UPDATE: The results as of November 18.
I’m not really writing about Broward County in Florida as that seems to be old fashioned Democrat fraud. In 2016, there was almost certainly vote fraud.
“There is no authentic surge,” a source at the Broward County Supervisor of Elections told People’s Pundit Daily. “They’ve been at this [filling out absentee ballots] for days, working 4 to 5 employees some 16 hours a day each. There’s no telling how many ballots we are talking about. As many as they can each write in 16 hours a piece.”
A review of the early and absentee voting statistics in the state–which People’s Pundit Daily does on a daily basis–does reveal a suspicious increase in Democratic returns juxtaposed to the rest of the state, which has not experienced the same turnout increase. If enthusiasm and turnout for Mrs. Clinton was organic and legitimate, then we would expect to see those gains in similar percentages in regions of the state expected to back the Democrat.
But that’s not the case.
Sources confirm Snipes was breaking the law and opened more than 153,000 ballots cast by mail in private, claiming employees were tearing up and disposing of those that were votes in support of Donald J. Trump. The law prohibits the opening of ballots without the supervision of a canvassing board appointed to oversee and certify elections precisely because of this possibility.
That seems to be correct but why was that person still running the election in Broward County in 2018?
Within hours of receiving Ingoglia’s letter, a judge on Broward’s canvassing board offered a two-step compromise that ended the charge by Republicans. But Snipes admitted no wrongdoing and, until now, was able to maintain the story that the employees didn’t open the ballots.
“The canvassing board has never opened the ballots,” Snipes said. “We have procedures we follow that are approved in our security manual sent to state. We don’t feel like we are doing anything illegal — this is the process we have always used.”
But it was only because David Shestokas, a Florida Bar-certified attorney, was sent by the Republican National Lawyers Association from Chicago to watch the election in Broward that these activities were made known.
What about the 2018 election ?
There seems to be a repeat in at least one race.
The campaign of the Republican candidate for agricultural commissioner sent a news release Friday afternoon announcing that his attorneys filed a lawsuit in the 17th judicial circuit “asking the court to protect the integrity of all ballots and all public records relating to the election for Commissioner of Agriculture.”
Caldwell thought he had edged out a victory in the agricultural commissioner race Tuesday night when he had about a 40,000 vote lead over Democratic candidate Nikki Fried.
But the latest vote count shows Caldwell losing by 3,120 votes to Fried. The difference between the candidates is .04 percent, signaling an automatic recount, and a likely manual recount.
“Over the course of the last two and half days, the Broward supervisor has continued to magically find boxes of ballots that have potentially altered the course of the race,” Caldwell said in an interview Friday. “And after all that time, we still cannot get a straight answer as to where they came from, when they were cast. We just heard there is another magical box of 2,100 ballots they supposedly found here (Friday).”
Something is going on with absentee ballots.
We had the same thing in Arizona, including “Emergency ballot stations for absentee ballots in Maricopa County.
The chairman of the Arizona Republican Party is threatening legal action against counties that opened emergency voting centers over the weekend or that plan to allow voters to confirm that they signed the early ballots that they dropped off on Election Day before those ballots are rejected for mismatched signatures, issues that could come into play if Republicans find themselves on the losing end of any close votes.
In a letter to all 15 county recorders, dated two days before the election, Jonathan Lines argued that the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office violated state law by opening five “emergency voting centers” on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. State allows voters to cast early ballots at specified centers through the Friday before Election Day, but states that in-person early voting after 5 p.m. on Friday is only permissible in the event of an emergency, which is defined as “any unforeseen circumstance that would prevent the elector from voting at the polls.” Pima County also opened five emergency voting centers on Saturday and three on Monday.
It was also used in Pima County where I live. What is going on ? I have some suspicions.
Arizona has gone to “early voting” by mail ballot. In all 37 states allow “early” or absentee voting by mail. I voted by absentee ballot in California for years because, as a surgeon on call for emergencies, I could never be certain I would be available on election day. Now, most states allow absentee voting without any reason other than choice and three states have only mail voting.
