Local Government TV

Friday, January 24, 2020

NorCo's New Elections Comm'n Gets To Work

Maude Hornick and Dr. Alan Brau
Northampton County's five-person Elections Commission got to work yesterday in Northampton County's training room at 3:30 pm., adjacent to County Council chambers. The meeting lasted 2 1/'2 hours. It met there because it had a busy agenda and there was a conflicting Council Committee meeting at 4:30 pm.

The only returning member of the Commission was Maudenia Hornick, sister of and every bit as outspoken as her sister, County GOP Chair Lee Snover. Newcomer Frank L DeVito joins Hornick to complete the Republican contingent of this Commission. The Democrats - all of them newcomers - consist of Alan Brau, M.D., Daniel Lopresti, and Gail W Preuninger. Providing legal advice to this Board is Rick Santee.

In the first sign these newcomers are going to be very different, they unanimously appointed Republican Hornick as Chair. Dr. Brau, who was running a little late, was unanimously elected Vice Chair. "That's what he gets for being late," joked Hornick.

The second sign this Board is going to be different is the amount of work and preparation by each of them before the meeting. For example, Gail Prueninger told the XL manufacturer that she had suggestions on improvements the company could make to a video for the public to make it more informative. She had suggestions for improvements to a separately produced county video as well, and suggested the home page of the County's website should include a direct link to the Elections Office. She then provided both the manufacturer and the county with several pages of her suggestions, all of them single-spaced.

The third sign this Board will be different is that they refuse to be rushed into making recommendations. Instead of rubber-stamping a recommendation that the County spend $230,000 to purchase electronic pollbooks, they decided to put off the decision for a week so they could do their own research. "I would like more time," said Hornick. She said she voted for the XL and "We got egg on our face."

These electronic pollbooks, called epollbooks, are the product of Tenex, a Florida-based company in business for the past 20 years. It's the same system used in Lehigh County for six years, according to Administrator Charles Dertinger. It is also the cheapest of three bids received.

Dertinger acknowledged that he opposed epollbooks himself, but the county has no choice. Changes in the Elections Code have expanded the time to register to vote or seek mail-in or absentee ballots, and this makes it impossible to print paper pollbooks in time. "If we don't have pollbooks by the primary, we can't have an election," warned Dertinger.

Prueninger is extremely concerned about voter outreach and this will be a topic of next week's meeting as well.

Ordinarily, an elections commission meets just four times a year, but these board members want to meet more frequently.

Dr. Brau also had some ideas of his own. He said the geek in him loves the XL, but voters should have the option of voting by paper ballot at the polls as well. He was informed that voters can already do this via a mail-in ballot or a provisional ballot at the polls.

DeVito grilled Dertinger on Cozze's selection as Voting Registrar, and was told the County followed the Administrative Code.

Attorney Santee and other elections officials also addressed significant changes in the Elections Code. I have previously discussed these changes, but will add the insights of these officials on Monday.

31 comments:

  1. Two losers on the board, Dertinger and Santee. One's a bully and the other doesn't know anything. Can't even bring business into his daddy's business.

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  2. A strong Board is great. Can they exert any pressure on the McClure-Dertinger gang? They already had Cozze shoved down their throats. Hopefully they are more effective than the rubber stamp council.

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  3. I wish the new Election Board and Registrar well. Sounds like a capable team.

    HIGHEST Priority - Assure that Voter Registrations on file are UP TO DATE, ACCURATE, and do not contain any listings who are deceased, or not eligible for any other reason. Flag all brand new Registrations and give them a more careful verification.

    As we’ve already read, MILLIONS of invalid Voter Registrations have been identified all across America. Let’s make sure Northampton County Registrations are 99% accurate BEFORE mailing out ballots. Even if just 100 invalid ballots are sent out for use, such a small number being used illegally here can swing a local election.

    Citizens need firm assurance our local records have been ‘cleaned,’ during the next few months with the effort PROVEN and signed.




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  4. Millions of invalid voter registrations? WTF are you talking about? Watching too much FOX/fake news has effected your thinking. That statement is just ridiculous and totally made up by R's looking for any and all ways to suppress voter participation. Next you'll want a poll tax and a literacy test. Geez.

