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| Erika Bickford, wearing skirt, blue blouse with Roman collar, baseball cap decorated with flowers and lipstick |
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| LC Voting Registrar Tim Benyo is an avid cyclist. His team is called "The Jim Thorpers." |
And what a show it was! A parade of 13 witnesses was called by Philadelphia-area Attorney Steve Masters, who represented Santiago. His lawfirm is named JustLaws, "an innovative social impact law firm in Philadelphia combining traditional legal services with strategic consulting around political and community engagement." When speaking about Latinos, he made sure to use the word "Latinx." He was very politically correct and is certainly woke. But as a lawyer, he could have been better. You don't call Spanish witnesses without having arranged in advance for an independent interpreter. I've seen lawyers get beheaded for that kind of mistake. Fortunately for him, Armstrong was able to wrangle one. Masters also called witnesses like the GOP Vice Chair, who was just there to express opinions about how stupid Democrats are. We already knew that. I'm a Democrat myself.
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| Enid Santiago: "This is not over." |
* Bickford was Judge of Elections (JOE) at the government center. She has been an elections judge for nine years and testified she is the state's first ever transsexual elections judge. Registrar Tim Benyo noted she's "not the best election judge that we have and not the worst." Bickford readily conceded that she darkened some of the markings on ballots, and fed a few ballots into the scanners for seniors. She admitted there were Peter Schweyer pens at her polling place, but they were brought in by voters, not her. She acknowledged telling Santiago outside the immediate polling area that she supports Schweyer and considers him extended family. "His kids call me Aunt Erika." She made these statements as other voters walked by. "I altered no ballots," she insisted. "Had I altered ballots, [Enid] would not have won [my precinct] two to one. Benyo believes Bickford. "Her work isn't that great, but I never found her to be malicious," said the county's chief election clerk. "I don't think she thought she was doing anything wrong."
* The Fearless Fire polling place opened about 45 minutes late. JOE Sharon Smith said she was completely unaware of the training videos until the day prior to the election. Because of this lack of training, she experienced technical issues when trying to open the polls. Jose Rosado, who was volunteering there, said voters streamed out complaining "They don't know what they're doing; they're not ready; we weren't able to vote."
* Anthony Kyzer, JOE at LANTA Bus, said his precinct received the wrong provisional ballots. This was not noticed until around 5 pm. He said he received a total of nine provisional ballots, seven of them from Democrats. Once it was known he had the wrong provisional ballots, voters were told to use the write-in option. During the canvass, Benyo indicated those write-ins were counted.
* Several witnesses, including Santiago, testified that most Latinx have two surnames. This makes it difficult for pollworkers to find them in the epollbooks. Attorney Masters was quick to brand this a form of voter suppression aimed at Latinx voters. I disagree. Since this problem affects everyone with a hyphenated surname, regardless of ethnic persuasion, I believe it's a question of data entry. I have experienced this issue both as a JOE and as a title searcher. We get confused by hyphenated or double surnames.
* Tim Benyo, Lehigh County's Voting Registrar, said that as a result of the pandemic, the county lost 40 polling places. This resulted in some confusion among voters. In addition to losing polling places, about half of the election workers opted to sit out this election. This forced the county to scramble for new pollworkers. Since the county was in the red zone and county offices were closed, it was impossible to train them. Training videos were emailed, but many pollworkers never saw them.
* Benyo insisted there was no fraud evident in Bickford's district because the number of voters who signed in corresponded with the ballots cast.
* Benyo added that JOEs and other election officials are often elected, and not appointed. Even if an elected official is incompetent, he has no authority to replace that person.
After the hearing, Santiago claimed from home that the state AG had someone viewing the entire proceedings in a separate room. "We are making history," she contended. "This is not over."
Of course not. She will now wage a write-in campaign and Allentown voters will face another three months of histrionics.
One example is her complete turnaround on Benyo. On election day, he was her "angel in disguise." Now, he's a devil. She is quoted in The Morning Call as saying "he failed the voters, he failed me, he failed the city and he failed the county."
