Monday, December 12, 2016

What we gleaned from the voter recount. Michigan's voting system is FUBAR.

This is the first hand account from a man who participated in the recount.

See if you can pick out any nuance to suggest how afraid of this recount the Trump folks were.

Courtesy of Medium: 

On December 7, 2016, I volunteered as an observer with Recount Michigan 2016. I showed up at 9:00am sharp in the heart of Detroit, in heavily democratic Wayne County, Michigan. 

It was a bloodbath. 

I did not count a single vote during my entire first four-hour shift. 

Trump’s legal team was there in force, circling the room like sharks. They were challenging everything, gumming up the works and disqualifying whole precincts. I was only aware of a single Green Party attorney plus one law student in my (large) room. Many challenges had one or more Trump lawyers speaking with election officials, and no legal advocate present for the other side; they were simply outnumbered and outgunned. 

Every recount table had 1–2 Trump observers present, each one holding written scripts to challenge every single precinct, regardless of the facts.

At the end of his post Mr. Sharp wonders if this same scenario played out in other places in Michigan. I think that is a fairly safe assumption.

But if Trump won by the "landslide" that he claims to have won by why would they be so nervous?

Perhaps this is why?

Courtesy of News One:

According to officials, over 80 machines were deemed faulty on November 8 which may have caused electronic vote tallies to be off in over half of the precincts in Detroit as well as one-third of the precincts in Wayne County. The elections director for the city of Detroit, Daniel Baxter, says that the issue could have a problematic impact on a recount. “It’s not good,” he told the Detroit News. “It’s a challenge, but we’re confident the ballots will match. I don’t think it’s going to be 100 percent, but it never is with a recount.” He claims that many of the voting machines were over 10-years-old. 

In Detroit, where African-Americans make up 82 percent of the population, the number of ballots in the precinct poll books didn’t align with the voting machine reports in 59 percent of the city’s precincts. 

Since Clinton received the lion’s share of support from Black voters–88 percent compared to Trump’s 8 percent–questions arise about how he won the state.

So could it be that the Trump campaign KNOWS that there is some hinky shit happening with those voting machines in Michigan, and perhaps even took advantage of that, and are now seriously concerned  that too much scrutiny will bring that to the attention of the public?

Well that would explain all of those expensive lawyers. 

And sadly now thanks to a federal judge we will never know if the Michigan votes were accurately tallied or not.

But I know what I think.

31 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:07 PM

    Actually we do know...

    #Hitler

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous2:25 PM

      #stolen

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:01 PM

      #dumbliberalswhoclaimtobethepartyoftoleranceuntiltheydontgettheirwayandthencryandwhineandstomptheirfeetandcallnamesbecausetheycantacceptreality

      Delete
  2. Anonymous2:37 PM

    Treason! Fingers crossed.

    http://occupydemocrats.com/2016/12/12/trump-mcconnell-giuliani-comey-just-got-formally-accused-treason-democratic-group/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:02 PM

      Lol. You dumbasses will believe anything.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous2:48 PM

    If they are so sure of their landslide victory, you think they would welcome the recount to prove their legitimacy. Those Debolt machines were the worst things to happen to our democracy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:48 PM

      You are absolutely right. And, similarly, the GOP should welcome an intensive investigation of the role of Russia in our election. I hope that any Republicans involved in the Russian morass are tried for treason.
      Beaglemom

      Delete
  4. Anonymous2:51 PM

    That's what the GOP does. Remember the chaos in Fl re-counting the votes in 2000? They brought their "people" from all over the country to fight the re-counts. One was my Congressman, who was covered nationally as pounding on the door one place there was counting going on, yelling "Stop the counting" over and over. He had the seat locked up. But, in the next few years he had some domestic problems and drinking problems and was finally ousted in 2006 by the glorious Kirsten Gillibrand now our junior Senator. Unfortunately, the GOP has re-claimed that Congressional seat.

