Stealing The Election 101

[SuperMatt]

Maybe we should start a separate voting rights thread? Until then, I will post this here.

A right-wing commentator went on Meet the Press today and claimed that it’s super easy to vote, especially in the south. She added that the Democrats are the ones politicizing the voting law changes to drive turnout. That’s plainly false, and Cornell Belcher was there to shut it down.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/01/09/cornell_belcher_it_is_not_easy_to_vote_in_america_if_you_happen_to_look_like_me_and_thats_intentional.html

SARA FAGEN: Well, look, I think, first of all, overwhelmingly, you know, it's easier to vote in the United States than it ever has been. And so much of the rhetoric around voting rights is really about animating the Democratic base. Americans overwhelmingly support voter IDs. Getting an ID is easy in the United States. And it's also free if you can't afford it. And so, you know, so much of this is about mobilizing the base. And I think for most Americans, particularly independent Americans, they recognize that. So this is an issue that's not going to pass. And I think that this is just about the base.

CORNELL BELCHER: I've got to get in here, Chuck. No.

CHUCK TODD: Go ahead.

CORNELL BELCHER: I've got to push back on my friend, Sara, about how easy it is to vote in America. It is not that easy to vote in America. If you happen to look like me and you're in Georgia, you're standing in line for six or seven hours to vote. It's not easy to vote in America if you happen to look like me. Right? And that's been done intentionally. Republicans have intentionally shut down voting polls for places that cater to minorities and people who actually vote Democratic. You've seen over 200 laws pass over this last year since the power of young people and Black voters turned and flipped states, and Hispanic votes flipped states. That's not by accident, Sara. It is harder to vote in America today than it was.

After being hit for a loss by Belcher, she tried a comeback, but was promptly sacked for a safety:

SARA FAGEN: The facts are, though, that it is more open in the south than it is even in the northeast, Cornell. And the reality is, early vote, absentee vote, these have been growing for the last decade. Every year, more and more people vote by these means. And so I just don't think that's accurate.

CORNELL BELCHER: It's been growing every decade. It's been growing. But have you seen what the state legislative bodies have been doing? You're right, it has been growing. It has been growing and more Americans have been voting. And now they're pulling those things back.

She is clearly used to addressing the faithful in the Fox echo chamber. She got a dose of reality for a change.

PS - Didn’t realize “real clear politics” - which I thought was a resource for polling data usually, is very popular with far-right readers. The comments on the story are pretty toxic.

 

[User.45]

PS - Didn’t realize “real clear politics” - which I thought was a resource for polling data usually, is very popular with far-right readers. The comments on the story are pretty toxic.

It hit me with a @StandWithRand video and I just couldn't take it.

 

[JayMysteri0]

THIS is what's so bizarro about republicans & 'r' states claim about issues with the 2020 election. Repeatedly it's 'r's who keep getting caught in issues involving the election, yet EVERYONE else has to be investigated & legislated over irregularities others supposedly did that they can't explain.



If you don't follow the Maddow show, here's the background on the story they've been covering since Wisconsin's "shenanigans" were discovered.

The voter fraud you didn’t hear about: Wisconsin’s Electoral College imposters - Wisconsin Examiner

Law Forward calls for an investigation into the 10 people who met and certified the Wisconsin 2020 election for defeated Donald Trump.

wisconsinexaminer.com

This year, Presidents’ Day feels weightier than usual. We weathered a long presidential campaign, and then an unprecedented post-election crusade by the losing candidate to overturn the will of the people. All of this culminated in a domestic terror attack on the U.S. Capitol at the instigation of a sitting president.

No one is above the law. That’s why on this Presidents’ Day, Law Forward is requesting an investigation of ten individuals — fraudulent presidential electors — who attempted to hijack the results of our state’s November election. On behalf of the Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU’s) Wisconsin State Council and several individual voters, we ask for accountability, for enforcement of existing law, and for action that will protect future election results.

The peaceful transition of power is a non-partisan value. And while the former president may have escaped Senate conviction, there is still opportunity for accountability here in Wisconsin for others who have endangered our democracy. We must be committed to consequences for those who subvert our election results, no matter their political party.

Wisconsin has seen its fair share of attempts to disenfranchise voters. Draconian voter ID laws, cutbacks in early voting hours and purges of the voter rolls have all made voting less accessible over the last decade.

