Restoring Confidence in South Carolina Elections
Restoring Confidence in South Carolina Elections
Author: Jane P.
We are told that we have “paper ballots” that we can verify to confirm our vote, but do we really?
Our ballot is really a receipt, and not a good one at that. The piece of paper has bar codes at the top, but a voter has no idea if that bar code reflects their intent.
See the comparison below where the current process is compared with a hand marked hand counted ballot.
Transparency and trust are greatly enhanced with the system on the right.
THE PEOPLE WANT PAPER
Holly Kessler the Georgia state coordinator for Citizens Defending Freedom joins SC Safe Elections to discuss progress in the great state of GA. Is the state red or blue? How are citizens reacting to the indictment of Trump? And what does she think will happen in the 2024 election?
She also tells us how she is educating folks in multiple counties all across her state on a simple, transparent method for hand counting hand-marked paper ballots. Paper, Please!
The RNC passed the Resolution: URGING A “RETURN TO EXCELLENCE” IN AMERICAN VOTING AND ELECTIONS. This resolution passed unanimously and addresses many key concerns most American voters have with our current election process. SC Safe Elections is encouraged about this first step as it addresses many key issues with elections such as:
Here is the full resolution:
South Carolina has already addressed some of these issues and concerns (we have laws that limit ballot harvesting and do not have universal mail in balloting). As the first in the South for the Democratic and Republican primary, we can be the gold standard for election excellence if we pass additional election integrity bills. Over the next several weeks we will show specific ways in which we can reform our current system to ensure that our voters have the utmost confidence in our elections.
We encourage our state senators and representatives, governor, and State Election Commission to support three election integrity bills currently in the House Subcommittee—H. 4259, H. 4260, and H. 4261. These bills will allow for:
Since our state has a Republican controlled legislature as well as the governor’s seat our state should be eager to honor this resolution by passing bills that make elections trustworthy. We will be evaluating our state elected officials on how each of them responds to these initiatives.
💥💥💥💥IMPORTANT ACTION ALERT!!!! 💥💥💥💥
Bill 150 passed in ’22 moved the needle in some instances but also took a few steps back especially by instituting two weeks of early voting. The 3 bills below focus on further enhancing SC election law so that the citizens of SC can trust elections again.
Here are the election bills that we want to support that Rob Harris and our group worked on. Of course, these are just a start and ideally we would like to go to 1 day of voting (get rid of early voting), hand-marked and hand-counted paper ballots, Get rid of ERIC, and revamp our registration process so that we have people reregister more frequently.
H.4259 Hand Count Audit Act
https://www.scstatehouse.gov//sess125_2023-2024/prever/4259_20230405.htm
This bill calls for a hand count audit of at least 5 races within 3 precincts of each county and should include one statewide office or question; one federal office; and one countywide or less than countywide office or question
It also allows a county or county chair of a political party to call for an audit up to 22 months after an election (hand count or forensic).
H.4260 Voter Access and Transparency Act
https://www.scstatehouse.gov//sess125_2023-2024/prever/4260_20230405.htm
H 4260 eliminates early voting, calls for a return to paper poll books and gives full observation rights to every citizen to observe all phases of the election process and establishes chain of custody documentation to be recorded for all components of the election systems at all times.
It also removes the 65 and older provision for absentee voting thereby reducing the amount of mail in voting.
Most importantly, it establishes a pilot program for 2024 for at least 3 counties to cast votes on hand-marked paper ballots counted by hand. THE PEOPLE WANT PAPER!
https://www.scstatehouse.gov//sess125_2023-2024/prever/4261_20230405.htm
This bill makes the counties responsible for maintenance of the voter registration lists and ensures that SC qualified electors are able to receive and inspect at no charge essential voter registration and election reports such as voter registration lists, cast vote records, ballot review and reconciliation reports, chain of custody documents, incident reports, proof of citizenship verification, and signature verification.
This adds a provision that any system purchased for use in SC must utilize hand-marked paper ballots that are counted by hand.
Please read these bills and call the members of the Judiciary committee if they are your representatives. This is important. They pay attention to the people who live in their district.
Here is a list of the members of the judiciary committee.
