On today’s BradCast, the “election nightmares” continue. We get an explanation, of sorts, about the mysterious “disappearing” Sanders votes in Sussex County, DE on Tuesday night, and one of the two lawsuits filed after Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ’s disastrous March 22nd Primary is dismissed by a local judge.
First up, after a bit of happy news for voters in Vermont and some more Luciferian news for the GOP, we continue to mop up from the ongoing 2016 Primary Election messes, as questions about the reported results in Arizona and Delaware (among many other states) remain.
Thousands of Bernie Sanders votes appeared to “disappear” in Sussex County, DE during tabulation of Tuesday’s Primary (as described on yesterday’s show). We finally receive an answer or two from the Delaware State Elections Commissioner Elaine Manlove about what might have happened. In short, without saying so directly, she chalks up the apparent disappearance of some 4,000 reported votes — as captured via results screenshots from Washington Post, The Guardian and elsewhere — to a clerical human error by the Associated Press, from whom many media outlets take their numbers on Election Night.
While her explanation — which I share in full on the show — has the ring of truth to it, the fact is that DE uses 100% unverifiable Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) systems across the entire state. And, as her answers make clear, while certain FOIAs can be filed, there is really no way for voters to ever know that any of the reported results from Tuesday actually reflect the will of the voters. Tune in for the complete details and explanation and, yet again, why DRE voting machines can never satisfy a justifiably skeptical public hoping to be able to oversee their own public elections.
Then, I’m joined by longtime election integrity champion Emily Levy, who worked with the transpartisan EI group AUDIT-AZ on the lawsuit filed just after Arizona’s disastrous March 22nd Primary, when voters across Maricopa County (Phoenix) faced hours long lines to vote. The problems occurred after County Recorder Helen Purcell radically decreased the number of polling places from 211 in 2012, to just 60 this year. The suit also sought to obtain answers to reports by some voters that registrations had mysteriously switched from Democratic to independent (thus, preventing those voters from casting a normal ballot in the state’s closed Primary).
After two days of disturbing testimony “in a courtroom packed with voters and elections officials,” including Purcell, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge David Gass dismissed the case on the basis that plaintiffs didn’t offer proof that the election results would be overturned if they were allowed to proceed with discovery and a full trial.
Levy tells me the judge failed to rule on the Constitutional issues raised in the suit, and focused only on the state’s Election Code “which apparently requires that we be able to — in the 5 days we have between certification of the election and the deadline to file a case — prove exactly what the problems were, and that they would have affected the outcome of the election.”
“The election code really needs to be changed, because we need to have the ability to contest elections in meaningful ways,” she says, adding: “I’ve seen the same thing in other states.” As have I. Both the AZ and DE stories discussed on today’s show underscore why it’s so important to get election procedures and processes right before an election, rather than waiting until afterword, when it’s generally too late to do anything about it. It’s also another reminder why the Voting Rights Act — which used to allow for that in some locations, like Maricopa — needs to be restored after being gutted by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013.
In the meantime, the legal complaint filed by the DNC, as joined by both the Clinton and Sanders campaign, along with a separate investigation by the DoJ, both continue to move forward. AUDIT-AZ’s official response to the dismissal is posted, along with declarations and other documents from the case, on their website, ElectionNightmares.com.
Finally, we close today with Donald Trump going “nuclear” over climate and much more in our latest Green News Report‘ with Desi Doyen…
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(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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Democracy Spring should take hold and change the voting system before November. Bernie should name Brad and Desi as Election Czars and demand that people can finally hold a free and fair election. Paper ballots, public counting process and Jimmy Carter overseeing the system. Then start a war on catastrophic climate change. Just wishing…
Great show Brad, thank you Emily Levy for jumping in with us at AUDIT-AZ. I’m better activist for knowing and working with you!
“We at AUDIT-AZ knew from the start that this case was a longshot, this was all foretold in attorney Bill Risner 2012 statement of facts, see page 7,†http://tinyurl.com/LPFiling said AUDIT-AZ Co-Founder and the plaintiff in the case, John Brakey.
