>>147370, >>147371, >>147372, >>147373, >>147374
cont...
JB: You know, I take what I do seriously, believe me. Like I said, if there's a better way, a better solution, I'm all for it. I think, in my years, dealing with the attorney general's office, and the election laws that we've had passed in Kentucky, part of it's been my suggestion, and I'm proud of what I do. And what people talk about cheating, it totally pisses me off.
BH: But in a way you don't have control of it either. You're caught in between one thing and another, trying to do the best job you can.
JB: I'm in the poorest part of Kentucky, you Eastern Kentucky. You know, there's nothing up here for the people. Kids have to leave, one thing and another. They treat folks up here like they're dirt. I'm originally out of Cincinnati, I came here after I came back from Viet Nam, in 1968. And like I said, these folks up here will give you the shirt off their backs. I hear all this stuff from other states, you know, hillbillies, dumb-ass hillbillies, snotty-nosed hillbillies, one thing and another. But they're decent, good people. Now I'm not saying that there aren't people out there that would sell their votes, there probably are. But you know, paper is not no damn solution in this United States of America today, I can tell you that. Talk about fraud, we'd have it runnin' out our asses.
BH: Don't you think one person can affect more votes, with computers, if they're so inclined?
JB: Only if you don't have the checks and balances.
BH: Okay, let me ask a question. Because I'm going to write an article and it's going to have to do with you, and it's going to have to do with Kentucky, I'm going to write about how it's structured there. And I'm going to say some nice things about you. But I'm also going to say – unless you can answer this – well here's my real question:
If a person did what you do, and they were not honest, how would anyone know?
JB: (Thoughtful pause). The answer to that question I really, I don't know. Honestly. I really don't, you know. I don't know how to answer that for you. I really don't.

* * * * *

I didn't want to pry, but I asked Joe why they seemed uncomfortable in Floyd County when I asked them about his ex-wife, who had been an election official there.
"It was a short marriage," he says. "They run her outta there."
She was indicted for embezzlement. Because as Joe pointed out, "You just don't believe the people out there, what they'll do for a dollar."
8:28 PM · Nov 16, 2024