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  5. Sorry, 7:07. I made a true statement. 2.3 million in California alone. Also check Florida and Illinois.

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  6. CHARLES! Dertinger has made one bad decision after another. He's the working definition of the Peter Principle. He was instrumental in screwing things up, because that's what he does. It's a surprise to exactly no one. We knew what was being foisted on us. The McClure disaster needs to be corrected. It's far worse than anyone could have fathomed.

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  7. FOX facts are fake facts. Show us where your supposed facts came from!

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  8. 8:02 - do your own research. But, start at Judicial Watch and go from there. Next, learn more about extrapolation. Off you go, now!

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  9. Dodging the question does not absolve you of the fact you will not come clean as asked. You sir..are a fraud and rumor monger. Typical R lies and deception.

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  10. Oh, why am I bothering? 8:47 - I gave you one source already (Judicial Watch). I gave you the name of three states (California, Florida, Illinois). I will now give you two more states. One (Ohio) was even included in a Voter Registration Supreme Court Decision). The other is our own state (Pennsylvania) where Allegheny County, and three other PA Counties have irregularities.

    But, I’ll play along with your objection. All Pennsylvania County Voter Registration Records are 100% accurate and trustworthy. Especially, Northampton County! Happy, now?

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  11. The national DNC committee just like the dirty bombs originating from other countries have no traces Left on the production of XL machines that will fake 2020 elections. Like the fake Trump election tampering investigation, local dummied down Dems are trying this in the many new districts too.

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  12. Anonymous @ January 24, 2020, at 8:02 AM

    "Show us where your supposed facts came from!"

    What matters most is whether or not the information is true and/or factual, not as much where it came from. I do not know of the truth of this information; however, one needs to seek the truth on their own. Comments such as "You sir are a fraud and rumor monger. Typical R lies and deception." do nothing to further the truth. Did you take the time to do your own research or did you just dismiss the information because you assumed the source? By the way, I am not a republican. Be careful not to blindly follow either the democrats or the republicans. Don't be a sheeple. Civility.

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  13. All this fear mongering over election results will play right into Trump's hand if he and his crew decide to try and invalidate the November election. He's been claiming election fraud since day one. Nothing he says or does is outside the realm of possibility.

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    1. You're joking, right? All the Democrats live for is to regain total control of our government so that they can regulate all aspects of our lives.

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  14. Relax. Dems and Obama whined endlessly about fictional disenfranchisement. Rs always complain about fictional fraud. Each side has their tired old complaint. None of this is new. The republic continues to stand. And oh yeah ... this is the most important election in blah blah blah history .... just like every one before it. The tribes are on hyper drive.

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  15. Here’s the bottom line. A massive mail-in ballot process will depend MOST on the information found ‘in the books’ for every mail-in voter. The voter registration roll will determine WHO is mailed a ballot, and WHICH ballots are approved to be counted. It’s that simple.

    Unless the voter rolls have been recently updated for accuracy, ballots will go back and forth that are faulty. It is imperative to have these books honest. It is only these books that will decide!

    So, when were these books certified and by who? Who are the individuals that sign their name swearing to the quality of what is listed?

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  16. Democrats' sole purpose in life is to regain total control by stealing the 2020 elections.

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  17. Add WISCONSIN to the list of states currently using disputed Voter Registration Records. There, some 230,000 entires are flawed and efforts to clean-up the rolls are being thwarted.

    It seems, several states, including Pennsylvania, have significant issues with accuracy of voting eligibility records. Most, of course, could be tied to innocent omissions. but WHY NOT be concerned with the legitimacy of Northampton County records?

    I ask our new local Election Officials to explain, in detail, the status of the records it will be using to EXPAND absentee/mail-in voting. This information is critically important to instill confidence in our results. One person’s verbal assurance is not adequate to remove suspicion.

    So, when was the last thorough verification of our records undertaken. Explain the process. What were the results?

