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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"What I saw at the Michigan recount"
https://medium.com/nick_sharp/what-i-saw-at-the-michigan-recount-7c46fdc87243#.l56g8zatzIt was a bloodbath.
I did not count a single vote during my entire first four-hour shift.
Trumps legal team was there in force, circling the room like sharks. They were challenging everything, gumming up the works and disqualifying whole precincts. I was only aware of a single Green Party attorney plus one law student in my (large) room. Many challenges had one or more Trump lawyers speaking with election officials, and no legal advocate present for the other side; they were simply outnumbered and outgunned.
Every recount table had 12 Trump observers present, each one holding written scripts to challenge every single precinct, regardless of the facts.
(Note: I am not a lawyer, the next two paragraphs are my understanding based on what I observed on site.)
When a precinct is challenged, everything is recorded in writing by the election officials present. If the challenge is obviously true, the precinct in question is deemed un-recountable, right there. The civic employees write a report, return everything to the box, seal the box, and move on to the next precinct, then the process of recording and unsealing a box begins again.
But, even if the challenge is clearly contrived, it still has to be recorded, on the spot. The civic employees must fill out a form, in longhand, and write up a report―also in longhand before they can get back to work counting ballots.
I sat at my table for a full hour before our first box was even unsealed.
Around the time our first box was finally getting unsealed, an exasperated election official shouted an announcement to the room. It was a large room and there were many people in it he would have needed to shout anyway but his frustration was clear. He had the air of a normally calm civic bureaucrat trying to do his job and get the votes counted on time, but who had been pushed to the breaking point by Trumps lawyers and their delay tactics.
The election official announced that Trumps head lawyer had just filed a blanket challenge in Lansing. So, (here, Im paraphrasing from memory) All precincts have already been challenged. You dont have to read your scripts anymore, were not writing down the challenges. If you still want to read them, go ahead and read them. (Shouting louder) But were not writing them down any more. If you tell us to write them down, (He raised his arms) Were not gonna do it!
Trump observers kept reading their challenges, and civic employees kept counting ballots, trying to concentrate on the count. A miscount of one in a thousand could (and did!) disqualify entire precincts from the recount. Thousands of votes and hours of counting were disqualified if one ballot in a thousand was missed amid the chaos in the room.
Why did Detroit and Wayne County the bluest county in Michigan have so many Republican lawyers present?
Where did all these Republican lawyers come from? They looked like they walked in straight out of a Brooks Brothers catalog, but they were not there to have a good time.
I can only speak from my own experience, but I wonder were there similar swarms of Republican lawyers in the red counties, challenging everything?
Not surprising but unbeleivable how rigged the system can be. Thats trump genius: calling for election fraud and saying he wouldnt accept the results: he knew democrats would defend the contrary therby making it impossible for them to claim anything after.
still_one
(92,120 posts)it is now a moot point
Bear Creek
(883 posts)Everyone in those precincts had their civil rights violated.
Ford_Prefect
(7,878 posts)Where were the representatives from the Democratic Party? From HRC, Michigan Democratic Party, ACLU, NAACP, Green Party or anyone else concerned? Were they locked out by the Michigan GOP, or Trump's people?
Why is this NOT evidence of interference in the vote rising to a need for an audit or independent recount?
If the GOP can specifically question and challenge every vote in a district and precinct does that NOT violate the federally protected rights of EVERY voter? Where the heck were the DOJ, FBI and the Civil Rights Commission? How was that NOT a conspiracy to deny the vote to the citizens of Detroit and Wayne Counties just as Crosscheck was.
...And to add insult to injury this is yet one more reason that Citizens United has to be overturned: imagine the money spent to recruit, organize and pay for all those lawyers. I don't believe for one minute that they were volunteers. How did they identify which ballots to protest?
The final question I have is why didn't the people in charge insist on respect for the process and the people conducting it, as they have a right and a duty to do? If the Green Party, or the Democrats had sent a group of Black and Latino lawyers to do the same thing in a majority white GOP suburban district can you imagine what the response would be?
It seems very clear that this was intended to derail the count in order to disable the results: either to void the vote totals or to keep them from correcting the count as originally reported. Fascism and Racism have struck and they will again, and again , and again.
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)Where were the DNC lawyers?
tecelote
(5,122 posts)Hugin
(33,119 posts)Sounds like... Funny how it wasn't reported on the news.
Barack_America
(28,876 posts)Ronna McDaniel Romney expected to be Trump's pick to run RNC
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/09/ronna-mcdaniel-romney-expected-to-be-trumps-pick-to-run-rnc.html
I noticed she seemed to be present at every hearing according to the articles. Guess Trump was appreciative of her efforts to kill democracy in Michigan. Now she'll get the chance to take her efforts nationwide.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)"I was only aware of a single Green Party attorney plus one law student in my (large) room."
Ford_Prefect
(7,878 posts)Why did they not protect the ballots of Detroit and Wayne county Democratic voters from this obvious harassment?
If the same GOP lawyers had been at the polls on the day objecting to individual people as they voted in the same ways as they have protested the ballots they cast would that NOT be considered interference in the right to vote?
The DOJ and the President NEED to answer this attack on Democracy and Civil Rights.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Check their statement on the subject
Ford_Prefect
(7,878 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)Jill claimed that millions of dollars were going to be spent on legal fees.
