Local Government TV

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Biden Extends NorCo Lead Despite Hundreds of GOP Challenges

All counting done publicly. 
President-Elect Joe Biden extended his lead over Donald Trump in Northampton County yesterday as the counting of provisional ballots finally got underway late in the afternoon. The count was delayed because county Republicans,with Gloria "General Lee" Snover at the helm, lodged hundreds of objections to the approximately 2700 provisional ballots submitted. Democrats objected to none.

Biden now leads Trump by 1,365 votes. He has 84,271 to Trump's 82,906. This is after two batches* of provisional ballots were run late in the day. These were provisional ballots from Bethlehem, where Biden would be expected to lead. The counting of the remaining unchallenged provisional ballots will resume Thursday, and will be completed. 

In addition, 170 ballots that arrived after election day have been segregated from the other ballots. It is highly unlikely these late-arriving ballots will make a difference. 

Republican challenges were somewhere between 300 and 400. Snover provided no explanation for her challenges, which she shouted off as each precinct was reviewed. 

She did so maskless until I raised a challenge of my own ... to her. 

This was not a Trump rally.

As you might have guessed, most of the challenges were in heavily Democratic districts. She had no objections at all in heavily Republican districts like Bushkill Township. She also objected to ballots submitted by people with names like "Trevon," "Amin," "Rashan" or ""Ugochouko."

No bias there. 

Attorney Gary Asteak, representing Democrats, was appalled by the number of challenges. "You are witnessing live voter suppression at its finest," he grumbled, adding that the sole reason for these voluminous objections was to "delay and distract" election officials.

Voter Registrar Amy Cozze will now have to attempt to notify somewhere between 300-400 voters and deliver the news that Republicans are attempting to disenfranchise them. What's worse is they have no idea why. 

The Elections Board will convene Friday at Council Chambers at 9 am to review and rule on the challenges and certify the results. After that, there are two days in which to petition the court for any changes. 

Statewide, Biden now leads Trump by 44,983 votes. He has 3,370.332 (49.76%) to Trump's 3,325,349 (49.09%). This latest tally includes about 17,000 of an estimated 200,000 provisional ballots.In addition, 49,174 mail-in ballots (MIBs) are outstanding. 
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* The unofficial results contain the numbers from only the first of these two batches at this time. 

23 comments:

  1. I was thinking that Mezzacappa may have jumped bail a few weeks ago with the thought it would be worth it if she could celebrate what she very wrongly assumed would be Trump's victory. Her stability appears to be failing badly - she was tossed out of the West Easton Borough meeting for using profanity last night. A video clip is on YouTube and her meltdown is pretty funny.

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  2. Mail in was rushed in a matter of months. It took Oregon four or five years (filled with challenges and recounts and suits and hearings) to get it mostly right. There's a process to safeguarding elections. Each side abuses the process on the edges and gets cranky when the other side is doing exactly what they have - or will - do. I want each side to contest each vote as long as it takes to get mail in under control. The only way that happens is by this process. If we wait for loathsome legislatures to fix things, we shall grow old and die waiting. Viva la country of laws and not men. The fight is important regardless of which side is waging it.

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  3. It is a good thing that the Trump supporters continue their efforts to discredit the election. we can all feel assured, when they're done, that the best man won and the entire world sees these nut jobs for what they really are. The comments coming in from foreign leaders re-enforces what the electorate did by throwing Trump out of office. Let's hope the insane actions of a sore loser don't lead to more world problems before he leaves office. On the 3rd, we got rid of the turd.

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  4. DONALD TRUMP IS DOING TO THE COUNTRY THE SAME THING JOHN BROWN TRIED TO DO TO NORTHAMPTON COUNTY BEFORE LEAVING OFFICE. That's right. Don't you remember after John Brown lost the election he went back to County Council and tried to have the millage rate reduced? Had he succeeded, there wouldn't have been enough monies in the County coffers to pay the bills and services would have been drastically reduced. This after he promised a smooth transition and co-operation to the next administration. It must be a Republican thing.

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  5. Never heard anyone in West Easton using a profanity. She should be barred for life.

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  6. Recommend all interested readers expand your focus beyond just what you know about the election process in Northampton County.

    The State of Pennsylvania can still be won by President Trump. If just a portion of the claims of wrongdoing in Philadelphia are confirmed, that number of votes voided can far exceed the Biden winning margin in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia County is ENORMOUS in size compared to Northampton County.

    In effect, as a Northampton County resident, or as a resident of Lehigh County, etc., My vote’s value is dependent most, on what the results in the Philadelphia investigation reveal. The Biden lead in Pennsylvania is not all that large.

