Wake up people, we are at war!
We are like frogs in a pot of boiling water, will you jump out or stay and meet your fate?

Most people don’t understand that we are at war. It isn’t kinetic. It’s a silent, hidden, insidious psychological war. This cognitive we are experiencing both domestically and globally is an existential threat.

We are like frogs in the proverbial pot of water.  The heat is being raised every so slightly over time and eventually we will need to either jump out or remain in the pot to accept our fate.  Slowly our constitutional rights are being whittled away:

  • Deadly fentanyl made in China is making its way into the country killing thousands of our teens and young adults.
  • Our economy is flailing due to the failed economic policies of this regime; inflation is soaring making gas, food, and rent unaffordable.  Stocks and bonds plummeted last year (they are still overvalued) and people are losing their jobs.
  • Drag queens are in our elementary school twerking and reading to our kids. Totally inappropriate books are in these libraries and school officials refuse to remove them.
  • Millions of illegal immigrants have infiltrated our borders 80% of which are military aged men, well equipped with cash. What other things are they bringing over the border? This border infiltration propagates drug, sex, and human trafficking.
  • The “powers that be” from the World Economic Forum state that we will own nothing and be happy about it. We will eat crickets and live in 15-minute cities where everything we need is within a 15-minute walk and we need permission or will be penalized if they move outside that area. This is being done in Canada and the UK and it is causing a ruckus. This is similar to the social credit score system in China where people lose rights if they use too much energy or eat too much or eat the wrong things. All this is done in the name of “climate change.” It is all a ruse to CONTROL our lives. 

Are you awake yet?  Ready to jump out of the pot?  

All of the above issues tie back to elections.  Elections have consequences and are key to a strong republic.

No one is coming to rescue us. We are the solution.  It is up to us and the constitution. 

SC Safe Elections is focused restoring confidence to our elections by returning control back to the local level.  We are accomplishing this by the following:

  • A legal challenge to gain access to valuable audit tools such as the cast vote record.
  • Drafting and supporting legislation that tightens up our election laws and provides more accessibility and transparency to the election process in SC.
  • Analyzing our state election data and voter rolls for anomalies and suggest opportunities for better quality control
  • Educating SC citizens and legislators regarding how we can improve the election process

How can you help?

1. Contact your legislators (call or snail mail) and ask them to support election integrity bills

a. Closed primaries

b. Voter Access and Transparency Act

c. 1 day of voting with hand counted paper ballots

d. Explain that you don’t trust the current electronic system

2. Join our Telegram group where we discuss issues regarding elections  https://t.me/+sRfrsM-iuvoxODAx

3. Support our legal battle to get the cast vote records https://www.givesendgo.com/SCFOIA

4.  Consider using your God given talents to contribute to our group; perhaps be a coordinator for your county or help us with social media, analysis or marketing

5. Be the leader your local community needs

How you can help take back our elections

In this video team leader Laura Scharr discusses what a CVR is and why South Carolina needs this valuable tool as a way to audit our vote.

Challenging the voter rolls a firsthand account

I decided to volunteer with South Carolina Safe Elections in the spring of 2021. I was not political, but still felt I could add some value. I grew up in a family grocery business, studied abroad, lived abroad 16 years, worked in corporate America with a global company in the law department and am a green belt in Lean Six Sigma continuous improvement…Our state election system has a lot of things that
need improvement.


I started canvassing Charleston county with people from eight different counties in October 2021 and after two weeks moved on to Berkeley County from November 2021 – January 2022. As the Data /captain, I also entered all the canvassing data for Berkeley County. After conducting a data sort of the oldest people on the Berkeley voter roll I found people born as long ago as 1903. Of the 578 active registered voters that were 92+, I found 204 obituaries, having past as long ago as 1977, 1987, 1995 & 1999.


After the public reveal of our canvass findings in February 2022, I started working on planning and hosting voter awareness meetings in my area and supporting others in Berkeley County that were doing the same. I mailed or hand delivered 5000 invites to these events. This was
another form of canvassing especially as the post cards started returning “undeliverable.” I also knocked on countless doors and the person that was listed as living there on my list no longer did. This opened my eyes to the inaccuracy of the rolls. I wanted to do more about it.


