Election Integrity
Early Warnings
Early Warnings
- How the Democrats and the Left Plan to Undermine the Security of Future Elections
May 16, 2022
Advocacy Groups Ask Big Tech to Control Election ‘Disinformation’
Common Cause
*Today, more than 120 civil rights, democracy, and public interest groups called on the major social media companies to combat and curb election disinformation on the platforms ahead of this year’s midterm elections. In a letter to the CEOs of Meta, Twitter, YouTube, Snap, Instagram, TikTok, and Alphabet, the groups urged the platforms to take a variety of specific actions
*The groups signing the letter, including Common Cause, Center for American Progress, Free Press, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
*The groups strongly urge the platforms to take the following decisive actions (detailed in the letter) against election disinformation on their platforms as we approach the first national election since the January 6th insurrection:
Introduce friction to reduce the distribution of content containing electoral disinformation.
Focus on preventing disinformation targeting non-English speaking communities.
Consistently enforce civic integrity policies during both election and non-election cycles.
Prioritize enforcement to combat the ‘Big Lie.’
Consistently apply civic integrity policies to all live content as a means of combating election disinformation.
Prioritize fact-checking of electoral content, including political advertisements and posts from public officials.
Provide real-time access of social media data to external researchers and watchdogs.
Provide greater transparency of political advertisements, enforcement practices and algorithmic models.
*The letter closes by emphasizing that the social media platforms can be valuable tools to promote a strong democracy when proper oversight and protections are utilized. But the groups warns if election disinformation is allowed to spread largely unchecked that the platforms “will become known as the dominant threat to a thriving democratic process.”
Left’s ‘Persecuted Election Workers’ Narrative Continues
CNN
*Election officials in Arizona could face criminal charges if a noncitizen registers to vote on their watch.
*In Iowa, a law enacted last year makes it a felony for election clerks to willfully buck state election laws.
*And in Florida, election supervisors face fines of up to $25,000 for leaving a ballot drop box unattended.
*This year alone, lawmakers have introduced 16 different bills in eight states that create new criminal or civil penalties for functions associated with running elections, said Will Wilder, who works on voting rights at the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice.
*Arizona is the only state that requires voters to prove citizenship when they vote -- an outgrowth of a 2004 ballot measure in the state. (A handful of other states have similar laws on the books, but they have not been enforced.)
*The US Supreme Court in 2013, however, struck down Arizona's proof-of-citizenship provision, saying that --while the state can set eligibility rules for its elections -- federal law requires the state to accept the federal voter registration form for federal elections. That form requires voters to attest that they are US citizens, but they don't have to provide documents proving their citizenship.
*The new law, which takes effect in December, says an election official who fails to reject a registration application without proof of citizenship or knowingly attempts to register a noncitizen could face felony charges.
*A voting rights group immediately filed a legal challenge to the law.
*In Florida, at least one election supervisor found a workaround to abide by the state's new law establishing a stiff fine for unattended drop boxes. Alan Hayes, the elections supervisor in Lake County, just outside Orlando, said he's removed the drop box outside of his office and replaced it with a US Postal Service mailbox instead.
Comment: As if all these laws are merely punitive and there were no good reasons to enact them.
Now Those Mean Republicans Are Targeting the Disabled
NPR
*In January, a Waukesha County judge sided with a conservative legal group in a lawsuit and ruled that ballot drop boxes, which were widely used in the 2020 election, aren't permitted under state law and that voters must return their absentee ballots themselves.
*An appeals court temporarily blocked the order for primaries in February, but the ban was in effect for local elections in April. The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the appeal of the case last month and is expected to make a decision in June — two months before the state's crucial statewide primary elections.
*Many voters with disabilities are warily following efforts across the country by Republican-led states to tighten voting rules following the 2020 election, in what conservatives say are steps to shore up election integrity.
*In Wisconsin, the crux of the legal case over drop boxes and returning ballots is the interpretation of a portion of state law that details the absentee ballot return process.
*"The envelope shall be mailed by the elector, or delivered in person, to the municipal clerk issuing the ballot or ballots," the statute reads.
*One in five adults in Wisconsin has a disability of some kind, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
*In his oral arguments before the court and in an interview with NPR, Esenberg referenced a U.S. Postal Service program that he said could help voters with disabilities return their ballots. It involves getting a statement from a doctor attesting that someone is "unable to collect mail from a curb or centralized mailbox."
*But disability advocates say that premise is flawed — that there are already many people for whom such a program wouldn't work, and that seeking a legal exemption, which would likely take time and money, is not equitable access to voting.
*Carey says the ruling forces voters like him who rely on ballot return assistance to choose between asking someone else to mail their ballot anyway and break the law, or not vote at all.
More ‘Insurrection’ Challenges to GOP Candidates Fail
NPR, Epoch Times
Marjorie Taylor Greene:
*Officials in Georgia have ruled that Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene should remain on the ballot for reelection, after a group of voters and a supporting legal group filed a formal challenge to her candidacy for her role in the Capitol riot.
*Later on Friday, Georgia's secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, who had final say, announced that he would follow the judge's recommendation
*"The evidence in this matter is insufficient to establish that Rep. Greene ... 'engaged in insurrection or rebellion' under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution," Judge Charles Beaudrot wrote in his ruling.
Arizona Republicans:
*The Arizona Supreme Court on Monday ruled that two Republican congressmen and a state representative should remain on the November ballot after opponents claimed they were ineligible for reelection because they actively participated in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
*the court on Monday found that only Congress had the power to disqualify the elected officials and not a private citizen.
Comment: VEInet is not aware of any case where the ‘insurrection’ theory has succeeded in keeping a Republican off the ballot.
"Conservative group launches $2M effort to elect candidates committed to secure elections"
Washington Times
*A center-right political group announced Monday a $2 million endeavor to elect state election officials committed to strengthening the integrity of the ballot.
*The Election Transparency Initiative (ETI) plans to be active in several states this election cycle targeting at least 10 swing states, including Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania considered pivotal ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
*A coalition of several influential national conservative groups, including FreedomWorks and the legislative affiliate of the Family Research Council, are working in support of ETI’s effort, but not financing its work.
*ETI will specifically work to elect candidates to state legislatures, as well as secretary of state offices — two public positions that have significant sway over elections.
Show Me the Election Skeptic and I’ll Show You the Crime
The Guardian
*Conservative groups perpetuating Donald Trump’s false charges that the 2020 election was rigged have sparked a lawsuit against one in Colorado, and a congressional panel investigation of another in New Mexico, over aggressive tactics allegedly used to seek out possible voter fraud.
*A lawsuit was filed by the NAACP and two other groups in March charging that Colorado-based US Election Integrity Plan (USEIP), which has echoed Trump’s baseless claims about 2020 election fraud, has gone door to door in some counties aggressively questioning residents about their voting status and sometimes bearing arms.
*The lawsuit alleges, without providing specific cases, that USEIP representatives have at times worn badges or carried firearms when visiting voters’ residences, although they are not government officials.
*A Colorado judge last week rejected a motion by USEIP to dismiss the lawsuit. A separate motion by the plaintiffs’ two counsels, the nonprofit legal group Free Speech for People and the law firm Lathrop GPM, to obtain a preliminary injunction to halt USEIP’s efforts is pending.
*The lawsuit partly rests on a measure that passed after the Civil War, called the KKK Act, aimed at stopping white terrorists from using violence to interfere with Black voters.
*USEIP, which started after Joe Biden defeated Trump, is run by Shawn Smith, a retired air force colonel who also leads Cause of America....
*Mike Lindell, the multimillionaire Trump loyalist who is CEO of MyPillow and has been the chief financier of Cause of America, told the Guardian that the group serves as an “information hub” with a presence in all 50 states and on his website FrankSpeech.com.
*The House Oversight Committee chair, Carolyn Maloney, and the chair of its subcommittee on civil rights and civil liberties, Jamie Raskin, wrote Ayyadurai in March that it is “investigating whether your company’s audit and canvass in New Mexico interferes with Americans’ right to vote by spreading disinformation about elections and intimidating voters”.
*The House letter pointed out that 40% of the county’s residents are non-white Hispanic, and raised the concern that the company’s canvas could “have a particular impact on minority communities in Otero county”
Marc Elias Getting Comeuppance
Washington Free Beacon
*Marc Elias, the left's go-to attack dog, is laughed out of court, accused of lying to the special counsel, and on the losing end of several voting-rights cases
*It's not every day that a federal judge calls a lawsuit from one of the country's top lawyers a nasty and partisan "Hail Mary pass" intended to undermine free and fair elections. But that's what happened on Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, a Clinton appointee, tossed out a lawsuit brought by Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias.
*Elias's tactics are now drawing rebukes from judges, prosecutors, and even fellow Democrats, who say his hard-charging nature is hurting the party. Elias is publicly reeling. He last month scrubbed years of posts from his Twitter feed and hasn't explained why. The move comes less than a year after he decamped from the white-shoe law firm Perkins Coie to found his own law firm—ostensibly to engage "more fully" in the "political process," though some speculate the firm was increasingly uncomfortable with Elias's tactics and the scrutiny of the Durham probe. Durham indicted Elias's partner, Michael Sussman, a month after Elias left.
*Durham on May 2 submitted a second filing that pushes Elias about his relationship with Fusion. It's a sure sign that the special counsel isn't letting the matter lie, and a request for sanctions could be near.
Advocacy Groups Ask Big Tech to Control Election ‘Disinformation’
Common Cause
*Today, more than 120 civil rights, democracy, and public interest groups called on the major social media companies to combat and curb election disinformation on the platforms ahead of this year’s midterm elections. In a letter to the CEOs of Meta, Twitter, YouTube, Snap, Instagram, TikTok, and Alphabet, the groups urged the platforms to take a variety of specific actions
*The groups signing the letter, including Common Cause, Center for American Progress, Free Press, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
*The groups strongly urge the platforms to take the following decisive actions (detailed in the letter) against election disinformation on their platforms as we approach the first national election since the January 6th insurrection:
Introduce friction to reduce the distribution of content containing electoral disinformation.
Focus on preventing disinformation targeting non-English speaking communities.
Consistently enforce civic integrity policies during both election and non-election cycles.
Prioritize enforcement to combat the ‘Big Lie.’
Consistently apply civic integrity policies to all live content as a means of combating election disinformation.
Prioritize fact-checking of electoral content, including political advertisements and posts from public officials.
Provide real-time access of social media data to external researchers and watchdogs.
Provide greater transparency of political advertisements, enforcement practices and algorithmic models.
*The letter closes by emphasizing that the social media platforms can be valuable tools to promote a strong democracy when proper oversight and protections are utilized. But the groups warns if election disinformation is allowed to spread largely unchecked that the platforms “will become known as the dominant threat to a thriving democratic process.”
Left’s ‘Persecuted Election Workers’ Narrative Continues
CNN
*Election officials in Arizona could face criminal charges if a noncitizen registers to vote on their watch.
*In Iowa, a law enacted last year makes it a felony for election clerks to willfully buck state election laws.
*And in Florida, election supervisors face fines of up to $25,000 for leaving a ballot drop box unattended.
*This year alone, lawmakers have introduced 16 different bills in eight states that create new criminal or civil penalties for functions associated with running elections, said Will Wilder, who works on voting rights at the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice.
*Arizona is the only state that requires voters to prove citizenship when they vote -- an outgrowth of a 2004 ballot measure in the state. (A handful of other states have similar laws on the books, but they have not been enforced.)
*The US Supreme Court in 2013, however, struck down Arizona's proof-of-citizenship provision, saying that --while the state can set eligibility rules for its elections -- federal law requires the state to accept the federal voter registration form for federal elections. That form requires voters to attest that they are US citizens, but they don't have to provide documents proving their citizenship.
*The new law, which takes effect in December, says an election official who fails to reject a registration application without proof of citizenship or knowingly attempts to register a noncitizen could face felony charges.
*A voting rights group immediately filed a legal challenge to the law.
*In Florida, at least one election supervisor found a workaround to abide by the state's new law establishing a stiff fine for unattended drop boxes. Alan Hayes, the elections supervisor in Lake County, just outside Orlando, said he's removed the drop box outside of his office and replaced it with a US Postal Service mailbox instead.
Comment: As if all these laws are merely punitive and there were no good reasons to enact them.
Now Those Mean Republicans Are Targeting the Disabled
NPR
*In January, a Waukesha County judge sided with a conservative legal group in a lawsuit and ruled that ballot drop boxes, which were widely used in the 2020 election, aren't permitted under state law and that voters must return their absentee ballots themselves.
*An appeals court temporarily blocked the order for primaries in February, but the ban was in effect for local elections in April. The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the appeal of the case last month and is expected to make a decision in June — two months before the state's crucial statewide primary elections.