But this year, 10 individuals took matters into their own hands, attempting to sway the outcome of the presidential election, notwithstanding the will of the voters and the uniform rejection of challenges to Wisconsin’s results.

These 10 individuals took it upon themselves — without any legal authority — to convene as if they had been chosen the official Wisconsin representatives to the Electoral College. Acting as if they were Wisconsin’s duly chosen electors, they purported to cast Wisconsin’s ten electoral votes, and they prepared, signed and sent official-looking certificates to Congress and other state and federal officials, declaring candidates who lost Wisconsin’s votes to be the winners.

These 10 individuals knew that they were not Wisconsin’s electors. Before the election, the Republican Party of Wisconsin had named who would serve as its presidential electors, in the event Trump won the vote in Wisconsin. But Biden won Wisconsin, which under federal and state law meant that the electors designated by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin were the ones authorized to cast Wisconsin’s ten electoral votes.

Pro-Trump Groups Forged Election Documents Saying He Won Arizona, Michigan

A document created by one pro-Trump group in Arizona declaring Trump the winner carried the state seal.

www.newsweek.com

Groups supporting former President Donald Trump in Arizona and Michigan sent fake documents to the National Archives falsely showing that he had won those states' Electoral College votes.

Forged certificates of ascertainment were sent to the National Archives by pro-Trump groups in each state in December 2020. The document from Arizona bore the state seal and legal action was taken against those responsible.

Certificates of ascertainment identify how a state's electors have cast their votes in the presidential election and the faked documents show Trump and then Vice President Mike Pence winning the slates of electors in both states.

The secretaries of state of Michigan and Arizona sent those fake certificates to the House of Representatives' Select Committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021, according to public records obtained by Politico.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs also shared correspondence with the committee they had with the National Archives relating to the forged certificates.

Benson and Hobbs, who are Democrats, met with the committee in November 2021, along with their staff.

The National Archives informed Hobbs' office on December 11, 2020 about the forged certificate, sending it to state officials "for your awareness." The Archives had rejected the fake documents.

Why other news media have joined the story after the Maddow show started with it in Wisconsin, is because other reporters discovered it wasn't just Wisconsin. On top of that it's been discovered that the 5 states seemed to use a template for their fake electors, hinting at some degree of organization. Since then the Maddow show has been speculating that perhaps Mark Meadows, based on his emails given to the 1/6 committee & how the committee phrased their request to him, that perhaps he was the one who might have had a hand with the template. Meaning there was far more to the WH efforts to steal the election than previously known.

Yet it's everyone else 'r's want to accuse of election issues.

 

[Thomas Veil]

Yeah, tell me about how the GQP is the party of law and order.

Throw their asses in jail as an example to others.

And this here kind of story is why we’re going to miss Maddow when she’s gone from her regular show.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

THIS is what's so bizarro about republicans & 'r' states claim about issues with the 2020 election. Repeatedly it's 'r's who keep getting caught in issues involving the election, yet EVERYONE else has to be investigated & legislated over irregularities others supposedly did that they can't explain.



If you don't follow the Maddow show, here's the background on the story they've been covering since Wisconsin's "shenanigans" were discovered.







Why other news media have joined the story after the Maddow show started with it in Wisconsin, is because other reporters discovered it wasn't just Wisconsin. On top of that it's been discovered that the 5 states seemed to use a template for their fake electors, hinting at some degree of organization. Since then the Maddow show has been speculating that perhaps Mark Meadows, based on his emails given to the 1/6 committee & how the committee phrased their request to him, that perhaps he was the one who might have had a hand with the template. Meaning there was far more to the WH efforts to steal the election than previously known.

Yet it's everyone else 'r's want to accuse of election issues.

Republicans on voting integrity and fairness are like closeted gays who are the most vocal homophobes…who coincidently are most likely Republican…and Christian.

 

[SuperMatt]

THIS is what's so bizarro about republicans & 'r' states claim about issues with the 2020 election. Repeatedly it's 'r's who keep getting caught in issues involving the election, yet EVERYONE else has to be investigated & legislated over irregularities others supposedly did that they can't explain.



If you don't follow the Maddow show, here's the background on the story they've been covering since Wisconsin's "shenanigans" were discovered.







Why other news media have joined the story after the Maddow show started with it in Wisconsin, is because other reporters discovered it wasn't just Wisconsin. On top of that it's been discovered that the 5 states seemed to use a template for their fake electors, hinting at some degree of organization. Since then the Maddow show has been speculating that perhaps Mark Meadows, based on his emails given to the 1/6 committee & how the committee phrased their request to him, that perhaps he was the one who might have had a hand with the template. Meaning there was far more to the WH efforts to steal the election than previously known.