After our reveal our findings were sent to the SEC and SLED, but they didn’t seem interested in doing anything with them. So the people in the counties we canvassed decided to submit the names of voters that were deceased, had voted but didn’t live at the registered address before
or after the 2020 general election. From the 5% that we canvassed of Berkeley County we have about 500 of those.
I initially sent a letter with 42 names stating that we were challenging the qualifications of these registered electors to vote based upon their residency status. This letter went out April 6, 2022. I received a response September 9, 2022 scheduling the hearing September 29, but then we had a hurricane…so it was rescheduled for October 13, 2022.

It is important that people understand that during this time we studied the South Carolina Election Laws. We took our guidance from them and abided by them in all that we did. For your reference I am attaching the section with reference to challenging voters on voter rolls.


SECTION 75-230.- Legal qualifications; challenges; proof of residency or domicile; appeals.
(A) The county boards of voter registration and elections to be appointed under Section 75-10 shall be the judges of the legal qualifications of
all applicants for registration. The board is empowered to require proof of these qualifications as it considers necessary.-
Once a person is registered, challenges of the qualifications of any elector, except for challenges issued at the polls pursuant to Sections 713-810, 7-13-820, and 7-15-420 -must be made in writing to the county board of voter registration and elections in the county of registration. The board must, within ten days following the challenge and after first giving notice to the elector and the challenger, hold a hearing, accept evidence, and rule upon whether the elector meets or fails to meet the qualifications set forth in Section 75-120.-
(B) When a challenge is made regarding the residence or domicile of an elector, the board must consider the provisions of Section 71-25(D).-
(C) Any person denied registration or restoration of his name on the registration books shall have the right of appeal from the decision of the
county board of voter registration and elections denying him registration or such restoration to the court of common pleas of the county or any
judge thereof and subsequently to the Supreme Court.

The experience was a bit surreal. The first hearing on October 13, 2022 regarding 42 names I submitted back in April 2022, I had no idea what to expect. I, for sure, was not expecting to be attacked the way I was. The board stated it was not my place to suggest that people who voted
in the GE 2020 should have their votes questioned. To clarify, we are challenging the qualifications of these registered electors to vote based upon their residency status “pursuant to Article 7, Chapter 5, Section 230.”


Each time individuals on the BOE questioned me I referred to the SC Election Law, the board would then look to their lawyer…IMO to either back them up or verify that what I was saying was correct. Each time he would read what the law stated it supported what I said. One board
member even questioned if there wasn’t a statute of limitations on challenges, but yet we had gotten to the hearing per law so why make this question? To discredit me?


There were two electors that did appear to prove their residency. To these two gentlemen I apologized for any human error(one was renting residence during 2020GE and purchased the
same in February of 2021 but under wife’s maiden name) and inconvenience it may have caused them. But even the two electors that appeared questioned the BOE on updates to the voter rolls and they were referred to the state (SEC). Apparently changes to the rolls were not being done in a timely fashion.

After the hearing I received in the mail a letter stating that certified mail was returned “undeliverable” from 39 of the 42 voters and these names would be submitted to the SEC to be placed in a status of Inactive-Moved. To note: of the 39 to be placed on inactive status 4 have
been updated to new address, 2 were removed and 33 remain on voter roll as of 6/30/2022. Why is this even possible?


At that hearing on October 13 I turned in a new list of 200 voters to be removed based on the canvass of 2021. This is not what I would choose to do. It’s not fun. I do it because I feel it is important for two
reasons: One is to have tangible evidence of the corruption in our elections on the voter rolls that I can share with residents of Berkeley county and elsewhere. I am sure you have heard by now the saying, “You cannot tell them, you have to show them”. Second is that I believe we, at the grassroots level, are tasked to expose the corruption at the lower levels.

So, we continue forward.

