Category Archives: News

What are we learning about vote counting from monitors and whistleblowers

Running totals of late votes in Pennsylvania
Running totals of late votes in Pennsylvania

Let’s take a look at the latest stories.

Here’s a new statistical analysis from William Briggs, writing for The Stream:

There’s a lot of chatter online about statistical oddities in several states, and I’ve been asked to analyze the votes in Pennsylvania. That work is ongoing, and at the moment, I’m working with limited data. Still, I think there are clear signs that something untoward happened in the Keystone State. Here are a couple of telling examples.

I’ve gotten official county-level timed voting data that started at 11:00 on November 4, the day after the election, to 11:29 on November 7, which is Saturday. So, these are all late vote counts. They start, county by county, where the vote left off on election night.

[Above] is a picture of the running totals by the time the votes were added, summed across all counties, during those time periods. They do not start at 0, but where things were after election night.

The early gains for Biden are mainly from Philadelphia, Allegheny, Montgomery, Chester and Berks counties. A simple plot (click to see: it’s large) shows the size of vote additions for both candidates, when new vote totals (greater than 0) were added by county (and not all counties added votes after election day).

All goes well for Trump until election night, November 4, at 9:15 pm, when he loses just under 10,000 votes. Curiously, this loss is from three different counties simultaneously: -1,063 in Allegheny; -2,972 in Bucks; -7,135 in Chester. Biden never lost any votes (at least, not in this late voting).

This does not mean the decreases happened at that moment. Rather, that’s when they were recorded in the official data.

Biden’s next curiosity was the big increase of 27,396 votes on Nov. 6 at 8:53:00 over one consecutive reporting period. This bump is just like the blue-red F-memes you have seen: this only seems more spread out because of the finer time scale used.

These two curiosities account for a 37,263 vote swing for Biden. Biden’s total, as of the end of this data, was 3,344,528, and Trump’s 3,310,326. Biden therefore “won,” in this dataset anyway, by 34,202 votes.

So, three separate counties removed about 10,000 votes from Trump on Wednesday evening. And then late Friday, about 27,000 votes were added for Biden.

This happened after it was clear that this is what Biden would need to push ahead. This needs to be answered.

Detroit poll monitor barred from observing counting:

An affidavit from a Republican poll challenger in Detroit, Michigan confirms there may be voter fraud in the state.

Former Michigan Assistant Attorney General Zachary Larsen testified that at the convention center in downtown Detroit, election officials appeared to be processing a “majority” of mail-in ballots from ineligible voters that were not listed in the poll book of eligible voters, nor Larsen’s scanned list. Larsen confirmed in the affidavit that he had heard similar reports from other concerned poll challengers as well.

Read this sworn affidavit from GOP poll challenger, and former Assistant AG for Michigan, Zachary Larsen, on the alleged fraud he observed in Detroit. This is Third World stuff, and every American should be outraged if these allegations are true https://t.co/63nLXJxAZF pic.twitter.com/9WbamMw4Yc

— Benjamin Weingarten (@bhweingarten) November 9, 2020

When Larsen tried to shift positions to get a better visual on the poll book on the computer screen and the mail-in envelopes to confirm his suspicions, he was “loudly and aggressively” scolded for not social distancing by standing at least six feet away from the election official.

Larsen protested the election official’s reprimands saying that he couldn’t see to verify the eligibility of the voters’ ballots which were being counted, but the worker told him he had to stand with the computer screen out of his view.

Despite being allowed to observe from an “equivalent distance from poll books” on Election Day in other precincts such as both Lansing and East Lansing, Larsen was asked to leave the premises after the official summoned their supervisor who demanded he stand six feet away.

The documents also notes that, despite their insistence about social distancing, the supervisor was sitting approximately three feet away from the other officials, thus breaking their own social distancing rule.

Larsen left to fill out a challenge and talk with an another attorney. Shortly after he left, the document states that no new poll challengers were allowed in the counting room and he was also prohibited from re-entering.

“Election officials never allowed Mr. Larsen to re-enter the counting room to fulfill his duties as a poll challenger after he had discovered the fraud which was taking place,” the affidavit said.

Whistleblower complaint ignored in Nevada:

A second sworn affidavit from a whistleblower who was an election worker in Clark County, Nevada, claims mail-in ballots were improperly filled out in a Biden-Harris van outside a polling place.

[…]The whistleblower, who worked as a poll worker from Oct. 17-30, complained about a Biden-Harris bus or van that was often stationed outside the polling place that would often have “speakers, dancers, music and other festivities going on” and whose organizers had to be told “several times a day” to “stay 100 feet from the polling location.” He also said that voters without proper identification were permitted to cast provisional ballots.