In my opinion, this is an invitation to vote fraud, and I suspect, that Democrats are perfecting this system to allow voting to be done by their agents. In Arizona, the media reported “99% of ballots” counted by the morning after election day. Then came the deluge of “absentee ballots” that reversed the results of many races, including the Senate in Arizona. Republicans in Orange County, where I used to live, were inundated by a similar late wave of absentee ballots.
Crude forms of vote fraud were previously committed in Washington State in 2004,
The 2004 Washington gubernatorial election on November 2, 2004 gained national attention for its legal twists and extremely close finish. In what was notable for being among the closest political races in United States election history, Republican Dino Rossi was declared the winner in the initial automated count and again in the subsequent automated recount. It wasn’t until after the third count, a second recount done by hand, that Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, took the lead by a margin of 129 votes.
A box of 400 votes were “found” in the trunk of a car owned by a King County official.
King County Council Chairman Larry Phillips was at a Democratic Party office in Seattle on Sunday December 12, reviewing a list of voters whose absentee votes had been rejected due to signature problems, when to his surprise he found his own name listed. Phillips said he was certain he had filled out and signed his ballot correctly, and asked the county election officials to investigate the discrepancy. They discovered that Phillips’ signature had somehow failed to be scanned into the election computer system after he submitted his request for an absentee ballot. Election workers claimed that they had received Phillips’ absentee ballot in the mail, but they could not find his signature in the computer system to compare to the one on the ballot envelope, so they mistakenly rejected the ballot instead of following the standard procedure of checking it against the signature of Phillips’ physical voter registration card that was on file. The discovery prompted King County Director of Elections Dean Logan to order his staff to search the computers to see if any other ballots had been incorrectly rejected.
Logan announced on December 13 that 561 absentee ballots in the county had been wrongly rejected due to an administrative error
Sorry. 561 Votes were “discovered.”
I think Democrats have developed a way to ensure that “enough” absentee ballots are completed by somebody to ensure that Democrats “win” elections. I am unaware of any of these close elections that have involved Republicans being elected this way.
I assume that everywhere there are procedures for maintaining security for absentee ballots. I also assume that with a little thought, one may devise ways to circumvent these procedures. I am curious just how few people must collude to breach security under the different procedures.
One approach I heard about many times over the years, used in Democrat areas with large numbers of military absentee ballots, was quite simple: either forget to count them in time, or forget to distribute them overseas in time. I knew people (not military) who received ballots the day before elections–no way to get them back in time.
The solution would be easy — if anyone was interested in honest elections: make voting day a public holiday; voting only in person; TSA-type checking for voter eligibility; purple finger. It is fairly clear that the “Ends Justify Means” Far Lefties who have taken over the Democrat Party are quite prepared to screw the vote, and have been doing so. Strange thing is that the Institutional Republicans — the patsies in this deceit — did nothing to improve the honesty of voting in the last 2 years, when they held House, Senate, and Presidency.
The problem the Democrats don’t seem to have recognized is that undermining citizens’ confidence in the reliability of elections will saw off the branch on which they plan to sit.
I’ve always believed that the simplest explanation for the various ballot issues discovered during the 2000 recount was widespread vote fraud. I swear I remember, but can’t find info online now, a cheating episode involving the same sort of punchcards for MLB All Star Voting, where fans set up a system with a board and set of spikes at the appropriate locations, and mass produced votes by shoving a stack of ballots down on the spikes. This would produce lots and lots of hanging chads, since the stack would prevent them all from being fully detached, and if you did it on already cast ballots it would produce lots of overvotes as the vote for your candidate would ruin a legitimate ballot for the other guy, while not impacting a real ballot that voted for your guy. I also recall that after FL switched to voting machines, some claimed there was funny business going on and causing the Dems to get fewer votes than the had been getting before, which of course would make perfect sense if they hadn’t yet perfected cheating schemes with the new technology that could match what they were doing before.