    And, local Republicans have had temper tantrums over counts as well, going so far as to travel to NYC to try and get "the goods" on absentee voters to prove they aren't qualified and throw out their vote. Hasn't worked, but they do it. They are horrid through and through on all levels it seems.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous2:51 PM

    I continue to believe that all the votes did not get counted correctly in Wayne county.

    I am sure the DeVos played a part in all this also.

    the rethugs didn't want a recount, if they are so confident they won, why all the protests? After all it would only "prove' the donald won.

    Bunch of crooks and traitors, the whole party.

    ReplyDelete
  6. SallyinMI3:20 PM

    I live here, and this state has been going into the crapper ever since "The Nerd" and his ALEC shorts took us over in 2010. We voted out emergency managers (yeah, the guys who get huge salaries and screwed u Flint's water and Detroit's schools) and lo an behold, a Christmas miracle that year: the lame duck GOP statehouse had a bill all ready to vote on in December (courtesy of ALEC) and it has a nice rider on it with funding for something else, so it can NEVER be brought before voters again. The GOP is EVIL. And Trump is their Satan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:40 PM

      Live in MI also:

      The legislature sure came up with the money for their new office blg. didn't they!!!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous3:42 PM

      And I totally agree with you, Sally!

      Delete
  7. Democracy is toast in America. Constant vigilance is the price of freedom. Guess that constant vigilance only means something to thugs...their freedom to be predators.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous3:38 PM

    O/T In January, they will say the announcement will be in Feb, in Feb put off until March blah blah.

    Then he will hope that everyone has forgotten about it.

    In the mean time he will be racking in the dough with no bid contracts and over inflated prices.
    ----------------------------

    Trump cancels major Thursday press conference on how he will handle his businesses

    U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has delayed until January an announcement on how he plans to step back from running his business empire to avoid conflicts of interest, his spokesman said on Monday.

    “The announcement will be in January,” said Trump spokesman Sean Spicer.

    http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/trump-cancels-major-thursday-press-conference-on-how-he-will-handle-his-businesses/



    I wouldn’t want to be in the position to vote for a traitor either, Hillary maybe elected yet.
    --------------------------------

    Electors demand intelligence report on Russian hacking before Electoral College vote

    http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/electors-demand-intelligence-report-on-russian-hacking-before-electoral-college-vote/

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous3:45 PM

    Someone needs to alert the ACLU.They should be all over this travesty.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous3:47 PM

    A federal judge appointed by a Republican president. About 25 judicial nominations approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee have not gone to the whole Senate for an approval vote. And of course there's the fact that Republicans have totally ignored President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court. The GOP, led by McConnell have been in violation of the Constitution. Their obstruction has been sedition on a grand scale.
    Beaglemom

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:16 PM

      McConnell's guilty of treason. Interesting to see that he's now all for a bipartisan investigation of Russian hacking of our Presidential election . LOL. Fuck him. And the horse he rode in on, and his goddamn dog. Let's see how he enjoys the backlash that he helped create.

      GeorgiaPeach

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:36 AM

      Nobody is deemed guilty of treason just because you say so, based on supposition and fairy tales written on left wing blogs and 'news' sites. So there you have it. Trump will be President.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous4:01 PM

    Where are the lawyers representing the people?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous4:10 PM

    We've really got to change discourse about mental health in the US. That's starts with ceasing talk and false allegations concerning others mental health. For the stigma to be broken, people who are afflicted with such issues, which is probably 70% of humans, need to start the conversation about their struggles. The internet starting the conversation drastically hurts those in need of services but feel victimized.

    If you're someone who's finger pointed or called another person something, or used a term lightly, apologize and promise to never do it again.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous4:13 PM

    OT: Sorry. Is it just a rumor (from a person commenting over at TPM) that Bristol is pregnant while being married?