*Many voters with disabilities are warily following efforts across the country by Republican-led states to tighten voting rules following the 2020 election, in what conservatives say are steps to shore up election integrity.
*In Wisconsin, the crux of the legal case over drop boxes and returning ballots is the interpretation of a portion of state law that details the absentee ballot return process.
*"The envelope shall be mailed by the elector, or delivered in person, to the municipal clerk issuing the ballot or ballots," the statute reads.
*One in five adults in Wisconsin has a disability of some kind, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
*In his oral arguments before the court and in an interview with NPR, Esenberg referenced a U.S. Postal Service program that he said could help voters with disabilities return their ballots. It involves getting a statement from a doctor attesting that someone is "unable to collect mail from a curb or centralized mailbox."
*But disability advocates say that premise is flawed — that there are already many people for whom such a program wouldn't work, and that seeking a legal exemption, which would likely take time and money, is not equitable access to voting.
*Carey says the ruling forces voters like him who rely on ballot return assistance to choose between asking someone else to mail their ballot anyway and break the law, or not vote at all.
More ‘Insurrection’ Challenges to GOP Candidates Fail
NPR, Epoch Times
Marjorie Taylor Greene:
*Officials in Georgia have ruled that Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene should remain on the ballot for reelection, after a group of voters and a supporting legal group filed a formal challenge to her candidacy for her role in the Capitol riot.
*Later on Friday, Georgia's secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, who had final say, announced that he would follow the judge's recommendation
*"The evidence in this matter is insufficient to establish that Rep. Greene ... 'engaged in insurrection or rebellion' under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution," Judge Charles Beaudrot wrote in his ruling.
Arizona Republicans:
*The Arizona Supreme Court on Monday ruled that two Republican congressmen and a state representative should remain on the November ballot after opponents claimed they were ineligible for reelection because they actively participated in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
*the court on Monday found that only Congress had the power to disqualify the elected officials and not a private citizen.
Comment: VEInet is not aware of any case where the ‘insurrection’ theory has succeeded in keeping a Republican off the ballot.
"Conservative group launches $2M effort to elect candidates committed to secure elections"
Washington Times
*A center-right political group announced Monday a $2 million endeavor to elect state election officials committed to strengthening the integrity of the ballot.
*The Election Transparency Initiative (ETI) plans to be active in several states this election cycle targeting at least 10 swing states, including Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania considered pivotal ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
*A coalition of several influential national conservative groups, including FreedomWorks and the legislative affiliate of the Family Research Council, are working in support of ETI’s effort, but not financing its work.
*ETI will specifically work to elect candidates to state legislatures, as well as secretary of state offices — two public positions that have significant sway over elections.
Show Me the Election Skeptic and I’ll Show You the Crime
The Guardian
*Conservative groups perpetuating Donald Trump’s false charges that the 2020 election was rigged have sparked a lawsuit against one in Colorado, and a congressional panel investigation of another in New Mexico, over aggressive tactics allegedly used to seek out possible voter fraud.
*A lawsuit was filed by the NAACP and two other groups in March charging that Colorado-based US Election Integrity Plan (USEIP), which has echoed Trump’s baseless claims about 2020 election fraud, has gone door to door in some counties aggressively questioning residents about their voting status and sometimes bearing arms.
*The lawsuit alleges, without providing specific cases, that USEIP representatives have at times worn badges or carried firearms when visiting voters’ residences, although they are not government officials.
*A Colorado judge last week rejected a motion by USEIP to dismiss the lawsuit. A separate motion by the plaintiffs’ two counsels, the nonprofit legal group Free Speech for People and the law firm Lathrop GPM, to obtain a preliminary injunction to halt USEIP’s efforts is pending.
*The lawsuit partly rests on a measure that passed after the Civil War, called the KKK Act, aimed at stopping white terrorists from using violence to interfere with Black voters.
*USEIP, which started after Joe Biden defeated Trump, is run by Shawn Smith, a retired air force colonel who also leads Cause of America....
*Mike Lindell, the multimillionaire Trump loyalist who is CEO of MyPillow and has been the chief financier of Cause of America, told the Guardian that the group serves as an “information hub” with a presence in all 50 states and on his website FrankSpeech.com.
*The House Oversight Committee chair, Carolyn Maloney, and the chair of its subcommittee on civil rights and civil liberties, Jamie Raskin, wrote Ayyadurai in March that it is “investigating whether your company’s audit and canvass in New Mexico interferes with Americans’ right to vote by spreading disinformation about elections and intimidating voters”.
*The House letter pointed out that 40% of the county’s residents are non-white Hispanic, and raised the concern that the company’s canvas could “have a particular impact on minority communities in Otero county”
Marc Elias Getting Comeuppance
Washington Free Beacon
*Marc Elias, the left's go-to attack dog, is laughed out of court, accused of lying to the special counsel, and on the losing end of several voting-rights cases
*It's not every day that a federal judge calls a lawsuit from one of the country's top lawyers a nasty and partisan "Hail Mary pass" intended to undermine free and fair elections. But that's what happened on Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, a Clinton appointee, tossed out a lawsuit brought by Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias.
*Elias's tactics are now drawing rebukes from judges, prosecutors, and even fellow Democrats, who say his hard-charging nature is hurting the party. Elias is publicly reeling. He last month scrubbed years of posts from his Twitter feed and hasn't explained why. The move comes less than a year after he decamped from the white-shoe law firm Perkins Coie to found his own law firm—ostensibly to engage "more fully" in the "political process," though some speculate the firm was increasingly uncomfortable with Elias's tactics and the scrutiny of the Durham probe. Durham indicted Elias's partner, Michael Sussman, a month after Elias left.
*Durham on May 2 submitted a second filing that pushes Elias about his relationship with Fusion. It's a sure sign that the special counsel isn't letting the matter lie, and a request for sanctions could be near.
May 8, 2022
Biden’s Executive Order: Hiding the New Zuckerbucks
Wall Street Journal
Note: People are calling Joe Biden’s March 2022 executive order on elections the ‘new Zuckerbucks’. Like Zuckerbucks, the order is a thinly disguised get-out-the-vote effort to benefit the Democrats. From the article:
*President Biden is ordering all agencies in the federal bureaucracy to “expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.” That language, from a March 2021 executive order titled “Promoting Access to Voting,” may sound benign. It isn’t, and it may conceal an abuse of power. The administration is making it difficult for the public to find out.
*The Constitution doesn’t grant the president authority over federal elections. It reserves that power to the states and to a lesser extent Congress. Mr. Biden’s order ignores that prohibition by expanding the role of federal agencies in elections. Congress hasn’t approved such an expansion, and election legislation Mr. Biden backs is stuck in the Senate.
*The White House refuses to release the plans that various agencies created under the executive order. Agencies submitted their plans by September, yet the administration has provided only overviews of slightly more than a dozen, with little detail. Their full plans should be available, and so should those of hundreds of other agencies. With the federal government throwing its weight behind voter registration and participation, Americans have a right to see what it’s doing and which voters it’s targeting, especially with crucial midterm elections in November.
*In July, the Foundation for Government Accountability [FGA] submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to key agencies covered by the executive order.
*Not a single agency has provided the documents the FGA requested, and most of them haven’t responded at all. The Justice Department is a case in point. It blew past the federal requirement that it acknowledge our FOIA request within 20 days.
*This week we are filing a lawsuit that seeks to right this wrong. Having exhausted all other legal remedies, we [FGA] are asking the federal courts to compel the Justice Department to turn over the documents we requested within three weeks, thereby ensuring that Americans can learn if anything inappropriate is happening before they cast their midterm ballots. We aren’t yet filing suit against other agencies in the hope that a federal ruling in our favor will spur them to follow the Justice Department lead.
Center for Tech and Civic Life
Note: Increasing campus voter turnout is part of the Democrats’ effort to tilt elections in their favor (Zuckerbucks, Biden executive order, ERIC, attempted Democrat redistricting in New York, etc.). From the article:
*Two Michigan clerks—Jody Hansen and Jackie Beaudry—found themselves asking this question after setting up satellite clerk’s offices at their local universities in 2020. They saw tremendous success, registering thousands of new voters while demystifying the voting process. This year, they’re evaluating what worked well in 2020, and where there was room for improvement. Using their reflection and refinement skills, they’re ensuring that their initiatives have an even greater impact in 2022.
*Grand Valley State University, located 12 miles west of Grand Rapids in Allendale Township, serves over 24,000 students. And GVSU students have a history of turning out in impressive numbers. On Election Day in 2016, so many first-time student voters showed up at a polling location that election workers were overwhelmed and long lines formed. In 2020, to prevent a similar situation from happening, former Township Clerk Laurie Richards established a satellite clerk’s office on GVSU’s campus
*The satellite offices at GVSU and UMMA made voting more accessible and convenient for college-age voters in 2020. Ann Arbor and Allendale Township registered thousands of voters and collected thousands of ballots. Still, there was room to further improve voters’ experiences for the upcoming 2022 elections.
*The pop-up office will incorporate the popular elements from the office at UMMA, namely using art and design to create a welcoming environment for student voters. While Jackie and the team are still ironing out the details of the space’s theme, they do have some ideas.
*For more guidance on fostering partnerships with universities, Students Learn Students Vote’s Election Official and Campus Engagement Report & Toolkit includes a list of action items you can take to get started, including:
Democrats Obtain Arrests and a Conviction in Unauthorized Voting System Access Cases
Reuters
*Chasing proof of vote-rigging conspiracy theories, Republican officials and activists in eight U.S. locales have plotted to gain illegal access to balloting systems, undermining the security of elections they claim to protect.
*... eight known attempts to gain unauthorized access to voting systems in five U.S. states since the 2020 election. All involved local Republican officeholders or party activists who have advanced Trump’s stolen-election falsehoods or conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, according to a Reuters examination of the incidents.
*Some of the people and groups involved in the vigilante election-investigator movement are drawing financial support from Lindell, the My Pillow Inc chief executive and one of the most visible backers of Trump’s false fraud claims. Lindell said he hired four top members of one group, the U.S. Election Integrity Plan, or USEIP. The group got Lindell’s backing about three months after its co-founder advised Elbert County Clerk Schroeder in his effort to copy and leak voting data. In all, Lindell told Reuters he has spent about $30 million and hired up to 70 people, including lawyers and “cyber people,” partly in support of Cause of America, a right-wing network of election activists.
*Four experts in voting law told Reuters the extent of these balloting-data breaches is unprecedented in modern U.S. elections. The violations are especially worrying, say election officials, because they break the chain of custody over ballots and tabulating equipment.
*The Colorado data Schroeder leaked likely included ballot images that showed how people voted, according to the secretary of state’s office. If so, that would violate a core principle of modern American democracy: the secret ballot, which is intended to protect voters from politically motivated harassment or intimidation and to prevent vote-buying.
*The incidents examined by Reuters all took place in states that have been competitive in recent elections: Two occurred in Colorado, three in Michigan and one each in Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. At least five of the cases are under investigation by local or federal law enforcement, with three arrests and one conviction, according to state and local officials.
*Schroeder wasn’t the only Colorado clerk approached by the USEIP’s Smith for access to secure voting data. In May 2021, Smith told El Paso County clerk Chuck Broerman in a meeting that USEIP would conduct a “forensic investigation” of his voting systems, Broerman said.
Dems Attack GOP Reliance on State Legislatures
Brennan Center
*The independent state legislature theory is a radical and baseless attack on our elections....
*The Framers didn’t trust state legislatures.
*“What led to the appointment of this Convention?” John F. Mercer of Maryland rhetorically asked his fellow delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. “The corruption & mutability of the Legislative Councils of the States.”
*The Elections Clause gives “legislatures” the power to set the “times, places, and manner” of elections. (And — to underline how little the Framers’ trusted state legislatures — Congress “may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.”) Since the founding, “legislatures” has been understood to mean “state governments.”
*Voters across the country are trying to take back their elections. They are amending their constitutions to demand fair maps and taking their own lawmakers to court to ensure access to the ballot The independent state legislature theory would wipe those reforms away — along with countless state constitutional provisions that govern our elections.
"Sen. Scott: Left-Wing Groups Using Race, Lawsuits to Carry Out Election Fraud"
Epoch Times / Zero Hedge
*Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) says that Democrats are currently using claims that voter ID laws are racist in a bid to strike them down, although many such laws are commonplace in countries across Europe and elsewhere. [Note: Stacey Abrams and other Democrats have admitted voter ID is not racist.]
*Scott said that NRSC and Republican National Committee are now defending numerous lawsuits against election integrity laws across the United States.
*About a month ago, a judge in Florida ruled that the state’s new election law, SB 90, was unconstitutional, although state officials have appealed the order. That law was signed in May 2021 by the governor before it was challenged by several liberal advocacy groups, some of which accused the law of being racist.
*Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, an Obama appointee, said the law is discriminatory and claimed it violates the Constitution. He also issued a permanent injunction that prevented the enforcement of many of the provisions
*Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody last month appealed the ruling, while Gov. Ron DeSantis said he believes Walker’s ruling will be overturned.
Note: A federal appeals court just reinstated parts of Florida’s new law.
More Dirty Tricks Coming from the Democrats
Gateway Pundit
*Democrat National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison on Saturday appeared on MSNBC to discuss the Democrats’ strategy for the 2022 midterms
*MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross called Republicans “Fascists” as she wondered how the Democrat party can connect with more voters going into the midterms.
*[Harrison called this statement by Roland Martin a “good road map”]: “They’ve got to be willing to engage in war. You cannot play fair with people who don’t play fair. There are no rules. The other side has shown that they will do whatever is necessary in order to win. So you’ve got to say, America, when they didn’t care about you, we did.”
Note: If you believed this, what would you do?
Biden’s Executive Order: Hiding the New Zuckerbucks
Wall Street Journal
Note: People are calling Joe Biden’s March 2022 executive order on elections the ‘new Zuckerbucks’. Like Zuckerbucks, the order is a thinly disguised get-out-the-vote effort to benefit the Democrats. From the article:
*President Biden is ordering all agencies in the federal bureaucracy to “expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.” That language, from a March 2021 executive order titled “Promoting Access to Voting,” may sound benign. It isn’t, and it may conceal an abuse of power. The administration is making it difficult for the public to find out.
*The Constitution doesn’t grant the president authority over federal elections. It reserves that power to the states and to a lesser extent Congress. Mr. Biden’s order ignores that prohibition by expanding the role of federal agencies in elections. Congress hasn’t approved such an expansion, and election legislation Mr. Biden backs is stuck in the Senate.
*The White House refuses to release the plans that various agencies created under the executive order. Agencies submitted their plans by September, yet the administration has provided only overviews of slightly more than a dozen, with little detail. Their full plans should be available, and so should those of hundreds of other agencies. With the federal government throwing its weight behind voter registration and participation, Americans have a right to see what it’s doing and which voters it’s targeting, especially with crucial midterm elections in November.
*In July, the Foundation for Government Accountability [FGA] submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to key agencies covered by the executive order.
*Not a single agency has provided the documents the FGA requested, and most of them haven’t responded at all. The Justice Department is a case in point. It blew past the federal requirement that it acknowledge our FOIA request within 20 days.
*This week we are filing a lawsuit that seeks to right this wrong. Having exhausted all other legal remedies, we [FGA] are asking the federal courts to compel the Justice Department to turn over the documents we requested within three weeks, thereby ensuring that Americans can learn if anything inappropriate is happening before they cast their midterm ballots. We aren’t yet filing suit against other agencies in the hope that a federal ruling in our favor will spur them to follow the Justice Department lead.
- In addition to the executive order:
*the Biden administration proposed a $10 billion federal fund available for the next decade to replicate and expand the cash injections to election offices like those seen in 2020. Another $5 billion is requested for the U.S. Postal Service so it can expand its role in voting-by-mail. Even if the administration gets a fraction of that request, it will make the $500 million spent in 2020 from private groups to increase urban turnout look like small potatoes. [J. Christian Adams] - HUD Pushes Voter Registration Drives in Public Housing Under Biden’s Executive Order
Center for Tech and Civic Life
Note: Increasing campus voter turnout is part of the Democrats’ effort to tilt elections in their favor (Zuckerbucks, Biden executive order, ERIC, attempted Democrat redistricting in New York, etc.). From the article:
*Two Michigan clerks—Jody Hansen and Jackie Beaudry—found themselves asking this question after setting up satellite clerk’s offices at their local universities in 2020. They saw tremendous success, registering thousands of new voters while demystifying the voting process. This year, they’re evaluating what worked well in 2020, and where there was room for improvement. Using their reflection and refinement skills, they’re ensuring that their initiatives have an even greater impact in 2022.
*Grand Valley State University, located 12 miles west of Grand Rapids in Allendale Township, serves over 24,000 students. And GVSU students have a history of turning out in impressive numbers. On Election Day in 2016, so many first-time student voters showed up at a polling location that election workers were overwhelmed and long lines formed. In 2020, to prevent a similar situation from happening, former Township Clerk Laurie Richards established a satellite clerk’s office on GVSU’s campus
*The satellite offices at GVSU and UMMA made voting more accessible and convenient for college-age voters in 2020. Ann Arbor and Allendale Township registered thousands of voters and collected thousands of ballots. Still, there was room to further improve voters’ experiences for the upcoming 2022 elections.
*The pop-up office will incorporate the popular elements from the office at UMMA, namely using art and design to create a welcoming environment for student voters. While Jackie and the team are still ironing out the details of the space’s theme, they do have some ideas.
*For more guidance on fostering partnerships with universities, Students Learn Students Vote’s Election Official and Campus Engagement Report & Toolkit includes a list of action items you can take to get started, including:
Democrats Obtain Arrests and a Conviction in Unauthorized Voting System Access Cases
Reuters
*Chasing proof of vote-rigging conspiracy theories, Republican officials and activists in eight U.S. locales have plotted to gain illegal access to balloting systems, undermining the security of elections they claim to protect.
*... eight known attempts to gain unauthorized access to voting systems in five U.S. states since the 2020 election. All involved local Republican officeholders or party activists who have advanced Trump’s stolen-election falsehoods or conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, according to a Reuters examination of the incidents.
*Some of the people and groups involved in the vigilante election-investigator movement are drawing financial support from Lindell, the My Pillow Inc chief executive and one of the most visible backers of Trump’s false fraud claims. Lindell said he hired four top members of one group, the U.S. Election Integrity Plan, or USEIP. The group got Lindell’s backing about three months after its co-founder advised Elbert County Clerk Schroeder in his effort to copy and leak voting data. In all, Lindell told Reuters he has spent about $30 million and hired up to 70 people, including lawyers and “cyber people,” partly in support of Cause of America, a right-wing network of election activists.
*Four experts in voting law told Reuters the extent of these balloting-data breaches is unprecedented in modern U.S. elections. The violations are especially worrying, say election officials, because they break the chain of custody over ballots and tabulating equipment.
*The Colorado data Schroeder leaked likely included ballot images that showed how people voted, according to the secretary of state’s office. If so, that would violate a core principle of modern American democracy: the secret ballot, which is intended to protect voters from politically motivated harassment or intimidation and to prevent vote-buying.
*The incidents examined by Reuters all took place in states that have been competitive in recent elections: Two occurred in Colorado, three in Michigan and one each in Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. At least five of the cases are under investigation by local or federal law enforcement, with three arrests and one conviction, according to state and local officials.
*Schroeder wasn’t the only Colorado clerk approached by the USEIP’s Smith for access to secure voting data. In May 2021, Smith told El Paso County clerk Chuck Broerman in a meeting that USEIP would conduct a “forensic investigation” of his voting systems, Broerman said.
Dems Attack GOP Reliance on State Legislatures
Brennan Center
*The independent state legislature theory is a radical and baseless attack on our elections....
*The Framers didn’t trust state legislatures.
*“What led to the appointment of this Convention?” John F. Mercer of Maryland rhetorically asked his fellow delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. “The corruption & mutability of the Legislative Councils of the States.”
*The Elections Clause gives “legislatures” the power to set the “times, places, and manner” of elections. (And — to underline how little the Framers’ trusted state legislatures — Congress “may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.”) Since the founding, “legislatures” has been understood to mean “state governments.”
*Voters across the country are trying to take back their elections. They are amending their constitutions to demand fair maps and taking their own lawmakers to court to ensure access to the ballot The independent state legislature theory would wipe those reforms away — along with countless state constitutional provisions that govern our elections.
"Sen. Scott: Left-Wing Groups Using Race, Lawsuits to Carry Out Election Fraud"
Epoch Times / Zero Hedge
*Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) says that Democrats are currently using claims that voter ID laws are racist in a bid to strike them down, although many such laws are commonplace in countries across Europe and elsewhere. [Note: Stacey Abrams and other Democrats have admitted voter ID is not racist.]
*Scott said that NRSC and Republican National Committee are now defending numerous lawsuits against election integrity laws across the United States.
*About a month ago, a judge in Florida ruled that the state’s new election law, SB 90, was unconstitutional, although state officials have appealed the order. That law was signed in May 2021 by the governor before it was challenged by several liberal advocacy groups, some of which accused the law of being racist.
*Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, an Obama appointee, said the law is discriminatory and claimed it violates the Constitution. He also issued a permanent injunction that prevented the enforcement of many of the provisions
*Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody last month appealed the ruling, while Gov. Ron DeSantis said he believes Walker’s ruling will be overturned.
Note: A federal appeals court just reinstated parts of Florida’s new law.
More Dirty Tricks Coming from the Democrats
Gateway Pundit
*Democrat National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison on Saturday appeared on MSNBC to discuss the Democrats’ strategy for the 2022 midterms
*MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross called Republicans “Fascists” as she wondered how the Democrat party can connect with more voters going into the midterms.
*[Harrison called this statement by Roland Martin a “good road map”]: “They’ve got to be willing to engage in war. You cannot play fair with people who don’t play fair. There are no rules. The other side has shown that they will do whatever is necessary in order to win. So you’ve got to say, America, when they didn’t care about you, we did.”
Note: If you believed this, what would you do?
May 3, 2022
CTCL Forming ‘Support Group’ for Local Elections Officials
Just the News
CTCL is laying plans to influence future elections, although the plan is vague on details.
*The Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), the nonprofit that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg used to pour nearly $350 million into local municipalities running the 2020 election, is creating a new election alliance while cutting back on its controversial grants for elections.
*CTCL announced on Monday the start of the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, a program which will provide $80 million over five years...
*The nonprofit framed the alliance as "a response to feedback from local election officials and their needs after the 2020 program."
*The U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence will bring together world-class partners so that local election officials no longer have to go it alone."
*During the program's first year, the alliance says it will identify local election departments that want to join it "and serve as a support system for each other and for other election departments across the country."
Those Dastardly Republicans Are Planning to Steal the 2024 Election (Part 1)
CNN
*Trump's and the Republicans' far more ambitious objective is to execute successfully in 2024 the very same plan they failed in executing in 2020 and to overturn the 2024 election if Trump or his anointed successor loses again in the next quadrennial contest.
*Trump and the Republicans began executing this first stage of their plan months before November 3, by challenging as violative of the independent state legislature doctrine election rules relating to early- and late-voting, extensions of voting days and times, mail-in ballots, and other election law changes that Republicans contended had been unlawfully altered by state officials and state courts in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Michigan.
*Trump and his allies and supporters in Congress and the states began readying their failed 2020 plan to overturn the 2024 presidential election later that very same day and they have been unabashedly readying that plan ever since, in plain view to the American public. Today, they are already a long way toward recapturing the White House in 2024, whether Trump or another Republican candidate wins the election or not.
[Note: This is a classic case of liberal projection - the Left accusing the Right of what the Left has up to.]
Those Dastardly Republicans Are Planning to Steal the 2024 Election (Part 2)
The Guardian
*On Tuesday, the nonpartisan civil rights organization National Urban League released the annual report in its analysis series The State of Black America. The report, called Under Siege: The Plot to Destroy Democracy, outlines the “conspiracy and the urgent case for a national mobilization to protect and defend our most sacred constitutional right”.
*It focuses on four main tactics that it says are used in this effort: gerrymandering, voter suppression, misinformation and intimidation.
*“The burden of these laws – strict photo ID requirements, the elimination or restriction of Sunday voting, voting by mail and early voting, and the closing of polling locations – overwhelmingly falls on Black voters,” Marc Morial, president and CEO of NUL, said in the report.
CTCL Forming ‘Support Group’ for Local Elections Officials
Just the News
CTCL is laying plans to influence future elections, although the plan is vague on details.
*The Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), the nonprofit that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg used to pour nearly $350 million into local municipalities running the 2020 election, is creating a new election alliance while cutting back on its controversial grants for elections.
*CTCL announced on Monday the start of the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, a program which will provide $80 million over five years...
*The nonprofit framed the alliance as "a response to feedback from local election officials and their needs after the 2020 program."
*The U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence will bring together world-class partners so that local election officials no longer have to go it alone."
*During the program's first year, the alliance says it will identify local election departments that want to join it "and serve as a support system for each other and for other election departments across the country."
Those Dastardly Republicans Are Planning to Steal the 2024 Election (Part 1)
CNN
*Trump's and the Republicans' far more ambitious objective is to execute successfully in 2024 the very same plan they failed in executing in 2020 and to overturn the 2024 election if Trump or his anointed successor loses again in the next quadrennial contest.
*Trump and the Republicans began executing this first stage of their plan months before November 3, by challenging as violative of the independent state legislature doctrine election rules relating to early- and late-voting, extensions of voting days and times, mail-in ballots, and other election law changes that Republicans contended had been unlawfully altered by state officials and state courts in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Michigan.