Updated 8 am: Blogger Michael Molovinsky has weighed in as well. He warns that the Election Board's political decision to appease Santiago by throwing Bickford under the buss will backfire. "If Chief Election Clerk Tim Benyo thought he had a problem getting people to work the polls for the primary, wait until November."
15 comments:
So Enid Santiago says it isn't over? Hmmm, the old adage about people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones keeps coming to mind. Sure she can run a write in, but does she plan to go in the voting both with each voter and help them spell whichever name she decides to use properly? First off, she will get few of the registered Super voter Democrats to vote for her. Second, the shenanigans and fast and loose playing with the rules executed by her campaign staff won't be tolerated this time. Third, the House Democratic committee will give Representative Schweyer everything he needs to fend her off. In the meantime, there will be an investigation. Not just of the missteps by the JOE, but of all the antics Enid and her supporters engaged in, which they freely posted on social media for all to see. Proudly destroying the property of another individual and posting about it isn't the work of intellectual giants. It is more like a Trump Tantrum. I think most voters are now turned off by that.
When did Santiago destroy the property of another person and post about it? I was unable to locate this.
I fail to see where the gender identity of the JoE in question has anything to do with the matter at hand. Perhaps someone can enlighten me.
This is just a glimpse of what is in store for future elections. Chaos. If we cannot settle our differences with elections, we are really going down a dangerous path.
Brushing off a serious violation undermines confidence in elections. No amount of explaining will clean up the stain this caused. Lehigh elections are simply not to be trusted at this point. I'm glad I live in NorCo. But NorCo is the exception that proves the rule about dirty county processes and laughing off serious violations. Damage done.
Doc, It is part of the story. Bickford mentioned it several times, so I decided to do so as well. It's not particularly relevant.
1) I don't understand why there is any mention that Bickford is "trans-sexual". As you note, it's irrelevant. Is Bickford trying to play the trans "victim" card to avoid the consequences of her actions? That's what it seems like and, if so, is despicable.
2) Election workers are not allowed to alter or mark ballots in any way. That's the law and Bickford has admitted breaking the law. I don't think a JOE is even allowed to look at someone's ballot, but I'm not 100% sure.
3) Yes, there is a pandemic and I'm sure that made it more difficult for Benyo to handle the election. But instead of just e-mailing instructions to poll workers he should have been personally following up with them to make sure they had watched them and were properly trained. That's his job, and it's part of the reason that the election was delayed for the entire state.
4) To that point, other counties faced the same conditions (losing poll workers and consolidating polling locations) and made it through their elections without any known election fraud. One needs to look no further than Northampton County to find an example.
5) Don't care for Santiago, her politics, or her antics. But that doesn't change the fact that a serious wrong was done here.
6) Bickford's a nine-year election worker and certainly not a rookie that just came on board. She knows better, and this is certainly not the first irregularity that's been observed at Bickford's polling place over the years. Unlike previous years, a race was close enough for a candidate to make it public. Still, Benyo seemed willing to sweep a felony offense under the rug. That's not his call to make, and HE should have referred this to the DA immediately after it was discovered.
7) I don't know how Benyo can claim there was no fraud in Bickford's district since Bickford himself has admitted to a felony offense.
8) You mention that Benyo said that some JOE's are elected, and some are appointed. That's great, but it may be irrelevant here. Was Bickford elected or appointed? If the former, then I understand why Bickford hasn't been removed by Benyo. But if Bickford was appointed, then Benyo should be skewered (and likely fired) for not removing Bickford immediately after she admitted to altering ballots.
9) To that same point, it's also why this case SHOULD BE referred to the DA. If Bickford was elected and can't be removed by Benyo, I'd imagine a felony conviction on ballot tampering/election fraud would force that to happen. There is no way Bickford should continue to be an election judge/poll worker.
10) Do you know Bickford's current status as an election worker? Has she been removed or resigned?
Bickford violated the Elections Code, but there is no evidence he did so with intent. There is no mens rea. He has committed no felony and you are out of your mind to make such an irresponsible assertion.
