After getting our second COVID vaccine shots on Friday, we return for today’s BradCast. For Desi, it was mostly a breeze. For me, just a few hours after taking the photo at right, as discussed on today’s show, it was a bit of a nightmare (if a worthwhile one) — as explained today along with some special election news out of Texas and some disturbing exclusive information out of the 2020 election “audit” theater being carried out by Trump supporters in Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona. [Audio link to full show follows below.]
First up, news out of the Saturday special election in Texas‘ 6th Congressional District for a U.S. House seat left vacant by Republican Congressman Ron Wright, who died from COVID last December. His widow, Susan Wright, was the top vote-getter in the 23-person, all-parties race. And another Republican, GOP fundraiser and state Rep. Jake Ellzey reportedly came in second, narrowly edging out Democrat Jana Lynne Sanchez by less than half a percentage point. Sanchez conceded on Sunday in the contest where most votes were cast at polling places on 100 percent unverifiable touchscreens and none of the candidates came close to the 50 percent mark that they’d need to beat to avoid an upcoming runoff election for the seat. Dems hopes of expanding their narrow majority in the U.S. House were dashed with the loss in the mostly rural, reliably Republican district south of Dallas.
While there were no challenges to the unverifiable results in Texas with two Republicans winning, Trump supporters in Arizona continue their tax-payer funded [PDF], but privately-run “audit” of 2.1 million hand-marked paper ballots in Maricopa County, as we discussed last week in detail on the show with two experienced election auditors who had rare access inside the secret counting at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, while media were locked out. Late last week, in response to a state judge’s order, the Florida tech firm — a group named Cyber Ninjas, with no experience in either elections or voting systems, who were retained by the GOP-majority state Senate to carry out this unprecedented “audit” — revealed a 191-page document [PDF] supposedly detailing their recount and forensic audit procedures. (Though in fact, as we also report, these procedures have been changed many times since the “audit” began over a week ago.)
Many questions, such as why they are running ballots through a UV light, are not answered by the documents, which the far-right group, whose leader has claimed last year’s Presidential election was stolen (without offering actual evidence to support the claim), attempted to keep concealed as “trade secrets”.
Other information was revealed, however, such as the group’s process for tallying ballots which, as I explain today, would actually allow the group to add (yes, steal) a minimum of 42,000 votes for Trump, without ever raising any alarms or red flags in the group’s internal procedures. That, in race that was decided statewide for Joe Biden by just over 10,000 votes.
Worse, because the Ninjas are keeping all of their daily counts and tally sheets secret from the public, there will be no way to know at the end of the process (if they even finish before they must leave their rented venue on May 14), how they actually derived their numbers or if they, in any way, match up with what the paid counters actually tallied.
In short, we support any citizens being allowed to examine ballots to determine if elections are accurately tabulated — even extreme partisans. But their are rules that need to be minded to assure integrity of that process as well. The process currently under way in AZ is a joke. It is election “audit” theater. That’s because there is zero real oversight by the public in place. And the state GOP Senate has forced the County Board of Supervisors (4 Rs and 1 D, who all opposed this privatized, tax-payer funded charade) to give up secure control of the actual ballots to the Ninjas, who could now do anything they want to them.
And while the documents are short on details on the group’s actual tallying procedures, they are long on concerns about how “Antifa” might use extreme violence to attack the venue with firebombs and chemical weapons. Seriously. That’s who these people are and how they think.
Finally, it was a looong weekend for me, after suffering from a couple of days of seemingly endless chills, fever and pounding headaches after receiving my second Moderna shot on Friday. For Desi, beyond a few mild aches and pains, it was a breeze. Still, it was in those horrible, fever dream moments that I came to appreciate how important it was for everyone to get their shots anyway. I knew I was lucky enough that whatever I was going through would not, in fact, be “endless”, as it has been for so many unfortunate people who contracted the actual virus. So, I tell some truths about both what I went through (which media too often downplay), and why that made me happy — not upset — to have gone through it…and why you should too.
Also today, we share one of the great “parody” songs by the Marsh Family in Great Britain, who have become a bit of a sensation during the pandemic in the UK. Today’s song is a beautiful, moving yet amusing take off on Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, directed toward vaccine skeptics, called Have the New Jab. I liken this adorable family to the Family Von Trapp of Sound of Music fame!