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  7. @ 7:36 - there is no wrongdoing, period! Our election system is safe, secure and accurate! Stop with the fake news and stop drinking the kool-aid!

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  8. The problem isn't Trump seeking a review of how the election was handled. Rather, it's his failure to admit that he's on a fishing expedition and has no evidence of significant fraud. I guess that's what to expect from a confirmed liar.

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  9. 7:36 FALSE

    PA has been called for Biden. The number of contested votes it's less than Biden's majority. Even Trump knows this, he's just trying to sow further division and distract from his actions the next couple of months. Getting his flock to tout how unfair all this was to him is just icing.

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  10. 9:01 - The Pennsylvania result has NOT been certified by our Pennsylvania Legislature. That’s about 4 weeks away.

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  11. The election is not certified by the legislature. It is certified by the county boards and the DOS.

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  12. Bernie: Where are you seeing 200,000 provisional ballots? I've seen reported anywhere from 94,000 to just over 100,000.

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  13. 9:32 lol that's not how any of this works

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  14. "Bernie: Where are you seeing 200,000 provisional ballots? I've seen reported anywhere from 94,000 to just over 100,000."

    You may be right. I have read projections all over the place, including the 200,000 estimate. Based on the 2,700 provisionals in NorCo, I believe there are close to 200,000. York Daily and Post Gazette reports 92,000. The Inky sez 100,000. WHYY sez 100,000 plus. WNEP sez 101,000. These are all estimates, although I can no longer find the 200,000 estimate.

    It would have been more accurate for me to have said the number of provisional ballots is unknown.

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  15. York might have as many as 10,000 bc it was reportedly (I have heard this but do not know it) requiring all voters who spoiled MIBs to vote provisionally.

    I hope my estimate is on the high side. It could be that there are around 100,000 provisionals that are valid.

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  16. According to your link, Republican candidates for Congress (Scheller), Auditor General (DeFoor), and State Treasurer (Garrity) won in NorCo. Trump lost because he was a lousy candidate, ran a terrible campaign, and had no money to match Biden advertising in PA. There was no fraud. Bye Don.

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  17. Registered R here. Voted straight R and licking my wounds, mostly. Amy's up to the task. It's her job that we pay her to do - and it gives no pleasure to admit that she does it very well. She's probably the best in the state. I want to see NorCo's transparency from other counties, particularly Philadelphia and Allegheny, with regard to ghost ballots and allegations of legitimate observers (even under court order) being denied the opportunity to witness the envelope openings. That's where fraud can occur, thus PA's privacy envelope requirement. It cannot be proven after the fact. But NorCo's ghost ballot number was around 3% as witnessed by bipartisan observers in a clean and open process. I'll bet that's a solid number statewide, given how well Amy runs her show. As unsightly and frustrating as this is, I want everything challenged and examined. I suspect NorCo will come up aces and many other counties will have some serious explaining to do. The only opportunity for this to happen is in the fight after the vote. Otherwise, problems are kicked down the road for another two years and another two years and another two years.......

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  18. Biden should concede if he really cares about unity.

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  19. The Biden inauguration will be the largest MAGA rally of all time. Joe's probably going to blame the virus and scale it back to a cocktail party to avoid the spectacle. These are weird times and the pressure should be kept up on the weirdness from both sides. It makes me feel alive! God/Yahweh/Allah/Buddha/Gaia and all the great Gods and Goddesses - bless this crazy, lovable nation. If Dean can be black and gay, and Biden can be senile and touchy, there's a way for all of us to get along. Peace and love.

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  20. I am sure that the inauguration will be scaled back and that social distancing and masks will be pushed very heavily.

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  21. 5:55 - 5,000,000+ more Americans voted legally for Pres-elect Joe Biden rather than Don the con...

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  22. Snover is just another Trump hack who has no integrity and has no respect for the constitution or the Election process. She should be embarrassed. Time to vote her out next.

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  23. This is not a close race! Trump is losing the Popular Vote by over 5 million! Hillary only got not quite 3 million over Donald Trump!
    Biden clearly has the electoral vote, so far 279, probably will go up to 306! That’s the number Trump had over Clinton in 2016!
    Amazing, how Trump and GOP will delay the inevitable! He is busy collecting money during this! He may need since he has legal trouble in NYS!
    We all knew he would be a sore loser, and he is living up to that! SAD that some other GOP’s are going along!
    Trump calls most all mail in votes that went to Biden illegal votes, and mail in votes for him, legal!
    If we could all do this!
    His legacy of conning, and Chief disrupters continues!
    All ends in early December when the Electoral College meets!

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