Voter Suppression & Election Theft by the Republican Party

[Bact PhD]

The trope about nursing home residents being unduly influenced by their nurses is far from new, at least in my neck of the woods. Mommie Dearest was going on about it (allegedly) occurring in South Florida over two decades ago. Never mind, of course, that there’s a pretty good chance that in that’s place and time a preponderance of nursing home residents were probably old guard New Deal Democrats…

[goldenvalley]

Jun 5, 2023 18:27:09 GMT LFC said:

Newt Gingrich lying about the Democrats and then calling for honesty. It doesn't get much more Newty than that.

Election lies appear to be still going strong on Fox News, despite the company’s recent $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. Appearing on Fox, Newt Gingrich claimed — without proof — that Democrats “have a passion for stealing” close elections and told voters in certain Democratic-led states to “assume the [voting] machine will steal as much as it can.”

On Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Gingrich, a Republican who served as House speaker before becoming Trump’s ambassador to the Vatican, said that it is “probably almost impossible under current law to ensure an accurate election.” He added, “I think the only Republican strategy in the long run is to pick issues and win by margins so big that they can’t steal it.”

Gingrich then alleged that Democrats steal elections but did not give any examples to back up his claim. “If you have a very close election, Democrats have a passion for stealing them,” he said.

He next alleged that unions are somehow involved in the stealing of elections by bringing nursing home residents to the polls and influencing them to vote for the union’s preferred candidate, but, of course, Gingrich once again offered no evidence and cited zero instances where this has been proven true. “When you have local union which takes care of people in a nursing home going to vote, the people who literally don’t cognitively know what they’re doing, you know that that union is going to the vote every single one of them for the a Democrat no matter what their personal beliefs were,” he said.

“I think these are things you’ve got to be honest about,” Gingrich said without a hint of irony.

The Republican then touted Republican voting laws designed to suppress the vote and claimed that “in states dominated by Democrats like New York, Illinois, California, you just have to to assume that the machine will steal as much as it can.” 

Why do people turn to Newt Giingrich for anything? Not even Trump liked him...banished him to the Vatican to get him out of the way. (my interpretation, not based on anything I've ever read)

[LFC]

Remember how Republicans told everybody that early voting and mail-in voting were brimming with fraud and couldn't be trusted? Well listen to the beeps as they back that truck up ... as predicted.

Leading up to and following the 2020 election, Republicans around the nation denounced the dramatic increase in vote-by-mail balloting that took place across the country.

Now, they’re embracing efforts to vote before Election Day in a nationwide campaign dubbed “Bank Your Vote” that they hope will help them retain the U.S. House and win back the U.S. Senate and the White House in 2024.

“We have voters who like to vote on Election Day, and we’ve got to explain to them that we can’t allow Democrats to get a head start,” said Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, speaking on a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. “We don’t want to wait until the fourth quarter to start scoring touchdowns when you have four quarters to put points on the board, and that’s what this whole initiative is about, and we’re going to lead the charge on getting the Republican ecosystem to chase ballots and build an advantage before Election Day.”

While voting by mail (or absentee voting, as it also is called in some states) has been utilized by states like Florida for years, that voting method exploded in popularity in 2020 as the coronavirus emerged that spring, leading states to adopt and encourage vote-by-mail efforts. Nearly half of all voters (46%) said they voted by mail in the 2020 election, and among that group, about 40% said that it was their first time casting a ballot that way, according to the Pew Research Center.

Data (also from Pew) from the 2020 presidential election showed that Joe Biden did much better than Trump when it came to winning the vote before Election Day, while Trump won more of the vote on Election Day, hence the GOP’s “Bank Your Vote” campaign.

McDaniel said that the RNC will conduct focus groups and message testing on how to best communicate with Republican voters on pre-Election Day voting.

While Republicans around the nation were denouncing vote-by-mail in 2020 saying that it led to voter fraud, there were little concerns about that situation in Florida, where state Republicans embraced the process after the 2000 recount presidential election. That system has enabled them to consistently win close elections in Florida, even during cycles when they had fewer registered voters in the state than Democrats.

[Bact PhD]

Supremes smack down the Independent State Legislature theory:

www.npr.org/2023/06/27/1181152636/independent-state-legislature-theory-supreme-court-decision

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that state constitutions can protect voting rights in federal elections and state courts can enforce those provisions, in a key opinion that should safeguard the integrity of the 2024 election.