I confess that the major doubt with all this is that how would a widespread cheating scheme work without ever producing a snitch? That’s the major cause for doubt in my mind.
It’s also extremely frustrating that vote fraud is pretty much 100% a Democrat tradition–the old South, and big cities, and yet somehow that gets lost and the MSM and the Dems have the GOP on defensive about the subject. It’s infuriating.
I don’t understand why in FL especially, since the GOP is pretty powerful there, they don’t pass a law stating that all counties must send their vote counts to the state on election night, and nothing may be released publicly until ALL counties report, since it’s clear that there are shenanigans going on. And it’s clear that at the very least states and the media need to be way more transparent about reporting issues that are newly caused by the rise in early voting, and the fairly inexplicably vote reporting delays we saw this year. If it’s all above board, then they need to explain it better to suppress the doubts that are starting to grow in the public’s mind.
“make voting day a public holiday”
I confess this talking point makes zero sense to. What would having it be a public holiday accomplish? The only things closed on the day would be schools and government offices, and my guess is that people who work in those places have very high voting rates already.
Gavin: “House, Senate, and Presidency.” Aren’t voting rules set locally, not federally? And wrt “voting only in person,” don’t forget about Americans stationed overseas. There should be some provision for letting them vote. But those should be exceptions: the absentee ballot system we’ve got seems ripe for corruption. And online voting doesn’t bear thinking about. https://xkcd.com/2030/
This is how we know the uniparty are in on it together. The democrats cheat and the republicans do nothing about it. The GOP will return 90% of their candidates in a lost election so what do they care? Same money, same perks, zero responsibility to their voters.
Gavin Longmuir Says: “… make voting day a public holiday…”
Yes. As one who has judged elections for 40 years on and off, I think this would be a great idea. It would allow a lot more people to serve as election judges. Also as poll watchers.
As it is, the system is dependent on elderly retirees, zealots willing to burn a vacation day, students, and so on. Many judges are of dubious competence, but they have to be used because there’s no one else.
Also, it could allow for polling place hours to be shortened (presently 6 AM to 7 PM, which is a long working day). Most votes are cast in the morning or evening, i.e. before and after work, with long dead stretches during the day.
James the lesser Says: “Gavin: “House, Senate, and Presidency.” Aren’t voting rules set locally, not federally?”
In the Constitution: “Article III, SECTION 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government…”
IMO that provides authority for Congress to enact and the Justice Department to enforce standards for conducting elections, and to prosecute election fraud in any election, not just to Federal office.
“make voting day a public holiday”
I confess this talking point makes zero sense to. What would having it be a public holiday accomplish?
In some countries I understand that election day is a Sunday. That doesn’t solve the problem for those who work on weekends but it would help the rest, and especially the issue of poll workers.
Lots of people might resent losing a day of fun and rest but it seems easier than a holiday.
Nah. I suspect those people who want to volunteer already do so. All it would accomplish is a day off for public employees (and the accompanying inconveniences for parents having to find daycare for their kids for the day), which to me is the obvious reason why the Dems are in favor, since they could then more effectively bus those folks, who vote overwhelmingly Dem, to the polls.
… “make voting day a public holiday”
… I confess this talking point makes zero sense to[o].
OK, one could reasonably argue that part of the ideal solution would be to make government less powerful (i.e., constrained by something like the 10th Amendment), so that voting is less important.
But if government is essentially all-powerful (which is the direction we are heading), then voting matters. A true Voting Public Holiday (use a different word if you do not like ‘holiday’) — shut everything down, at least for part of the day. Microsoft, McDonalds, bars, hotels, all of them — shut down! And maybe extend voting hours to a full 24 hours to accommodate essential shift workers in the likes of factories and hospitals. If a voting democracy is important, it is worth at least part of 1 day every 2 years.
Yes, there would have to be a few — a very few — special exceptions such as for deployed military who would get special treatment. The key is to keep those exceptions tightly limited to no more than a few percent of the population.
