Maricopa country: is this what real “voter suppression” looks like?
Democrats often speak of voting security laws as leading to “voter suppression,” particularly of minorities, although evidence is lacking. It’s a fine rhetorical spin, though, because it fits nicely into their “Republicans are racists” message and encourages some people to be against once-commonplace and common sense voting security rules that almost every country in the world except the US practices.
However, “voter suppression” of evil GOP votes is another story. Here’s a report on in-person voting in Maricopa county in Arizona (Maricopa’s voters are mostly red on Election Day):
The 11 attorneys visited 115 out of the 223 vote centers in Maricopa County on Election Day and found that 72 of them (or 62.61%) “had material problems with the tabulators not being able to tabulate ballots,” Sonnenklar reported, “causing voters to either deposit their ballots into box 3, spoil their ballots and re-vote, or get frustrated and leave the vote center without voting.”
Box 3 — also called “Door 3” or “Slot 3” — is a separate box on the tabulators into which ballots not counted by the machines were placed for later tabulation. Maricopa County, however, has admitted that “in some voting locations, ‘Door 3’ non-tabulated ballots were commingled with tabulated ballots,” according to a letter from the Arizona attorney general’s office to the county.
“In many vote centers, the tabulators rejected the initial insertion of a ballot almost 100% of the time, although the tabulators might still accept that ballot on the second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth attempt to insert the ballot,” the RNC attorney report states. “However, many ballots were not able to be tabulated by the tabulators at all, no matter how many times the voter inserted the ballot.”…
Sonnenklar said these reports “directly contradict the statements of County election officials that (1) printer/tabulator issues were limited to only 70 of the 223 vote centers, (2) the printer/tabulator problems were resolved as of 3:00 p.m., and (3) the printer/tabulator issues were insignificant in the entire scheme of the election.”
There were also “significant lines at 59 of the 115 vote centers” (51.30%) that the attorneys visited, with many voters waiting 1-2 hours before receiving a ballot, according to the report. As a result of the printer and tabulator issues, many voters spoiled ballots that wouldn’t tabulate and tried voting with new ballots, sometimes still having the same issues, and causing the process to take longer.
The certification of the election has been delayed till November 28, but I don’t see how that will solve anything in terms of redress.
I have long felt that the phenomenon of voter fraud must be prevented for that very reason – there is tremendous motive to commit it because there is no way to undo it, or at least no way that is ordinarily seen as practical or possible. The traditional remedy is prosecution of the perpetrators, with fines or even sometimes short prison terms if found guilty. But it’s very hard to prove guilt in these cases when the evidence is destroyed or contaminated, and it’s ordinarily impossible to know the effect of the fraud on the result of the election for the candidates: its extent, and whose votes were added illegally or suppressed in any number of ways. Did it change the outcome?
And unless there’s a do-over, which is very rare indeed, it doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. The perps have been rewarded for their efforts in the high-stakes game of modern elections in a sharply divided country.
[NOTE: I urge you to read this post of mine from April of 2014. It describes how Obama pressed the idea that Republicans were racist liars in wanting voter ID. Obama had a tremendous influence in shaping the thrust of the Democrat attack on voting security laws.]
It is to be hoped that the wonderful Harmeet Dhillon (working for the campaign of Kari Lake) will have some luck in revealing the recent corruption in AZ, although the charismatic Kari, likely to have been the true winner, will probably not succeed. There will apparently be a recount in the vote for AG (one hopes that Abe Hamadeh will prevail), while Blake Masters would surely have won had the odious “Cocaine Mitch” diverted the necessary funds to supporting such a worthy candidate. Arizona (filled with spineless pseudo-conservative officials of the McCain variety) would seem to be ground-zero of election irregularities and anomalies.
Similar problems in Harris County. Note that the linked article blames lack of software to automatically track problems and the “Election Administrator” claims the county is “in dire need” for such software costing $30,000-$40,000.
Let’s unpack that notation.
The sitting county judge has 3 of her employees under indictment for giving an $11,000,000 award to an one-woman business to handle Covid outreach. This was a bid proposal in which the UT Health Center lost to this one-woman, who also happened to be the woman that led Hillary Clinton’s campaign’s digital division. I’m mentioning this, because $40,000 seems minor to secure elections. Especially since the county is still trying to recover a few million from this business when the bid was thrown out after an audit of the proposal process.