*Trump and his allies and supporters in Congress and the states began readying their failed 2020 plan to overturn the 2024 presidential election later that very same day and they have been unabashedly readying that plan ever since, in plain view to the American public. Today, they are already a long way toward recapturing the White House in 2024, whether Trump or another Republican candidate wins the election or not.
[Note: This is a classic case of liberal projection - the Left accusing the Right of what the Left has up to.]
Those Dastardly Republicans Are Planning to Steal the 2024 Election (Part 2)
The Guardian
*On Tuesday, the nonpartisan civil rights organization National Urban League released the annual report in its analysis series The State of Black America. The report, called Under Siege: The Plot to Destroy Democracy, outlines the “conspiracy and the urgent case for a national mobilization to protect and defend our most sacred constitutional right”.
*It focuses on four main tactics that it says are used in this effort: gerrymandering, voter suppression, misinformation and intimidation.
*“The burden of these laws – strict photo ID requirements, the elimination or restriction of Sunday voting, voting by mail and early voting, and the closing of polling locations – overwhelmingly falls on Black voters,” Marc Morial, president and CEO of NUL, said in the report.
April 25, 2022
Pennsylvania Election to Feature Unconstitutional Mail-In Balloting, Unless State Supreme Court Changes Course
The Federalist
* Before the 2020 election, politicians in the capital of Pennsylvania passed a new law. It was called Act 77, and it created a 50-day, no-excuse, mail-in ballot rule. This law provided virtually no security or integrity for the most important election of our lifetimes,
* George Bochetto is an attorney, election law and constitutional expert, and candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania
* He is running moslty on the agenda of canceling Act 77.
* Act 77 already has been declared unconstitutional by Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court, the state’s intermediate appellate court.
* The Pennsylvania state constitution requires in-person voting unless you meet stringent requirements, such as serving in the armed forces or being genuinely disabled
* The fight is now in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, where the court has reinstated the act pending their review.
Judicial Watch Thinks DOJ Election Threat Task Force Has Something to Hide
Epoch Times
*Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) is being weaponized against opposing voices.
*Fitton’s group filed a lawsuit against the DOJ recently to get documents connected to the department’s election threat task force, after almost a year of no response to their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Fitton thinks the DOJ has something they don’t want the public to know.
*According to the DOJ, “the task force is leading the Justice Department’s efforts to address threats of violence against election workers", and to ensure that all election workers—whether they be elected, appointed, or those who volunteer—be permitted to do their jobs free from threats and intimidation.” The task force will partner with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the FBI field offices to assess allegations of threats against election workers.
*The DOJ declined to comment on the lawsuit and why they had not released the documents to Judicial Watch.
Pennsylvania Election to Feature Unconstitutional Mail-In Balloting, Unless State Supreme Court Changes Course
The Federalist
* Before the 2020 election, politicians in the capital of Pennsylvania passed a new law. It was called Act 77, and it created a 50-day, no-excuse, mail-in ballot rule. This law provided virtually no security or integrity for the most important election of our lifetimes,
* George Bochetto is an attorney, election law and constitutional expert, and candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania
* He is running moslty on the agenda of canceling Act 77.
* Act 77 already has been declared unconstitutional by Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court, the state’s intermediate appellate court.
* The Pennsylvania state constitution requires in-person voting unless you meet stringent requirements, such as serving in the armed forces or being genuinely disabled
* The fight is now in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, where the court has reinstated the act pending their review.
Judicial Watch Thinks DOJ Election Threat Task Force Has Something to Hide
Epoch Times
*Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) is being weaponized against opposing voices.
*Fitton’s group filed a lawsuit against the DOJ recently to get documents connected to the department’s election threat task force, after almost a year of no response to their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Fitton thinks the DOJ has something they don’t want the public to know.
*According to the DOJ, “the task force is leading the Justice Department’s efforts to address threats of violence against election workers", and to ensure that all election workers—whether they be elected, appointed, or those who volunteer—be permitted to do their jobs free from threats and intimidation.” The task force will partner with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the FBI field offices to assess allegations of threats against election workers.
*The DOJ declined to comment on the lawsuit and why they had not released the documents to Judicial Watch.
April 10, 2022
Heads Up: ERIC Mounting Under-the-Table Democrat GOTV Drive
Heard on a national call: election clerks in Michigan are already seeing a ramp-up of requests from ERIC for new voter registrations. ‘The attempt to stuff the November ballot box has already started.’
Brennan Center Starts “Tracking the Big Lie in Races for Election Administration Positions”
Brennan Center
*The races for offices that administer elections were formerly sleepy contests for largely unknown bureaucrats, but the Big Lie of a “stolen” 2020 election has brought national attention. Our new series of Brennan Center resources focuses on these crucial elections in 10 swing states, tracking candidates’ statements about the legitimacy of American democracy. Each state’s page will be updated in the runup to November, when these races to decide who will run future elections will be decided.
Drumbeat Continues: ‘Election Workers Feel Threatened’ (I)
Brennan Center
*Nearly 80 percent of election officials think the federal government is either doing nothing to support them or taking some steps but not doing enough.
*Congress should authorize grants that can be used for physical safety training, including prevention and de-escalation training
*Congress should do its part to protect the workers who protect our elections.
Note: Attempted federalizing of the 2022 elections through executive order is not outside the realm of possibility and could leave little time for judicial recourse. To poison the well for such an eventuality, we should remind everyone of the constitutional primacy of the states in election issues, including the physical safety of electoral staff.
Drumbeat Continues: ‘Election Workers Feel Threatened’ (II)
NPR
*many election workers are eyeing the exits amid a contentious national environment, a new crop of public servants is stepping in to fill the void.
*Many election workers are considering leaving their roles. A recent survey by the Brennan Center for Justice found that 20% of them say they are unlikely to continue working in the 2024 election cycle, citing harassment, stress and other challenges.
Note: The issue of "vote insecurity" keeps reappearing in the corporate and leftist media, and the Senate and House Republicans need to hold the line against the attempts to federalize the elections under the pretext of insecurity. They need to pre-empt this possibility by passing a Secure Vote Act,
announcing funding of dedicated local police forces in each state, answering to local sheriffs and
investigating the cases of intimidation of the members of both parties.
Another Drumbeat: ‘We Need Zuckerbucks in Future Elections’
Brennan Center
*Even with only early data for this election cycle, it is clear there is an explosion in out-of-state donations to secretary of state candidates in battlegrounds. And outside spending from super PACs and dark money groups is sure to play a big role this year.
*Around Green Bay, Wisconsin, out-of-state groups used messages questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 elections to try to influence local races that will affect the way the 2024 elections are run
*Green Bay has been a target of election denial, mostly focused on the city’s acceptance of charitable donations from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which is funded largely by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
*The sense that candidates lost messaging control to national groups is highlighted by the fact that some candidates were overwhelmingly out-spent by outside interests.
Note: The Brennan Center is concerned that the patriotic outside groups outspent Zukerberg and are more effective in promoting candidates. This is an implicit admission that outside funding impacts electoral results - refer back to 2020.
Heads Up: ERIC Mounting Under-the-Table Democrat GOTV Drive
Heard on a national call: election clerks in Michigan are already seeing a ramp-up of requests from ERIC for new voter registrations. ‘The attempt to stuff the November ballot box has already started.’
Brennan Center Starts “Tracking the Big Lie in Races for Election Administration Positions”
Brennan Center
*The races for offices that administer elections were formerly sleepy contests for largely unknown bureaucrats, but the Big Lie of a “stolen” 2020 election has brought national attention. Our new series of Brennan Center resources focuses on these crucial elections in 10 swing states, tracking candidates’ statements about the legitimacy of American democracy. Each state’s page will be updated in the runup to November, when these races to decide who will run future elections will be decided.
Drumbeat Continues: ‘Election Workers Feel Threatened’ (I)
Brennan Center
*Nearly 80 percent of election officials think the federal government is either doing nothing to support them or taking some steps but not doing enough.
*Congress should authorize grants that can be used for physical safety training, including prevention and de-escalation training
*Congress should do its part to protect the workers who protect our elections.
Note: Attempted federalizing of the 2022 elections through executive order is not outside the realm of possibility and could leave little time for judicial recourse. To poison the well for such an eventuality, we should remind everyone of the constitutional primacy of the states in election issues, including the physical safety of electoral staff.
Drumbeat Continues: ‘Election Workers Feel Threatened’ (II)
NPR
*many election workers are eyeing the exits amid a contentious national environment, a new crop of public servants is stepping in to fill the void.
*Many election workers are considering leaving their roles. A recent survey by the Brennan Center for Justice found that 20% of them say they are unlikely to continue working in the 2024 election cycle, citing harassment, stress and other challenges.
Note: The issue of "vote insecurity" keeps reappearing in the corporate and leftist media, and the Senate and House Republicans need to hold the line against the attempts to federalize the elections under the pretext of insecurity. They need to pre-empt this possibility by passing a Secure Vote Act,
announcing funding of dedicated local police forces in each state, answering to local sheriffs and
investigating the cases of intimidation of the members of both parties.
Another Drumbeat: ‘We Need Zuckerbucks in Future Elections’
Brennan Center
*Even with only early data for this election cycle, it is clear there is an explosion in out-of-state donations to secretary of state candidates in battlegrounds. And outside spending from super PACs and dark money groups is sure to play a big role this year.
*Around Green Bay, Wisconsin, out-of-state groups used messages questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 elections to try to influence local races that will affect the way the 2024 elections are run
*Green Bay has been a target of election denial, mostly focused on the city’s acceptance of charitable donations from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which is funded largely by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
*The sense that candidates lost messaging control to national groups is highlighted by the fact that some candidates were overwhelmingly out-spent by outside interests.
Note: The Brennan Center is concerned that the patriotic outside groups outspent Zukerberg and are more effective in promoting candidates. This is an implicit admission that outside funding impacts electoral results - refer back to 2020.
April 3, 2022
Biden Budget Would Increase Federal Meddling in Elections
Roll Call
*The Biden administration called for spending $10 billion over the next decade to beef up the country’s elections infrastructure as part of the fiscal 2023 budget proposal released Monday
*The budget proposes to expand the Postal Service’s capacity in “underserved areas” and to increase vote-by-mail initiatives — including making ballots postage-free.
Note: the reason for the wide introduction of mail ballot was COVID. Why does this continue by inertia in 2022, instead of voting in person? The Democrats will only let go of mail-in voting under pressure. Mail-in voting will continue if the pressure is weak.
*The $10 billion proposal is less than the $20 billion the nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life urged Congress to provide last spring. Tiana Epps-Johnson, the group’s executive director, said costs for paper ballots, staffing and mail have surged since then.
Note: what COVID did in 2020, "supply chain issues" will continue in 2022-2024.
*Expanding vote-by-mail programs in underserved areas could help people who live in rural areas and on Native lands vote more easily, Albert added.
Note: A great majority of citizens living in rural areas know how to drive, because it is difficult to survive without a car far away from a city. Furthermore, the rural residents or tribal members can give a ride to the neighbors and relatives who need help. This argument of "facilitation" is bogus.
*The proposal could also solidify a Postal Service policy to deliver ballots regardless of whether they have postage on them.
Note: That's great. Do they have a policy of time-stamping the envelope?
*The budget seeks $367 million, or $101 million more than fiscal 2021, for civil rights protection across the Justice Department, including police reform, voting rights enforcement, and hate crimes prosecution.
Note: What mischief is contained in "voting rights enforcement"? We are not in 1913, nobody is turned away from the precinct once they come and identify themselves.
Left Suddenly Discovers the Virtues of Audits
Brennan Center
*While both the census task force and Cyber Ninjas purported to provide independent oversight of a technical process crucial to a functioning democracy, the former consisted of experts conducting a fair, informed, and transparent audit, while the latter lacked each of these necessary components of credibility. As the next election cycle looms and politicians around the country continue to pursue partisan election reviews, the differences between these two efforts can shed valuable light on how credible audits can and should work. Let’s look at a few of the biggest differences.
Note: the matter-of-fact mentioning of audits is something new, these people were rabidly resisting any audit just 12 month ago, until Arizona broke the ice and they realized that fighting integrity so openly is more damaging than trying to subvert the effort. Throughout the article, the author berates Cyber Ninja (the company hired to audit Arizona in March 2021) and extolls Census Task Force:
* [Cyber Ninjas] was found in contempt of court and fined tens of thousands of dollars, after which it promptly dissolved.... Cyber Ninjas had no background in election reviews...
Note: You might recall that a Kansas court rejected Hans Von Spakovsky, great hero of the political Right, as an expert witness in an elections case because he lacked the requisite expertise. The Right needs to up its game and develop expert capabilities so its evaluations of election processes cannot so easily be questioned.