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/CommitteeInfo/housejudiciary.php
(R) Wm. Weston J. Newton, Chairman—Beaufort County (District 120)
(R) Wallace H. “Jay” Jordan, Jr., 1st V.C.—- Florence County (District 63)
(D) John Richard C. King, 2nd V.C. – York County (District 49)
(R) William H. Bailey – Horry County (District 104)
(D) Justin T. Bamberg – Bamberg and Orangeburg (District 90)
(D) Beth E. Bernstein – Richland County (District 78)
(R) Thomas C. “Case” Brittain, Jr. – Horry County, Myrtle Beach (District 107)
(R) J. Benjamin “Ben” Connell – Kershaw County (District 52)
(R) Jason Elliott – Greenville County (District 22)
(R) Thomas Duval “Val” Guest, Jr. – Horry County, Myrtle Beach (District 106)
(R) Brandon Guffey – York County, Rock Hill (District 48)
(D) Rosalyn D. Henderson-Myers- Spartanburg (District 31)
(D) Patricia Moore “Pat” Henegan – Chesterfield, Darlington, Marlboro (Dist. 54)
(R) Jeffrey E. “Jeff” Johnson – Horry County (District 58)
(R) Matthew W. “Matt” Leber —-Charleston County (District 116)
(R) John R. McCravy, III – Greenwood & Laurens (District 13)
(R) Cody T. Mitchell – Darlington County (District 65)
(R) Travis A. Moore – Spartanburg (District 33)
(R) Robby Robbins – Colleton & Dorchester (District 97)
(D) Seth Rose – Richland County (District 72)
(R) Carla Schuessler – Horry County, Myrtle Beach (District 61)
In this podcast, team leader Laura Scharr discusses election integrity in South Carolina and the fight for transparency for Cast Vote Records. Starts at 2 hours and 5 minutes.
This consists of one ballot that is called out all at once in a “tally” method which is done by marking each choice with a marker.
Here is another method that uses counters and includes a live feed so that an instant replay can be done. This is done in pairs of candidates in each race so each ballot is tallied several times.
Clint Curtis and Beth B from Texas help demo the method they prefer which is easier on the eyes and perhaps results in fewer errors.
Both of these methods claim they can process 100 ballots with 20 races in about an hour.
In this video, Robert Borer, who ran for Secretary of State in Nebraska, demonstrates the pitfalls of the lack of transparency in our elections. A very entertaining demonstration.
Holly Kessler the Georgia state coordinator for the Citizens Defending Freedom joins SC Safe Elections to discuss progress in the great state of GA. Is the state red or blue? How are citizens reacting to the indictment of Trump? And what does she think will happen in the 2024 election?
Holly also tells us what she is doing to educate multiple counties over the state regarding a simple transparent hand-counting method for paper ballots. Paper, Please!
HERE’S THE FULL POLICE REPORT FROM OCTOBER 2020 SHOWING MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD IN MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN.
This document was sent to jurisdictions regarding FOIA requests outlining what ES&S records and reports are allowed to be released.
Above is a PDF Document from ES&S Just released that was their communication to the jurisdictions using their software and systems. They broke down what can be freely released in FOIA requests. Any reports that the precincts and counties would print as part of the election they say can be FOIA’d and they have no objection to. What they do object to is the server system logs. They state they may divulge security or proprietary information.
Now for my input… I’ve been a server administrator for around 30 years and have looked at tons of logs. Error logs show what is broken, security logs show failed login attempts, and who failed to login (user ID would be shown), they don’t show passwords. What they do show are IP and web addresses, They also show paths and files that may be corrupt or missing. I can’t really understand why they feel the logs would show anything proprietary…unless it’s IP addresses or servers that it talks to are ON the internet. The systems are supposed to be isolated from tampering and NOT on the internet. If they need to communicate with maybe a network ballot scanner or a network printer, then I get that, but they should be on a private network, illustrated below.
Above I’ve illustrated what private IP address ranges look like. These addresses are reserved for private use only and DO NOT EXIST ON THE INTERNET. Class “A” are the 10.0.0.0 that most large corporations would use. Class “B” are the 172.16.0.0 that are used in small to large businesses. Then there is the Class “C” 192.168.0.0 addresses that most homes use.
If these Election Systems need network connections, then they should NEVER have a gateway address assigned. On your home network, the gateway is the connection to your router and the IP address assigned to the router. Usually 192.168.x.1 or 192.168.x.254. The “x” can be any number from 0-254, but usually “0” or “1”. This is the key to making your private network talk to the internet.
