Richland County, South Carolina’s much-maligned election commission is dealing with yet another problem as the upcoming 2018 midterms approach. And given this particular jurisdiction’s history of, um,”issues” – you will forgive us for expressing a healthy degree of skepticism when it comes to both the origin of the problem and the county’s ability to effectively address it. As much as we wish it were otherwise, we simply do not trust the integrity of elections in Richland County. Hopefully, our faith will be restored under the leadership of new election administrators, but after the notorious “rigged election” of 2012 we remain less than optimistic. Six years ago, illegal shortages of voting machines disproportionately targeted precincts which opposed a so-called “penny” tax hike in the previous (2010) election. These illegal shortages led to abnormally long wait times in these precincts and the mass disenfranchisement of anti-tax voters.
The result? Narrow approval of the “penny tax” – a $1.2 billion program which has been rife with graft and corruption.
According to our sources, the latest problem in Richland County stems from “corrupted PEBs” or “personal electronic ballots.” These are devices inserted into voting machines enabling them to activate and collect ballots. When polls close, PEBs are reinserted into the machines to collect the results and transfer them to election headquarters.
Several sources familiar with the situation in Richland County tell us numerous PEBs “have become corrupted as they got old.” Compounding the problem? If a corrupted PEB was inserted into a new machine, that machine also became corrupted.
In other words, this is a “voting machine virus.”
“People from the company that make the voting machines have been here for two weeks trying to ‘fix’ the problem,” our source said.
Have they?
Full Article: “Voting Machine Virus” Plagues Richland County SC – FITSNews.