Left Defends Zuckerbucks, Drumbeat Starts for Private Financing of 2022/2024 Elections
NPR
*For voting officials, money from the private sector leading up to the 2020 election was a lifeline. In Philadelphia, the city was able to buy new high-speed machines to help sort mail ballots by ward and precinct, thanks to the roughly $10 million it received in donated funds.
*Since voting ended in 2020, more than a dozen states — all with Republican-controlled state legislatures — have enacted laws that prevent local election officials from accepting donations like they did leading up to that election.
* "There is an argument that funding should come from the government, so you don't open yourself up to criticism that you're being somehow persuaded by some partisan group. ... Perception-wise, it's cleaner," said David Maeda, the state elections director in Minnesota. "The problem has always been getting that [funding]."
Dominion Libel Suits Grind On
Brennan Center
*After the 2020 election, Powell alleged that Dominion’s voting machines were unreliable, hacked, or flipped votes. When she tried to get the Dominion’s defamation case dismissed, the district court ruled against her....
*Dominion is suing OAN and Fox News in separate suits for repeatedly airing claims like the ones articulated above by Ms. Powell.
*If the Supreme Court gets involved, the defamation cases against Fox News and One America News could end up changing long standing rules relating to the press.
Hit Job Smears Trump-Supporting Michigan Secretary of State Candidate
The Guardian
*Asked what would happen if the Trump-supporting conspiracy theorist [Kristina Karamo] won in November and took her job, Benson replied:
“Michigan would have a chief election officer more than willing to find those extra votes if the candidate asked them. It would be akin to putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department, or giving the keys to the vault to a bank robber.”
Note: This is how the shameless leftist propaganda machine operates. The article does not quote Kristine Karamo as stating that she is willing to find extra votes by fraudulent means. Instead, the article quotes Karamo's POLITICAL RIVAL BENSON ACCUSING HER WITHOUT ANY PROOF in the midst of campaign season, and THE GUARDIAN RUNS WITH THIS ACCUSATION AS IF IT IS A FACT. The title is absolutely misleading.
Clerks Advised to Ignore Wisconsin Supreme Court Order Banning Drop Boxes, Pending Final Ruling
Just the News
*The Wisconsin Supreme Court in February reinstated an order from a Waukesha County judge that banned ballot drop boxes and stated that voters can only return their own ballot to the polling place or elections office.
*But the League of Wisconsin Municipalities said in a letter to local election managers that ruling isn’t binding for everyone.
*“Ultimately, each clerk will need to decide what to do, taking into consideration both state and federal law, the different ways the absentee ballot statute can be interpreted, and the risks of choosing one option over another,” the letter from League lawyers said. “Clerks who refuse to accept absentee ballots delivered by third parties on behalf of disabled electors may face claims they effectively prevented those voters from voting and face litigation under the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) and Americans with Disabilities Act, or both."
*Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is set to decide the question of ballot drop boxes, and likely the rules for absentee ballot returns, after they hear arguments in the case on April 13.
Biden Budget Would Increase Federal Meddling in Elections
Roll Call
*The Biden administration called for spending $10 billion over the next decade to beef up the country’s elections infrastructure as part of the fiscal 2023 budget proposal released Monday
*The budget proposes to expand the Postal Service’s capacity in “underserved areas” and to increase vote-by-mail initiatives — including making ballots postage-free.
Note: the reason for the wide introduction of mail ballot was COVID. Why does this continue by inertia in 2022, instead of voting in person? The Democrats will only let go of mail-in voting under pressure. Mail-in voting will continue if the pressure is weak.
*The $10 billion proposal is less than the $20 billion the nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life urged Congress to provide last spring. Tiana Epps-Johnson, the group’s executive director, said costs for paper ballots, staffing and mail have surged since then.
Note: what COVID did in 2020, "supply chain issues" will continue in 2022-2024.
*Expanding vote-by-mail programs in underserved areas could help people who live in rural areas and on Native lands vote more easily, Albert added.
Note: A great majority of citizens living in rural areas know how to drive, because it is difficult to survive without a car far away from a city. Furthermore, the rural residents or tribal members can give a ride to the neighbors and relatives who need help. This argument of "facilitation" is bogus.
*The proposal could also solidify a Postal Service policy to deliver ballots regardless of whether they have postage on them.
Note: That's great. Do they have a policy of time-stamping the envelope?
*The budget seeks $367 million, or $101 million more than fiscal 2021, for civil rights protection across the Justice Department, including police reform, voting rights enforcement, and hate crimes prosecution.
Note: What mischief is contained in "voting rights enforcement"? We are not in 1913, nobody is turned away from the precinct once they come and identify themselves.
Left Suddenly Discovers the Virtues of Audits
Brennan Center
*While both the census task force and Cyber Ninjas purported to provide independent oversight of a technical process crucial to a functioning democracy, the former consisted of experts conducting a fair, informed, and transparent audit, while the latter lacked each of these necessary components of credibility. As the next election cycle looms and politicians around the country continue to pursue partisan election reviews, the differences between these two efforts can shed valuable light on how credible audits can and should work. Let’s look at a few of the biggest differences.
Note: the matter-of-fact mentioning of audits is something new, these people were rabidly resisting any audit just 12 month ago, until Arizona broke the ice and they realized that fighting integrity so openly is more damaging than trying to subvert the effort. Throughout the article, the author berates Cyber Ninja (the company hired to audit Arizona in March 2021) and extolls Census Task Force:
* [Cyber Ninjas] was found in contempt of court and fined tens of thousands of dollars, after which it promptly dissolved.... Cyber Ninjas had no background in election reviews...
Note: You might recall that a Kansas court rejected Hans Von Spakovsky, great hero of the political Right, as an expert witness in an elections case because he lacked the requisite expertise. The Right needs to up its game and develop expert capabilities so its evaluations of election processes cannot so easily be questioned.
Left Defends Zuckerbucks, Drumbeat Starts for Private Financing of 2022/2024 Elections
NPR
*For voting officials, money from the private sector leading up to the 2020 election was a lifeline. In Philadelphia, the city was able to buy new high-speed machines to help sort mail ballots by ward and precinct, thanks to the roughly $10 million it received in donated funds.
*Since voting ended in 2020, more than a dozen states — all with Republican-controlled state legislatures — have enacted laws that prevent local election officials from accepting donations like they did leading up to that election.
* "There is an argument that funding should come from the government, so you don't open yourself up to criticism that you're being somehow persuaded by some partisan group. ... Perception-wise, it's cleaner," said David Maeda, the state elections director in Minnesota. "The problem has always been getting that [funding]."
Dominion Libel Suits Grind On
Brennan Center
*After the 2020 election, Powell alleged that Dominion’s voting machines were unreliable, hacked, or flipped votes. When she tried to get the Dominion’s defamation case dismissed, the district court ruled against her....
*Dominion is suing OAN and Fox News in separate suits for repeatedly airing claims like the ones articulated above by Ms. Powell.
*If the Supreme Court gets involved, the defamation cases against Fox News and One America News could end up changing long standing rules relating to the press.
Hit Job Smears Trump-Supporting Michigan Secretary of State Candidate
The Guardian
*Asked what would happen if the Trump-supporting conspiracy theorist [Kristina Karamo] won in November and took her job, Benson replied:
“Michigan would have a chief election officer more than willing to find those extra votes if the candidate asked them. It would be akin to putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department, or giving the keys to the vault to a bank robber.”
Note: This is how the shameless leftist propaganda machine operates. The article does not quote Kristine Karamo as stating that she is willing to find extra votes by fraudulent means. Instead, the article quotes Karamo's POLITICAL RIVAL BENSON ACCUSING HER WITHOUT ANY PROOF in the midst of campaign season, and THE GUARDIAN RUNS WITH THIS ACCUSATION AS IF IT IS A FACT. The title is absolutely misleading.
Clerks Advised to Ignore Wisconsin Supreme Court Order Banning Drop Boxes, Pending Final Ruling
Just the News
*The Wisconsin Supreme Court in February reinstated an order from a Waukesha County judge that banned ballot drop boxes and stated that voters can only return their own ballot to the polling place or elections office.
*But the League of Wisconsin Municipalities said in a letter to local election managers that ruling isn’t binding for everyone.
*“Ultimately, each clerk will need to decide what to do, taking into consideration both state and federal law, the different ways the absentee ballot statute can be interpreted, and the risks of choosing one option over another,” the letter from League lawyers said. “Clerks who refuse to accept absentee ballots delivered by third parties on behalf of disabled electors may face claims they effectively prevented those voters from voting and face litigation under the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) and Americans with Disabilities Act, or both."
*Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is set to decide the question of ballot drop boxes, and likely the rules for absentee ballot returns, after they hear arguments in the case on April 13.
March 27, 2022
Dems Attacking Election Law Enforcement
Brennan Center
*States across the country are establishing or empowering law enforcement agencies to aggressively pursue rare instances of voter fraud.
[Note: First, they complained about Florida’s new elections police force. Now they’re complaining about any stepped-up enforcement by existing authorities.]
[Note: The Dems didn’t think voter fraud was ‘rare’ after the 2016 election. They didn’t shut up about ‘election interference’ for four years, not to mention their earlier complaints:
https://nypost.com/2020/09/19/biden-spent-years-warning-of-voter-fraud-now-call-a-myth/
https://publicintegrity.org/politics/broken-elections-stolen-votes/
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/10/the-rigged-2000-florida-recount-and-the-path-to-trump.html
https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/download
https://inthesetimes.com/article/was-the-2004-election-stolen
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0607/S00170/michael-parenti-the-stolen-election-of-2004.htm]
The election police and post-election audits could help put to rest these complaints and allegations by both sides. These complaints by the Brennan Center could also be preparation for further federalizing elections through executive order.]
New Texas Voting Law Hurts Blacks
Salon
*The rate of rejected mail ballots soared in the March primary elections in Texas — and those rejections disproportionately affected Democrats, especially Black voters in the state's biggest county.
*Nearly 23,000 ballots, or about 13% of all returned mail ballots, were thrown out across 187 Texas counties in the March primaries, according to an analysis by the Associated Press. In past election years, the rejection rate was around 1% to 2%, according to the Texas Tribune.
[Note: this appears to be setting up a court challenge to the new Texas law. Disparate impact is a viable legal theory in some circumstances; discriminatory intent need not always be proven directly. A question here is whether the voter confusion and alleged disparate impact will persist in future elections. If the new Texas is ultimately upheld in court, it would provide another impetus to federalize elections by statute or executive order.]
Looming Paper Shortage - Chaos in the Election?
Politico
*Mary Clark, the clerk of Delta Township in Michigan and the president of the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks, said she placed an order for 72,000 envelopes in mid-January but still hasn’t received it. She said it usually takes about two weeks to fulfill orders.
[Note: the danger of the situation is chaos that will make the election of 2022 disordered and manipulated. The situation with the stationery needs to be reported to the GOP at the local and Congress levels. What COVID did in 2020, "supply chain issues" can continue in 2022. The solution is to help the Electoral Commission to procure the stationary ahead of time. We have the Governor's office and VA GOP to keep tabs on these essentials.]
Zuckerbucks Still an Issue
Austin American-Statesman
*The Center for Tech and Civic Life distributed $350 million in grants for election to 2,500 jurisdictions like Boone County in 2020. "To be clear, I agree with those who say that the government should have provided these funds, not private citizens," Zuckerberg wrote in October 2020. Since then, Republican state lawmakers have made every effort to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
*"Without the additional grant funds, we would not have been able to purchase necessary safety and cleaning supplies, inform voters about changes to the election process or hire the number of additional temporary staff to serve voters," Lennon told PolitiFact.
[Note: The last few paragraphs show election officials are still pleading poverty, building a case for continuing with Zuckerbucks in future elections.]
"Michigan election officials in the dark on key procedures ahead of 2022 election"
Detroit Free Press
*One rule sought to clarify how clerks could verify signatures on absentee ballots. Republicans wanted a stricter process that The Secretary of State largely rejected, suggesting most of their proposed changes were inappropriate or burdensome. She used the same rationale to reject all proposed changes to a rule that would have banned applying online for an absentee ballot and most changes to procedures dictating the way clerks review affidavits submitted by potential candidates for office. Ahead of the 2020 election, the first major contest where any Michigan voter could request and receive an absentee ballot, Benson directed clerks to presume signatures on ballot applications were valid. However, in 2021, a court ruled she could not do that without creating a rule that explained how clerks would verify signatures.
*The GOP and Secretary of State appeared to have at least a smidgeon of agreement on a couple of procedural tweaks to the proposed rule, including an agreement to do away with the presumption that signatures were automatically valid.
*Florida and Ohio, among many other states, already allow early processing of absentee ballots. The benefit is to allow more time. But the process needs to be supervised in a bipartisan manner.