Yet it's everyone else 'r's want to accuse of election issues.

The electoral college is utter nonsense created by a combination of elitists that didn’t think “the masses” could be trusted to pick a president, paired with wealthy southern enslavers who didn’t want to get out-voted by the northern states which had larger (white) populations. It needs to be purged from our constitution if we’re ever going to be a true democracy. Plus, it’s ripe for exploitation, as 2020 made abundantly clear, and 2024 will make DANGEROUSLY clear if it works out the way the GOP is trying to rig it.

 

[SuperMatt]

One county in Georgia has already moved to phase two of preventing people from voting. After the state legislature disbanded the county elections board, they installed GOP loyalists. Their first act: They are closing 6 of the county’s 7 polling locations.

Lincoln County looks to eliminate all polling places but one

Lincoln County is trying to close all but one polling place for next year’s elections, in a move opposed by voting and civil rights groups.

www.augustachronicle.com

Lincoln County is trying to close all but one polling place for next year’s elections, a move opposed by voting and civil rights groups.

Relocating voters from the county’s seven precincts to a single location will make voting “easier and more accessible” and eliminate the need to transport voting equipment and staff the remaining sites, according to a news release. Community members disagreed.

“Lincoln County is a very rural county. Some people live as far as 23 miles from the city of Lincolnton,” said Denise Freeman, an activist and former Lincoln County school board member. “This is not about convenience for the citizens. This is about control. This is about the good old boys wanting to do what they’ve always done, which is power and control.”

All but one voting location might close in rural Georgia county

Election officials in rural Lincoln County in Georgia are considering a proposal to close all of the county's seven Election Day voting precincts and require in-person voters to report to a centralized site. Voting rights groups say the plan would make it harder to vote and disenfranchise voters...

www.ajc.com

“Folks should have access to their polling locations. They should be able to vote without having to drive 30 minutes to get there,” said Cindy Battles of the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, a civil rights group that has been collecting voter signatures for a petition drive to try to stop the closures.

There’s no public transportation available in Lincoln County, nor are there taxis, Uber or Lyft. Anyone who wants to vote would have to drive or walk to a polling place, or return an absentee ballot. Turnout decreases when voters have to travel farther to cast a ballot, according to a statistical analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Absentee voting also comes with new rules in Georgia after the General Assembly passed a statewide voting law this year. The law, Senate Bill 202, limited ballot drop boxes, added ID requirements, tightened absentee ballot request deadlinesand restricted mass mailings of absentee applications to voters.

I’d REALLY love for a Republican explain to me how this is anything other than voter suppression.

 

[JayMysteri0]

One county in Georgia has already moved to phase two of preventing people from voting. After the state legislature disbanded the county elections board, they installed GOP loyalists. Their first act: They are closing 6 of the county’s 7 polling locations.

Lincoln County looks to eliminate all polling places but one

Lincoln County is trying to close all but one polling place for next year’s elections, in a move opposed by voting and civil rights groups.

www.augustachronicle.com

All but one voting location might close in rural Georgia county

Election officials in rural Lincoln County in Georgia are considering a proposal to close all of the county's seven Election Day voting precincts and require in-person voters to report to a centralized site. Voting rights groups say the plan would make it harder to vote and disenfranchise voters...

www.ajc.com

I’d REALLY love for a Republican explain to me how this is anything other than voter suppression.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1481703348780912644/

 

[Thomas Veil]

You know, with Manchin and Sinema acting like ostriches, it's beginning to look like the only way we're going to have a fair election is if Biden invokes the Insurrection Act while he still can, and orders federal supervision of locations where this would-be election theft is going on. Yes, I know it would create howls of protest from the right, but are we gonna deal with that, or are we gonna never have a free and fair election again, living the rest of our lives under the thumbs of our Republican oppressors?

The main provision of the Insurrection Act states that troops can only be deployed to an American state by the President if the governor or state legislature requests it.
Another provision of the law, however, outlines that under certain limited circumstances involved in the defense of constitutional rights, the President can send troops unilaterally.

What is the Insurrection Act? | CNN Politics

Viral social media posts have falsely claimed that President Donald Trump invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 law to deploy American soldiers to police US streets. That didn't happen.

www.cnn.com

 

[JayMysteri0]

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1482138711173345280/
More please.

