Category Updates

Concerns over voter fraud have escalated as more evidence of malfeasance in the 2020 and 2022 elections is brought to light.  The 2020 and 2022 Arizona elections, for example, according to experts were illegitimate since unauthorized, altered software was used on the Dominion machines and apparently there was access during the election that altered votes.  There were also severe security violations and a failure of the county to conduct the statutorily required logic and accuracy tests.

For more information read the affidavits from the case that was filed with the Supreme Court. I really have no idea why the court didn’t take this case as the evidence is disturbing and overwhelming. Once again, the courts wouldn’t look at the merits of a case and issues due to “standing” were the reason for the dismissals in the lower courts.

See https://state-of-denial.com/supreme-court/ for more information.

In addition, according to a poll done by Rasmussen and the Heartland Institute 1 out of 5 people admitted to committing fraud in the 2020 election. This is an ongoing concern due to early voting (which was instituted post COVID) as well as mail-in balloting where many states automatically mail out ballots to all registered voters—never mind that the voter rolls are often loaded with ineligible voters. To wit, 17% of respondents stated that in the 2020 election they cast a ballot in a state where they were no longer a permanent resident. If 20% admitted to fraud how many didn’t admit to doing an illegal act?

Here is a related interview by Tucker Carlson on the subject. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/04/watch-tucker-carlson-discusses-poll-finding-one-five/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=watch-tucker-carlson-discusses-poll-finding-one-five

It is no wonder over half of likely voters believe there will be cheating in the 2024 election.

This begs the question, “What can voters do to minimize fraud in 2024 and help ensure that their candidate wins.”

Step 1: Show up to vote in the primaries—Unfortunately, most people don’t vote in their state’s primary elections. High turnout is the best defense to voter fraud.  It makes it harder to cheat if more people show up to the polls. In South Carolina, we are lucky to get a turnout of around 20% statewide for primaries. This is abysmal. You can’t complain about your leadership if you sit home and don’t vote. Make is a priority to vote in the primary as well as all other elections (especially the local ones) in your state. Put the date on your calendar. The South Carolina state primary is June 11^th, so make sure you are registered and informed. Which brings me to step 2.

Step 2: Educate yourself on the candidates—this doesn’t mean paying attention to seedy push polls, asking your friends who they vote for(cringe) or voting for the most recognizable person on the ballot. Research the candidates. Review their websites. Call them and ask them about their positions on issues that are crucial to you. If they already are in office make sure you check their voting record. You will likely be surprised that many of the people you thought would vote a certain way actually vote the opposite. Although South Carolina is supposedly a “red” state we rank in as the 3^rd most liberal state in the US. See this analysis that was done by Palmetto State Watch:

You can also research your legislators’ conservative scorecard here using the John Birch society freedom index. The score rates members of congress on their adherence to the constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, as well as avoiding foreign entanglements.

Step 3 DON’T VOTE EARLY NOR BY MAIL!

This is extremely important. As we saw above, mail in voting can be a gateway for fraud.

In addition, candidates can get access to poll book data to know who has voted and who hasn’t in order to drive turnout to their benefit. This would be advantageous for a candidate who has more funds to spend on a last minute “get out the vote” initiatives. This poll data could also potentially be modeled to predict not only turnout but potential results via sophisticated algorithms. If nefarious actors had access to the tabulator data via hacking or other methods (internal hidden modems/flash drives) they could “fine tune” algorithms to flip or weight votes in favor of a certain candidate.  In short, a longer voting period gives potential bad actors more data and more time to act.

Instead vote on election day in person and if for some good reason you can’t vote in person that day submit your absentee ballot as late as you can, given your state’s laws.

Step 4 Observe and report

It is imperative that citizens are able to observe ALL phases of the election process.  It is an essential right that we have and you should take advantage of it. Be a poll worker. This will educate you on how elections are conducted. Also attend your county logic and accuracy testing of the machines.  If you do, we can provide pertinent questions for you to ask. Remember that if our vote recorders are not accurate, they shall not be used. Also go to view your county inspection and tabulation of the absentee ballots. It is eye-opening to say the least. The more citizens become aware of the complexity of the process the greater chance we have or reforming it.

If you are unhappy with your local, state, or national representation follow the above steps and also get more involved in your local news and politics. Attend your party meetings, county council meetings and school board meetings. If you are disappointed in election outcomes you have no one to blame but yourself if you don’t observe and participate.