Expert affidavits why we should gain access to CVRs Cast Vote Records

On January 18th, we filed a motion to compel the defendants to provide proof that they have preserved the data from the 2020 election as well as to provide proper answers to our Discovery questions. Up to this point, they are playing games and stalling. Their responses were not fully adequate nor provided all the information we requested. This is an example of egregious lawfare.

For example, they claim they don’t know the definition of a Cast Vote Record or what Personally Identifiable Information is…..Really? Some counties didn’t even respond. Furthermore, they accuse us of being part of some national conspiracy that is trying to just take up their time regarding FOIA requests. Unfortunately, they don’t see that the people don’t trust their elections and just want transparency and answers. Rather than try to intimidate those who want to better understand their election management systems and waste our time and money, they should do their civic duty and instill more trust by being more polite, transparent and willing to work with the people. After all, our governmental agencies work for us. We pay their salaries through our tax dollars.

Below we share our expert affidavits as well as the Motion to Compel. These are compelling affidavits that show the reality of the situation for our case regarding these important audit tools. I encourage you to read these in full as they are very interesting and informative and written by some of the best experts in ES&S as well as CVR analysis and computer technology. These demonstrate that we have a very strong case and why over half the states in the US allow access to CVRs.

Affadvit of Rick Weible

Here is another blog that gives you the background on the case

Update on our CVR case

Here is an update on the CVR lawsuit. Our lawyers filed motions to compel evidence (we want to prove they have retained the 2020 data) and also filed some great affidavits from our experts.  The motion to dismiss trial that was set for the 25th was postponed to February the 14th due to the fact that Judge Toal didn’t have a court reporter for her courtroom that week. We will keep you all posted when we get more details.

 In the meantime, we are confident that we have a great case and we continue to try to raise funds.  We are just over half way there.  If we could get 200 people to give $100 each we would really close the gap.

Let’s do it 200 people $100

We are so appreciative of all those amazing and faithful warriors who have contributed to this to date and we pray that God will bless us further so we can do this work for the people of South Carolina.

The prayers you send on GSG are so uplifting. They mean more than you know.

Here is a lovely prayer that one of our donors sent I wanted to share.

There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. Luke 2.12

O Lord, please grant success to these efforts to reveal truth and bring transparency to our elections systems and processes. Thank you, in Jesus holy name.

God bless and feel free to reach out. Stay faithful and frosty.

Best,

The SCSE team

PS if you haven’t already, please join our Telegram channel and sign up for our substack newsletter.

For a more thorough description of our lawsuit, etc. see this blog:

Telegram link: https://t.me/+GrDjPb8eUDIzMmY5

https://scsafeelectionsgroup.substack.com/

2023 the year of hope

The year 2022 was a doozy. Worldwide we suffered many setbacks and hardships.  Inflation reared its ugly head and supply shortages were the norm.  Gas prices soared due to poorly conceived energy policies. The stock market and bond market plunged. War broke out in the Ukraine and our legislators poured a trillion plus dollars in “support” while many Americans struggled to make ends meet.  Illegal immigrants overwhelmed the southern border.  We started to see evidence that vaccines were causing adverse effects. Parents were distraught to find their kids being groomed in their kids’ libraries and classrooms.  And finally, Midterm elections proved that 2020 was no fluke and the entire process needs to be reinvented.   

As the year came to an end, however, some revealing events and news came to light.  Elon Musk released the Twitter files showing that conspiracy theorists were correct; Twitter execs were censoring information on COVID cures, the vaccine, the election, Hunter and Joe Biden, and removing people from their platform who they deemed as a threat to their hive-minded narrative. The Hunter Biden laptop was suddenly exclaimed to be legit by the “mockingbird media” more than two years after it was originally disclosed as “Russian disinformation.”  A quartet of trumpet-playing brothers delivered a case to the Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of the process by which election interference was dealt with in the 2020 election. In AZ, we saw a broken election process and patriot fighters like Kari Lake and Mark Finchem take their issues to the court.  We can only hope that they prevail and justice, although served slowly, will be served completely.