 

[JayMysteri0]

So, we all know this is coming from anyplace that the 'r's have NOT gerrymandered 99% in their favor. So here's your preview...

Fla. GOPer who lost special election by 59 points refuses to concede

“I did not win, so they say, but that does not mean that they lost either,” said failed GOP candidate Jason Mariner.

www.salon.com

A Florida Republican took a page out of former Donald Trump's playbook this week, refusing to concede a congressional special election he lost by more than 59 points in one of the state's most Democratic districts.

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a health care executive who supports progressive policies like Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and a $1,000-per-month universal basic income, earlier this week defeated Republican Jason Mariner to succeed the late Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Democrat who served more than 14 terms in Congress before his death last April.

Mariner, however, refused to concede defeat despite losing the race by an overwhelming margin, roughly 79% to 20%.

"Now they called the race — I did not win, so they say, but that does not mean that they lost either, it does not mean that we lost," Mariner said after the race was called, according to CBS Miami.

Mariner filed a lawsuit before polls had even closed, alleging problems with ballots in Palm Beach and Broward counties.

This is the shit we are going to have to deal with from now on, because the "F your feelings" crowd can't take losing.

Tell me if this sounds familiar.

"And we'll also have some stuff coming out that we've recently discovered," Mariner said, not specifying what kind of "stuff" could affect the outcome of a race he lost by almost 33,000 votes (out of the 54,000 cast).

I wonder what these 'r's are going to say if a dem ever files a lawsuit over losing an election?

Cherfilus-McCormick, who faced a failed lawsuit from Democratic primary foe Dave Holness after defeating him by a mere five votes, shrugged off Mariner's refusal to accept his defeat.

"Well, this wouldn't be my first time running against an opponent who is refusing to concede, so it's not our first time, and at the end of the day nothing can stop the motion," she told CBS Miami.

Supervisors of the election offices in Broward and Palm Beach told the outlet that it takes 14 days to certify the results after which Mariner has 10 days to challenge them.

Candidates do not legally have to concede defeat, as evidenced by Trump's refusal to accept his loss for more than a year. But Trump's campaign of election lies has emboldened Republican candidates to follow suit and baselessly stoke doubts about election results even when they get blown out.

Following the 2020 elections, Trump-endorsed Maryland congressional candidate Kim Klacik claimed that her election was "stolen" and alleged that Republican Gov. Larry Hogan helped her opponent after she lost by more than 40 points in a race to succeed the late Rep. Elijah Cummings in an overwhelmingly Democratic Baltimore district.

Similarly, Loren Culp, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Washington state, refused to concede defeat to Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee despite losing by more than 545,000 votes. Culp filed a baseless lawsuit alleging fraud that was outright rejected by Republican Secretary of State Kim Wyman. Culp ultimately dropped the lawsuit last January after state Attorney General Bob Ferguson threatened him with sanctions over the frivolous challenge.

A growing number of Trump-allied Republicans have been quick to embrace election denialism. Adam Laxalt, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Nevada, has threatened to file lawsuits to "try to tighten up the election" 14 months before any votes are cast. Failed California recall candidate Larry Elder launched a website claiming voter fraud days before the votes were even counted.

Democrats and their supporters have grown increasingly alarmed over the Republican Party's refusal to accept the will of the voters, as Republican lawmakers continue to cite doubts about "election integrity" — doubts they themselves have stoked — as a justification for impose draconian new voting restrictions across the country. Democrats, however, have been unable to pass new national voting rights legislation, largely because Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., continue to vociferously defend the filibuster.

"Once truth vanishes," Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe warned after Mariner's lawsuit, "all bets are off."

 

[JayMysteri0]

What could possibly go wrong?

GOP gubernatorial candidate David Perdue calls for new election police unit in Georgia | CNN Politics

Republican gubernatorial candidate David Perdue on Thursday called for the creation of an election police unit in Georgia, echoing a proposal by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and continuing Perdue's focus on election falsehoods.

www.cnn.com

(CNN)Republican gubernatorial candidate David Perdue on Thursday called for the creation of an election police unit in Georgia, echoing a proposal by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and continuing Perdue's focus on election falsehoods.

