RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.theepochtimes.com/judge-orders-new-election-after-78-percent-mail-in-ballots-found-invalid-notary-arrested-for-voter-fraud_

A Mississippi judge ordered a new runoff election for a local election in Aberdeen after more than three-quarters of absentee ballots cast in the June Democratic runoff election were found to be invalid.

Judge Jeff Weill, in a 64-page order, said that there is evidence of fraud and criminal activity in how absentee ballots were handled, how they were counted, and actions from individuals at polling places during the runoff election held in Aberdeen, Mississippi. As a result, a new runoff election for the Ward 1 alderman seat is necessary, reported WCBI.

The judge ruled that 66 of 84 absentee ballots cast in the election, or around 78 percent, should have never been counted, according to WCBI. Nicholas Holliday was declared the winner of the alderman seat, while challenger Robert Devaull challenged the results in court.

“The court is of the opinion there is probable cause that several individuals involved in the disturbances during election day at the polling precinct ‘willfully and corruptly violated’ one or more of the above criminal statutes.”

“The court will leave to the appropriate authorities to determine whether the actions of Maurice Howard, Henry Randle and S. Nicholas Holliday amounted to prosecutable crimes,”the court filings said, referring to Police Chief Henry Randle and former Mayor Maurice Howard, who Weill said were involved in intimidation and harassment at the polling police on Election Day, according to evidence.

https://amgreatness.com/2021/03/02/supreme-court-to-hear-first-of-many-election-related-lawsuits-after-2020-election/

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, numerous bills introduced in state legislatures across the country are most likely heading for the same place: The Supreme Court, where they will be scrutinized under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The first of many such cases will begin on Tuesday, according to ABC News.

After widespread voter fraud in multiple key swing states that some say may have been enough to change the outcome of the election in favor of Joe Biden and other Democrats, over 250 bills have been introduced across 43 states, aimed at such measures as reducing voter fraud, restricting vote-by-mail, and requiring some form of photographic ID in order to vote. The Brennan Center for Justice, a far-left advocacy group, has falsely claimed that such bills are attempting to suppress non-White voters.

Activists at the Brennan Center and elsewhere are seeking to challenge most of these laws in court using the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits “a denial or abridgment of the right of any citizen of the U.S. to vote on account of race or color,” even though none of the proposed laws mention race in any way.

“The court needs to send a strong statement that the Voting Rights Act will be there for the American public,” said a spokeswoman for the Brennan Center, “especially at a time when we see politicians trying to put barriers in front of the ballot box.” The spokeswoman provided no evidence to back up this statement.

The concerns over election fraud arise from the fact that, supposedly, nearly 67 percent of the voting-age population cast a vote in 2020, which would by far be the highest turnout in over 100 years, but was due in large part to vote-by-mail being made more widely accessible due to the coronavirus pandemic. Vote-by-mail, which makes it much easier for people to vote who otherwise would most likely not cast a ballot, is also ripe for fraud and suppression.

https://amgreatness.com/2021/03/01/as-trump-blasts-2020-election-democrats-move-on-a-monster-election-bill/

In his first post-presidential address, Donald Trump again blasted the 2020 presidential election much to the delight of his most dedicated fans assembled at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) gathering in Florida over the weekend. 

“We have a very sick and corrupt electoral process that must be fixed immediately,” Trump told the cheering crowd in Orlando. “This election was rigged. Our election process is worse . . . than that of a Third World country.”

The former president described a long list of illegalities and abnormalities including an unprecedented volume of mishandled mail-in ballots, lack of voter identification, and “no excuse” absentee voting. Unelected partisans, Trump accurately said, rewrote rules at the last minute in violation of state election laws.

He goaded both his allies and enemies with suggestions he won the election—“maybe I’ll beat them a third time,” teasing a 2024 run—and urged Republicans to fight for election integrity at the state level particularly since the Supreme Court “didn’t have the guts” to hear several election-related lawsuits.

Moments before Trump took the stage, the event’s organizers released the results of a straw poll listing election integrity as the top concern of CPAC attendees. Polls continue to show the overwhelming majority of Republicans view the 2020 election as invalid despite attempts by Democrats, the media, and the U.S. Justice Department to criminalize any expressed doubts that Joe Biden won the White House fair and square.

Rigging the Vote Forever?

Republican state lawmakers are listening to their infuriated constituents. The GOP controls the legislatures in every state that flipped from Trump to Biden; several bills to prevent another election disaster are pending in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona. “Legislators are taking aim at mail voting at every stage, with proposals to circumscribe who can vote by mail, make it harder to obtain mail ballots, and impose hurdles to complete and cast mail ballots,” according to an analysis by the Brennan Center, a nonprofit organization opposed to Republican election remedies.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2021/03/ballot-harvesting-ban-case-hits-supreme-court-daniel-greenfield/

Where are we on voter integrity?

Anyone expecting the Supreme Court to affirmatively protect voter integrity was kidding themselves. We’re far enough behind the ball that we’re hoping that the Supreme Court protects the rights of states to ban grotesque violations like ballot harvesting. 

It’s easy to spit and dismiss that out of hand, but if you want to imagine the political system being a whole lot closer to doomsday, preventing states from stopping ballot harvesting would do it. But there are also bigger stakes in the mix in Brnovich v. DNC.

A major reason why little could be done about the 2020 election is that the Voting Rights Act rigged the system. The Democrats are free to argue that any interference with their electorate is a violation of the Voting Rights Act. Republicans can’t make that argument because political affiliation isn’t protected. That’s also why conservatives can be fired from their jobs for their political views, meanwhile other classes are protected by the legal system.