So, back to the Server logs, I want to see them. You show me a bunch of private addresses talking, I wouldn’t be too suspect, but if I were to see IP addresses talking to the internet, during times and dates of an election, then yes, I would question why it’s talking to the internet and to whom??
The systems are supposed to be setup, accuracy tests are run, certified when correct results obtained, then sealed until the election.
We had our election in a church. Once setup, machines are left in a large room, probably the banquet hall, and only locked at the outside door. So anyone with a key to the church could potentially have access.
Paper ballots could be driven from the county office each day by the clerks to each precinct. Actual poll books can be used again, printed 30 days before the election. If you’re not in the book, you don’t vote. One day voting, at the precinct level is manageable, you can always make more precincts. After the polls close, tally the votes on legal forms, copy them for the window posting, and the clerk takes them back to the county office in a sealed case for archiving. I would suggest that each poll manager gets a copy of results as a tool to validate the results of the polling location. A way to match what 10 people agreed to at the poll and what is recorded at the county (More Eyes).
Now… the Document is only 3 pages, but it concerns me that elections are supposed to be FREE to US citizens, FAIR for US citizens to access the all legal methods for voting, and… once the vote is cast, TRANSPARENT to all. But they are cast on machines that keep secrets under the guise of “Proprietary Software” and “Trade Secrets”… “TRADE SECRETS”, why are we using machines that we can’t see how they work. Voting uses simple math, paper ballots and a calculator could do what they do, why such a complex system??
I voted early in the 2020 election, stood in line at the early voting center on 10/29/2020 for 2 hours during tropical storm Zeta that was going on then, when I got to the door, they closed the voting center stating they lost power to the machines?? I still saw the lights in the building were on, and if they had paper ballots, I could have voted. They didn’t have backup ballots, so we had to go to the next voting center, wait 2 more hours, and then voted. At this point, I was no longer a fan of the machines. Machines are only as good as the people that program them, and the people that run them. Then I question is everyone went to the second location, or just gave up and went home?
I’m a poll manager, I can see how they provide a service, and how it’s so easy to let machines do all the work, but I also see that at the precinct level, it’s entirely feasible for hand cast paper ballots. We had 10 poll managers and a clerk at our poll, that would have been entirely manageable to count paper ballots, ~150 ballots each would be no problem. Machines and Algorithms are not the friends to your freedom and voting rights. Instead of the people controlling the counting… A room full of programmers can control the politics of a nation… let that sink in!
This piece is based on 3 years of experience trying to peek behind the curtain to obtain facts about how our elections are conducted. Friends have tried FOIA’s and have been told they don’t have or can’t have any proof that our elections are being run in an open and transparent matter. We can have reports that the election server generates, and if you can take a picture of the tape printed out at each precinct, that is about as close to transparent as they will allow. If you want to see the numbers, they will refer you to the scvotes.gov, that silently forwards you to SCYTL to see the reports.
(https://www.enr-scvotes.org/SC/106502/Web02-state.277845/#/?undefined will send you to the same page here
https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/SC/106502/Web02-state.277845/#/?undefined ).
South Carolina only operates the machines, that hide how they count the vote, with no ability to actually confirm/audit the vote from the physical to the digital. The cast vote records would provide some of that transparency, the digital would be matched to the physical ballot.
Arkansas has the exact same system that we have, and have the ability to provide the CVR, and have done so when FOIA’d. If the systems were truly honest, wouldn’t you shout it from the rooftops and want everyone to see your marvelous system??!! Instead we are met with denial, lawfare, refusal to comply, of just flat out not understanding that the law says they have to do it. It’s come to this, we see the establishment for what it is, and they are fighting it every step of the way… we continue to endure!
In this engaging conversation SCSE team leader Laura Scharr sits down with Gregg “Marcel” Dixon to discuss election integrity in South Carolina. Marcel is a Democrat who ran against Jim Clyburn to address issues in the black community that he saw as a teacher in his community.
Although Marcel and Laura are from different sides of the political spectrum there were many issues where they aligned—namely one day of voting with paper ballots and Voter ID and perhaps getting rid of the party system. This is a must see.
For more information on a paper ballot system see https://mockcountytx.us/election-results