In addition to an op-ed taking the Northampton County Elections Commission to task over their refusal to recommend electronic poll books, Executive Lamont McClure has written to them. "You have a sworn obligation to ensure that the County has the ability to conduct an election," he notes. Their refusal to recommend epollbooks, and without providing a workable alternative, means the County has no ability to conduct a primary.
He has asked them to conduct a meeting before Friday to reconsider. "Time is of the essence and your failure to do so could prompt litigation," he warns.
The Elections Comm'n has responded by running to The Morning Call to complain through party bosses who appear to be intent upon undermining public confidence in our electoral process. But they have scheduled a meeting for Thursday 8 pm.
A Council meeting will be going on simultaneously.
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
Local Government TV
▼
Wednesday, February 05, 2020
19 comments:
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.
So they are meeting after county council? Why not before so Council gets their update. This seems like a bullshot pussy move on their part. Hopefully County Council is the adult in the room and can resolve this pissing match between the Administration and the election Commission. It is getting embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteHello? Leadership Please.
maybe they should take a field trip to Iowa
ReplyDeleteTechnology failure by design. Je suis Iowa.
ReplyDelete"So they are meeting after county council? Why not before so Council gets their update. This seems like a bullshot pussy move on their part. Hopefully County Council "
ReplyDeleteI have not received Council's agendas, but I believe they can approve this purchase without a recommendation from the Elections Comm'n. This purchase has nothing to do with the actual conduct of an election.
“ This purchase has nothing to do with the actual conduct of an election.“
ReplyDeleteBernie, you might want to rephrase this sentence.
The epollbooks will be fine in their performance. I hope! But, they are absolutely more costly to obtain and maintain. Most importantly, the way they are being pushed through is really poor. Not the stuff that builds confidence in voters.
McClure = Trump = disaster/disgrace
ReplyDeleteWhy wait till the last minute and put the e-book should have been considered along with the new voting machines. Something stinks at the Courthouse
ReplyDelete"Why wait till the last minute and put the e-book should have been considered along with the new voting machines. Something stinks at the Courthouse"
ReplyDeleteThe reason why epollbooks are needed now is because the Election Code was changed after the new voting machines were obtained, making it impossible to print accurate paper pollbooks in time. The county wants to make voting as easy as possible and wants to be able to report results. The Elections Comm'n would rather screw election workers and voters and are undermining voter confidence.
If administration circumnavigates Election Commission decision, and Council decides to purchase against Election Commission decision to not purchase, is there breach of HR Adminstrative code or standards of ethical conduct for elected officials threatening litigation?
ReplyDeleteEpollbooks are NOT required by law, even now. If true, this same product would be in use all across America. There were other products and methods. But, yes, choosing to delay this decision so long WILL, and should, bring about their purchase. Wish it would have been handled better.
ReplyDelete10:29, no. I have explained this exhaustively in previous posts.
ReplyDelete10:37,this product actually is in use in most US voting districts. As a practical matter, and this was made clear, we are unable to hold a election without them.
ReplyDeleteKnowing that the commission’s approval of epoll books was necessary and had not been acted upon, the prudent decision would have been to have had the books printed
ReplyDeleteIn time for the primary. All this hand wringing is unnecessary drama.
What concerns me is the timing. The short time frame(s). It all seems so rushed and chaotic. It started with the governor's mandate at a state level, ended up a county issue since NorCo is responsible for conducting the election. It started with the voting machines, now it is the poll books. Though I understand the situation(s), I remain concerned.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. But we have no choice. The kicker is we’ll be lucky to get 60% of the money we were forced to spend.
ReplyDelete11:19, you don’t seem to understand. We can’t get paper poll books printed, at least not ones that are accurate.
ReplyDeleteWord has it that the administration never put out a bid for printing new poll books when they had already put out a bid for the epoll books back in November. Gee, could that have been because they didnt want to really offer the new or former EC a choice in the matter???
ReplyDeleteBoth team McClure and the election Commission really screwed this up in their little pissing battle.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what really went on to bring us here, but do believe the current matter was purposely dragged-out to create some emergency need to act quickly. Just like everything that happens in Washington, from approving budgets full of unnecessary pork spending to impeaching a President before there is a crime committed.
ReplyDelete