''War is peace '', ''Freedom is slavery'', Ignorance is S...

It appears that there is a slow but steady realization that something is just not quite right in the world. Up is Down. Left is Right. Freedom is Slavery.  Hopefully, people across the world are waking up to the powers that be who are trying to control our lives and minds.  Fundamentally, we just want to be able to live and speak freely unfettered by burdensome regulations, taxes, and high costs of living. As we digest and reflect on the past year here are some new year’s resolutions to consider:

You are the solution

Don’t focus on influencers or anyone to rescue us from this situation.  We The People are the solution so WE need to decide how we can turn our country around. Trust your own gut instinct and inner wisdom. Only sheep rely on the messenger not the message. For too long we have relied on pundits, experts and influencers, and they have let us down.  Avoid the distraction of people in the spotlight who predict the future or claim to have insider information. Instead focus on the reality of what you see in your local community and what information resonates with you.

Connect locally and get involved

We need to get involved in order to make the required changes we need in our communities and our country. For too long we were complacent and allowed our government to take over our elections, our schools, and our media, among other things.  Attend your precinct reorg meeting and local political party and school board meetings.  Volunteer to help our group by sharing your unique gifts and talents. You can do so by:

·       Contributing to our givesendgo campaign to gain access to Cast Vote Records which provide more transparency to our current vote counting process.  https://www.givesendgo.com/SCFOIA

·       Educating people around you and making them aware of the issues regarding our elections.  We can provide you with the materials for this or we can have someone visit your group as a guest speaker.

·       Calling your legislators to ask for better election reform.  Calls work much better than emails. We should be voting one day with paper ballots that are hand counted.

·       Staying informed with our progress by tuning into our Telegram channel for updates and calls to action.  Here is the link: https://t.me/+GrDjPb8eUDIzMmY5

Remember that elections matter

The majority if not all of the problems and issues we are facing are a result of “selected” leaders who do not necessarily have our best interests at heart.  Fixing elections in our country is the core issue that will address the societal breakdown we are experiencing.  If we have the right leaders in place who truly represent our best interests and who listen to us we will eliminate CRT, human trafficking, corruption, high taxes, inflation and the corrosion of our fiat money.  “All hands-on deck” are needed to make this happen and complacency can not be tolerated at this point. We are at the precipice of losing our constitutional freedoms. What could be more important than that?

Focus

Our energy is important to optimize and conserve. Respect it. Focus your energy on the things that will make the most impact and that resonate with you personally.  What are you passionate about? Where can your God-given skills be best deployed?  It is particularly important once again to think local. Invest time in the people and issues that most matter to you.  Our system needs to be re-engineered from the bottom up so we need hardworking principled people to be the architects of change.  

Find your tribe

We live in a matrix that appears to be more outrageous by the day. Your tribe matters and bonding with like-minded people makes us stronger and able to persist in the fight for freedom. Bring part of a group that understands the truth and is passionate about love of their country can help keep us all sane.

As you ponder your new year’s resolutions ask yourself, “how can I contribute to the cause this year? What small thing can I do to make a difference?”  If we all take steps to eradicate an unjust system, we will win. The power rests with the people and we are greater in number than those who wish to take away our freedoms.

South Carolina Safe Elections is a community that wants to ensure that your vote counts—that all the citizens voice are heard through their right to vote and have their vote counted properly and legally. We would appreciate your help and could use the following:

·       Contributions to our legal fight to win access to the cast vote records for our state; for example, if 100 people give $100 over the next few days we can close the funding gap.  Thank you, in advance, for your kind contributions. 🙂

·       Help with social media marketing, posting content, video editing etc.

·       People to set up or conduct educational presentations regarding election integrity in their local community.

·       County organizers to assist in data collection, awareness, and planning local meetings

These a just a few small ways to make a difference but please feel free to call or message us to let us know how you would like to help out or be more involved.

Have a very happy new year. Stay positive, focused, and connected and may God’s grace and protection envelope you.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Ephesians 6:10-11

the South Carolina Safe Elections Team

End of year update: Taking back our freedom

We are experiencing a profound pattern of a loss of our freedoms as we don’t feel we have control over so many aspects of our lives.