The biggest shock claim, though, dealt with improperly filled out ballots in the van belonging to supporters of presumptive President-elect Joe Biden, whom he saw while on a lunch break walk on Oct. 28 or 29.

“I personally witnessed two people handing multiple unopened mail in ballot envelopes to two other people who then opened and filled out the ballots against the side of the Biden/Harris van,” the affidavit said. “The same two people who marked the ballots then put the marked ballots in official pink and white envelopes. These people were not poll workers.”

The affidavit continued: “By my final walking lap, there were 5 or 6 additional people who formed a human wall, which moved as I walked by, apparently in an attempt to block my view of the four people who were opening envelopes, marking ballots, and placing those ballots in the pink and white return envelopes.”

The whistleblower recalled reporting the incident to a supervisor, who then called the Clark County Elections Office, to no avail.

Thats the latest. I am expecting lawsuits. Many lawsuits.

Why I admire people in the armed forces more than famous entertainers

I’ve noticed that many Christians can tell me a lot about famous entertainers. It doesn’t matter if it’s singers, musicians, actors, athletes, etc., they seem to know details of their biographies, achievements, etc. And it doesn’t really matter if those people are Christians, or whether they have performed actions consistent with a Christian worldview in their private lives.

Anyway, speaking for myself, I mostly admire two kinds of people. The first kind is the kind I blog about here all the time: Christian scholars engage non-Christians intellectually using logic and evidence. The second kind, as you can tell from my reading list, is people who distinguish themselves in conflict with those who oppose the principles and policies that allow me to live out my Christian life. And I am especially interested when people who are fighting evil (imperialists, Nazis, socialists, communists, leftists, etc.) exhibit Christ-like character in risking their lives to save others, or in giving their lives to save others.

Lt. Walt Chewning charges unto burning F-6F Hellcat to save trapped pilot
Lt. Walt Chewning charges unto burning F-6F Hellcat to save trapped pilot

I have a war story to tell you that happened on November 10th, 1943.

Lieutenant (later Lieutenant Commander) Walter Lewis Chewning of Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, steps on the burning fuel tank of an F6F-3 Hellcat flown by Ensign (later Lieutenant) Byron Milton Johnson of Potter, Nebraska to effect a successful rescue of the pilot on November 10, 1943. Johnson had flown out to USS Enterprise from Barbers Point, Hawaii, enroute to Makin Atoll in the Gilberts to support the United States Army invasion, which occurred on November 20, 1943. The afternoon of November 10, Johnson took off in F6F Hellcat Number 30 for a routine training exercise. He immediately developed engine trouble and requested an emergency landing. He was waved off three times as he struggled to maintain control, but his tail hook caught the third arresting gear wire, and Johnson’s Hellcat was slammed into the deck, coming to rest in the port catwalk. The plane came to rest on its external belly fuel tank, which started to leak. As the engine vibrated horribly as the propeller bent itself on the deck, sparks ignited the fuel. The hard landing had jammed Johnson’s canopy closed, shearing the retaining pin; he could not exit the plane. Chewning, who had joined the ship October 2, 1943 as Enterprise new catapult officer, scrambled out of the catwalk and came through the smoke. Stepping on the burning belly tank, he forced open the canopy and pulled Johnson to safety.

He received the two highest non-combat medals available:

Chewning was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his actions.

He was a well-educated and accomplished person before joining the Navy:

Chewning played soccer and Lacrosse at Cornell while studying Mechanical Engineering, breaking his rib and left ankle in one game. He graduated in 1936 and studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the Navy in January 1941. He was the assistant to the Chief Engineer at the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before joining USS Enterprise. He served as Enterprise’s catapult officer until December 1944, when he transferred to Dutch Harbor Naval Air Station in Alaska as ordinance officer. Chewning served in the Navy until December 1949; he also was awarded the Bronze Star. After the war he assisted research and development for various aeronautical companies, the United States Air Force, and the fledgling National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Motion picture film of the crash, taken from Enterprise’s bridge, was shown as part of the television program “Victory at Sea” on January 25, 1953. Chewning and Johnson gave interviews to several newspapers about the accident after the program aired.

You can see a video clip of the rescue here, from 5:35 to 6:00. I found a colorized version of the picture above here:

Lt. Walt Chewning charges unto burning F-6F Hellcat to save trapped pilot
Lt. Walt Chewning charges unto burning F-6F Hellcat to save trapped pilot

This image was colourized from the original by Paul Reynolds.