Perdue's plan would create "an Election Law Enforcement Division in the State of Georgia" that would "be charged with enforcing election laws, investigating election crimes and fraud, and arresting those who commit these offenses," according to a release from his campaign. Perdue's plan also called for "election results to be independently audited before certification."

Perdue, a former senator who lost his seat to Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in a runoff election last year, has made election falsehoods a central argument in his bid to unseat fellow Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the gubernatorial primary.

After former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, he turned on Republicans in states that he lost, including Georgia, using his false claims about the election to turn his loyal supporters against the Republican elected officials. Kemp was a chief Trump target, and the former President has now endorsed Perdue's bid to unseat him.

"I'll do what Brian Kemp has failed to do," Perdue says in his statement. "I'll make Georgia elections the safest and securest in the country."
DeSantis has proposed the creation of a dedicated police force to investigate election fraud, alarming voting rights advocates, local election officials and Democrats in the state.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1484219224180543491/

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1484198046925672452/

 

[JayMysteri0]

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1483938406052810755/

 

[Yoused]

Texas Secretary Of State Claims There’s Not Enough Paper For Voter Registration Forms

The Texas Secretary of State’s office will be sending out fewer voter registration forms this year because of a “paper shortage,” the office says.

talkingpointsmemo.com

Meanwhile, Moscow Mitch shows his liberal side, “If you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.”

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Texas Secretary Of State Claims There’s Not Enough Paper For Voter Registration Forms

The Texas Secretary of State’s office will be sending out fewer voter registration forms this year because of a “paper shortage,” the office says.

talkingpointsmemo.com

Meanwhile, Moscow Mitch shows his liberal side, “If you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.”

When this happens Texas will provide a stone slab and a chisel which was the most common form of voting under the founders. Tradition.

 

[Yoused]

Texas will provide a stone slab and a chisel

Wait, I thought the voting system in Texas was tallied up in terms of calibers.

 

[Yoused]

Read the never-issued Trump order that would have seized voting machines

The Jan. 6 select panel has obtained the draft order and a document titled "Remarks on National Healing." Both are reported here in detail for the first time.

www.politico.com

The draft executive order shows that the weeks between Election Day and the Capitol attack could have been even more chaotic than they were. It credulously cites conspiracy theories about election fraud in Georgia and Michigan, as well as debunked notions about Dominion voting machines.

The order empowers the defense secretary to “seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, electronically stored information, and material records required for retention under” a U.S. law that relates to preservation of election records. It also cites a lawsuit filed in 2017 against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Additionally, the draft order would have given the defense secretary 60 days to write an assessment of the 2020 election. That suggests it could have been a gambit to keep (Individual-ONE) in power until at least mid-February of 2021.​

 

[SuperMatt]

Read the never-issued Trump order that would have seized voting machines

The Jan. 6 select panel has obtained the draft order and a document titled "Remarks on National Healing." Both are reported here in detail for the first time.

www.politico.com

The draft executive order shows that the weeks between Election Day and the Capitol attack could have been even more chaotic than they were. It credulously cites conspiracy theories about election fraud in Georgia and Michigan, as well as debunked notions about Dominion voting machines.​

​

The order empowers the defense secretary to “seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, electronically stored information, and material records required for retention under” a U.S. law that relates to preservation of election records. It also cites a lawsuit filed in 2017 against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.​

​

Additionally, the draft order would have given the defense secretary 60 days to write an assessment of the 2020 election. That suggests it could have been a gambit to keep (Individual-ONE) in power until at least mid-February of 2021.​

And the Republicans have the cojones to oppose the John Lewis voting rights act as a federal takeover of elections? They seem fine with supporting Trump who was going to use federal powers to seize local voting machines.

I can see why the Republicans never wanted a Jan 6 commission.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

And the Republicans have the cojones to oppose the John Lewis voting rights act as a federal takeover of elections? They seem fine with supporting Trump who was going to use federal powers to seize local voting machines.

I can see why the Republicans never wanted a Jan 6 commission.

Anytime Republicans are accusing Democrats of potentially about to do something you can pretty much take it as a confession that Republicans are already doing or have done some form of the same thing. Finding out exactly what it is takes some high level skills and training that involves typing some related terms in a search engine and clicking the top link. From there you need to read. That last step is key to how they keep a good part of their constituents in the dark. The damning information is buried deep, like right in the first sentence after the headline. You need a PhD to translate what is said after a headline.

 

[Yoused]

You need a PhD to translate what is said after a headline.

Goddamn librul elitest aigheads.