[snip]

"Although the Elections Clause does not exempt state legislatures from the ordinary constraints imposed by state law, federal courts must not abandon their duty to exercise judicial review," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion. "This Court has an obligation to ensure that state court interpretations of state law do not evade federal law. For example, States 'may not sidestep the Takings Clause by disavowing traditional property interests.' ... While the Court does not adopt a test by which state court interpretations of state law can be measured in cases implicating the Elections Clause, state courts may not transgress the ordinary bounds of judicial review such that they arrogate to themselves the power vested in state legislatures to regulate federal elections."

[pnwguy]

From the article:

Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

That squarely defines the most ideological enablers of fascism on the court. Barrett might join in if it's a socially conservative issue (abortion, contraception, same sex marriage)

[LFC]

Roger Stone allowed himself to be videoed dictating a letter about how the election would be stolen. I guess he thought either it would work and he's use it to pump himself up or it wouldn't work and nobody would ever know. Oops.

MSNBC aired newly obtained footage on Wednesday evening showing Donald Trump ally and longtime GOP operative Roger Stone dictating what sounds a lot like the core of the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

In the video, Stone dictates a message saying that “any legislative body” can send their own electors to the Electoral College “on the basis of overwhelming evidence of fraud.”

No such evidence has ever been presented, and Trump and his allies lost in the courts at every turn, including in cases before judges Trump himself had nominated.

But Stone claimed state legislatures could overturn those results anyway to “accurately reflect the president’s legitimate victory in their state, which was illegally denied him through fraud.”

He also said Trump allies must lobby via “personal contact” with lawmakers, which is what happened, in many cases with Trump himself calling and pressuring people to overturn the election results.

[andydp]

Can you imagine if these had shorted Pres Trump ?

Virginia officials unearth thousands of missing votes that 'shorted' Biden

A week after charges were dropped against a former election chief in Virginia, county officials have now admitted they underreported roughly 4,000 votes in the 2020 election for now-President Joe Biden.

www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/virginia-officials-unearth-thousands-of-missing-votes-that-shorted-biden/ar-AA1n02o5?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=6af8788e79b64db59d98e71e8ed28af0&ei=15

[goldenvalley]

Jan 15, 2024 21:53:18 GMT andydp said:

Can you imagine if these had shorted Pres Trump ?

Virginia officials unearth thousands of missing votes that 'shorted' Biden

A week after charges were dropped against a former election chief in Virginia, county officials have now admitted they underreported roughly 4,000 votes in the 2020 election for now-President Joe Biden.

www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/virginia-officials-unearth-thousands-of-missing-votes-that-shorted-biden/ar-AA1n02o5?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=6af8788e79b64db59d98e71e8ed28af0&ei=15

I am really curious to see what pre-election testing was supposed to be done with the equipment used by this office. I don't know how it works in other states, but CA has all sorts of regulations about pre-election testing to find mistakes like that before any real ballots are processed.

[andydp]

James O'Keefe of Project (un)Veritas loses again !!

James O'Keefe and Project Veritas settle suit over bogus voter fraud claims cited by Trump campaign

From the article:

In a statement published by O'Keefe and Project Veritas on Monday, Hopkins said that he "only heard a fragment" of a conversation between Weisenbach and another supervisor, but had "reached the conclusion that the conversation was related to nefarious behavior." Hopkins now says he was wrong.

“As a USPS mail carrier at the time, I was on heightened guard considering many allegations of ‘widespread fraud’ plaguing the 2020 Presidential Election,” Hopkins said in the statement. “As I have now learned, I was wrong. Mr. Weisenbach was not involved in any inappropriate behavior concerning the 2020 Presidential Election. The [United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General] investigated and found that neither Mr. Weisenbach nor any other USPS employee in Erie, Pennsylvania engaged in election fraud or any other wrongdoing related to mail-in ballots."

"I apologize to Mr. Weisenbach, his family, the employees of the Erie Post Office, and anyone that has been negatively impacted by my report," Hopkins continued. "I implore everyone reading this statement to leave the Weisenbach family alone and allow them to return to their normal, peaceful, lives.”


www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/james-o-keefe-and-project-veritas-settle-suit-over-bogus-voter-fraud-claims-cited-by-trump-campaign/ar-BB1hP3yQ?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=e1f5ce981a93417ebec1c7e2d38bf932&ei=16

[goldenvalley]

Glad to see that Project Veritas is getting trashed in court.  Its founder OKeffe is out and the new CEO that was hired to replace him left. 