Do you feel that the public school system is truly teaching and treating your kids and grandkids well?

Instead of teaching the “3 R’s” they are being bombarded with CRT (Critical Race Theory) propaganda and gender confusion. Do you feel that these kids in the public school or safe?

Do you trust that the information that the media is disseminating on a daily basis is honest and accurate?

The Twitter expose’ that Elon Musk has unmasked is shining light on the collusion among twitter execs, government agencies, the DNC and other key figures to suppress key and damaging information.  The truth was suppressed and our reality was hacked.

Finally, do you trust that your vote is being counted correctly?

Our team here at SC Safe Elections has uncovered information which consistently shows that our election management system, voter rolls, and other processes are a mess. Many voters are telling us they either don’t want to vote or they don’t trust that their vote is being counted accurately.

On a positive note, the flood gates are opening to reveal truth. The Twitter expose underscores how key evidence was suppressed that was extremely damaging to one political party. This was also occurring across social media platforms as well as mainstream (Mockingbird) media.  So many untruths were parroted to sway our opinion—Hunter Biden’s laptop was “Russian disinformation”; our election in 2020 was the “most secure ever.” People are suddenly dying due to “climate change.”  We need to lockdown for 2 weeks to “flatten the curve.” “The vaccine is safe and effective.” I could go on and on.

What was considered a conspiracy theory 2 years ago is now a fact—this is opening a lot of eyes to the controlling nature of our Big Brother government.

A sudden shifting of the narrative is now occurring.  Balenciaga and other fashion brands are being shown to utilize their ad campaigns and runway shows to propagate the sick, twisted sexualization of children along with creepy satanic messages and symbols. Seriously, why does a naked Kylie Jenner need to be slathered in blood to sell Coty makeup?  Why are runway models holding baby dolls soaked with blood in a Balenciaga fashion show? Who is drawn to buy these products with that messaging? Seriously people, wake up.

Here is Lotta Volkova a top designer for Balenciaga and Adidas

Our Vote is Our voice

On the election front, both the state of Arizona and the country of Brazil are illustrating that elections are broken and the “winners” don’t appear to be the people’s choice. And the people won’t stand for it.  These machines are selecting, not electing our leaders.

So, what happens next?

As more people become disgusted and disillusioned, they will demand action. The reengineering and realignment of these systems —media, schools, healthcare, finance, and our government–need to and will ultimately occur.

I have faith that we are getting to the bottom of the corruption and irregularities in AZ; and, if we still have a justice system that is fair in any way, we will see some action here.  The evidence is overwhelming. Ultimately, we may have to take it to the court of the public opinion.

The Brunson brothers’ case on the supreme court docket could prove to be a breakthrough. This case although it has a low probability of success is a very elegant, simple, and constitutionally-driven solution to a complex, controversial and emergent problem. Hopefully, the justices will have the courage to see it that way.  

Furthermore, we have our own case here in SC that will enhance transparency by allowing public access to Cast Vote Records. 

How can you take your freedom back?

Support the above initiatives by writing a letter to supreme court to tell them to consider hearing the Brunson case and also by contributing to the givesendgo fund for our state’s CVR legal battle.

Continue to spread the word regarding these overall issues of our freedoms being usurped by having constructive conversations with family and friends. Use curious questions to get them thinking rather than telling them your viewpoint. People readily embrace ideology when they are able to come to the conclusion themselves. Help guide people to understanding when new revelations are disclosed. Many people are just waking up to this reality so patience is sometimes warranted.

Stay positive and prayerful—truth has a way of ultimately revealing itself and “we the people” represent a critical mass who want relief from being captured by an enemy that doesn’t have the best interest at heart. Like a frog in boiling water, we have been in hot water for a long time and are close to the boiling point.  Will we have the courage to jump out of the hot water or continue to remain in the situation until it is too late?  This is up to every one of you.

Stay centered. Stay frosty. Stay prayerful.