We can win in 2024; it’s as easy as 1-2-3-4

It is an important election year and over half of likely voters don’t trust electronic voting systems. Apparently, our legislators don’t have a good understanding of the pulse of their people. Despite hundreds of calls, emails, letters and citizens rallying at the state house they refused to give us a proper hearing on ANY of our election integrity bills. Furthermore, they use their own internecine war with the Freedom Caucus as an excuse for why they can’t move these bills forward. It appears that power moves from the top down not the bottom up in Columbia.

In the meantime, more and more evidence is coming out regarding the lax security as well as other potentially illegal issues with ALL election systems in America. The recently filed Supreme court case in AZ (Lake/Finchem) alleges that the Dominion system had untested, uncertified, illegal software on the systems used in the 2020 and 2022 elections. This issue apparently was found in other states as well. In addition, they kept the password for the system in plain text so that anyone who gained access could have full control of the system. Furthermore, they did not conduct logic and accuracy testing on the machines used on election day. The Supreme Court will meet next Friday to decide whether or not they will take this case. If the Supreme court doesn’t take this case we have a big issue to deal with. For perspective, the defense didn’t reply at all to the appeal filing nor the filing for an expedited hearing. Hmmm. Stay tuned.

Note that most vulnerabilities in one electronic system are not unique to that particular system. In other words, this is NOT A DOMINION problem. IT IS an ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEM PROBLEM. To underscore the issue here is an eye opening video of our current ES&S 6.1.1.0 system. It has not had any updates in over FIVE years according to EAC (Election Assistance Commission) documentation for engineering orders and updates. Would you do a financial transaction on your home computer if it didn’t have any antivirus updates in 5 years? I think not.

Just a reminder that this is the system we use all over South Carolina.

The passionate citizens fought hard this year and you made your voice known. Now you can vote these representatives and senators out who didn’t support election integrity. Get your friends and neighbors to turn out in the June primary on election day and convince them to vote in person on that day –NOT EARLY.* Research the voting records of the people running and ask them about their views on important topics. Turnout is notoriously low in our primaries and by surprising them with a high turnout we can usher in a new crop of legislators who actually will work for the people.

*Regarding early voting it is THE WAY THAT THEY CAN best determine how to potentially cheat. Voting early gives then the info they need for the cheat–why do that? Don’t give them that information. If you need to vote curbside or absolutely have a VERY good reason that you can’t vote in person on election day you can get an absentee ballot. Friends don’t let friends vote early.

By Lucy Twinkle

It’s Tuesday at 1:15 pm and I have just learned that the House Subcommittee on Business Commerce & Administration will be having a hearing at 4 pm on the regulations put forth by the State Election Commission (SEC). Only one problem. I am 2 hours away. But you know what…I’m going!

So, I left at 1:45 pm and tore up to Columbia (obeying speed limits…of course). After parking, and walking to the Blatt Building, I arrived 2 minutes before 4 pm. Just in time to get my name on the “I want to speak” Public Comments sheet. Can’t cut it closer than that. Here’s what happened – a summary:

There were two regulations (REGs) specifically that concerned me: 1) Doc 5204 about election equipment and 2) Doc 5224 about audits.

5204 states that “Before any product considered by an electoral board for use in conducting elections or voting registration can be purchased, it must be approved for use by the Executive Director. “The Executive Director will have SOLE DISCRETION to approve or disapprove use of the product.”

Um…at first glance that would be a “no.” Why should the authority to purchase any kind of election equipment be left to the discretion of one person, regardless of who that person might be? SEC Executive Director Howie Knapp explained that he needed to have the authority to ensure that all hardware and software in county election offices, such as printers, would be consistent and compatible. The only problem with this explanation is that the regulation is written so broadly as to allow the Executive Director to approve any and all election equipment; that it the regulation wasn’t specific in terms of the types of equipment that the Exec. Dir. Could approve. I spoke against this REG – and am happy to report that while it was approved to move out of subcommittee to be considered by the Full Committee, it was only done so on the condition that it be revised to say that such approval would involve the entire SEC Board. I see that as a win!

5224 – Confidentiality of Audit Records. This REG states that “All records and workpapers of the SEC’s audit division, except the final report, are confidential and not subject to public disclosure.”

That’s another “no.” The public has the right to be able to review the documents and data that led to the issuance of the final report. One legislator stated that in his legal opinion, this REG would run counter to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws. He moved to have the Subcommittee disapprove the regulation. This required a second, which didn’t happen. There was more discussion. Another attempt to disapprove, but no second. More discussion. I spoke about the importance of FOIA laws and used the grocery receipt analogy. It’s not good enough to see the final total without being able to see the individual items that contributed to the total.

