First of all, let me tell you that in Wicomico County, not one ballot was left unattended. I counted about 35 different issues that mostly were concerning the provisional ballots, not the absentee ones. Each ballot was scrutinized by the board and unanimously approved or rejected on an individual basis, and if you voted here as a registered R or D, your ballot was counted!
However, I came there today to find out a completely other thing, I found out. I was there today to find out if my VOTE counted! What I found out is that a COMPLETELY different subject! If I voted for, say, Ben Carson for President or a certain candidate for Congressman, did my vote go to my mark or another candidate? (paper) Ballots are read through the same scanners we used at the polls, and at the end of the day the tale of the tape is printed out and duplicated on a thumb drive, but are NEVER compared to an actual audit against a visual physical count of the actual ballots UNLESS a candidate asks for a recount, or a judge orders it. There is never a bunch of people sitting at a table physically counting ballots and comparing the results to the electronic results.
In addressing this, the board members explained to me how this type of accuracy is audited. Before each election, a pre-marked set of ballots with scores is fed into each voting scanner, and the results compared to the pre-marked numbers. If a machine doesn’t pass the test, it is not used in the election. The same test is applied after the election. The same operation will happen for the November National election, before and after. This seems to be an acceptable method.
Currently, there is no law in place that requires, say, random precincts to choose one random coin flip voting scanner to undergo a physical audit of comparing the real paper ballots to the electronic and tape printout results of a live election in each precinct. You and I know that the Board of Elections has a small budget, and this mandate, if ever considered, would have to be so funded, so there’s that. Personally, I’m not sure that’s needed, as the current system seems GTG. However, if funded, it may not be a bad idea. There is an audit performed on a random 3 precincts that have more than 300 voters to verify the ballot count.
Speaking of funding, these people were so adept at re-arranging the room six or more times over for the different phases of the ballot count and the opening board meeting had to be held in the warehouse area of the building to accommodate the setup for the ballot count. Yes, every operation there was overcrowded, so if you ever hear that the Election Board needs more room, please believe them!
So, what’s missing?
The “Everything!” Holy cow!
Where are the dead? Where are the folks next door who moved out of state? Guess what; unless they died IN YOUR STATE or physically notified the state they left and that they should be removed, then it’s MOST PROBABLE that your name is still on the voter list in this State! OMG! That means MY OWN name is usable in 5 STATES by anyone who happens to know I left and wants to walk in to a polling place and say my name!
States don’t normally share resident info, and the Feds don’t keep track, which brings up the next one, which is dead people. If my neighbor dies on vacation in a state that doesn’t share that info with the Home state, I can vote using my dead neighbor’s name until the other state may decide to report the death to my state, which might be never.
So, here we have the elephant in the room. Holy cow, or holy elephant, as this is “Yooj”. The number of this totally unchecked population is easily downloaded by cheaters and distributed precinct wide. This needs to be rounded up and put down before November, or our nationwide election will mean nothing.
How would we do this on a nationwide level or even State-by-State? I welcome all suggestions from all commenters, but especially from our State Lawmakers!
I would like to thank Mr. Anthony Gutierrez and all the Board members for their help in educating me on the voting process. I am in no way a professional reporter, but I hope this gives our voters an insight as to how ballots are processed, and if I have left anything out, I ask all for clarification here. I have had a truly blessed day, and just want to share with those who had to be at work all day today.
Here goes, I’m signing this one and asking for input! God save the USA! And, Mr. Gutierrez, please correct me if I got anything wrong! I’ll put it out there immediately!
Gary Bullard, voter
12 comments:
Thanks for sharing/confirming what I have been trying to tell people here for years. Maryland needs to purge the voter list but I have been told this will cost the state too much money. I have also been told that if the election board gets a return that the address/person is no longer there they will correct the list. HOWEVER, most people simply take what looks to them as JUNK MAIL they simply throw them in the trash. I've been told that young people today don't know they can put RETURN TO SENDER on the mailer and it will be conveniently returned.
You'd think a simple promotion of RETURN TO SENDER would be a wise investment. You'd think that your local main stream media would encourage this message as well, yet they never have. In my honest opinion, I do not believe our local and even national media care about EDUCATING the public any more. Why don't our current elected officials encourage marketing such a message either?
The bottom line, Americans CANNOT trust the voting system. How easy would it be for, oh, let's say, our local elections to be rigged.
And here we look at other countries knowing their elections are rigged, yet with today's technology we look like a third world country. Again, how convenient.
Finally, our national main stream media tried to brainwash us into believing Trump could never do it. They put out bogus poll information and the massive majority of Americans overwhelmingly voted Trump. Trust No One!
I should add, when is the last time YOU can remember getting anything in the mail from the election board?
Why can't they start by doing one simple thing - ask for I.D. when you vote????
In Florida, we are required to show a photo ID.
Great question, 7:15! It's because it's not required by the STATE Election Board, who sets the law that the local boards MUST adhere to. That law has to be made at the STATE level, and yes, that would be a really cheap and easy fix to make our elections at least 90% cleaner, but voter ID has always been fought off as a discriminatory practice for reasons I have never understood. We need to keep that fight up with our State legislators on a daily basis to change that.
Gary, thanks for taking an active role in our democracy! It is refreshing to hear of elderly people like you going out and being involved in the community. You hear so often about the stereotypical old person sitting at home watching television and waiting for their "check". Thank you old-timer
8:20, you called me elderly.
An old timer!
sniff...an old person...
Now I'm sad all day...
sniff...
I have a complaint on voting in the state of Maryland, if you are not voting as Democrat or Republican you do not have a vote, this state does not give you a chance to vote unless your registered for that party and in primaries you cannot vote for anyone across party lines. Why can't Maryland become as progressive as other states and allow for you to vote for who you want without changing everything every election if you choose not to vote for your party, seems very backward and controlling to me. And why can't Maryland have an Independent choice, sounds like the Soviet Union to me.
9:41, I was told that the Partys make those rules. They want only their own party to vote on their own candidates, and to not be able to cross a party line or let Independents have a vote in their particular party. Again, though, this is NOT from the State Board of Elections, but the Heads of each Party that make that rule.
There were a LOT of ballots from Independent party voters there that just plain weren't counted because of that rule. If you are registered independent in Maryland and you wish to vote in the primaries, you need to change your party affiliation to the candidates you want to vote for by the registration deadline prior to each primary election, but since you're already independent now, you will be able to vote and be counted in the General election.
9:41 that is what the general election is for, the DEMOCRATS primary is to decide which DEMOCRAT the registered DEMOCRATS they want to represent them , same for the republicans . If the people who are registered tndependents, Green Party or whoever want a primary, put up more than one canidatb than they can have their own primary.
PS, I believe a party has to have a certain minimum membership in order to get on the ballot, but you could probably have to verify that through the State Board.
Do not expect anything to happen.. in the DC suburbs Federal Government employees take paid leave to fill the paid Election Board jobs
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