The chief executive of the rightwing muckraker Project Veritas resigned on Monday, saying the non-profit had become “an unsalvageable mess” and alleging “past illegality” and “past financial improprieties” at the group founded by the political provocateur James O’Keefe.

O’Keefe left the group in February, having been put on paid leave by its board.

The board said he had “spent an excessive amount of donor funds in the last three years on personal luxuries” and filed a civil complaint.

An internal memo, compiled by staff members and widely reported said: “James has become a power-drunk tyrant, and he is exactly who he pontificates on who we should be exposing.”

[goldenvalley]

Feb 16, 2023 16:41:29 GMT goldenvalley said:

Feb 16, 2023 15:12:13 GMT LFC said:

Republicans, who were for mail-in voting and early voting before they were against it, are becoming for it again. Apparently they looked at the numbers from 2022 and are pivoting ... again. Predictable. Predicted.

This leaves them with the argument that Dominion machines is bad.  That argument persists...in fact the County Board of Supervisors in Shasta Co California is ending their contract with Dominion. No sign of any problems with the existing system, just decided not to use it anymore. The presidential primary is one year from now (March 2024) which doesn't really leave enough time to procure new equipment and properly train for use of it and to run the verification tests that must be done prior to any election.  This will be a mess.

I bring this up again because Shasta County has an elected recorder/registrar of voters who has been re-elected at least 3 times. She is resigning from the position two years before her term is completed due to health reasons...heart failure issues.  She was told to reduce stress so she's resigning. In the meanwhile one of the people that spearheaded the decision to cancel the contract with Dominion is up for a recall election in the primary.

[goldenvalley]

Whelp True the Vote has no evidence of fraud in the elections in Georgia.  Is anyone surprised?

A conservative group has told a Georgia judge that it doesn’t have evidence to support its claims of illegal ballot stuffing during the the 2020 general election and a runoff two months later.

Texas-based True the Vote filed complaints with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in 2021, including one in which it said it had obtained “a detailed account of coordinated efforts to collect and deposit ballots in drop boxes across metro Atlanta” during the November 2020 election and a January 2021 runoff.

A Fulton County Superior Court judge in Atlanta signed an order last year requiring True the Vote to provide evidence it had collected, including the names of people who were sources of information, to state elections officials who were frustrated by the group’s refusal to share evidence with investigators.

In their written response, attorneys for True the Vote said the group had no names or other documentary evidence to share.

True the Vote’s assertions were relied upon heavily for “2000 Mules,” a widely debunked film by conservative pundit and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza. A State Election Board investigation found that surveillance camera footage that the film claimed showed ballot stuffing actually showed people submitting ballots for themselves and family members who lived with them, which is allowed under Georgia law.

Apparently their John Doe who was identified in the lawsuit filed against Georgia by True the Vote as a witness to the above has no information.  Or is even a real person?

[Bact PhD]

”Where every accusation is a confession,” Chapter XLIV:

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/18/austin-smith-turning-point-action-election-fraud/

A top leader of the national conservative group Turning Point Action, which has amplified false claims of election fraud by former president Donald Trump and others, resigned Thursday after being accused of forging voter signatures on official paperwork so that he could run for reelection in the Arizona House.

State Rep. Austin Smith (R) — who was senior director at Turning Point Action, the campaign arm of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA — was accused by a Democratic activist of submitting petition sheets with rows of voter names, addresses and signatures that “bear a striking resemblance” to Smith’s handwriting, according to a complaint. Smith “personally circulated multiple petition sheets bearing what appear to be forged voter signatures,” the complaint said.

[snip]

During his time with Turning Point Action, Smith worked to support the candidacies of conservatives who spread false information about elections. At a rally in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, Smith tweeted a photo of himself speaking to “thousands of patriots.” In that since-deleted tweet, he urged followers “Don’t get comfortable” and to “fight like hell.” The next day, as Congress met to certify the 2020 election results, the U.S. Capitol came under attack.

Smith said the prospect of costly and public fallout from the allegations shaped his decision to drop out of the race.

[goldenvalley]

Apr 20, 2024 15:13:40 GMT Bact PhD said:

”Where every accusation is a confession,” Chapter XLIV:

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/18/austin-smith-turning-point-action-election-fraud/

A top leader of the national conservative group Turning Point Action, which has amplified false claims of election fraud by former president Donald Trump and others, resigned Thursday after being accused of forging voter signatures on official paperwork so that he could run for reelection in the Arizona House.