Mr. Knapp urged its passing by saying that other governmental agencies had the right to keep data involving investigations private. Another woman in public comment stated that this could be accomplished by simply writing WITNESS 1 or WHISTLEBLOWER 2. Finally, it was decided that if there was a desire to keep such information from the public, it would have to be done statutorily and the Committee asked Mr. Knapp to withdraw his regulation, which he did. Another win!!

Even with two wins, I have concerns. The first is that there seems to be a desire to centralize the control of our state elections in the hands of unelected officials in the State Election Commission and away from the counties. It seemed as if the main concern of the legislators was to give the Executive Director more authority to reign in “rogue counties.” I tried to explain that centralization has the effect of moving the decision-making processes away from the counties and the people and that it could destroy the ability of counties to make decisions that would be appropriate for their unique counties. For example, we see counties all across the United States putting a pause on the election machines and moving to experimenting with paper ballots. A move towards centralization would preclude that ability.

Another concern was the very loose language of these regulations. While Mr. Knapp explained his motive in putting forth these regulations, he won’t be there forever. And I fear that the language is so vague and open-ended that it could be misappropriated and possibly invite abuse of the authority conveyed on the Executive Director and used for nefarious purposes. I would have liked the language to be more specific and defined, and not open to interpretation.

The meeting was over at 7 pm.

PS. For those of you who want to know more…other issues were addressed.

5192 – Definitions: one of the issues was the definition of a (poll) observer and the fact that observers would be “permitted at the discretion of the poll clerk.” Mr. Knapp explained that this is federal law – and that if a poll clerk wanted to exclude the President, he/she could. Mr. Knapp explained that this REG was needed to establish definitions. It was approved to go to Committee.

5193 – Voter rolls: this states that “The Executive Director may determine a reasonable price for voter registration lists by considering the following factors:” – and then sets up some criteria for setting the price, one of which is “recouping the costs associated with running the Sale of Lists program.” We are currently charged $2,500 for each requested list. One legislator explained that this price can be onerous for individuals who would need to request voter rolls several times in an election year. I stated that this information should be provided to the citizens of the state for free, that we pay taxes and this information belongs to us. Mr. Knapp acknowledged that some states give their voter rolls for free, some like North Carolina post the rolls on their website, and others charge much more. He stated that he collects about $100,000 from the sale of the rolls when the actual cost is closer to $1.2M. One legislator stated that he liked the regulation because it defined criteria for setting the price of voter rolls; I disagreed and stated that I saw it as an expansion of his powers by putting in the regulation that the intent of the fee was to cover expenses of maintaining voter rolls. This REG passed and will go to Committee.

5194 – Ballot Standards Document – this would provide for standardization of ballot formats. The argument made by Mr. Knapp was that this was necessary in response to election officials who insisted on putting their name on the ballot instead of the Executive Director. Actually, the effect of this regulation would be to limit the ability of individual counties to create their own ballot design, including the use of paper ballots. This REG passed and will go to committee.

5195 – Protest Hearings – sets up criteria for protest hearings in county Boards of Canvassers and Executive Committees. Approved to go to Full Committee.

5196 – Oaths – this sets forth the requirements for different types of election-related oaths. Approved and sent to Full Committee.

5197 – County Reports – this REG required that the counties report any lawsuits filed against them to the SEC within 30 days. The legislators changed that to within 24 Business hours – and approved it to go to Full Committee.

5198 – Absentee Ballot Drop boxes – “A county board of voter registration and elections may not utilize absentee ballot drop boxes for receiving or collecting completed absentee ballots.” This was approved to go to Committee.

5199 – Candidate nicknames – “The final decision on whether a candidate authorized by law to appear on a ballot in a general, special or primary election in this State for any office may use their nickname or derivative name to appear on a ballot is at the discretion of the Executive Director.” Mr. Knapp explained that this REG is necessary because we see candidates listed on ballots with names like Joe “Smokey Barbecue” Jones and we want to prevent that. I spoke and asked the Mr. Knapp if he would disallow Nikki Haley to use her name and require her to use her real birthname “Nimrata.” I said that this could be a form of election interference. Once again, this REG opens the door to future possible abuse if a future Executive Director interprets this REG differently from Mr. Knapp. Approved and sent to Committee.

5201 – requires counties to develop Emergency Procedure Plans for polling places during elections. According to Mr. Knapp, these procedures are not currently in place. This REG was approved to move to Full Committee.

5202 – Candidate withdrawals – establishes what to do in case of a candidate withdrawal. Approved to go to full committee.

5203 – Electronic petitions – this has to do with gathering petitions for nonpartisan candidates. Approved and sent to Full Committee.

