Friday, September 10, 2010
Election Commission Files Point-by-Point Rebuttal of Election Litigants, Promises More Info
Posted by Jackson Baker on Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 7:54 AM
A point-by-point legal response to charges of serious irregularities in its conduct of the August 5 county election was filed in Chancery Court Thursday by the Shelby County Election Commission, and SCEC chairman Bill Giannini promised an even more detailed response for public consumption in the next few days."
The Commission filing, prepared by lawyer John Ryder, directly rebutted most of the specific allegations in the amended emergency petition filed last month by 10 plaintiffs — eight Democratic nominees who were certified as having been defeated in races for county offices and two defeated candidates for judicial positions.
The litigants’ petition asks that the results of the election be declared invalid as “incurably uncertain.”
There was partial concurrence on some of the points alleged by the plaintiffs — but only to minor circumstantial aspects of them and not at all to any charge of serious irregularity. The most obvious concession by the Commission — composed of three Republicans and two Democrats — was its admission that “there was a problem with the entry of date for the electronic poll book.”
This admission, relating to the fact that the names of some 5400 people who had early-voted during the May primary season had been improperly fed into the data bank for August 5 election-day voting, had already been acknowledged by the Commission. Previously, in reporting on its own internal investigation of the matter, the Commission had conceded what it termed “human error” and denied any consequences that could have transformed the result of any of the election races.
That reasoning, repeated again in Thursday’s filing, was that at least 2000 of the potentially affected voters ended up voting, either by means of provisional ballots or after signing “fail-safe” affidavits that allowed them to vote normally. The number of those remaining, argued the Commission, was insufficient to have altered any outcome. (It should be noted, however, that by this reasoning, one of the petitioners, defeated judicial candidate Glenn Wright, came within 1,516 votes of the winning candidate in his race, putting Wright potentially within the margin of doubt.)
In conversation afterward, Giannini and other commission members elaborated on some of the points at issue in the dispute. One of the most controversial has been that of a “manual override” function in the county’s Diebold machinery, alleged by the plaintiffs to have permitted alteration of the voting results. As explained by Giannini and the others, the use of the manual override function was restricted to allowing the addition of the aforesaid provisional ballots to the voting totals.
Giannini said that the other allegations — including one relating to disparities in the numbers of votes cast and voters certified as having voted and one that some of the machines were programmed with a “ghost race” in addition to the ones on the regular ballot visible to voters — would be addressed in greater detail in a follow-up document.
Comments (16)
Showing 1-16 of 16
Well I guess the Republican Kitchen Cabinet meet and decided Giannini need to say something...Nothing came out worth anything.
Bill Gibbons you might need someone else to represent your party.
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One thing for sure, Forensic do not lie. Digital Footprints, Tampering with votes and machines. Stealing votes giving them to other candidates.
Smell like Giannanni and his Gang has sh@#t and stepped in it and the sh@#t is stinking to the highest heaven. Smell like "TAP!!! TAP!!! TAP!!!
There MUST be a FEDERAL INVESTIGATION these candidates owe their Constiuents/Voters that!!!!
Before this is over the 1 write in vote for 38103 is going to push me over the top. Move over Luttrell. I'm bringing the Purple Church back!
At the very least, the forensic audit reveals very poor practices and non-existent internal controls. Based upon these findings, a verbal rebuttal is meaningless.
When faced with audit findings such as those produced by Bev Harris and her associate, a "point by point rebuttal" is not a sufficient response. The poor practices and lack of internal controls are not debatable, they are fact. The only acceptable response at this point is to produce some internal control standards, have them approved by an outside authority, and then willingly submit to an audit at the end of each election to ensure that those internal controls were followed exactly. These internal controls need to be in place before the Nov 2 election. By the way, this is the MINIMUM acceptable response. Do over of the Aug 5 election and replacing of all of the members of the election commission might also be options worth considering.
It is now approaching six weeks since the latest stolen elections in Shelby county and Gia-ninny still cannot explain (among the many, many other "glitches") how 6,000+ more votes were recorded than voters and he needs more time to do so. Yeah, right.
It is clear that this Rethug gang can neither shoot straight nor move their mouths without lying. However, if red-ringed election fraudsters look, walk and quack like ducks; this bunch could get a job at the Peabody Hotel after they are removed from the Shelby County Election Commission AND after they are released from prison.