Does your vote count? How do you know if you know if it is counted in secret?

SC Safe Elections is trying to get access to the Cast Vote Records (CVRs) for our elections here in SC. Currently citizens are being blocked from receipt of these reports. Our suit has a good chance of success as the judge has already granted an injunction that preserves the 2020 election data.

CVRs are like an x-ray for the voting machine in that it looks at the vote over time at each precinct. Here is a video of Lauren Martel our counsel on this case and Laura Scharr founder and team leader of SC Safe Elections discussing the case specifics and providing an update.

*****Our state constitution states that our vote should be cast in secret not counted in secret. Not allowing access to this valuable audit tool means that they are counting our vote in secret and we can’t see how that is happening.*******

We have a great change of success in this case but we need your help.
Please contribute to our givesendgo campaign which will 100% fund lawyer and expert witness costs.

Here is a link: www.givesendgo.com/SCFOIA


Here is also a link to our original blog when we first filed which includes court documents for this case. 

https://www.scsafeelections.org/updates/sc-safe-elections-files-suit-to-obtain-cast-vote-records/

In addition, here are some relevant blogs from our website re: cast vote records.

❤❤❤❤❤We appreciate your donations!

Berkeley County–does your vote count?

In this presentation, our Berkeley team volunteer Gen steps through the many issues regarding our election process in SC and particularly the issues found in Berkeley county. She discusses canvassing results, poll observation data, and action steps you can take to improve our voting system to ensure your vote does count.

scsafeelections.org
Help support our legal fight for Cast Vote Records https://www.givesendgo.com/SCFOIA
Newsletter sign up https://substack.com/profile/81974044-sc-safe-elections

Summary of Poll observations

Summary of findings from poll observation in primaries and midterms:  We mobilized roughly 40+ citizens who acted both as poll observers as well as poll watchers for candidates.  Although we sampled a small percentage of polling locations both in early voting (primarily at county board of elections) and in person on election day as well as the primary runoff, we found similar issues across the counties.

Executive Summary- poll observation from the SC midterms

We witnessed similar issues to what we saw in the primaries and runoff earlier this year. Key findings in the primary and subsequent runoff were as follows:

SC State Election Commission did not follow the SC election laws (7-13-35, 7-13-60, 7-13-72, 7-13-100, 7-13-710, 7-13-1750, 7-13-1770) For ex: oaths not filed

Machine glitches flipped votes from one candidate to another in many counties

Tamper resistant seals were voided or missing on “certified” machines

Poor or NO chain of custody practices were observed with ballots, equipment, and thumb drives

Races were missing from ballots due to redistricting

Same-day voter photo IDs issued without proper document proof

Absentee ballot envelopes were examined for signature verification day of receipt and in secret

We found the following issues during the Midterms

Machine Issues

The state of SC experienced some of the machine issues that other states encountered. Just from the small sample we observed, there were ballot printing errors, jams occurred and voters were unable to scan their ballots. Many times, these issues required the voter to redo the entire process or to be issued a provisional or failsafe ballot.  In one instance, the Express Vote ballot marking device kept reading “No Selection.”

More concerning were issues of flipped votes; there was an instance of a single candidate that flipped as well as a straight party ticket flipping from Republican to Green Party as well as straight party Republican flipping to Democrat. The above issues are disconcerting as they indicate that machines exceeded the allowable machine error rate of 1 in 10 M as set forth by the VVSG (Voluntary Voting System Guidelines, Voting System Standards Volume 1 Performance Standards Section 3.2.1).

In addition to the above issues, observers noticed that the tabulators, electronic poll books as well as the ballot marking devices were not calibrated. The time was fast by up to 20 minutes and many of the machines were off by an hour due to the fact that they hadn’t adjusted to the Eastern Standard Time. One polling location was off by an hour for 3 hours.  This could affect the ability to audit the votes and accuracy of reporting data.  These machines go through Logic and Accuracy testing prior to being put into use.  If the clock time is not accurate, what else is not calibrated?