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  18. Your take on the new EC is interesting. When the last commission members tried to slow down the selection process of the XL you were impatient as it was "obviously the best choice". When members of the former EC presented research from other counties, you blew them off. The new EC has rubber stamped the new Director of Elections despite the fact that she has far less experience than another applicant and that she was a champion of the XL. If she observed the election in Delaware so closely, why didn't she see that the L & A that ES&S was doing here was wrong? Was she even an observer during our own election, or came in when it all went to hell?

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  19. With all the national democrats thinking they are relevant and fashionable with there ugliness on every channel. I will be voting straight Republican as I voted straight democrats in noboma's first run. Usually I'm a cross voter as well like polosi really being a cross dresser also wanting to be fashionable and relevant.

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  20. 5:03, The previous EC was motivated by personal and political agendas at least as much as by a desire to do what is right, DEB Hunter had a personal animosity with Dertinger, and it unfortunately colored her perspective. In addition, she wanted a third system tested after it was pretty clear that the Clear Ballot paper ballot system lacked support. She wanted to go against the choice of roughly 30 election judges who viewed that system in LC and wanted the XL. So yes, I do not know if I wrote this at the time, but I disagreed with her anti-Democratic attempt to delay a selection.

    When it went to County Council, we all heard from a bunch of "WE KNOW MORE THAN YOU" groups who were condescending and elitist and who lectured Council that it needed to do its homework several times. Council, to its credit, waited to see how the XL performed in Delaware. It passed with flying colors, and elections officials from that state called in during a Council meeting to say so. During that same meeting, the "WE KNOW MORE THAN YOU" groups lectured Council again about doing their homework. The opinions of election judges who actually work with these systems was belittled by the know-it-alls.

    In answer to your attempt to discredit Cozze, you might ask why the other qualified candidate in elections did not pick up the errors as well. The reason is that ES&S handled the testing. It was not the fault of the elections office, Cozze or anyone but the vendor.

    The new EC has rubber-stamped nothing. They were not given a choice in Cozze's selection. Perhaps they should have been asked to approve, but were not. These may be in the elections office, but are county employees who operate under career service.

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  21. So I guess everyone who says Charlie is arrogant and incompetent like you used to has a personal thing against him? No, like lots of folks here understand you've cut that shit out because they give you access. If Lamont were to cut you off tomorrow you'd be spouting the same stuff you used to about how lazy he was and how full of shit Charlie was.

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  22. Excuse me? I get no access. I have the rights of an ordinary citizen. As we speak, Dertinger is shrinking the size of the recorder’s office, where I search titles, to about half its current size. We are going to be tripping over each other. If anything, I should be bashing him about everything. You have no idea what you are talking about, as usual.

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  23. He is doing this to expand elections, not to be a prick. That’s just a side benefit for him, lol.

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  24. Dertinger is much more mellow than he was on council. I think there are two reasons. First, he works for McClure and does not want to embarrass him. Second, he now wears a bow tie.

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  25. You defended the Dirt man when he forced Elections into that closet claiming it was big enough. Now you defend him for giving them the space they really need. Of course his "special" assistant is now in charge At east you are consistent in your praise of these clowns. He is still an arrogant ass. Just ask any employee.

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  26. I said no such thing. You are a blatant liar. In fact, this is exactly what I said on Friday, after being informed the meeting would take place in the training room instead of Council Chambers, where there would be video: "I did not see that and think that would be outrageous."

    I followed up with several complaints. I was told there would be a conflict bc a Council Committee was meeting one hour after the EC started. I rejected that bc most EC meetings are over quickly.

    I fully intended to blast McClure over this departure from transparency and then I was handed a copy of a very detailed agenda. The meeting would never finish in time. And as a matter of fact, it lasted over 2.5 hours. Thus, the only place to have the meeting was the training room. So McClure was correct.

    Your comment that I previously defended this, so easily refuted, just proves what a desperate liar you are.

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  27. Replies
    1. Look both ways before you cross the street Bob

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  28. After reading 6:44 post it is clear you misunderstood it. They appear to be writing about how when they moved the election staff to a small space the staff complaint to Dettinger and you defended him on the space issue and slam the staff. Now he is expanding that office since his pick for Registrar is moving in. Your anger tends to make you not read well. You are overly sensitive to any comments about this new crew of bosses.

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You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.