*The recent state audit of the Bureau of Elections also called on lawmakers to consider requiring a
statewide election audit prior to the vote certification. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has previously called for such a change. [Note: Seems like a great idea. The devil is in the details. Who will conduct the audit? The same officials that run the election or a neutral accredited provider, in the presence of bipartisan observers? Who can answer what is the case in VA and shall we conduct such an automatic post-election audit? If done correctly on a fraction of total vote, this audit will reassure all sides.]
*State auditors agree that the change would almost certainly require a longer timeline for canvassing the election results preceding the vote certification. [Note: [Yes indeed. However, extra 3-4 days to process 1% of the total vote as an audited sample will add peace of mind in such a socially explosive question. Pay attention - they now accept audits as NORMAL after rabidly fighting them a few months ago.]
*Out of the 5.5 million ballots counted, the audit identified 1,616 — 0.03% — by voters who appeared to be alive when they cast their ballot but died before Election Day. An analysis of recent elections found that the vast majority of these votes were cast by voters who died within 40 days of the election. The report recommended lawmakers consider granting county clerks the authority to update the state's files to remove deceased voters, because county clerks maintain death records. [Note: Updated file with the death records needs to be screened against the absentee ballot list. Is it done in VA?]
[Note re co-author co-author Clara Hendrickson: The left-wing GroundTruth Project is encouraging journalists to become advocates instead of report the news. It has unleashed 300 reporters in local newsrooms in 49 states, paying half their salaries, with plans to mobilize 1,000 by 2024. The group gets millions of dollars from Left-wing foundations (Ford, MacArthur, Knight, etc.) to do all this. Another leftist nonprofit, States Newsroom, is similar but won’t disclose its donors. That can’t be good.]
Shorts
Dems Attacking Election Law Enforcement
Brennan Center
*States across the country are establishing or empowering law enforcement agencies to aggressively pursue rare instances of voter fraud.
[Note: First, they complained about Florida’s new elections police force. Now they’re complaining about any stepped-up enforcement by existing authorities.]
[Note: The Dems didn’t think voter fraud was ‘rare’ after the 2016 election. They didn’t shut up about ‘election interference’ for four years, not to mention their earlier complaints:
https://nypost.com/2020/09/19/biden-spent-years-warning-of-voter-fraud-now-call-a-myth/
https://publicintegrity.org/politics/broken-elections-stolen-votes/
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/10/the-rigged-2000-florida-recount-and-the-path-to-trump.html
https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/download
https://inthesetimes.com/article/was-the-2004-election-stolen
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0607/S00170/michael-parenti-the-stolen-election-of-2004.htm]
The election police and post-election audits could help put to rest these complaints and allegations by both sides. These complaints by the Brennan Center could also be preparation for further federalizing elections through executive order.]
New Texas Voting Law Hurts Blacks
Salon
*The rate of rejected mail ballots soared in the March primary elections in Texas — and those rejections disproportionately affected Democrats, especially Black voters in the state's biggest county.
*Nearly 23,000 ballots, or about 13% of all returned mail ballots, were thrown out across 187 Texas counties in the March primaries, according to an analysis by the Associated Press. In past election years, the rejection rate was around 1% to 2%, according to the Texas Tribune.
[Note: this appears to be setting up a court challenge to the new Texas law. Disparate impact is a viable legal theory in some circumstances; discriminatory intent need not always be proven directly. A question here is whether the voter confusion and alleged disparate impact will persist in future elections. If the new Texas is ultimately upheld in court, it would provide another impetus to federalize elections by statute or executive order.]
Looming Paper Shortage - Chaos in the Election?
Politico
*Mary Clark, the clerk of Delta Township in Michigan and the president of the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks, said she placed an order for 72,000 envelopes in mid-January but still hasn’t received it. She said it usually takes about two weeks to fulfill orders.
[Note: the danger of the situation is chaos that will make the election of 2022 disordered and manipulated. The situation with the stationery needs to be reported to the GOP at the local and Congress levels. What COVID did in 2020, "supply chain issues" can continue in 2022. The solution is to help the Electoral Commission to procure the stationary ahead of time. We have the Governor's office and VA GOP to keep tabs on these essentials.]
Zuckerbucks Still an Issue
Austin American-Statesman
*The Center for Tech and Civic Life distributed $350 million in grants for election to 2,500 jurisdictions like Boone County in 2020. "To be clear, I agree with those who say that the government should have provided these funds, not private citizens," Zuckerberg wrote in October 2020. Since then, Republican state lawmakers have made every effort to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
*"Without the additional grant funds, we would not have been able to purchase necessary safety and cleaning supplies, inform voters about changes to the election process or hire the number of additional temporary staff to serve voters," Lennon told PolitiFact.
[Note: The last few paragraphs show election officials are still pleading poverty, building a case for continuing with Zuckerbucks in future elections.]
"Michigan election officials in the dark on key procedures ahead of 2022 election"
Detroit Free Press
*One rule sought to clarify how clerks could verify signatures on absentee ballots. Republicans wanted a stricter process that The Secretary of State largely rejected, suggesting most of their proposed changes were inappropriate or burdensome. She used the same rationale to reject all proposed changes to a rule that would have banned applying online for an absentee ballot and most changes to procedures dictating the way clerks review affidavits submitted by potential candidates for office. Ahead of the 2020 election, the first major contest where any Michigan voter could request and receive an absentee ballot, Benson directed clerks to presume signatures on ballot applications were valid. However, in 2021, a court ruled she could not do that without creating a rule that explained how clerks would verify signatures.
*The GOP and Secretary of State appeared to have at least a smidgeon of agreement on a couple of procedural tweaks to the proposed rule, including an agreement to do away with the presumption that signatures were automatically valid.
*Florida and Ohio, among many other states, already allow early processing of absentee ballots. The benefit is to allow more time. But the process needs to be supervised in a bipartisan manner.
*The recent state audit of the Bureau of Elections also called on lawmakers to consider requiring a
statewide election audit prior to the vote certification. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has previously called for such a change. [Note: Seems like a great idea. The devil is in the details. Who will conduct the audit? The same officials that run the election or a neutral accredited provider, in the presence of bipartisan observers? Who can answer what is the case in VA and shall we conduct such an automatic post-election audit? If done correctly on a fraction of total vote, this audit will reassure all sides.]
*State auditors agree that the change would almost certainly require a longer timeline for canvassing the election results preceding the vote certification. [Note: [Yes indeed. However, extra 3-4 days to process 1% of the total vote as an audited sample will add peace of mind in such a socially explosive question. Pay attention - they now accept audits as NORMAL after rabidly fighting them a few months ago.]
*Out of the 5.5 million ballots counted, the audit identified 1,616 — 0.03% — by voters who appeared to be alive when they cast their ballot but died before Election Day. An analysis of recent elections found that the vast majority of these votes were cast by voters who died within 40 days of the election. The report recommended lawmakers consider granting county clerks the authority to update the state's files to remove deceased voters, because county clerks maintain death records. [Note: Updated file with the death records needs to be screened against the absentee ballot list. Is it done in VA?]
[Note re co-author co-author Clara Hendrickson: The left-wing GroundTruth Project is encouraging journalists to become advocates instead of report the news. It has unleashed 300 reporters in local newsrooms in 49 states, paying half their salaries, with plans to mobilize 1,000 by 2024. The group gets millions of dollars from Left-wing foundations (Ford, MacArthur, Knight, etc.) to do all this. Another leftist nonprofit, States Newsroom, is similar but won’t disclose its donors. That can’t be good.]
Shorts
- yet another attempt to block a Republican candidate (Marjorie Taylor Greene) through the 14th Amendment insurrection clause (none have been successful so far)
- school administrator helped find eligible voters for Georgia Dems by going through student records (this could easily happen elsewhere)
- Brennan Center holding conference on universal (compulsory) voting (3/24/22 mailing - background on universal voting here)
- Details on what federal agencies are doing on the previously announced whole-of-government push for voter participation published here
March 20, 2022
View from the Left: Replacing Old Voting Machines Will Improve Election Integrity
*Maybe not - see commentary below.
*From the Brennan Center
*Outdated voting systems, however, remain a problem. Machines are aging past their projected life cycle without being replaced, leaving jurisdictions with systems that are significantly more than a decade old.
*Many election officials using discontinued systems have expressed concerns to the Brennan Center about their ability to find replacement parts and technicians to service these machines.
*Of particular concern are jurisdictions that still use DRE (direct recording electronic) voting machines. These machines, which may or may not produce a VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail), generally require a voter to use a touch-screen monitor to vote. In recent years, a number of these models have “flipped” votes, with the touch screen incorrectly registering voters’ choices due to calibration errors associated with aging hardware. That, in turn, has led to viral videos and conspiracy theories of machines “stealing votes”.
*New voting machines that produce a paper ballot for each vote cast make it possible for election officials to conduct post-election audits. Approximately half of all states and the District of Columbia conduct post-election audits, which require a review of paper ballots to check the accuracy of the votes cast. With partisan actors fueled by the Big Lie conducting partisan reviews that undermine confidence in our elections, it is becoming increasingly important for qualified election officials to conduct legitimate audits of their own. (Comment: a legitimate audit is ordered by legislature, not election officials.)
*The price tag as we get further out in time will only grow. The Center for Secure and Modern Elections has estimated that the full cost of replacing outdated voting machines over the next decade will amount to $1.8 billion.
*Comment: Having a paper trail where there was none before but new machines mean new state contracts and, thus opportunities to corrupt state and local officials in charge of signing the contracts. It is suspected that Republican Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger was corrupted by machine contracts and is now playing for the other side.
* Comment: New machines can still be programmed to generate flipped votes and the Dems can use the improved technical characteristics as an excuse to prevent or legally fight the sampling audits. They could argue, "We use improved technology; therefore, it is baseless to conduct audits or even talk about audits.” They could even criminalize these discussions as they are trying to do now with the January 6th committee. This resembles the argument about the Southern Border: ‘Let us put some sensors, and a few drones, and then we don't need to keep the border closed with border agents.’ Absurd? But this will be pushed by the entire might of the propaganda machine. Idea: build mandated sampling audits into the system so they are performed as a matter of routine.
The Drumbeat Has Started: ‘Conspiracy Theorists Have Made Election Officials Unsafe’
- Excuse for Federalizing Elections?
*The Brennan Center and others are pounding this theme:
*Between January 31 and February 14, we had the Benenson Strategy Group poll nearly 600 local election officials about their jobs
*More than half of the respondents said they’re concerned about the safety of their colleagues Nearly one in three know at least one colleague who quit their job in part or entirely because of safety concerns, increased threats, or intimidation
*Incidents led some election officials to flee their homes for safety.
*Nearly one in five respondents worry they will face pressure to certify election results in favor of a specific candidate or party.
*More than three out of four election officials believe the federal government should be doing more to support them. It’s time for Congress to take these threats against the people who run our elections seriously and protect them against the violent conspiracy theorists and partisans who continue to undermine the legitimacy of our election systems. Congress should make it a crime to intimidate election workers for the purpose of interfering with the vote tabulation process.
* Comment: Electoral officials should strive not to be an instrument of fraud. Barring of the election observers during the elections of 2020 or preventing them from approaching the election officers with questions and concerns in a number of states produced this problem. Further exacerbation developed after excessive resistance by the election officials to the audits or any other attempts to establish transparency. Bringing the entire enforcement apparatus of federal government into the system currently under scrutiny will escalate the situation and not resolve it. Instead, each case of intimidation should be addressed individually by the local police. Shielding the potential operators of knowingly faulty equipment or the malicious opponents of openness and transparency by the full power of the NSA/CIA/FBI will create additional alienation between the power structures and the nation,
and will create the same effect as the metal fences around the Congress. Furthermore, a potential complication can be the narrative that local states cannot provide the security for the election officers
and therefore federalization of elections is the only path forward. This is a dangerous, unconstitutional possibility since the owner of the electoral process in each state is the state legislature and it manages the issues of security. A reasonable compromise to take the ground from under the feet of this narrative is to establish a hotline with the local police where the election workers can file complaints.
A local police presence during key electoral events can be also reassuring for both sides of the aisle.
Republican electoral officials were severely intimidated in 2020 in Detroit, and local police presence needs to be boosted in such locations.
Defending Zuckerbucks
* from PolitiFact:
*Nearly a dozen Republican-led states have banned private donations for election administration, and more bans are under consideration. Denouncing "Zuckerbucks" for election offices has become part of the GOP playbook for candidates running for local, state and federal offices.
*The advocates insist that adequate funding of the precincts allows the smooth running of the elections from a technical standpoint.
*COVID forced more expensive and lengthy processing in 2020, and the shortage of funds was compensated by Zuckerberg.
*In 2002, with bipartisan support, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to give states money to replace outdated election equipment and create minimal standards for voter registration databases.