    Trump couldn't believe he won and now he won't let go. He's got a death grip on the levers of power. Josh Marshall had a good explanation of why Trump may not be able to divest, had to do with cash flow and Donald not being as wealthy as he made everyone believe. Trump, a real bullshitter if there ever was one. Hope I can bear the next four years without going crazy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:23 PM

      OT>BUT REAL NEWS>4200
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/north-dakota-pipeline-spills-estimated-176000-gallons_us_584f2375e4b0e05aded56896

      Delete
    2. Anonymous3:11 AM

      Anon at 4:13 pm. You and a lot of the rest of us, including me, are going to have a difficult road ahead. Lunacy prevails. Trump's tough talk bullying approach to the media has worked; most media outlets will not utter a word of criticism of him in the future. I'm glad we have a house full of books and we have Apple TV and Netflix for distraction. Nobody sleeps well here right now and we're pretty testy. I think that's all part of our shock and sorrow about the November outcome - crooked as it was.
      Beaglemom

      Delete
  14. Anonymous4:17 PM

    It takes everything in me to hold back every day from saying on IM what I want to happen to Trump. I'll stick with just saying a heart attack.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous4:28 PM

    Can't bear to watch the news channels right now. CNN just had a long interview with Conway and now there's a panel on that has a bunch of Repubs on it. They're all talking about the suspense of tomorrow's announcement of the SOS. Why couldn't it have been done today? We know who he's picking anyway. Makes me sick. Chris Hayes has Bernie on, which is fine, but he also has on all these voters who went with Trump. Today there should be so much on during the evening regarding what we learned over the weekend, but Trump is once again getting almost all of the attention in a way that he approves of.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous4:30 PM

    Trump has postponed his big press conference about removing himself from his business -- says he'll let everyone know what's what in January sometime. The guy can't let go of his business because it's like losing his manhood. He has to decide between the presidency or his business. Just turning over to his kids won't work and he's finding out now just how serious this all is. The new hotel in Washington is in jeopardy too because the lease forbids any elected official from participating in or benefiting from the lease. It's all gotta go and I'm guessing that's what he's been told - the only way to avoid conflict of interest and impeachment due to the emoluments clause of the Constitution is to divest completely. Oh poor Donnie. Castration or making America great again -- tough decision for the orange twit.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous11:21 PM

    Hello Israel...what brings you here?

    ReplyDelete
  18. I am a voter in Genesee County Michigan. I do absentee ballot since I am over a certain age and my hub is older than I and is my ride. We had a ballot problem here before I even got mine in the mail. Seems the company contracted to print the ballots messed them up big time and they were already in the mail. We then got letters saying not to use those ballots but wait until the new ones came. But many had already voted and returned the ballots before they got the letter. The letter said if that happened and we returned the new ballot, the old one would be thrown out and the new one counted. But if we didn't send in the new ballot, the old one counted even if it was messed up. It has something to do with the ink and how the machines would read them. So the second ballots just to be safe would be hand notated. At this point, we don't know if our ballots were even counted. This is a county that is always democrat voting. But this time not so overwhelmingly. I do not belong to any party and never will but I also now have no trust in the process in my state. tens of thousands of ballots with every other box checked did not have a notation for president. I think the number was in the 70 thousand range. Box of sealed ballots that should have retained 300 ballots, had 50 in them. It's a horrible mess. I have enough to deal with as hub has had cancer and surgery and my anxiety is overwhelming for that. Add this-and Trump....I am beyond scared for my money invested and holding on to my health care and SS. Hub at least has Medicare for now.

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  19. I observed at the recount in Genesee County last Weds. and missing ballots were an issue. Under MI law if the number of ballots doesn't match the number on the seal of the box, that precinct can't be recounted. Some election workers recounted the ballots and went to the poll book and attempted to resolve the discrepancy, and others just counted them once and threw them back in the box and resealed it. And of course the Hitler Youth were there in force and challenging everything they could. It's no secret in MI that they put the most antiquated equipment in minority neighborhoods. But here's the kicker: the very same week that the GOP stopped the recount because they claimed there was no fraud they passed a strict voter ID law because....VOTER FRAUD. The bill contains a 10 million dollar budget allocation. That money could have been better spent replacing equipment.

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  20. FU Hillary6:03 AM

    Every time you look at Trump you can thank Hillary for giving America him instead of Bernie Sanders

    ReplyDelete

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