If voting matters, it is worth treating it as a very special occasion. But other constructive ideas would be very welcome!
Um, this is America. The government doesn’t get to order private businesses to shut down.
Brian Says @November 19th, 2018 at 8:08 am:
Nah. I suspect those people who want to volunteer already do so.
It would make a difference. I’ve known people who would volunteer if it didn’t cost them a day’s pay.
All it would accomplish is a day off for public employees…
For a lot of government employees, election day is a day off work. That is, they can skip work to do election work (nearly always for the Democrats) with impunity. Making election day a holiday would level the playing field.
“Um, this is America. The government doesn’t get to order private businesses to shut down.
Would that it were so, Brian! But that America is as lost in the past as enforcement of the 10th Amendment.
The government orders private commercial fishermen when to shut down. The government orders private hunters when to stop hunting. The government orders private lumber companies when to stop logging trees. Is voting any less important?
The bigger point is that we have a problem with elections, which many of us suspect are being tampered with for the benefit of a specific political party with the puzzling connivance of the other political party. This throws the whole legitimacy of “democratic” government into question. Let’s have constructive ideas for fixing the problem!
The bigger point is that we have a problem with elections, which many of us suspect are being tampered with for the benefit of a specific political party with the puzzling connivance of the other political party.
Most of the problem, in my opinion, involves absentee ballots, or mail-in ballots, which seem to be the cause of these late vote surges.
The Secretary of State office in Ohio was one in which the Democrats spent a lot of money. Fortunately, the Republican won.
The Democrats targeted that office as preparation for 2020 and redistricting.
In most states, the office of secretary of state is far from glamorous. Though the duties vary, it’s largely an administrative role involving keeping records and issuing licenses.
But Democrats have made it a priority this November because of another role: handling elections.
As fights over voting rights has intensified in recent years, Democrats have come to see secretaries of state as a key post in both staving off new restrictions and expanding efforts to make it easier to vote. In 40 states, including 80% of the states where the officials are voted into office, the secretary of state is also the chief election official.
The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State is raising “seven figures in seven states”: Arizona, Ohio, Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Georgia and Michigan.
The strategy worked in Arizona where we can expect more shenanigans in 2020.
Katie Hobbs (D) defeated Steve Gaynor (R) in the 2018 general election for Arizona Secretary of State, as Gaynor conceded on November 16, 2018.[1] With over 2,276,000 votes counted, Hobbs led Gaynor by more than 16,000 votes, 50.4 to 49.6 percent. Incumbent Michele Reagan (R) filed for re-election to a second term but was defeated by Gaynor in the primary election. This office had been held by a Republican since 1995.
Since Arizona does not have a lieutenant governor, the secretary of state race was also an election to be next-in-line for the governor’s office. AZ Central reported that four of the nine preceding governors in the state have moved to the office from serving as secretary of state because a governor resigned or was removed from office.
I have zero interest in making it easier to vote. It’s already super easy. Claiming that there are serious burdens to voting, that somehow need to be addressed, is just nonsense. People don’t vote because they think it just doesn’t matter.
I don’t know if mail-in ballots are more susceptible to fraud or not. I doubt it. I think they are more amenable to seriously committed partisans harassing people to fill them out, but so what? I don’t see how that’s any worse than the age old Dem tactic of busing people from churches, etc. One among many advantages the Dems have by being the city party is that their voters are packed so densely.
I think it’s pretty remarkable that the Dems “only” had pretty normal off-year gains, given that their base was historically motivated. I suspect there are many people who voted Trump in 2016, Dem for Congress in 2018, and will vote for Trump again in 2020 (and probably more likely to also vote R).
I think it is a problem for the GOP that Trump isn’t doing more to actively reshape the GOP, and tilt things away from DC. He is sui generis. I don’t know who if anyone can capture anything like his appeal to rural and blue collar voters, but then absolutely no one 4 years ago would have predicted the way things have gone, so we’ll just have to see what happens.