*PolitiFact contacted a handful of local offices to find out.
In Licking County, Ohio, a Republican area easily won by Trump, about $77,000 went toward new electronic poll books that elections workers used to check in voters at the polls.
In Brevard County, Florida, where voters overwhelmingly voted for Trump, election officials spent about $840,000 on machines and technology used at the polls and for mail ballots.
*Critics of the funding said that the largest amounts went to areas with high numbers of Democratic voters.
*Following the 2020 election, Republican state legislators sought various ways to rewrite election laws. Eleven states banned private funding: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. Governors who are Democrats in Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina vetoed bans.
How the Florida Election Police Force Looks to the Left
*From Vice News:
*Florida’s state Legislature passed a bill to create what’s essentially a new, first-of-its-kind security force to address a problem that doesn’t exist. (Comment: Other articles echo the theme - e.g., here.)
*The bill approved by state legislators is dialed back from DeSantis’ original vision of a 52-member election integrity unit, which would include 20 sworn police officers who’d carry out investigations of election fraud. DeSantis wanted the unit to be able to arrest anyone caught casting an illegal vote or committing any other election-related violation, such as ballot harvesting.
*Instead, the version he’s expected to sign would create a smaller but still 15-strong “Office of Election Crimes and Security” within Florida’s state department. DeSantis would also be able to appoint up to 10 law enforcement officers to specifically probe election crimes. Additionally, the bill would prohibit ranked-choice voting in the state, increase the fine for interfering with third-party voter registration forms from $1,000 to $50,000, and require the Office of Election Crimes to submit detailed reports of its findings to the governor annually.
*With the bill’s passage in Florida, Morales Doyle says there’s a good chance we’ll see even more support from Republicans in other states who want to pass their own version of the bill. (Comment: Heartily agree! We need it in VA, it will protect and reassure BOTH sides. The Georgia House passed a similar bill, sending it to the state Senate. The Left is trying to undermine the idea, but it’s already spreading.)
* More background here
* Comment: The election police are likely to be demonized as partisan and repressive and racist. This demonization will be coupled with flat denial of any wrong-doing. "Baseless" - we all know the drill. These arguments can be countered aggressively by a threat of litigation for libel. The racially discriminatory motive needs to be proven in the court of law beyond reasonable doubt. The purpose of electoral police is building trust in the electoral system and increase of voter participation, while the systematic encouragement of electoral fraud by the Democratic Party is tantamount to voter suppression.
* Comment: The kind of massive, Left-wing, behind-the-scenes effort to swing the 2020 election described in the notorious Time Magazine article is incompatible with our democracy, they are modern day Tammany Halls attempting to disenfranchise millions. By obstructing measures to prevent such self-confessed, large-scale and secretive associations attacking voting rights of so many citizens, the Democrats do precisely what they accuse others of doing. Establishing an electoral police force is a necessary step to counter electoral crime. The Dems keep pointing to the miniscule number of cases and saying ‘there is no voter fraud’. That’s because states typically don’t investigate or prosecute very many cases to begin with. An electoral police force is a step in the right direction to ferreting out the fraud we know exists.
View from the Left: Replacing Old Voting Machines Will Improve Election Integrity
*Maybe not - see commentary below.
*From the Brennan Center
*Outdated voting systems, however, remain a problem. Machines are aging past their projected life cycle without being replaced, leaving jurisdictions with systems that are significantly more than a decade old.
*Many election officials using discontinued systems have expressed concerns to the Brennan Center about their ability to find replacement parts and technicians to service these machines.
*Of particular concern are jurisdictions that still use DRE (direct recording electronic) voting machines. These machines, which may or may not produce a VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail), generally require a voter to use a touch-screen monitor to vote. In recent years, a number of these models have “flipped” votes, with the touch screen incorrectly registering voters’ choices due to calibration errors associated with aging hardware. That, in turn, has led to viral videos and conspiracy theories of machines “stealing votes”.
*New voting machines that produce a paper ballot for each vote cast make it possible for election officials to conduct post-election audits. Approximately half of all states and the District of Columbia conduct post-election audits, which require a review of paper ballots to check the accuracy of the votes cast. With partisan actors fueled by the Big Lie conducting partisan reviews that undermine confidence in our elections, it is becoming increasingly important for qualified election officials to conduct legitimate audits of their own. (Comment: a legitimate audit is ordered by legislature, not election officials.)
*The price tag as we get further out in time will only grow. The Center for Secure and Modern Elections has estimated that the full cost of replacing outdated voting machines over the next decade will amount to $1.8 billion.
*Comment: Having a paper trail where there was none before but new machines mean new state contracts and, thus opportunities to corrupt state and local officials in charge of signing the contracts. It is suspected that Republican Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger was corrupted by machine contracts and is now playing for the other side.
* Comment: New machines can still be programmed to generate flipped votes and the Dems can use the improved technical characteristics as an excuse to prevent or legally fight the sampling audits. They could argue, "We use improved technology; therefore, it is baseless to conduct audits or even talk about audits.” They could even criminalize these discussions as they are trying to do now with the January 6th committee. This resembles the argument about the Southern Border: ‘Let us put some sensors, and a few drones, and then we don't need to keep the border closed with border agents.’ Absurd? But this will be pushed by the entire might of the propaganda machine. Idea: build mandated sampling audits into the system so they are performed as a matter of routine.
The Drumbeat Has Started: ‘Conspiracy Theorists Have Made Election Officials Unsafe’
- Excuse for Federalizing Elections?
*The Brennan Center and others are pounding this theme:
*Between January 31 and February 14, we had the Benenson Strategy Group poll nearly 600 local election officials about their jobs
*More than half of the respondents said they’re concerned about the safety of their colleagues Nearly one in three know at least one colleague who quit their job in part or entirely because of safety concerns, increased threats, or intimidation
*Incidents led some election officials to flee their homes for safety.
*Nearly one in five respondents worry they will face pressure to certify election results in favor of a specific candidate or party.
*More than three out of four election officials believe the federal government should be doing more to support them. It’s time for Congress to take these threats against the people who run our elections seriously and protect them against the violent conspiracy theorists and partisans who continue to undermine the legitimacy of our election systems. Congress should make it a crime to intimidate election workers for the purpose of interfering with the vote tabulation process.
* Comment: Electoral officials should strive not to be an instrument of fraud. Barring of the election observers during the elections of 2020 or preventing them from approaching the election officers with questions and concerns in a number of states produced this problem. Further exacerbation developed after excessive resistance by the election officials to the audits or any other attempts to establish transparency. Bringing the entire enforcement apparatus of federal government into the system currently under scrutiny will escalate the situation and not resolve it. Instead, each case of intimidation should be addressed individually by the local police. Shielding the potential operators of knowingly faulty equipment or the malicious opponents of openness and transparency by the full power of the NSA/CIA/FBI will create additional alienation between the power structures and the nation,
and will create the same effect as the metal fences around the Congress. Furthermore, a potential complication can be the narrative that local states cannot provide the security for the election officers
and therefore federalization of elections is the only path forward. This is a dangerous, unconstitutional possibility since the owner of the electoral process in each state is the state legislature and it manages the issues of security. A reasonable compromise to take the ground from under the feet of this narrative is to establish a hotline with the local police where the election workers can file complaints.
A local police presence during key electoral events can be also reassuring for both sides of the aisle.
Republican electoral officials were severely intimidated in 2020 in Detroit, and local police presence needs to be boosted in such locations.
Defending Zuckerbucks
* from PolitiFact:
*Nearly a dozen Republican-led states have banned private donations for election administration, and more bans are under consideration. Denouncing "Zuckerbucks" for election offices has become part of the GOP playbook for candidates running for local, state and federal offices.
*The advocates insist that adequate funding of the precincts allows the smooth running of the elections from a technical standpoint.
*COVID forced more expensive and lengthy processing in 2020, and the shortage of funds was compensated by Zuckerberg.
*In 2002, with bipartisan support, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to give states money to replace outdated election equipment and create minimal standards for voter registration databases.
*PolitiFact contacted a handful of local offices to find out.
In Licking County, Ohio, a Republican area easily won by Trump, about $77,000 went toward new electronic poll books that elections workers used to check in voters at the polls.
In Brevard County, Florida, where voters overwhelmingly voted for Trump, election officials spent about $840,000 on machines and technology used at the polls and for mail ballots.
*Critics of the funding said that the largest amounts went to areas with high numbers of Democratic voters.
*Following the 2020 election, Republican state legislators sought various ways to rewrite election laws. Eleven states banned private funding: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. Governors who are Democrats in Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina vetoed bans.
How the Florida Election Police Force Looks to the Left
*From Vice News:
*Florida’s state Legislature passed a bill to create what’s essentially a new, first-of-its-kind security force to address a problem that doesn’t exist. (Comment: Other articles echo the theme - e.g., here.)
*The bill approved by state legislators is dialed back from DeSantis’ original vision of a 52-member election integrity unit, which would include 20 sworn police officers who’d carry out investigations of election fraud. DeSantis wanted the unit to be able to arrest anyone caught casting an illegal vote or committing any other election-related violation, such as ballot harvesting.
*Instead, the version he’s expected to sign would create a smaller but still 15-strong “Office of Election Crimes and Security” within Florida’s state department. DeSantis would also be able to appoint up to 10 law enforcement officers to specifically probe election crimes. Additionally, the bill would prohibit ranked-choice voting in the state, increase the fine for interfering with third-party voter registration forms from $1,000 to $50,000, and require the Office of Election Crimes to submit detailed reports of its findings to the governor annually.
*With the bill’s passage in Florida, Morales Doyle says there’s a good chance we’ll see even more support from Republicans in other states who want to pass their own version of the bill. (Comment: Heartily agree! We need it in VA, it will protect and reassure BOTH sides. The Georgia House passed a similar bill, sending it to the state Senate. The Left is trying to undermine the idea, but it’s already spreading.)
* More background here
* Comment: The election police are likely to be demonized as partisan and repressive and racist. This demonization will be coupled with flat denial of any wrong-doing. "Baseless" - we all know the drill. These arguments can be countered aggressively by a threat of litigation for libel. The racially discriminatory motive needs to be proven in the court of law beyond reasonable doubt. The purpose of electoral police is building trust in the electoral system and increase of voter participation, while the systematic encouragement of electoral fraud by the Democratic Party is tantamount to voter suppression.
* Comment: The kind of massive, Left-wing, behind-the-scenes effort to swing the 2020 election described in the notorious Time Magazine article is incompatible with our democracy, they are modern day Tammany Halls attempting to disenfranchise millions. By obstructing measures to prevent such self-confessed, large-scale and secretive associations attacking voting rights of so many citizens, the Democrats do precisely what they accuse others of doing. Establishing an electoral police force is a necessary step to counter electoral crime. The Dems keep pointing to the miniscule number of cases and saying ‘there is no voter fraud’. That’s because states typically don’t investigate or prosecute very many cases to begin with. An electoral police force is a step in the right direction to ferreting out the fraud we know exists.
March 13, 2022
Dems Going After Republican Election Lawyers
* the group is set to spend millions on the effort to target 111 attorneys in 26 states, all of whom were involved in pushes to challenge or reverse 2020 election results. States targeted for advertisements include Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
* Goal: “not only bring the grievances in the bar complaints, but shame them and make them toxic in their communities and in their firms.”…
*Far-left activists including David Brock, the founder of Media Matters and former Democratic Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle are targeting Trump attorneys in an attempt to deter conservatives from challenging any future election fraud schemes by the left.
*But Paul Davis, one of the attorneys targeted by the group, said, “This move is nothing more than a desperate attempt by leftist hacks and mercenaries.”
* Legal Insurrection Gateway Pundit The Hill
Dems Trying Again to Disqualify Republican Candidates on Insurrection Theory
* The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says candidates who engaged in insurrection while in office cannot hold office again. The Democrats previously failed in their attempts to invoke the insurrection clause against candidates in Indiana (Jim Banks) and North Carolina (Madison Cawthorn). A later statute removed the disqualification against office holder candidates who helped the Confederacy and it was found this effectively negated the insurrection clause.
* But the Dems are trying again against three Republican candidates in Wisconsin, including Ron Johnson.
* Gateway Pundit
Dems Fear Supreme Court Will Give State Legislatures Too Much Power
* Note: this is coming up in the redistricting context but Dems worry state legislatures would have unchecked power to change election laws if a new legal theory is adopted.
* Both emergency applications claim that the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the sole independent right to set the “time, place, and manner” of holding federal elections, and that it provides no role for state courts. That power ranges from the drawing of congressional districts to the writing of election laws regarding voter registration, identification, polling locations and so on.
* “The Constitution provides that state legislatures — not federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not other state officials — bear primary responsibility for setting election rules,” Gorsuch wrote.