“What we were saying was that there was strong enough evidence of major problems in the election that it shouldn’t have been certified. We were asking for the certification to be suspended while a thorough investigation into the election was conducted.†He continued, “Judge Gass ruled against us, saying that we hadn’t proven fraud. There’s no way we could prove fraud without access to the evidence, and we didn’t get access to the evidence because no investigation was opened. So we brought evidence of past malfeasance “wrongdoing, especially by a public official.â€
After all it was a show cause hearing and we had cause why we shouldn’t trust them. We had factual evidence that was blocked by the defense saying that it wasn’t relevant to this election. Add the way the law is written makes it nearly impossible for an election contest to succeed, no matter how dirty an election is.
Arizona has a systemically flawed elections system. The failure to address past grievances led to the problems we have seen in the Presidential Primary. It’s very unfortunate that the court did not allow us to present all the relevant evidence in this case.
AUDIT-AZ, Americans United for Democracy, Integrity, and Transparency in Elections was founded in 2004 and since then has worked to investigate, expose and eliminate problems in the Arizona election system including both inadequate laws, failure of elections personnel to follow those laws, and lack of legal consequences to those who disobey the laws designed to protect our elections.
“This case is another example of how elections can be mismanaged or even stolen with impunity,†Brakey said. Despite the disenfranchisement of what AUDIT-AZ estimates to be over 150,000 voters in Maricopa County alone, no disciplinary action has been taken. Link to Affidavit of Richard Charnin: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2TKmkSNAkCfZTJReDJkdHhnZDA/view?usp=sharing
The case has resulted in a mountain of evidence becoming public record. The plaintiff’s attorney, Michael Kielsky, submitted into evidence a 382-page compilation of witness testimony, reports, and articles. These documents can be viewed by the public at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_KlD3vPVfwrUEw5YkQyejV6STg/view
Additional information about the AUDIT-AZ’s work to protect our elections is available on their website, http://electionnightmares.com
Kielsky has worked with AUDIT-AZ on previous cases, including a case in Maricopa election 2008 and we hope to work with him in other cases in the future.
The AUDITAZ / Brakey case was the only case that directly challenged the results of the March 22 election. A pending case filed by the Democratic National Committee seeks to address some of the issues in the primary election before the November general election. But Arizona has two more elections before November: the May 19 Special Election and the August 30 Primary Election (a statewide party driven, gerrymandered system for offices and federal offices other than the presidency). It is unknown if the DNC case will be resolved favorably and in time for either of these elections.
The U.S. Department of Justice has also announced it will be investigating the Arizona primary election. The status of that investigation is unknown.
“The voters deserve to have someone on their side, exposing the malfeasance in our elections systems. We were hoping the court would order the state government to do its job and run fair and accurate elections. Until the government is working to protect the interests of the people, what else is there to do but keep up the fight?â€
AUDIT-AZ receives no government, corporate, or grant funding and depends on donations from individuals to support their work. Learn more at http://electionnightmates.com. And Be the “WEâ€
List of Plaintiff’ Brakey’s Exhibits – for Court Case in Maricopa AUDIT AZ v SOS of Arizona
01 – Letter from RFK JR to US AG Loretta Lynch – 3-22-16
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2TKmkSNAkCfemRQN0hoZnM1Mms/view?usp=sharing
02 – Brakey Affidavit on PPE vs SOS AZ – 4-7-2016
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2TKmkSNAkCfRHNzaDRORUFaRzQ/view?usp=sharing
You’re my Go To Blog for all election & voting info Brad. Keep up the great work.
I have this posted over my disk. It says it all!
“There is no excuse left. Either you join the revolt or you are on the wrong side of history. You either obstruct through civil disobedience, the only way left to us, the plundering by the criminal class on Wall Street…” “…You either taste, feel, and smell the intoxication of FREEDOM and REVOLT, or sink into miasma of despair and apathy. You are either a rebel or a slave.” – Chris Hedges
http://electionnightmares.com/about-audit-az
BE the “WEâ€
John Brakey JohnBrakey@gmail.com
John R Brakey:
“Fatally Flawed” is an amazing document. I watched the whole thing about a month ago.