And then we open up the phone lines to listeners who have recently had their 2nd jabs, to hear how things went for them, and if it was more like my experience or Desi’s…
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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I don’t know what is confusing about the tallying process in the AZ audit. Each table has a Republican, a Democrat, and an Independent or 3rd party. They must be in agreement before a ballot is tallied. They are tallied by batches with a copy of the totals staying with the batch and another copy being entered onto a spreadsheet. The other tables not counting are looking for kinematic artifacts with those findings being noted. There are observers present from each party and cameras for the public to view 24/7 in addition to cameras that are being recorded above each table. Some media are allowed in yet some that have zoomed in on name badges and faces of the volunteers have been removed.
I just watched the documentary that you were involved with from 2008 and everyone on there sounds exactly like Trump supporters now. I would hope you engage with those now who are calling for an end to the use of the machines and going to hand counted paper ballots as you were ahead of the curve then. Obviously Republicans and Democrats have both been involved with stealing the vote from the American people and there is some other entity driving the direction of country. You discovered the Genesis if the electronic steal here and they have had years to perfect it. I have no doubt that if you were to reach out to Patrick Byrne as an honest broker, he would be happy to bring you up to speed and share information. Isn’t it time we finally put a stop to it?
Edie Grant:
Your claim that people from BOTH parties are doing the recount in AZ seems false on it face.
Can you verify that beyond a reasonable doubt?
If you can’t, I will assume it’s a lie.
I’m not sure I understand why you don’t feel like this is a transparent audit. The entire audit is being live streamed and cameras can be viewed at anytime. In key Fulton county in GA the counting room was cleared out from observation late at night while counting continued. In Detroit windows were tapped with cardboard to prevent observation. There is plenty of documentation available to see the what the color coded groups do.
The people conducting these audits are being attacked by many different people. There is no reading for the media to be in the room with the live-streaming. Updates are being given from leaders of the audit. Any results given during the audit process could be lead this one way or another where people could jump to conclusions.
Why has there been so much push back for a real audit? Have you watched Kill Chain on HBO? These machines are very hackable. Looking at just the ballot images will just spit out the same results. No one has done a real audit. Look at what’s going on in Michigan Antrim county. There are real issues that need to be investigated.
Edie Grant said @1:
I don’t believe I said it was “confusing”. I said it was non-transparent.
Really? Where is the evidence to support that?
That is untrue. Sounds like you neither read the document nor even listened to my coverage of it on the show you are commenting on.
And, of course, the totals don’t need to match. For example, two counters can say Trump received 32 votes in a batch, and one counter can say Trump received only 30, and it will be tallied as “32”, even if Trump really only received 30 votes. (In that way, Trump can receive 42,000 extra votes in Maricopa if the Ninja’s count in batches of 100, as they say in the documents, or an extra 84,000 votes if they count in batches of 50, as they are actually counting as of Monday.
As to “being entered onto a spreadsheet”, who is doing that? Is he/she doing so accurately? How would anybody know? There is no oversight of those tally sheets, nor oversight of the numbers being added to the spreadsheet. There is no tracking of those numbers whatsoever, since those numbers are not being published publicly each day.
“Noted” where? By whom? (If you haven’t noticed, these are all issues of something that those of us with actual experience with elections and voting systems call “transparency”.)
Are you sure there are “observers present from each party”? How do you know this? Who are they? I am told, by those actually working inside the Coliseum, that they are having a very difficult time finding any Dems willing to participate in this charade. But I’ll look forward to your transparent evidence that I am wrong.
Are you able to see how any ballots are being tallied from any of those “cameras for the public to view 24/7”? I’m not. Nor is anybody else. But perhaps you’ll point me to better cameras than those available at AZAudit.org.
Why? Counting ballots with tax-payer money is a public process. I have never, in 20 years of covering these things, seen a situation where ballot counters are hidden from the public.
I don’t know which documentary you’re referring to (I’ve been in quite a few). Was everyone calling for secret counting of ballots? I suspect they were seeking the exact opposite of what the tax-payer funded Trump supporters in Maricopa are now doing.
I remain “ahead of that curve”. And far ahead of Trump supporting Republicans. I called for hand-counted paper ballots in the two January U.S. Senate Runoffs in Georgia. There were few if any GOP takers.
What “other entity”?
