful daughter-in-law rarely except on Zoom this year, I can relate.
We tend to compare our actions to what we would do under the conditions that existed before covid. A more accurate comparison would include the facts as we now know them to exist.
As swilk points out above, we can all make our personal decisions, and make responsible ones, based on the reality of the situation.
I haven't attended a club meeting all year, have only had one family gathering that was limited to eight of us for an outside meal and an inside visit with nobody who was symptomatic or who had knowingly been exposed, and our annual larger family reunion of the other side wasn't even mentioned this year. I'm pretty sure the governor's restrictions played little part in our actions except possibly as an excuse or small justification for our decisions. I doubt that any of us at the small family dinner were even aware of what restriction level might have been legal or officially acceptable at the time. We all knew of them having existed, but most of us hadn't followed them to determine our actions, we just considered what we could do responsibly and acted on that basis.
I do share the disappointment in the actions of those who seem to be so proud of their decisions to act irresponsibly and in total disregard for the safety of others. I can disagree with people who choose the other side of a political argument, and have always enjoyed a good argument on the subject. But when the argument is between whether to support our fellow humans in their battle against a virus, and some of us choose to help the virus, I just can't see their side.
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Post by Russ Koon on Nov 11, 2020 12:26:24 GMT -5
Most economical solution that comes to my frugal old mind is winch attached to whatever you already have (or would have the most other uses for) in the way of a tractor or well-used 4x4 pickup or ATV/UTV. If there would be a potential straight shot for the pull, so a cart could be lowered and retrieved by winch, even with a small addition of a modest ramp at the bottom to begin the steep ascent. Probably could do it that way for under a grand if you already own the vehicle that would carry the winch to the top of the hillside. Might need a cable extension or something like a dyneema cable that as I understand it, take less room on a spool so can extend normal reach.
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Post by Russ Koon on Nov 6, 2020 9:10:14 GMT -5
There has been fraudulent voting in every election since the country began, and even before. I remember the tales about the trunk loads of "absentee ballots" being delivered to polling places after they were closed back when I was a kid, in the '50's, and stories have informed us about election "aides" trolling the wrong side of tracks buying votes way before that.
The phrase "vote early and vote often" came from the reality of the situation, and was always a part of the picture.
Was it provable and certifiable? Not to any great degree. The very nature of a secret ballot makes it very difficult to ever completely have an election free of a percentage of voter fraud. Once in a while, someone gets sloppy and gets caught in the act, but there's usually little or no prosecution after the election disappears in the rear view mirror. Actual proof is just too hard to come by.
I doubt there's much of it in the little rural precincts like the one where we've voted the last couple elections, where the poll workers signing us in have known us for decades, but in the cities where a person willing to vote numerous times could get to the next precinct in less than a minute and "earn" another few bucks......
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