What I thought was interesting about Chewning was how he had everything going for him in terms of his education and career, but he chose to join the Navy anyway, in order to defend his country from Japanese imperialism. Those who understand how the Japanese treated prisoners and conquered peoples will know which side of that conflict was good, and which side was evil. Chewning wasn’t some sort of loser who took risks for fun and thrills. It had to be a risk where the prize was worth the risk. And he had the humility to consider others better than himself, so that their life was worth the risking of his own. Many people on the secular left who like to talk about how generous, compassionate and virtuous they are are unable to make moral judgments against evils like Japanese imperialism – much less take self-sacrificial action against them.

I just think that it’s important for young Christians to have the right kind of heroes. The heroes who are promoted to young Christians by the cultural elites are not usually the right role models. And there is a reason for that. The secular leftists don’t want young Christians to be emulating people who excel according to the standards of the Christian worldview. We are in a religion where self-sacrificial love is the centerpiece. Taking trouble on yourself for someone else. Doing your job, when it goes against your own self-interest. Let’s not allow a bunch of godless socialist celebrities to pick and choose who we hold in high regard.

Some specific instances of alleged voter fraud that need to be investigated

Facebook fact checkers anxious to crown Joe Biden president
Facebook fact checkers anxious to crown Joe Biden president

Facebook and Twitter are urging me to accept a Joe Biden / Kamala Harris socialist presidency, and nevermind all the reports of voter fraud. After all, they say, I shouldn’t be like the Democrats of the last 4 years, refusing to accept the results of an election and resorting to fraudulent Democrat-funded conspiracy theories to malign President Trump.

Here’s the latest from The Federalist:

Earlier this week, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson denounced the lawsuit filed by President Trump’s campaign as “frivolous,” designed to spread “misinformation” and “sow seeds of doubt among our voters about the integrity of our elections process.”

The lawsuit alleges that Republican election observers, known as “poll challengers,” had been denied access to counting stations to observe the opening of absentee ballots, as required under state law.

When I was in the room it was very clear that we were outnumbered, I would say three to one,” Nesbitt said. Republican and Democrat poll challengers have different types of credentials, making it easy to tell how many Democratic challengers there were compared to Republican. Nesbitt estimates there were about 1,200 people in the hall but only about fifty or sixty GOP poll challengers—not enough to cover all of the tables where ballots were being counted.

Even so, when these Republican poll challengers came into the hall, the ballot-counting stopped. “It wasn’t too long after I got into the room that it became very apparent that there was no rush to be counting anything,” Nesbitt said. “For about four hours, over ninety percent of the counting boards had no activity.”

Asked why they stopped, Nesbitt replied, “I believe that they were trying to wait for us to leave, because we had an influx of volunteers who came into the room following the union members.”

The waiting seemed to work—if only because city election workers would not allow credentialed Republican poll challengers back into the hall if they left for any reason. “Once we left we were not allowed to return. So if you left for a water break or to go get a meal you were not allowed, Republicans were not allowed to be replaced.”

Not only did the city election workers refuse to replace GOP observers who left, they also began expelling them on trumped-up infractions. “The first person I became aware of that was removed, was an attorney who was observing and he adjusted his face mask,” Nesbitt said. “And the election workers cited that as grounds for removal.”

That wasn’t all. When election workers expelled a Republican poll challenger, the ballot counters erupted in cheers. “That was the first one that I had heard very large cheers for,” Nesbitt said. “I’ll admit, at first I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know why the election workers would be so boisterous over something. But he was escorted out by the police.”

Other GOP observers were kicked out for doing their job and challenging ballots, which election workers claimed was “hindering the process,” according to Nesbitt. She went on:

So what many poll challengers were actually seeing was that when the ballots were scanned and it did not match a voter in the electronic poll book, and it did not match a voter in the supplemental paper poll book, which was provided due to Michigan’s law that allows for same-day registration, they were still allowing those ballots to go through and be counted. And that is when the GOP poll challengers were issuing those challenges. So they were either being ignored or kicked out when they were doing that.

The ballot-counters were also not allowing Republican poll challengers to observe the ballot supplication process. If an absentee ballot can’t be read by the machine for whatever reason, the counters get out a blank ballot and fill it out with the information from the damaged ballot. This is supposed to be observed by poll challengers from both parties to make sure the counters aren’t changing anything from the original ballot.