I think it is a problem for the GOP that Trump isn’t doing more to actively reshape the GOP, and tilt things away from DC
I think he needs Congress for that and the Ryan Congressional wing was not interested. I think it cost them in the election.
Maybe we can see some new faces in 2020. I volunteered for a woman in Tucson who runs small businesses and has lived here 40 years. She lost to a woman who is a professional politician and lived in Flagstaff, 500 miles away from here, but who “lived in her son’s apartment in Tucson” until the election. Now she will go back to her real home in DC.
I hope the local woman runs again.
Yes, I think Ryan was a huge problem for the GOP. Probably primarily because it seems likely he either explicitly or implicitly suggested the House was a lost cause and people should retire rather than be in the minority.
But there’s plenty Trump could do that doesn’t require legislation. Clear out the RNC, and put in folks who believe in his America First agenda, for one. Start immediately moving government offices away from DC, for another.
Ideally at this point he’ll really go to war with Congress, and do stuff like advocate for term limits, etc. If the Dems have the tiniest bit of common sense they’ll play nice, because Trump mostly just wants to be liked, and they’ll be able to get plenty of stuff they want from him if they don’t go completely crazy (news flash from the future–they do, in fact, go completely crazy).
But there’s plenty Trump could do that doesn’t require legislation.
I think a lot of people forget that Trump is one guy isolated in a sea of people who hate him, many on his own staff.
I really can’t encourage people enough to watch this video.
It’s Tucker Carlson at his best in expanding Trump.
Also, an interesting comment at Althouse, which I still scan but no longer comment.
Blogger Achilles said…
Interesting going’s on down in Orange County California.
Republican governor candidate won the county.
But Democrats won every single house seat in the county with votes that came in after Election Day.
There were 300000 more votes in the county in the house races than the governor race.
They aren’t really even trying to hide it.
I hadn’t seen that.
I was thinking about voter fraud while I was listening to a podcast by Dan Bongdino about how s new book out about FISAgate, etc. he breaks it into Plan A (FISA Title VII searching), Plan B (FISA Title I warrant on Carter Page), and Plan C (Mueller investigation to cleanup the messes eft by A & B). Plan C is winding down, regardless of what the Dems want, due to lack of evidence. My guess is that the next step is Plan D, which is a Dem House investigating everything Trump, and inevitably sending Articles of Impeachment to the Senate. And, to get there, they needed the House, and to make sure that they took the House (and maybe even the Senate), they knew that they would have to cheat like crazy, which they did, starting with a last minute Gerrymander of PA. Normally, they cheat as much as they can, without getting on the radar too visibly. This time though, the stakes were so high, that they crossed that line. The problem was like a sting their seed corn – much of Red America is likely I think, to move towards making the sort of blatant cheating we saw much more difficult, in the end reducing, long term, the numbers of elective offices that the Dems can steal by cheating.
“Also, an interesting comment at Althouse, which I still scan but no longer comment.”
At least some of us miss you over there, but understand why you made your choice. And you aren’t the only one to have left. I just don’t engage the left wing wackos there at all, and only engage commenters like Chuck and Cook on a serious basis, or not at all (and both reciprocate). For the most part, they are to emotionally driven to have intelligent conversations with – but, then, I find that with most people arguing that side, even good friends of mine that I go to for advice on other matters.
Enjoy, stay calm, and we will honk next time we drive through Tucson.
Bruce, there are a half dozen commenters that I enjoy comments and like to go back and forth. There are also trolls that make it unpleasant. I found that I had trouble resisting replies, which are a bad idea with trolls. I find that scanning is easy if I am not tempted to comment.
Neoneocon, where I am commenting more, has made a real effort to warn or block trolls. There is a commenter there who posts extremely long comments and is argumentative like Shouting Thomas. She warned him the other day. Althouse seems to post and then ignore all the nasty comments.
I also need to reduce my internet time. I find it affects my attention span, which is not good when you are old.
This blog tends more to deep discussions of topics like “brick and mortar stores” and less politics.