I'd love to see an accounting of that spending.
Ford_Prefect
(7,878 posts)progressoid
(49,969 posts)Plus the court battles in PA.
That doesn't leave much left over to send an army of attorneys to each county in the state.
George Eliot
(701 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)And claimed that several million would be spent on lawyers.
I would love to see an accounting of exactly how the money was spent.
I wonder if that will be made public.
Auggie
(31,159 posts)George Eliot
(701 posts)lunasun
(21,646 posts)Stonepounder
(4,033 posts)The GOP is complicit with destroying the USA and turning it into an oligarchy of the rich by the rich and for the rich.
Well, it was nice while it lasted.
George Eliot
(701 posts)And it was the rule of law that made us special.
gregcrawford
(2,382 posts)... why I hate the Republican Party with every fiber of my being.
roamer65
(36,745 posts)They are lower than pond scum.
gregcrawford
(2,382 posts)... they are lower than snake shit in a tire track!
George Eliot
(701 posts)The Republicans have it. Too much love and not enough analysis. Even Bill knew but no one listened. Moore knew but no one listened. Some of us could see it but my friends were too in love to see it. As a far left progressive, I think it is tragic.
gregcrawford
(2,382 posts)... some of the more fragile flowers of the left clutch their pearls and tsk-tsk at the thought of going toe-to-toe with Republican thugs. Sorry, sweeties, but a rousing chorus of "Kumbaya" ain't gonna git 'er done. When they punch, we punch harder... and lower. Though it's a delicate balance to not sink to their level, they won't observe Marquis of Queensbury rules, so neither should we.
sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)AgadorSparticus
(7,963 posts)And Overwhelm the election official. That is harassment and election tampering.
Baitball Blogger
(46,699 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,699 posts)Next question: Is Wayne County part of the recount?
Aimee in OKC
(158 posts)Given the problems with the formal statewide recount, still, individual citizens with standing might possibly be able to demand to independently view ballot images.
At least Trump lawyers are unlikely to be standing by to block, but if nobody tries we'll never know if it could've worked.
If nothing else it's another way of registering deep dissatisfaction.
* * * * * * *
As Optical Scan machines read a ballot, they capture an anonymous image of it and retain it in memory.
Take notarized FOIA requests to the appropriate election officials demanding copies of the images, emphasizing that access to the ballots is not sought. Take at least two brand-new, still-wrapped, easily-identified flash drives to download the files (and have them sign off they did the unwrapping in front of you ). The response could be simple dragging it out, but more likely outright denial, which you should make them explain in writing.
If successful, count the images' votes & place into a spreadsheet for tracking.
* * * * *
Because of documented SECURITY CONCERNS for the ES&S M100
SECURITY SEALS = Ideally, the M100s exposed ports, memory card access areas, ballot box doors and case seams would be covered with tamper-evident security seals. The integrity of these seals should be maintained at all times, and only breached under controlled, explained circumstances. Seals should be logged to maintain chain of custody of sensitive materials.
COUNTERFEIT BALLOTS = It is fairly easy to frustrate the counterfeit ballot detection mechanism on the M100. ***People who produce counterfeit ballots could cast multiple votes and the detectability of these ballots would only depend on how close they appeared to be like the real ballot cards.***
MEMORY CARD IS SENSITIVE = Corrupt memory cards may be able introduce viruses, cause the main election server to crash and falsify votes. Access to the memory card should be controlled, monitored and logged at all times.
KEYS = The keys for the M100 are the same for all M100 machines and are easily pickable with readily available tools. Care should be observed around the ballot box lock and the scanner key lock (turns the system off and on).
CORRECT INKS = Some Optical Scan systems have trouble reading red inks or inks with red in them. Voters should use the writing instrument provided at the polling place or, if voting at home, black ballpoint pen that does not bleed through paper.
https://www.verifiedvoting.org/resources/voting-equipment/
George Eliot
(701 posts)Vote counting should be fairly simple.
elleng
(130,861 posts)Kablooie
(18,625 posts)Trump's machine has the upper hand in every area and no one is strong or bold enough to counter him.
We are acting like Great Britain before WWII.
We see terrible things happening but no one the will to do anything drastic and dangerous to stop them.
Aimee in OKC
(158 posts)And one has asked that a DKos diary be made of it -- they think this post is that important.
inanna
(3,547 posts)December 12, 2016
LANSING, Mich. (AP) Michigan's elections bureau ordered an investigation Monday into substantial ballot discrepancies in a small portion of Detroit's voting precincts, after the discovery of a polling place where 300 people voted but only 50 ballots were properly sealed in a container.
Since learning of the issue last week during Michigan's presidential recount, state officials have learned of similar "significant mismatches" problems at roughly 20 of Detroit's 490 precincts, said Fred Woodhams, a spokesman for Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson. He said there is no reason to think votes were not counted and the differences would not have affected Republican Donald Trump's narrow victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state.
Clinton won 95 percent of Detroit's vote.
Detroit elections officials told the state that in the one precinct, the 250 missing ballots were left in the tabulator bin, "but we want to verify this," Woodhams said. It was not immediately clear what caused the inconsistencies in other precincts.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/michigan-audit-significant-mismatches-detroit-vote-220357371--election.html