But whenever Republican observers were present, said Nesbitt, “They would position their bodies in the way, and other election, workers at that counting board would position their bodies in the way, to prohibit us from being able to witness what was happening. Some would complain. And, you know, require the pole challenger to move farther away, you know, move six feet away because of COVID. It was very clear that they did not want us to see what was happening.”

If a GOP observer raised a concern about this, they were kicked out.

During this time, explained Nesbitt, it wasn’t entirely clear who was in charge or who was calling the shots. “It was very hard to see the hierarchy in the room.”

As Republican poll challengers kept getting kicked out for trying to do their jobs, Nesbitt took out her phone to record it. She sent a short video clip to her husband, state Sen. Aric Nesbitt, who posted it on Twitter.

Nesbitt says she never saw a Democratic poll challenger be removed the entire time she was there, only Republicans, even though Democrats were doing the same kinds of things—leaving to get food or water, adjusting their masks, observing the process and challenging ballots. Some of the Democratic poll challengers, adds Nesbitt, were wearing Joe Biden campaign shirts and “Medicare for All” masks

Every time the Republican poll challengers tried to meet up to discuss what was going on, they were harassed by the city workers, the ballot-counters, and the Democratic poll challengers, “because of social distancing.”

“It was very clear that they were targeting us and finding any reason to get us removed.”

Nesbitt finally decided to leave after ballot-counters flatly refused to process military ballots in her presence. There were approximately 5,000 military ballots that all had to be transposed onto a blank form because the vice president had been omitted from them, Nesbitt explained. “When they started to distribute those ballots I was at a table to observe, and they would not begin the processing while I was standing there, despite all of the workers being at the table.”

“I’ll admit I felt very defeated and like our efforts were almost futile. At that point, that is when I decided to leave.”

The Michigan Secretary of State is a former board member of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an anti-Christian hate group that was linked to domestic terrorism. It has been recently involved in sexual harassment scandals.

This isn’t the only problem with Democrat voter fraud. There’s one in Nevada, where dead people voted:

On Oct. 9 this year, Fred Stokes Jr. was mailed a ballot in Clark County, Nevada, for the upcoming presidential election just less than 30 days away. Three weeks later, the county confirmed the ballot’s receipt on Halloween and marked it off as “completed.” There remained only one problem with Stokes’ absentee ballot counted on the fall holiday: Fred Stokes Jr. had been dead for three years.

According to the gravestone shown below, Stokes died at the age of 92 in June 2017.

Apparently, this one one example of hundreds of dead people voting.

In Pennsylvania, there was more voter fraud:

A Pennsylvania mailman has said in a sworn affidavit that he was ordered by supervisors to collect and submit late ballots, which he said supervisors then backdated so that they appeared to have been mailed in time.

More Nevada:

A whistleblower claims to have seen a Biden-Harris van bringing ballots to a counting center in Nevada, according to the Trump campaign.

The whistleblower said he went for a walk on his lunch break around the counting center and spotted a Biden-Harris van unloading boxes of ballots, said conservative activist Matt Schlapp at a press conference organized by the Trump campaign in Las Vegas.

“These people who were involved in this activity then decided to create a human shield around what they were doing in the van,” said Mr. Schlapp, who is chairman of the American Conservative Union.

The ballots were filled out and the envelopes were resealed, he said.

Wisconsin:

County and municipal clerks and poll workers across Wisconsin may have unlawfully altered witness statements on thousands of mail-in ballots across the state, “The Dan O’Donnell Show” has learned.

Wisconsin Statute 6.86 provides that an absentee ballot must be signed by a witness, who is also required to list his or her address. If a witness address is not listed, then the ballot is considered invalid and must be returned to the voter to have the witness correct.

Instead, multiple sources tell “The Dan O’Donnell Show,” municipal clerks and vote counters across the state simply filled out witness signatures themselves. Acting on false and unlawful advice from the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), these clerks may have inadvertently invalidated thousands of absentee votes.

More Pennsylvania:

A Pennsylvania poll watcher says the ability of overseers to supervise ballot-counting in Pittsburgh on Election Day was hamstrung by a setup in which observers were set too far away from ballots to make any meaningful observation of the process.

David Shestokas, a Chicago-based lawyer who joined several dozen other lawyers and Allegheny County residents to poll-watch in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, told Just the News that ballot monitors “had no input and no ability to watch anything.”

[…]“We literally had no input and no ability to watch anything,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, each and every one of those ballots was opened illegally.”

Facebook has been dutifully marking all these news stories and videos alleging voter fraud as “false news”, in order to help their Demcorat allies. But I am linking to them here because I think they are interesting. People should know why Trump is taking the Democrats to court.