Warren Stewart – Page 122 – The Voting News

Colorado: Amid a clerk controversy, Mesa County voters this election wondered: Should I even cast a ballot? | Stina Sieg/Colorado Public Radio

November 5, 2021

In addition to his choices for candidates and ballot measures, Melvin Brady was certain about two things in Mesa County’s election Tuesday: He was going to cast a ballot, and he was not going to use a Dominion voting machine to do it. “I would not trust them, you know, very much,” said the 71-year-old, as he walked out of Mesa County’s election office. Brady had filled out his ballot at home, then put it in a drop box, “whereas, I used the machine last time,” he said. The difference between this year and last, he explained, are allegations he’s heard about voter fraud linked to Dominion machines in the 2020 presidential election. Tuesday’s election in Mesa County was notable for a few reasons: The county was voting on funding a new high school — a measure that appears likely headed for victory — there raged a battle for the future of the school board, and the county’s clerk was barred from overseeing the election, partly due to her theories, and actions, around the Dominion voting machines. It is the latter controversy that has some voters in Mesa County questioning how — and even if — they should cast a ballot.

Full Article: Amid a clerk controversy, Mesa County voters this election wondered: Should I even cast a ballot? | Colorado Public Radio

Florida again has an election too close to call | Brendan Farrington/Associated Press

November 5, 2021

In a state famous for election recounts, just 12 votes separated the leading candidates Wednesday in the Democratic primary in South Florida for the U.S. House seat of the late Alcee Hastings, elections officials said. By law, that means there will be a hand recount of ballots that tabulating machines read as having no votes or too many votes to determine if there is evidence of voter intention. The unofficial returns reported by Palm Beach and Broward county elections officials showed Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness ahead of health care company CEO Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick by 12 votes. “I’m hopeful this lead will hold through the recounts,” Holness said in a phone interview. “Certainly they are big shoes to fill. The congressman was really a powerhouse when it came to his ability to express himself. A great orator … I was very close to the congressman. He was a mentor.” While ballots cast by members of the military and other overseas Florida residents can be counted if received within 10 days of the election, that number is expected to be small. Unofficial returns showed Holness with 11,644 votes and Cherfilus-McCormick with 11,632 votes.

Full Article: Recount! Florida again has an election too close to call

Georgia: Trump call to ‘find’ votes was threat to my safety, elections official says | Martin Pengelly/The Guardian

November 5, 2021

The Georgia Republican responsible for running elections considered an infamous call in which Donald Trump told him to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state a “threat” to his safety and that of his family. Biden’s victory in Georgia was a narrow but vital part of his national win. No Democratic presidential candidate had taken the state since Bill Clinton in 1992. Trump called Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, nearly two months after election day, on Saturday 2 January. Telling him “it’s pretty clear we won”, the then president said: “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have [to get]” to surpass Biden’s total. Raffensperger, a conservative who supported Trump, resisted the president’s demands. That prompted Trump to suggest the refusal to expose mass voter fraud in Georgia – on which Trump insisted but which did not exist, as in all other states – could be a “criminal offense”. “That’s a big risk to you,” Trump said. “That’s a big risk.”

Full Article: Trump call to ‘find’ votes was threat to my safety, Georgia elections official says | Donald Trump | The Guardian

Michigan town deep in Trump country mistrusts all elections, except its own | Jonathan Oosting/Bridge Michigan

November 5, 2021

Julie Shaffer showed her ID, sat between privacy dividers, used an ink pen to fill out her ballot and fed it into a tabulator that responded with an electronic ding to indicate her vote had been counted. Then she stepped outside and declared elections are rigged. “They’re crooked — our government, our voting system — and I’m not really in favor of all the bullshit,” Shaffer said Tuesday outside Adams Township Hall, which is sandwiched between a cemetery and a privately-owned barn surrounded by high fences, Confederate flags and no trespassing signs. “A lot of it I got off YouTube,” Shaffer said, describing her online research into the 2020 election. “I was looking for Jeff Epstein, and then I hit on all this other stuff, and I’m going like, ‘Yeah, our government’s corrupt. Our country’s corrupt.’ ” Election conspiracy theories have gripped this small town in Hillsdale County that is home to about 2,450 people and no traffic lights. More than 76 percent of local voters backed former President Donald Trump in 2020, and one year later, many continue to believe the election was rigged against him.

Full Article: Deep in Trump country, a Michigan town mistrusts all elections, except its own | Bridge Michigan

North Carolina counties piloting new system for auditing elections | Jordan Wilkie/Carolina Public Press

November 5, 2021

Election night results are in, and in many cases the outcomes are clear, but the votes are not final. Before that can happen, county boards of election must go through a series of postelection procedures before certifying the election. This year, 15 counties are adding to their workload by testing out a new way to check election results, called “risk-limiting audits.” This new process could make post-election checks more efficient, more secure and improve confidence among voters. The N.C. State Board of Elections first tried to pilot these audits in March 2020, but the spread of COVID-19 put those plans on hold. Now, with this year’s municipal elections, the state is putting a years-in-the-making plan into action, “with the hope that RLAs will be instituted in all counties in future elections,” according to the State Board of Elections. But there’s a long road from here to there. Risk-limiting audits, as a mathematical concept, have been around for over a decade but have only begun to get broad attention by states in the last several years. Colorado, Rhode Island and Virginia require these audits by law, while another dozen states have pilot or optional risk-limiting audit programs. Most took years to develop the processes and laws to implement risk-limiting audits. North Carolina is not following a legislative path to put the audits in place. Instead, counties are completing their regular post-election procedures, including the current statutorily required sample audit, before certifying their election results. Then, in the time between their own certification and the state issuing final approval of the results, the 15 counties will run the additional risk-limiting audits.

