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Monday, December 02, 2019

PA County’s Election Day Nightmare Underscores Voting Machine Concerns

EASTON, Pa. — It was a few minutes after the polls closed here on Election Day when panic began to spread through the county election offices.

Vote totals in a Northampton County judge’s race showed one candidate, Abe Kassis, a Democrat, had just 164 votes out of 55,000 ballots across more than 100 precincts. Some machines reported zero votes for him. In a county with the ability to vote for a straight-party ticket, one candidate’s zero votes was a near statistical impossibility. Something had gone quite wrong.

Lee Snover, the chairwoman of the county Republicans, said her anxiety began to pick up at 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 5. She had trouble getting someone from the election office on the phone. When she eventually got through, she said: “I’m coming down there and you better let me in.”

With clearly faulty results in at least the judge’s election, officials began counting the paper backup ballots generated by the same machines. The paper ballots showed Mr. Kassis winning narrowly, 26,142 to 25,137, over his opponent, the Republican Victor Scomillio.

“People were questioning, and even I questioned, that if some of the numbers are wrong, how do we know that there aren’t mistakes with anything else?” said Matthew Munsey, the chairman of the Northampton County Democrats, who, along with Ms. Snover, was among the observers as county officials worked through the night to count the paper ballots by hand.

The snafu in Northampton County did not just expose flaws in both the election machine testing and procurement process. It also highlighted the fears, frustrations and mistrust over election security that many voters are feeling ahead of the 2020 presidential contest, given how faith in American elections has never been more fragile. The problematic machines were also used in Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs — areas of Pennsylvania that could prove decisive next year in one of the most critical presidential swing states in the country.

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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

same here in smallsbury.
you can bet on it.

Anonymous said...

The machines can't be trusted to not be fiddled with by those with few scruples.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh. They all run around as if they haven't a clue what happened. We all know. But instead of being FIRED. We do it again. And again. And yet again.

Anonymous said...

It's a simple fix. But the corrupt election board won't do it. GO BACK TO PAPER BALLOTS. I DONT CARE WHAT IT COSTS.

Anonymous said...

And in md you get no record of your voting entries once fed in the machine

Wayne King said...

I wanted a recount because I thought the numbers were way off. So I applied for a recount (paper ballots), unfortunately I got an estimate for a recount from the election board and it would have cost me $5600, so I didn't do it. Yes, the system is rigged.
-WK

Anonymous said...

Why do we need the machines again?

Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.

Joseph Stalin

Anonymous said...

"Lee Snover, the chairwoman of the county Republicans, said her anxiety began to pick up at 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 5. She had trouble getting someone from the election office on the phone. When she eventually got through, she said: “I’m coming down there and you better let me in.”"

Am I reading this right? She demanded a recount and the Democrat beat her candidate? WTH!!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
It's a simple fix. But the corrupt election board won't do it. GO BACK TO PAPER BALLOTS. I DONT CARE WHAT IT COSTS.

December 2, 2019 at 1:51 PM

Exactly! And not that Bull$hit they have in Maryland that they are calling paper ballots.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
And in md you get no record of your voting entries once fed in the machine

December 2, 2019 at 1:55 PM

Exactly! That's so that we can't complain when we see that our votes flip like the 2014 election. They call them "paper ballots" but they go into a machine which goes against the paper ballot theory.

Anonymous said...

Wayne King said...
I wanted a recount because I thought the numbers were way off. So I applied for a recount (paper ballots), unfortunately I got an estimate for a recount from the election board and it would have cost me $5600, so I didn't do it. Yes, the system is rigged.
-WK

December 2, 2019 at 3:29 PM

The way that Jake Day "beat" Debbie Campbell by the same numbers that he 'beat' you makes me very concerned that these elections in Salisbury are rigged. Look how they stole the election from Albero and gave the win to the gay Mare.

Why do you think that Salisbury runs its own elections even though it is through the County elections office? I bet if Wicomico County Elections Board handled the Salisbury elections without interference from the City you would see a different outcome.

Anonymous said...

Just let Russia & China decide as the Democrats want !!!

Anonymous said...

Dems are already Colluding with Russia & China for 2020 !!!

Hillary has her Private server to decide Who wins !!!