Benyo could only do so much. He is one of the best elections clerks I've seen and managed somehow to attract new workers and prepare training videos, and did personally follow up. But it is impossible to make an elected JoE do anything. And if you want to look at NorCo, let's do that. Until June, NorCo was always way behind Lehigh. In November, our election was an unmitigated disaster. Things went very well in June bc the county threw everything it had in making sure it removed that black eye it received in November. And believe me, there were multiple problems in EVERY county, and this includes JoEs who do not know what they are doing.
Nenyo has no authority to refer a violation. That is the job of the elections board.
Bickford was an elected JoE and cannot be replaced. That happens to be the law you claim to want to follow.
Bickford violated the Elections Code, but there is no evidence he did so with intent. There is no mens rea.
You were an attorney, so I'm surprised you would try to present this as a defense.
Bickford is an experienced JOE. The law is clear that a ballot may not be altered. He/She knew that the action of altering ballots constituted a crime. If it were just a matter of ensuring votes were recorded correctly, a visual hand count could have been done if there was reason to believe the scanner would have missed lightly shaded votes.
Now I'm hearing allegations that Bickford was handing out items with a candidate name on them and voicing an opinion of who he/she favored within earshot of voters.
It will be interesting to see what the investigation reveals.
Bernie -
8:21 here again.
You're trying to split hairs about Benyo referring the violation. From what I've read, Benyo didn't think it was important enough to notify the Elections Board about it, and the Board was blindsided when the story came out in the paper. Benyo should have immediately referred it to the Elections Board. It seems like they saw the offense VERY different from Benyo, since they UNANIMOUSLY forwarded the case to both the local DA and state AG when they were given the facts.
Bickford did commit a felony offense. It is not up to you or Benyo to decide intent. That will be the job of the local DA (or AG) and hopefully a jury.
What is the procedure for removing an elected Judge of Elections, and who can do it? I would say that it is apparent to all that Bickford shouldn't be allowed to continue serving, and the procedure to remove him should be started immediately.
BTW, I'm not advocating that Bickford serves the rest of his life in prison for what he did. But he should certainly lose his position and be heavily fined. That would send a message that the county takes ballot tampering seriously. Until that happens, I have very little confidence in Benyo, the Election Board, or that this problem won't happen again in future elections.
We should move to mail-in voting. The USPS has never lost a letter or package and never delivered late. Feel confident. Nothing to worry about.
Give it a rest already. If anyone is splitting hairs it is you. Listen to me. As Benyo himself said, he has no authority to refer a matter. That is up to the elections board. I no longer recall whether he thought the matter was important enough to bring to their attention. But I do recall quite a bit about the law, and there is no way she will be prosecuted bc he has no criminal intent. You’ll have to look for your pound of flesh elsewhere.
Let's stick to some actual facts. Bickford made some serious errors, and is being legally held accountable for that, even though there was no malicious intent. The Lehigh County Voter office made every attempt to follow protocols and do things correctly. Yes, 6 (SIX!) incorrect provisional ballots were sent to a precinct. Mistakes like that happen when you are moving polling places at the last minute and you end up with precincts 12-1,12-2, 16-1, and 16-2 all in one location at the Fearless Fire Company on Susquehanna street. To make things even clearer, that J O E called the office, got instructions on how to handle the situation, and the voter wrote Enid Santiago on her ballot. Voter registration confirms that they did COUNT that ballot. Enid Santiago could have challenged the election up to a POINT, but she couldn't be bothered to actual either go on the Department of State website and READ what the law says her options were, nor did she seek out legal advice in a timely manner. THAT IS ON HER FOR BEING UNINFORMED. The Voter registration office in every interaction with her told her that THEY COULD NOT GIVE HER LEGAL ADVICE, even when she demanded it. They run elections, THEY ARE NOT LAWYERS.
It boggles the mind that someone would attempt to run for office without bothering to learn the rules and regulations concerning the process. The process has some flaws, but that is no excuse for what is downright ignorance on the part of candidate Santiago. She knew enough (Or maybe her pseudo staff did?) to encourage voters to apply for and use mail in balloting.
America is doomed!
Why bring up gender?? She or he may have or may have not broken the law. Nothing else matters.
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