5205 – Nonpartisan and Petition Candidate Information Reports – outlines the requirements for nonpartisan candidate statements. Approved and sent to Full Committee.

5225 – Storage and retention requirements for election records and equipment. Sets forth standards for storing important election data. Approved and sent to Committee.

Many thanks to the amazing beautiful people who showed up today for the hearing on H 4935. This bill supports one day of voting on hand marked paper ballots that are hand-counted.   Although we didn’t get to speak, it was a victory.  Fifty-one people showed up for a hearing in which they knew they might not have a chance to speak and they did so last minute!!!!

They had to open up a room to accomodate the overflow of people who wanted to testify and hear testimony on H 4935 the SAVE Act. 

Afterward, most of us went to the offices of the committee to sign their book and let them know we were there and that we had been looking forward to testifying. 

Some of us also taped our own testimonies afterwards in the lobby.  Below are the ones I received. If you would like your voice to be heard please record a statement on Zoom and send it to scsafeelections@zohomail.com

Remember that for every one person who showed up there are thousands who care about this issue. Many wanted to go, but couldn’t join since it was last minute.

The attendance and passion shown today prove that elections ARE IMPORTANT TO THE PEOPLE and that the PEOPLE WANT TO return to PAPER.

Watch some of the statements below:

Heather from Berkeley

Becky from Spartanburg County

Leslie Beaufort County

Tim York County

Larry Spartanburg County

Denise York County

Laura Lexington County

In this presentation, SC Safe Elections’ team leader Laura Scharr discusses progress to date, the implications of (s)elections, and how we can restore trust in the election ecosystem. The gold standard for elections will maximize security, verifiability, transparency, and accessibility. You can help us make the change.

In this same presentation to the SpartanburgCan group Julie Baker discusses the many vulneraiblities of our electronic voting systems in detail and takes questions from the audience.

These are must see presentations.

In this video forensic accountant Laura Downing, cyber expert Julie Baker, data analyst Cryste Carrol and SC Safe Elections founder Laura Scharr discuss the false narratives that are commonly discussed and rebut these fallacies with facts and experience evaulating data across the nation.

Are are voting systems secure even though they aren’t “connecte to the internet?

How do audits of elections ensure accuracy?

Does Early voting make sense?

Is hand counting of paper ballots feasible?

We will answer these questions and more.

Here are some related blogs you may want to check out:
https://www.scsafeelections.org/updates/epic-fail-the-sc-election-commission-audit-by-the-lac/
https://www.scsafeelections.org/updates/legislative-audit-council-find-multitude-of-issues-with-their-audit-of-the-sc-election-commission/

Cyber security expert Julie Baker talks about the many vulnerabilites in our electronic voting system.

She steps through all the ways risk is embedded in the system.

SC Safe Elections Team Leader Laura Scharr provides the big picture view, why these vulnerabilities need to be addressed and what you can do now to help.

Call or email your legislators today and ask them to make changes that allow more accountability. The SEC wants to fix this by giving themselves more money to the tune of $11M and to hire 50 more employees to audit themselves. BTW, an audit by definition shouldn’t be done by your own organization. That is NOT accountability. Is it time for the Secretary of State–an elected position–to take more responsibility?

In this video, SC Safe Elections talks to forensic accountant Laura Downing and Cybersecurity expert Julie Baker to discuss the audit of the SC Election Commission by the Legislative Audit Council. We summarize the top findings of the report which is a must read and can be found here: https://lac.sc.gov/reports/reports-agency-a-k/sec-2024

Read the executive summary here:

How can the people of South Carolina trust their elections when they know that:
*Only 58% of the counties complied with the audit.
*$5M of election equipment is unaccounted for
*Recommendations from the audit done 10 years ago were never implemented
*Data was not being shared with ERIC nor were ERIC recommendations for list removals being followed
*Post-election hand count audits were not uniform, not done properly and were considered unusable. *Clear Ballot virtual audits also showed error rates that exceeded the allowable machine error rate.
*Most concerning, citizens were kept from observing the elections and audits as well as from obtaining valuable election records

These are just some of the lowlights…..

Please contact the house constituional subcommittee today regarding supporting H 4935.

Send a letter to the House Constitutional Law subcommittee members and call or email each member below to ask them to support this bill with a hearing: 

HJudConstitutionalLaws@schouse.gov

CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS SUBCOMMITTEE 

Wallace H. “Jay” Jordan, Jr., Chairman 803-734-3114

Justin T. Bamberg D 803-212-6907 

Travis A. Moore 803-212-6893

William Weston J. Newton 803-734-3120

 William W. “Will” Wheeler, III  803-212-6958