Shelby countians of all political persuasions: DO NOT CONSENT to a fraudulent election -- it does not serve any of us except the un-American election thieves who have taken the reins of the TN Republican party. The election fraud evidence is overwhelming and there is only one real explanation. In their haste to take advantage of the unverifiable voting equipment that TN Republicans worked so hard to get in place and keep in place, the Shelby county Rs way over-reached to produce results that no one in their right minds can (and should) accept. Since this local corrupt crew knew they would be assisted by their baby brother in crime, Tre Hargett, it is no surprise that they would try to steal your franchise. The only question remaining is whether Shelby county voters (and the TBI and the US Department of Justice) will allow them to perpetuate this charade.
Quick, Gia-ninny, we need more bluster, blather and nonsensical "know-nothing" nuggets from you. It seems to be all you are good for. Protecting the Constitution and defending the consent of the governed as the only legitimate basis for our governments -- not so much. Where are the honorable and patriotic Shelby county Republicans when we need them most? Don't tell me they no longer exist, because I know they do. The question remains -- do they hate American democracy as much as Gia-ninny and his ilk?
Bernie, I wish everyone shared your just and bountiful indignation. Keep sharing the wealth.
Randy Wade is a retired Deputy Sheriff Administrator. In law enforcement you can get a Judge to sign a warrant for a person's arrest on an informant information, without telling who the informant is, providing the informant is a reliable informant.
My understanding the informant is an employee insde the Election Commission that with in it self would tell you that person is reliable. Why is it so important that the informants name is released? Just follow the lead that the informant gave, and investigate.
Which are as follow: #1 Ask for the CF card, which will provide all the information the investigators need, however the Election Commissioner will not release that information, why? is there something they want to hide. #2 Higher ups knew the data entries ( Human Erorr) was the day before and they chose to go forth with the election.
I submitt to you, there is "DEAD CAT ON THE LINE" ...He is stinking to the highest heavens. Could it be Holden and "G MAN" or both and are their any other involvements, inside and outside of the Election Commisssioner?
If the May early-vote rolls were fed into the computer instead of the August rolls, then wouldn't anyone who voted early in August be able to vote again on election day? It seems like disenfranchisement is only one aspect of the problem.
One explanation for why there are more votes than signed-in voters is that such double-voting occurred, along with an effort to hide it by allowing the double-voters to not sign in or to sign in on pages that would later vanish.
Another informant from the Election Commission has come forward...Attorney Van Turner received the phone call. The information is ALARMING!!!
Giannini OMG!!! You are respopnsible for over 250 polls with any where from 3-6 computers inside the poll locations and you are going to tell the voters you have no computer skills!!! Who does the hiring at the Election Commission? Seem to me it is time for pink slips. Another investigation by your office, that dog will not hunt, we do not trust your investigation. Bring in the FBI!!!
Gia-ninny is not hired -- he is appointed by the State Election Commission, supposedly after being recommended by the local Republican Party and by local Republican officials. That begs the question -- how do Shelby Countians remove sitting SCEC members, notably the two Democrats who don't seem to be concerned at all that the Shelby County Democrats want them gone? (Makes you wonder just whose interests -- besides their own -- they are serving.)
BTW, neither the State Election Coordinator nor the State Election Commission members have any relevant training in computer-based voting equipment, other than the indoctrination they received at the Election Center, a brainwashing outfit in Texas set up by the voting machine companies to peddle (and praise) their unverifiable voting equipment.
Other questions: Has Mark "Human Error" Goins issued a report yet? Where does the TBI investigation stand? Where does Congressman Cohen's request for a USDOJ investigation stand? Has Cohen called for a separate FBI investigation? Why haven't the Governor and prominent Dem legislators weighed in yet on the August 5 barrel of smelly fish guarded by red-wrapped skunks over there?
Thanks to the Memphis Flyer for not "moving on" from the most important story of the decade, in Memphis and -- by extension -- in the entire state of Tennessee. Memphis election problems are not unique to Memphis at all, as the FBI and the USDOJ Voting Rights Division investigators will learn when their troop ships disembark ... in the birthplace of the blues.
Bernie thanks for the correction. My understading Goins came and the (EC) ran him away. TBI oh well, who knows. Hopefully no news from them is good news...maybe they have found something.
Cohen that's another story. I think he is fraid of losing his white support if he get involve. If votes were stolen then how many votes did Cohen actually get...Where will Herenton votes go? Will the republicans cross over in the General for Cohen like they did in the Primary or will they vote with the TEA PARTY for Bergman?