State Rep. Austin Smith (R) — who was senior director at Turning Point Action, the campaign arm of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA — was accused by a Democratic activist of submitting petition sheets with rows of voter names, addresses and signatures that “bear a striking resemblance” to Smith’s handwriting, according to a complaint. Smith “personally circulated multiple petition sheets bearing what appear to be forged voter signatures,” the complaint said.

[snip]

During his time with Turning Point Action, Smith worked to support the candidacies of conservatives who spread false information about elections. At a rally in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, Smith tweeted a photo of himself speaking to “thousands of patriots.” In that since-deleted tweet, he urged followers “Don’t get comfortable” and to “fight like hell.” The next day, as Congress met to certify the 2020 election results, the U.S. Capitol came under attack.

Smith said the prospect of costly and public fallout from the allegations shaped his decision to drop out of the race.

If you can conceive of a law breaking act, then others can too.  Kinda makes sense. I don't understand how they believe they can get away with it while they are busy drawing attention to the alleged law breaking by the other guys.

[Bact PhD]

Well, talk about a pre-emptive strike…

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/11/heritage-foundation-election-war-game/

“As things stand right now, there’s a zero percent chance of a free and fair election,” said Mike Howell, executive director of Heritage’s Oversight Project. “I’m formally accusing the Biden administration of creating the conditions that most reasonable policymakers and officials cannot in good conscience certify an election.”

When in doubt, come up with the most far-fetched stuff, accuse your opponents and see what sticks. Then do it yourself, if you haven’t done so already. There’s no minimizing this one.

Interestingly enough, WaPo posted the story last night, shortly after Biden’s presser. Burial attempt, perhaps?

[goldenvalley]

Jul 12, 2024 16:51:41 GMT Bact PhD said:

Interestingly enough, WaPo posted the story last night, shortly after Biden’s presser. Burial attempt, perhaps?

My aren't we cynical today?  I thought it too.

[goldenvalley]

Stop the Steal is definitely on the move:  (from TPM)

Donald Trump stepped off stage in Wisconsin Saturday and blasted out a social media post that crammed his authoritarian promise into a 159-word paragraph. The Truth Social post went up at 7:01 p.m. ET; it was copy-pasted over to the platform formerly known as Twitter some two hours later, where the larger audience there heard the same message. (The candidate’s X account has largely been posting campaign memes and press release-like announcements since it was reactivated.)


It was a return to dangerous form after the Republican candidate spent August subdued, seemingly sad that he would not be facing Joe Biden after all. The post claimed, incorrectly, that Democrats stole the election in 2020. It promised votes in the 2024 election “will be under the closest professional scrutiny.”

“WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences,” Trump wrote. This threat, he promised, “extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials.”

In a way, this is familiar. It’s also quite serious: a promise to imprison his enemies, junta-style, that extends not just to his political foes but to those who run elections and those who donate money to candidates. It’s a broadside against Democratic society of the sort that was unrivaled in American history before Trump. It’s a kind of high water mark, even for him.

The threat functions on a few levels. It is a bid to instill fear in those who oppose him, to intimidate voters — a note picked up on by Marc Elias, a longtime Democratic election lawyer currently working for Kamala Harris. “We won’t let Donald Trump intimidate us,” he wrote on social media. “We won’t let him suppress the vote.”

The ominous post also signals to his base, again, that any election Trump loses is not one they can accept. And it rehashes the 2020 lie, after various allies (including the white nationalist Groypers) expressed exasperation that he, briefly, dropped his election denying during a podcast interview last week.


On Sunday, he moved from the broad to the specific, pointing in a Truth Social post to an interview on Tucker Carlson’s show to claim, falsely, that 20 percent of mail in ballots in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania are fraudulent. “We will WIN Pennsylvania by a lot, unless the Dems are allowed to CHEAT. THE RNC MUST ACTIVATE, NOW!!!” he declared. (Carlson’s guest was talking — inaccurately — about the 2020 election. Trump’s Truth Social post suggests that the statistic applied instead to 2024, which would be even more preposterous: Pennsylvania officials have not processed any 2024 mail-in ballots yet.)

Like in 2020, there’s little room to be surprised here. Trump — especially over the last 72 hours — is telling us exactly what to expect in November.