Full Artic le: 15 NC counties piloting new system for auditing elections – Carolina Public Press

Ohio: Stark County election officials: new Dominion voting machines aced their first election | Robert Wang/The Canton Repository

November 5, 2021

Stark elections officials say the initial deployment of the county’s new roughly 1,400 Dominion ImageCast X voting machines went better than expected in Tuesday’s general election. “We had mostly positive responses to (the machines) because the screen is bigger and the brighter. And the voter-verified voter trail (the printout showing voter’s choices) lights up so people can see it,” said Regine Johnson, the deputy director of the Stark County Board of Elections, a Democrat. “It’s fairly similar to the previous (TSX voting machine) so it’s a newer generation. So it wasn’t a big change for most of the voters.” The controversial purchase of the machines became a political tug-of-war in 2021 between the Stark County elections board and county commissioners, resulting in a lawsuit and an Ohio Supreme Court ruling ordering commissioners to buy them. Johnson said voters did not seem to experience much of the learning curve she thought might be required. “We didn’t get a whole bunch of phone calls. And we thought we would because they were brand new,” Johnson said.

Full Article: Board of Elections: No major issues reported with voting machines

Pennsylvania’s election was sleepy compared with 2020. Some voters still saw high stakes: ‘The country’s just in such a state.’ | Andrew Seidman and Julia Terruso/Philadelphia Inquirer

November 5, 2021

In some ways, the 2021 election was similar to last year’s. Lots of Pennsylvania voters chose to cast ballots by mail — about 736,000 as of Tuesday afternoon, something not possible a couple of years ago. And partisan tensions flared at some polls, with debate over the future of the country, even in highly contentious school board races. But in most ways, Tuesday’s election was nothing like 2020. The glare of the national spotlight on Pennsylvania had faded. Elections officials said the process was relatively smooth and complaint-free. And unlike last year’s record, officials were expecting a low turnout typical for off-year elections. In one marquee race, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner was projected to handily win reelection against Republican Chuck Peruto, the expected outcome in a city with seven times as many Democrats as Republicans. But in other races, the night was shaping up as a strong night for the GOP. A little before 1 a.m., New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy was in an unexpectedly tight battle with Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli. And minutes later, the Associated Press projected Republican Kevin Brobson would beat Democrat Maria McLaughlin for a seat on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court. In perhaps the nation’s highest-profile race — in Virginia, the only state other than New Jersey picking a governor —Republican Glenn Youngkin topped Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who previously held the office. Both parties will be scrutinizing the results in those and other races for evidence about the views of the electorate as they prepare for the first midterm election of Joe Biden’s presidency next year. Republicans were hoping to capitalize on Biden’s declining approval ratings, voters’ discontent with rising inflation, and controversy over how race is taught in public schools to win contests in blue states like Virginia and purple ones like Pennsylvania. And such divisions were apparent even in municipal elections. “The country’s just in such a state,” said Donna Weickel, 77, after she and her husband cast their votes for Republicans in Buckingham Township, Bucks County.

Full Article: Pa.’s election was sleepy compared with 2020. Some voters still saw high stakes: ‘The country’s just in such a state.’

Texas voting law faces lawsuit from Justice Department, targeting restrictions on mail-in ballots and voter assistance | Cassandra Pollock/The Texas Tribune

November 5, 2021

Disabled, elderly and non-English speaking voters risk disenfranchisement under Texas’ new voting law passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday challenging the legislation known as Senate Bill 1. Signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in September, the legislation further tightened the state’s election laws, with a host of changes including a ban on drive-thru voting and new rules for voting by mail. While Democrats and voter advocacy groups have attacked SB 1 as a Republican move to suppress turnout in Texas cities — primarily voters of color who tend to lean Democratic — the Justice Department focused its suit on two provisions which it says violate the federal Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One places strict limits on how much assistance can be given to voters who, because of disabilities or limited English proficiency, may need help navigating the voting process. The second places new constraints on how people who vote by mail verify their identities. The suit, filed in San Antonio federal court, argues that both provisions”will curtail fundamental voting rights without advancing any legitimate state interest.”

Full Article: Texas voting law faces lawsuit from Justice Department | The Texas Tribune

Wisconsin: Racine County sheriff seeks charges for state elections commissioners | Molly Beck and Patrick Marley/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

November 5, 2021

The Racine County sheriff is recommending charges against five state election officials because they told clerks to bypass state law during the coronavirus pandemic and send absentee ballots to nursing homes instead of first visiting in person. Attorney General Josh Kaul blasted the move made by Sheriff Christopher Schmaling on Wednesday, calling it “a disgraceful publicity stunt” and “an abuse of authority.” Schmaling said Wednesday in a news release he wants Commissioners Marge Bostelmann, Julie Glancey, Ann Jacobs, Dean Knudson and Mark Thomsen to be charged with five separate crimes related to the incident, including felony charges of misconduct in public office and election fraud and three misdemeanor counts of being a party to a crime. Thomsen, Jacobs and Glancey are Democrats; Knudson and Bostelmann are Republicans. Schmaling is not recommending charges against staff of the Ridgewood Care Center or the local election clerks who oversaw absentee voting at the nursing home, which the sheriff alleges was handled improperly for eight voters. The announcement came a day after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said Racine County officials should charge a nursing home worker or local clerk if they believe election laws were broken at the facility but said he sees no reason to assume voting problems occurred at other nursing homes.

Full Article: Racine sheriff seeks charges for Wisconsin elections commissioners

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