The CEO of Overstock.com is not “an honest broker”. He has alleged the election was stolen, without offering a shred of proof for that assertion. He, like Lindell, like Trump, is a carnival barker, preying on fools who are dumb enough to send them money for what they all certainly know was not a stolen election — or, if it was, they’re doing a damned fine job of keeping the evidence of that a secret from the world! If they got it, they really should share it, including Lindell, who has Absolutely Nothing but smoke, mirrors, and no evidence at all of election theft. I wish he did.
Jeff K @3:
For one, please read my response to Edie above. If you need still more examples, let me know.
I spoke about that above as well. Let me know if you are still confused.
Actually, it wasn’t. Observers voluntarily left. The room was open all night. (Feel free to look it up, since I suspect you’ve been misinformed to the contrary.)
Actually, no. Windows were covered to prevent the threats, and banging on the glass as workers were being disrupted from their work. Also, photos were being taken of private voter information, even as hundreds of actual poll challengers were already inside (over the allowable limit, many without required masks, endangering everyone in the bargain). Some fact checking for you here, with videos, images, links, etc.. More here. And here. And here.
Cool! Where is the evidence of what they are actually doing? Real post-election audits make such evidence available to the public, and the media, and share it online.
Sounds like you — similarly to Doug Logan (CEO of Cyber Ninjas) — have no idea how actual post-election audits or recounts work.
Really? Cool! Got a link to how many ballots were tallied today? Which ones? What the totals were? How they compared to the previous count(s)? How about for any idea since this exercise began? I look forward to your URLs! Great news!
You. Are. Darling! We’d hate to see anybody “jump to conclusions”! Where is the data? If they are not sharing it, it is not a transparent process. I guess I’ll be waiting for those links to those “updates…from leaders of the audit”. (For the record, former AZ SoS Ken Bennett is not a “leader of the audit”. He is a Senate liaison. His partner, John Brakey, is a longtime election integrity expert and a friend and colleague of mine who has been highly critical of the current process. He was interviewed on my show last week at length about the entire mess.
There hasn’t been. There has been pushback against the Maricopa “audit”, which is phony, and anything but a “real” audit.
Of course. Before it was released on HBO, because the filmmakers are longtime friends and colleagues, as are most of the people featured in the film, which includes a number of elements of my own work.
No kidding?! (You may wish to read any of the thousands of stories I’ve written here at this blog that help you to know that fact in the first place. You’re welcome.)
Actually, while I’m no fan of ballot images, you assertions is not correct. Ballot images, if they are legitimate, will show what was scanned on the hand-marked paper ballots. The database that registers the marks from the ballot images can record something completely different or be manipulated to do so. Or can do so through innocent programming error or hardware malfunction.
Again, if you believe what is going on right now in Maricopa is a “real audit”, you know no more about what a “real audit” is than the Cyber Ninjas apparently do.
Okay. What would you like me to see there?
There always are. It’s why this blog has been in existence for almost 20 years. Thanks for finally giving a damn. Hope you’ll learn something here before you making such ridiculous assertions again next time. Start reading real information. Gateway Pundit, Fox “News” and OANN are playing you for a sucker. I only hope you haven’t been dumb enough to send them your money.
Thank you so much, Brad. Such a wonderful reporter & writer.
Consider adding a phrase or video to try to convince people who are teachable:
https://twitter.com/LoveisCthulhu/status/1389735449204121600
…to raise awareness for #electionintegrity and #handmarkedpaperballots. Best tweet and/or youtube video on those topics by Jun 4 2021 gets a 3d printer
…………………….
Also, getting so serious for people with democracy, climate, jobs breaking down, I am adding this, a free pdf book by Gene Sharp:
Gene Sharp – the anti-coup
https://aeinstein.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/TAC-1.pdf
As coups are one of the primary ways through which dictatorships are installed, this piece details measures that civilians, civil society, and governments can take to prevent and block coups d’état and executive usurpations. It also contains specific legislative steps and other measures that governments and non-governmental institutions can follow to prepare for anti-coup resistance.
Non-violent action to Save Democracy:
https://www.aeinstein.org/
Free Resources by book title:
https://www.aeinstein.org/search-by-title/
Once again, Magas are proven to have
no “there” there.
These sad folks have no idea of how pitiful they are. But, lack of self-awareness is clearly one of the basic ingredients of becoming a maga.
All they have are screams of “stop the steal”, QAnon, Bigfoot, Elvis, blah blah blah.
OK, Elvis may count for something.