The position of “Election Administrator” was created after 2018, when the Democrats gained a majority on county commissioner’s court. Prior to 2018, all elections were run by the duly elected county wide position of County Clerk (as is still done in many other Texas counties). There were no problems with voting in Harris County prior to 2018. Since 2018, Harris County has shown an inability to run elections in a manner consistent with every other county in Texas. It was so bad during the 2022 primary election that then “Election Administrator” was forced to resign. This was the new “Election Administrator” first election and here is information on his previous employment.
Prior to 2018, Harris County had software that tracked the machines that voters logged into on arrival. This software was necessary because the previous ballot machines could only handle 9,000 ballots before needing to be changed out, and the software tracked when a precinct location was nearing such a situation, so a new machine could be put into service. These machines were delivered by county constables to assure security. Now, apparently such software no longer exists despite the same arrival system still in place. Also, when computer assistance is needed, a High School volunteer is sent out as a technician to provide help. They drive their own vehicle and provide their experience to the Election Judge.
At the most recent county commissioner’s court hearing, the county judge phoned it in via Zoom. Many voters and election judges came in person to give testimony to what they experienced. The county commissioner’s response was the typical Democrat line “these on conspiracy theories without evidence or merit”, a statement made to citizens providing their testimony as witnesses to her court. Small wonder she dialed it in.
“ Arizona (filled with spineless pseudo-conservative officials of the McCain variety)”
Certainly the truth. Arizona has had vote by mail for many years but there’s been a little effort to make it more secure even though the Republicans have had majorities in the Legislature and the governor. The citizens had to try a voter initiative, 309, to change the law but that was also stolen by the same margin that will probably defeat the Republicans.
Edit. The idiot Arizona Republican voters have to accept some of the blame. Why were so many trying to vote on election Day?
The US is fast approaching a mind-boggling, mind-numbing, mega-Orwellian dystopia where the ruling power decides what things mean and uses its muscle—economic and LE—to enforce it.
(That is, if it’s not there yet.)
What “things” mean. And especially what “words” mean. (Yep, they’re going by the book.)
Thus “voter suppression” ONLY exists if it’s a threat to Democratic Party electoral victory (cf. Stacey Abrams et al.); in fact, the term is used as a sharp-edged, all-purpose tool to blacken the very concept of free and fair elections IF such elections MAY result in a GOP victory.
In other words, it is a tool to plan, initiate—and justify—stolen elections.
All very pragmatic.
Orwellianly pragmatic…
Just like CRT—along with its nefarious side-kick, transgendering—is a tool to wreck children along with their parent, IOW to destroy the family.
AND JUST LIKE the latest “Respect for Marriage” Act charade, whose intention is to destroy those who do not agree it—and who, by disagreeing with it, therefore DO NOT RESPECT MARRIAGE!
https://thefederalist.com/2022/11/22/the-respect-for-marriage-act-is-an-exercise-in-tyranny-and-everyone-knows-it/
AND JUST LIKE the grotesque word manipulation currently being used to push “Biden”‘s alliance with Iran—as it was used to push Obama’s—even as it undermines and weakens ANY COUNTRY that might not be thrilled with the idea…
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/biden-trashes-abraham-accords
(And one could most certainly add, just like the administration’s comments on inflation, on the southern border, on crime…on anything and everything…)
– – – – – – – – – –
Related:
Turley takes off the gloves. (Finally?)
“AP’s shameless claim that Joe Biden never discussed Hunter’s business deals defies belief”—
https://nypost.com/2022/11/21/aps-shameless-claim-that-joe-biden-never-discussed-hunters-business-deals-defies-belief/
All links: H/T Powerline blog.
All entirely consistent.
All entirely vile.
I spent four hours in training and fourteen hours working at the polls on election day, in a system which actually works. The defense of the county election officials that “only” 31% of the precincts had tabulator problems and that these were resolved by 3 p.m., that is, when the day was mostly over, is pathetic, and the audit statements are even worse. This is not a reliable election system by any measure. The only credible “fix” would be to have a new election with entirely paper ballots and hand-count.
Based on what I read, they try to make it possible for anyone in Maricopa County to vote on election day in any voting place. The county is huge. We have early voting in Wake County, NC, and voters can go to any early voting location. However, each one of those locations has a sufficient stock of printed ballots for EACH possible combination of races people are legally entitled to vote for. This means, I think, for the general election, each early voting site has something like 57 different ballot styles. They look you up on the computer, print an authorization to vote, you take it to the ballot table, and they give you your correct ballot style with the ballot style pre-printed on it. The tabulators read the bar code on the pre-printed ballot to read your specific ballot correctly. On election day, you must vote in your correct precinct, because that’s where they have the ballot you are entitled to vote.