* “It would be an unprecedented upheaval of the current election laws and foreclose any legal relief for voters when there is legitimate harm found under a state constitution”
* Huffington Post
Dems Going After Republican Election Lawyers
* the group is set to spend millions on the effort to target 111 attorneys in 26 states, all of whom were involved in pushes to challenge or reverse 2020 election results. States targeted for advertisements include Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
* Goal: “not only bring the grievances in the bar complaints, but shame them and make them toxic in their communities and in their firms.”…
*Far-left activists including David Brock, the founder of Media Matters and former Democratic Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle are targeting Trump attorneys in an attempt to deter conservatives from challenging any future election fraud schemes by the left.
*But Paul Davis, one of the attorneys targeted by the group, said, “This move is nothing more than a desperate attempt by leftist hacks and mercenaries.”
* Legal Insurrection Gateway Pundit The Hill
Dems Trying Again to Disqualify Republican Candidates on Insurrection Theory
* The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says candidates who engaged in insurrection while in office cannot hold office again. The Democrats previously failed in their attempts to invoke the insurrection clause against candidates in Indiana (Jim Banks) and North Carolina (Madison Cawthorn). A later statute removed the disqualification against office holder candidates who helped the Confederacy and it was found this effectively negated the insurrection clause.
* But the Dems are trying again against three Republican candidates in Wisconsin, including Ron Johnson.
* Gateway Pundit
Dems Fear Supreme Court Will Give State Legislatures Too Much Power
* Note: this is coming up in the redistricting context but Dems worry state legislatures would have unchecked power to change election laws if a new legal theory is adopted.
* Both emergency applications claim that the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the sole independent right to set the “time, place, and manner” of holding federal elections, and that it provides no role for state courts. That power ranges from the drawing of congressional districts to the writing of election laws regarding voter registration, identification, polling locations and so on.
* “The Constitution provides that state legislatures — not federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not other state officials — bear primary responsibility for setting election rules,” Gorsuch wrote.
* “It would be an unprecedented upheaval of the current election laws and foreclose any legal relief for voters when there is legitimate harm found under a state constitution”
* Huffington Post
March 6, 2022
‘Insurrection’ Challenge to Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s Candidacy Fails
* A federal judge knocked it out on Friday.
* The judge ruled the 14th Amendment’s ‘disqualification’ clause was essentially repealed by the Amnesty Act of 1872, allowing Confederate officers and all future candidates to return to elected positions even if they had engaged in insurrection.
* The ruling could be appealed.
Dems Gearing Up for Legal Fights, RNC Thinks It’s Ready
Note: a left-wing perspective, explaining the language
*Democrats are gearing up to spend record sums on lawyers, advertising and other protect-the-vote efforts before the 2022 midterm elections, hoping to stave off Republican efforts they believe will choke off access to the ballot box.
*Democratic efforts are also being countered by an equally energized and well-funded Republican effort.
*A person familiar with the Republican National Committee’s spending said the party would budget “millions more” on voting issues and that ensuring that “the 2022 and 2024 elections proceed in a free, fair, and transparent fashion is one of our top priorities.” The party is hiring lawyers in 17 target states and is already engaged in over 30 related lawsuits, the person said.
‘Create Chaos’ - Cloward-Piven Strategy in Houston Primaries?
"Yesterday’s Election in Houston Was a Trainwreck – Republicans Prevented from Voting and ‘Glitches’ Reported in Voting Machines"
*Today is Election Day, and the website shows NO polling locations this morning. The voting location PDF was changed at 4:01 THIS MORNING. In Katy (conservative West Houston), for example, only ONE of the previously listed voting locations remains the same – there are more now than previously, but they are not at regular precinct polling sites; therefore, most voters will show up at their precincts not knowing they cannot vote there.
*In addition, PJs (Precinct Judges) who are working the polls have been assigned and reassigned to locations over the last few days; have had to work to find election clerks to assist (including this morning); have been given their PJ boxes minus any ballot paper and, as noted during early voting, are being forced to allow Republican and Democrat ballots to be commingled in the same drop boxes after being scanned.
*Comment from a Virginia observer: “Possible Dem misbehavior in yesterday’s Texas primary could happen in VA in an environment where progressives won’t change course to win mainstream support, and cheating is the only option left to avoid an electoral wipeout this year. And why not do it that way when they have successfully done it in the past, and they still have massive financial support, an army of election NGOs and at least 50% of the Repub party who don’t care enough to help prevent it.”
* Note: IMHO, this is a very important article, showing the issues that Virginia Republicans need to be aware of, and our network needs to play a role. That is to demand that VA GOP raises the issues with the Electoral Commission ahead of time. A party disinterested in its own fair win is a sham.
New Election Laws in Texas Cause Confusion - So What?
*Thousands of rejected mail-in ballots prior to the March 1 primary left some voters unsure how and whether they will be able to participate, including many people with disabilities and senior citizens, who are among those eligible to vote by mail.
*ID rules are a big source of confusion The law now requires voters who qualify for mail-in voting to provide either their driver's license number or a partial Social Security number. That number must match what is on file in their voter registration record. So if a voter registered decades ago with their Social Security number but applied this year using their driver's license instead, they'd be rejected.
*Texas has a call center advising the voters in case of confusion.
*The law's changes are not limited to identification requirements. It also includes a slew of other restrictions, including banning drive-through voting and 24-hour voting sites, things that Harris County implemented in 2020 to help people vote more easily and safely during the pandemic.
* Editor’s Note - Any change will engender confusion and Texas instituted a call center to deal with it. To take the parade of horribles cited in the article and puff it up into a grand conclusion the new election integrity laws should be repealed is ridiculous. The Left often takes a kernel of truth and twists it into something else.
Democrat Bag of Tricks Getting Worn Out
* From a Tea Party Patriots mailing: ”Democrats are willing to do whatever it takes to win in 2022 and in future elections. The party's popularity is cratering because of Biden's disastrous leadership, but they see a way out. Democrats want to pass the "Freedom to Cheat" Act, allowing them to rig elections. According to David McIntosh and Scott Perry, ‘the left's plan for winning elections going forward is to rig the rules and undermine our republic Democrats have pinned their reelection hopes on trashing Americans' photo ID safeguards, allowing illegal aliens and non-citizens to vote in our elections, and a host of other rules to tip future elections in their favor. They hypocritically pursue their self-aggrandizing agenda - even though voter ID enjoys the overwhelming support of 81% of voters, according to an Honest Elections Project poll.’"
*Left-wing operatives and politicians have returned to their vile tactic of labeling all who stand in their way as "racist." But instead of bowing before the Democrat false idol of identity politics, Republicans and Independents must be strong and courageous in defending reasonable measures to eliminate election fraud.
*Biden, Obama, Pelosi and their cronies might think this trickery is a winning proposition, but with an overwhelming margin of 71% to 13%, voters prefer to vote for congressional candidates who support photo ID - according to a Rasmussen poll.
MoveOn Targets ‘QAnon’ Candidates
* This is quite the fund-raising pitch: “We're launching a multimillion-dollar effort to defeat Trump-backed QAnon candidates for secretary of state across the country and defend our free and fair elections.” (from a 2/28/22 mailing)
Supposition: Left-funded Journalists Might Be Writing Hit Pieces on Election Integrity Concerns
* The philanthropic Left is funding local journalism. That’s not disputed. The press routinely trashes Republican concerns about election integrity. That’s also beyond dispute. A group in Michigan theorizes left-funded journalists are behind the trashing. VEInet reviewed the information the group sent and found it did not substantiate the claim, but it remains an intriguing possibility.
‘Insurrection’ Challenge to Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s Candidacy Fails
* A federal judge knocked it out on Friday.
* The judge ruled the 14th Amendment’s ‘disqualification’ clause was essentially repealed by the Amnesty Act of 1872, allowing Confederate officers and all future candidates to return to elected positions even if they had engaged in insurrection.
* The ruling could be appealed.
Dems Gearing Up for Legal Fights, RNC Thinks It’s Ready
Note: a left-wing perspective, explaining the language
*Democrats are gearing up to spend record sums on lawyers, advertising and other protect-the-vote efforts before the 2022 midterm elections, hoping to stave off Republican efforts they believe will choke off access to the ballot box.
*Democratic efforts are also being countered by an equally energized and well-funded Republican effort.
*A person familiar with the Republican National Committee’s spending said the party would budget “millions more” on voting issues and that ensuring that “the 2022 and 2024 elections proceed in a free, fair, and transparent fashion is one of our top priorities.” The party is hiring lawyers in 17 target states and is already engaged in over 30 related lawsuits, the person said.
‘Create Chaos’ - Cloward-Piven Strategy in Houston Primaries?
"Yesterday’s Election in Houston Was a Trainwreck – Republicans Prevented from Voting and ‘Glitches’ Reported in Voting Machines"
*Today is Election Day, and the website shows NO polling locations this morning. The voting location PDF was changed at 4:01 THIS MORNING. In Katy (conservative West Houston), for example, only ONE of the previously listed voting locations remains the same – there are more now than previously, but they are not at regular precinct polling sites; therefore, most voters will show up at their precincts not knowing they cannot vote there.
*In addition, PJs (Precinct Judges) who are working the polls have been assigned and reassigned to locations over the last few days; have had to work to find election clerks to assist (including this morning); have been given their PJ boxes minus any ballot paper and, as noted during early voting, are being forced to allow Republican and Democrat ballots to be commingled in the same drop boxes after being scanned.
*Comment from a Virginia observer: “Possible Dem misbehavior in yesterday’s Texas primary could happen in VA in an environment where progressives won’t change course to win mainstream support, and cheating is the only option left to avoid an electoral wipeout this year. And why not do it that way when they have successfully done it in the past, and they still have massive financial support, an army of election NGOs and at least 50% of the Repub party who don’t care enough to help prevent it.”
* Note: IMHO, this is a very important article, showing the issues that Virginia Republicans need to be aware of, and our network needs to play a role. That is to demand that VA GOP raises the issues with the Electoral Commission ahead of time. A party disinterested in its own fair win is a sham.
New Election Laws in Texas Cause Confusion - So What?
*Thousands of rejected mail-in ballots prior to the March 1 primary left some voters unsure how and whether they will be able to participate, including many people with disabilities and senior citizens, who are among those eligible to vote by mail.
*ID rules are a big source of confusion The law now requires voters who qualify for mail-in voting to provide either their driver's license number or a partial Social Security number. That number must match what is on file in their voter registration record. So if a voter registered decades ago with their Social Security number but applied this year using their driver's license instead, they'd be rejected.
*Texas has a call center advising the voters in case of confusion.
*The law's changes are not limited to identification requirements. It also includes a slew of other restrictions, including banning drive-through voting and 24-hour voting sites, things that Harris County implemented in 2020 to help people vote more easily and safely during the pandemic.
* Editor’s Note - Any change will engender confusion and Texas instituted a call center to deal with it. To take the parade of horribles cited in the article and puff it up into a grand conclusion the new election integrity laws should be repealed is ridiculous. The Left often takes a kernel of truth and twists it into something else.
Democrat Bag of Tricks Getting Worn Out
* From a Tea Party Patriots mailing: ”Democrats are willing to do whatever it takes to win in 2022 and in future elections. The party's popularity is cratering because of Biden's disastrous leadership, but they see a way out. Democrats want to pass the "Freedom to Cheat" Act, allowing them to rig elections. According to David McIntosh and Scott Perry, ‘the left's plan for winning elections going forward is to rig the rules and undermine our republic Democrats have pinned their reelection hopes on trashing Americans' photo ID safeguards, allowing illegal aliens and non-citizens to vote in our elections, and a host of other rules to tip future elections in their favor. They hypocritically pursue their self-aggrandizing agenda - even though voter ID enjoys the overwhelming support of 81% of voters, according to an Honest Elections Project poll.’"
*Left-wing operatives and politicians have returned to their vile tactic of labeling all who stand in their way as "racist." But instead of bowing before the Democrat false idol of identity politics, Republicans and Independents must be strong and courageous in defending reasonable measures to eliminate election fraud.
*Biden, Obama, Pelosi and their cronies might think this trickery is a winning proposition, but with an overwhelming margin of 71% to 13%, voters prefer to vote for congressional candidates who support photo ID - according to a Rasmussen poll.
MoveOn Targets ‘QAnon’ Candidates
* This is quite the fund-raising pitch: “We're launching a multimillion-dollar effort to defeat Trump-backed QAnon candidates for secretary of state across the country and defend our free and fair elections.” (from a 2/28/22 mailing)
Supposition: Left-funded Journalists Might Be Writing Hit Pieces on Election Integrity Concerns
* The philanthropic Left is funding local journalism. That’s not disputed. The press routinely trashes Republican concerns about election integrity. That’s also beyond dispute. A group in Michigan theorizes left-funded journalists are behind the trashing. VEInet reviewed the information the group sent and found it did not substantiate the claim, but it remains an intriguing possibility.