Most disturbing was the issue of a recount in Newberry County where the woman who ran as a write in candidate (unopposed) and won with 14 votes asked for a hand count.  When the recount was complete, she had 300 votes! This is a major machine error that calls into question the accuracy of the tabulators as well as the ballot marking devices.

Regarding absentee ballots, a change to a smaller sized absentee ballot envelope design created 2 folds in the ballot which made feeding and tabulation of the ballots cumbersome and resulted in very long tabulation times, jams and increased errors.

Security

Tamper resistant stick-on seals and zip ties seals were often missing. This was particularly concerning as we had highlighted this issue in the primary. Seals are there for a reason. Chain of custody for our vote is essential to the security, veracity and authenticity of our count.  If the seals are broken it may suggest foul play.  Slapping another seal on doesn’t necessarily solve the problem.  Many of the poll workers were resistant to applying the seals and or replaced the top ones (once voided or after they were found to be missing) without informing the county or recording this issue. Seals are particularly essential during early voting where you have machines that are unattended overnight.

Here is a picture of a proper seal configuration. Here is one that is not.

This DS200 tabulator has a top seal (green tamper resistant seal over the keyhole to the flash drive compartment) and blue zip tie seals on the bottom drawers.
This tabulator has no seals applied on top or on the bottom drawers

Seals on the bottom drawers were removed nightly in the early voting centers so that ballots could be delivered to the counties.  Common sense would suggest that those seals should stay in place such that all the ballots could be counted at the end of the early voting period.  Afterall, the poll tape for the early voting is generated at the end of the early vote period.  If ballots are removed daily during this time, it would make sense to instead generate daily zero poll tapes and end of day poll tapes to ensure accurate tallies.  This is how it is done in other states.

Many observers were concerned about unsecure early voting centers where the public was often roaming into and out of the voting center during the day from other areas in the building. Some locations were set up such that the voter’s choices could be easily viewed from a glass window just behind the voting machines (Ballot marking devices). This would violate our constitution that states all ballots should be cast in secret.

Disenfranchised voters and observers

A voter was thrown out for asking questions or wanting to take pictures and not allowed to vote. An elderly woman was not able to finish her ballot and wasn’t allowed a second chance (to spoil her ballot and start again). She reported that the touchscreen was hard to get a letter to appear and would require a hard press or several tries. This made it difficult to complete a timely ballot if a voter had write-in candidates. Many others experienced the same issue when inputting write-ins.

DMV address update issues, in some cases affecting up to 10% of precinct voters that day, created long lines at the county BOEs and often required the precinct to issue the voter a failsafe ballot.  This potentially affected outcomes of local races and candidates as failsafe ballots don’t include house and school board races but only county and state races.

Observers were often treated poorly and only allowed limited viewing of the area.  Some were banned from observing curbside voting or tabulators.  Witnesses who attended training sessions informed us that the trainers were making inflammatory and defamatory remarks about poll observers.  This is inappropriate and detracts from a substantive training experience.

During the audits and recounts held for local school board races, observers were blocked from viewing anything and public notices for accuracy testing, audits and recounts were not found on the county websites for the voter registration centers.   Poll tapes were not always available or fully visible.

Laws were not followed

  • Precincts refused to review ballots for write ins and one county specifically admitted they refused to check them as the law was antiquated. 7-13-1410
  • Oaths were still not on file in some counties or were not filed in a timely manner and were not administered to poll managers in some precincts. 7-13-72
  • 0 tapes not made available or had obstructed view 7-13-860, 7-13-1110
  • Box not open during the election 7-13-840; Box sealed during election 7-13-1750

The above issues underscore the complexity and unreliability of our current system.  The people of South Carolina are losing trust in our elections.  We are concerned about the accuracy, timeliness, and security of our current electronic voting process.

Legislative action is needed to address these issues particularly with respect to the transparency of our elections. Our group will be recommending several measures in the near future to address this.

Here is a video of our amazing poll observer volunteers and their experience.

Here is the summary of the observations from the primary and runoff:

Here is the chart summary of issues with the midterms