Maricopa needs to scrap its voting machines and systems and get ones that work.
Seems that Brazil has a Maricopa county (or two, or three) of its very own….
‘Bolsonaro Sues To Invalidate 250,000 Votes Over “Malfunctioning Ballot Boxes” ‘—
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/bolsonaro-sues-invalidate-250000-votes-over-malfunctioning-ballot-boxes
And (back in the northern hemisphere) here’s a nifty little twist!
“Democrats Sue To Block Election Recount In New Hampshire”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/democrats-sue-block-election-recount-new-hampshire
(Glorious) opening graf:
“The New Hampshire Democrat Party has filed a lawsuit to stop a recount for a statehouse seat, arguing that the election results should stand, even if they are wrong.”—
Boundless ingenuity! Limitless innovation!! Endless creativity!!!
And it’s all to “protect Democracy”, as Dear “Big Guy” never ceases to righteously intone…
To be fair to the Democrats, though, should anyone challenge their victory, it would, heaven forfend, no doubt cause them to feel “triggered”…
(And nothing could possibly justify causing Democrats to feel “triggered”…. NOTHING.)
File under: RECOUNTS ARE VIOLENCE!!!
Let me guess; the only voting precincts in Maricopa county that had “problems” were those that have majority republican voters.
“Election results should stand, even if they are wrong” should be Democrats’ official motto.
I’ve seen reports that some rural AZ counties are refusing to certify the election results to the Sec of State.
Not sure what this means or what this will do.
Given the printer problems, a new election should be run. But who has the authority to issue an order? It certainly won’t be Katie Hobbs. I suppose a federal judge could do it.
Maricopa needs to scrap its voting machines and systems and get ones that work.
They’re called paper ballots, counted by hand. They work. You can’t hack ’em. New York used mechanical lever machines up until about 2008. The application of digital technology has been a disaster and I can locate articles by computer science faculty published in 2006 that predict what we’re seeing.
Another thing we’d benefit from is simplifying the array of contests held each year through modification of terms and scheduling, as well as reducing the number of offices subject to competitive election.
Some group pf programmers should write ballot-counting software and make it open-source, and license it for free under the GNU paradigm.
Some group pf programmers should write ballot-counting software and make it open-source, and license it for free under the GNU paradigm.
We need no more software.
Diversity (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry), Inequity, and Exclusion (DIE)?
Fourth-world nation walking… crawling… planned, cannibalized, and sequestered.
They’re called paper ballots, counted by hand. They work. You can’t hack ’em.
Sure you can, just don’t provide enough of them – Harris County Election Administrator.
Or maybe “hack” it this (ingenious?) way?
“Texas Supreme Court tells Harris County count over 2,000 ballots cast late on Election Day;
“Around 2,073 votes were cast during an extended period on Election Day”—
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/texas-supreme-court-rules-local-county-should-review-over-2000-ballots
Sure you can, just don’t provide enough of them – Harris County Election Administrator.
That’s a rather more obvious and easily avoided problem.
Democrats claim that blacks are too stupid to get an ID.
1. Democrats are racist in making this claim.
2. Democrats have never been able to show that any black has been unable to get an ID.
Imagine students studying a century from now and reading about the hot political issues of the day. They will surely conclude that we are all brain dead.
The voter ID argument is stupid in the extreme. That it still pollutes our nation and has helped destroy our democracy is worth studying. What does this say about Democrats? About Republicans? About the news media? About the federal judges who have accepted it? About the educated, well-to-do liberals who insist it is true?
Does anyone know of any GOP politician who has pushed back against the voter ID idiocy by pointing out the absence of evidence and that Dems are the racists for making it? Or pointed out that the remedy is nonsense? I’m still waiting for one to point out that we have the worst election integrity in the world.
stan:
A search would reveal them. In a few seconds, for example, I found this as well as this.
It happens quite often.
I’m in awe of how the Democrats again gamed the election system.
Since the same process was used across the country in GOP Areas, I wonder the who, what, and how of coordination. Unless it’s just a “Coincidence”, just like the Census Bureau errors that affected re-apportionment.
If it’s not against the law it’s not cheating.
This in an audit of voter rejection rate in Washington state:
“County election officials were sometimes inconsistent in how they counted late ballots and entered them into the database. For instance, we found one larger county that had no late ballots in the data when such ballots usually account for a significant portion of rejected ballots. Some elections officials entered late ballots into the system at different times or categorized them differently. In addition, there is no cut-off date in statute for when officials should stop counting late ballots.”