The Voting Rights Act is the nuclear weapon of Democrat election rigging. And the conservative judiciary has been chipping away at its abuses.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/making-every-election-like-2020-11614641809?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

If you thought the 2020 election ran like a finely oiled machine, you’ll love what Democrats plan next. The Senate and House reserved their first bills, H.R.1 and S.1, for voting changes that would make mail balloting in a plague year seem buttoned up. We’ve gone through some details already, but it’s worth another word as the House prepares to vote this week.

Advocates present the legislation as a good-government reform that won’t favor either party. But H.R.1 is packed with provisions that would federalize election rules to dubious result; unsettle longstanding practices; end security measures that local officials think prudent; undermine public confidence; and increase the odds of contested outcomes.

Start with permanent pandemic rules. H.R.1 would create a federal right to a mail ballot, no excuse necessary. Registered voters couldn’t be made to submit “any form of identification as a condition of obtaining an absentee ballot,” except a signature or “affirmation.” State laws requiring mail votes to be notarized or signed by witnesses would be trumped. Late-arriving ballots, if postmarked on time, would be valid nationwide for 10 days after Election Day.

In other words, the bill would entrench last year’s emergency experiment, further turning Election Day into Election Quarter. H.R.1 would give Americans endless opportunities to relive the fun in New York’s 22nd Congressional District, which didn’t have a victor for 97 days. Out of Pennsylvania’s 10,097 late-arriving ballots last year, an alarming 6.6% did not have legible postmarks. A state Senate seat outside Pittsburgh turned on whether or not to count mail ballots that voters neglected to date. One county tallied them. The county next door did not. What if the White House were in the balance?

https://amgreatness.com/2021/02/23/why-do-the-elections-defenders-require-my-agreement/

Recently, I appeared as a guest on Andrew Sullivan’s podcast. Sullivan is vociferously anti-Trump, so I expected us to disagree—which, naturally, we did. But I was surprised by the extent to which he insisted I assent to his assertion that the 2020 election was totally on the level. That is to say, I wasn’t surprised that Sullivan thinks it was; I was surprised by his evident yearning to hear me say so, too. 

Which I could not do. 

Sullivan badgered me on this at length before finally accusing me of being fixated on the topic, to which I responded, truthfully, that I was only talking about it because he asked. As far as I’m concerned, the 2020 election is well and truly over. I have, I said, “moved on.” 

So I thought. Then I received two emails from a friendly acquaintance who is a recognized Republican expert on elections that suggested he, too, is troubled by my lack of belief. Then came two other data points, which I noticed only after the first draft this essay had been completed. Ramesh Ponnuru snarked (snark seems to be the go-to, indeed the only, device his in literary quiver) that one of the anomalies I cited in my most recent article in the Claremont Review of Books had been “debunked” by the partisan left-wing FactCheck.org. While I appreciate the insight into the sources from which National Review editors get their “facts” these days, the quote provided admits that the statistic I cited is, well, accurate. Ponurru naturally ignores all of the other points raised in my earlier article.

Jonathan Chait wrote yet another (his 12th?) article denouncing me, for this same sin of disbelief. Why did he bother? Is there even a remote chance that a single one of his New York magazine readers either read my article or encountered its argument? Or is he worried that the “narrative” of the election is so fragile that it needs to be shored up?

I wanted to move on, I really did. But when Left (Chait), center (Sullivan), faux-right anti-conservative ankle-biter (Ponnuru), and genuine, if establishment, Right (my correspondent) all agree that my lack of belief is a problem, I wondered why this should be so, and the following observations came to mind. 

Let me begin by repeating something I said to Sullivan: I do not actively disbelieve in the outcome of the 2020 election. I do not assert that the election was stolen. I also do not believe the election was totally fair, “belief” being an affirmative mental state. I say only that I don’t know; I haven’t been convinced either way. One side tried to convince me and failed (at least so far). The other side has made no such attempt but instead mostly shouts in my face that I must believe. The latter effort, in addition to being aggravating and insulting, has been less effective. 

https://www.theepochtimes.com/arizona-senate-passes-bill-strengthening-its-investigative-powers-amid-maricopa-county-vote-audit-dispute_3703145.html

The Arizona Senate passed a bill Thursday that would grant the Arizona legislature the authority to subpoena election records like ballots and tabulating equipment, and ignore any laws to the contrary.

The Senate passed Senate Bill 1408 on its third reading in the state’s upper chamber along a 16–14 party-line vote, with Republicans voting for and Democrats voting against.

The bill amends a portion of the Arizona statutes such that county election equipment, systems and records, and other information that is under the control of county personnel “may not be deemed privileged information, confidential information, or other information protected from disclosure.” It also subjects such records to a subpoena and stipulates that they “must be produced” and the legislature’s authority to conduct related probes “may not be infringed by any other law.”

The rule change is to be retroactive as of Dec. 31, 2019, meaning it would apply to records around the November election.

State Sen. Warren Petersen, a Republican, introduced the bill amid a battle between Republican Senate leaders and Maricopa County officials over the attempt by GOP senators to audit the 2020 election.

Republican lawmakers in the Arizona Senate have issued subpoenas to Maricopa County demanding that it turn over a range of election records, calling for a scanned ballot audit and a forensic audit of ballot tabulation equipment and software. But the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted against complying with the subpoenas, instead seeking judgment from a court about whether they have to comply. Arizona senators filed a countersuit, asking the court to enforce the subpoenas, which was subsequently dismissed.