Posted on 11/18/2023 7:10:53 AM PST by lightman
Close to 100 voters have come to the Northampton County Republican Party with complaints alleging they were turned away from polls on Election Day or their votes weren’t registered securely, according to the county party chairman.
Northampton County Republican Committee Chairman Glenn Geissinger said he’s working with attorneys at the local and state level to prevent the election results from being certified as scheduled next week. Of the 100 statements he’s received, 75 were notarized, Geissinger said.
“By pursuing this, we hope that these errors will be eradicated and that we can move to a system that better represents the voters’ intent in 2024 and beyond,” Geissinger said.
Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure said the official vote tabulation for the Nov. 7 election ended Wednesday. He’s confident the election was fair and accurate, and he expects the county election commission to certify the results at its meeting Tuesday, Nov. 21.
Related: Pa. county voting machines flip votes for judges, an error to be fixed in tabulation
The county shut down voting on its machines shortly after the polls opened at 7 a.m. Nov. 7. Workers determined the paper record of voter selections on the touchscreen machines was transposing votes cast to retain Superior Court Judge Jack Panella and Superior Court Judge Victor Stabile. Voters were given emergency or provisional paper ballots while county officials grappled with the voting machine issue.
Voters were allowed to use the machines after 10 a.m. when a judge agreed to rely on the digital record of the election, which was accurate.
Geissinger said some polling places ran out of paper emergency ballots and that some voters were told to come back later but couldn’t. Some went to work in New York City after attempting to vote first thing in the morning, which is why Geissinger asked a judge on Election Day to keep polls open an extra hour to give commuters more time to try voting again, and which was rejected.
Geissinger said some voters were upset that poll workers could see whom they voted for when they asked for help with the machines. Some said their paper ballots were put in unsecured envelopes.
Geissinger said county Republicans plan to file right-to-know requests to analyze the election process.
“We want to understand what really happened, how many voters may have been denied the right to vote or were disenfranchised in any way,” Geissinger said.
McClure said the results of the November 2023 election are on par with the results of previous county elections. The county looked at voter registration statistics, election turnout, mail-in voter participation and the percentage registered voters who voted.
There’s no statistical anomaly that would indicate large groups of voters were disenfranchised, he said. There were no anomalies that would indicate an unfair advantage for Republicans or Democrats, he said.
He understands why voters were angry over trouble at the polls and apologized for any inconvenience they experienced, but maintains the election results are fair.
“We are very confident that the vast majority of people who wanted to vote on Election Day cast a vote,” McClure said. “While it’s unacceptable if one voter couldn’t vote when he planned to vote, we do not believe that the outcomes of any races would have changed.”
Most races were decided by more than 100 votes. In small boroughs, though, the margin of victory could be a few dozen votes. In Tatamy, two candidates were only 12 votes away from winning a seat on borough council.
McClure said the election commission’s certification vote is an administrative step. The commission doesn’t have the authority to reject the election results, he said.
“They can’t reject the results by law. But I don’t think there is any necessity for them to reject them. Based on everything we know, there was a legal, fair and accurate election and no races were materially affected” by the voting machine problems, McClure said.
Northampton County Election Commission Chairwoman Sharon Gavin-Levy didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking a comment.
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Northampton County contains the city of Bethlehem.
As such, voting has to be more secure than Fort Knox. More. If not we will never have representative government again.
"More than 100 Pa. voters complain about Election Day errors, GOP says [??? emphasis added]"
FR: Never Accept the Premise of Your Opponent’s Argument
The key question about GOP and voter complaints is this.
Has GOP followed through with a formal request for state and feds to investigate alleged ballot box fraud under Section 2 of the 14th Amendment (14A), that section a penalty for states where ballot box fraud has occurred? I don't think so.
Excerpted from 14A:
"Section 2: Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged [emphases added], except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State." [Section 2: Apportionment of Representatives]
"Section 5: The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
In fact, since the zero tolerance, "hair trigger" wording of Secion 2 works in the favor of GOP for requesting state and federal investigation of alleged vote-counting fraud, certainly the GOP wants to become the hero for initiating formal investigation of such fraud. /sarc
"is denied to any"
"or in any way abridged,"
On the other hand, note that due process of Section 2 was obstructed twice in 2020 elections imo, first when the anti-Trump courts refused to consider Trump's evidence of a stolen election, followed by Pence and the J6 Congress scandalously (imo) voting to ignore allegations of electoral vote fraud.
Election Denier?
Insurrection?
Election Interference?
Obstruction of the certification of the election?
Time for the MSM and DOJ to get to work......
The GOP will do nothing.
Your #3 > very well said !
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