The word circulating among black voters in the 9th is, if Cohen does not come out public against the EC and bring in the FEDS, they will not vote for him and will not vote for Bergman. A No VOTE for Cohen is a VOTE for BERGMAN
______________________________________________________________________
This is an offical Document For Press Release from Attorney Van Turner
P.O. Box 40864 Memphis, TN 38174-0864 (901) 283-5017 Van Turner, Jr., Chair
UPDATED PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TO ALL MEDIA OUTLETS
Date: September 15, 2010 Time: 11:00 a.m.
Another anonymous informant has contacted us with information relative to the Election
Commission investigation. Last Friday, I received an anonymous call from an individual who we are
no referring to as John Doe, II. John Doe, II talked about being employed at the Election
Commission Operations Center.
The individual stated that everything reported by the first informant was correct regarding the
discovery of the wrong data loaded into the Electronic Poll Books (EPBs) on the morning BEFORE
the August 5 election and the importance of the data on the CF cards. John Doe, II also stated that
prior to the start of early voting, there were two, young, unknown white males in and about the
Election Commission operations center.
The informant reports that the two males only dealt with Mr. Holden and were given free run
of the facility including the locked/sealed rooms into which only authorized personnel should go. The
informant also reports that they engaged in suspicious activities including the photographing of
machines and other equipment. John Doe, II states that, before the election started, the person who
had for years been the handler of the EPBs, Ruth Ann Phelps, was removed from that responsibility
by Mr. Holden and that he then appointed persons who were not as familiar with the system as Ms.
Phelps.
I believe this second informant is credible, and it is clear that this person and others are afraid
of coming forward directly. Regardless of anyone’s political leanings or personal thoughts about what
occurred during the last election, it is vital to the integrity of the voting process that we get to the
bottom of the issues at the Election Commission. I think we are at a point now where it would be
beneficial if Election Commission employees were given a method to safely provide information to
authorities outside the oversight of the EC administration. We cannot afford to turn the clock back on
the voting rights and civil rights that so many in this country fought and died for over the years.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Van D. Turner, Jr., Chair
Shelby County Democratic Party
4118 South Plaza Drive-Campaign Headquarters
Memphis, Tennessee 38116
Phone: 901-283-5017
Stoplying, thanks for the updates. It's nice to know that the SCEC respects Mark "Human Error" Goins as much as I do. (Not much.) It is clear he is in his position to facilitate election fraud statewide and not because his hillbilly head is overly endowed with brain cells. My guess is that Gia-ninny et al were afraid that Marky Mark couldn't stick to their "move along, nothing to see here" script, not because he doesn't want to but because it would require different responses than "human error, human error ... uh, human error" from him.
Of course, they shouldn't sell short Goins' ability to stay on script. Mark defended ad nauseum the bogus "extra cost" numbers floated by Tre "Too Tall" Hargett in the legislature as their excuse for not implementing the TN Voter Confidence Act (which may have prevented the Memphis melt-down), costs that included one county's estimate that it would cost them $70,000 "extra" to store a single filing cabinet of ballots and other counties' estimates that it would cost them $tens of thousands$ more to deliver and store 60-70% less equipment. The Cheshire Cat has nothing on corrupt and corrupter Mark and Tre. It's time to let some American eagles loose on those cats.
As for the TBI, I share your cautious optimism that they are performing their duties, despite political pressure, because they have found evidence of wrong-doing and they will not abide it. My own experience with the TBI (last summer, when "Too Tall" filed a "terrorist threat" complaint against me for invoking the Battle of Athens (TN) in my writings and testimony to the legislature) is that they are honorable law enforcement professionals who are not about to become jack-booted enforcers for a corrupt regime.
I can't imagine a better issue for Steve Cohen to take on than protectng the consent of the governed. My old college classmate has not shied away from taking brave stands on many, more controversial, issues and none of them is as important as this one. I hope he is working behind the scenes now to uproot this corruption with the assistance of the FBI and the USDOJ. It is not just his own political career, but democracy itself, that he can help save with that effort. One thing's for sure -- no one who is not in on the deal stands much of a chance in November if the same corrupt country-club crackers are counting the votes (and programming the voting machines).
Keep on keepin' on, Shelby countians. As someone who grew up in your post-WWII projects (while my Dad was at UT med school), I am hoping and praying for some serious franchise-saving redemption soon ... in the birthplace of the blues.
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