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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Monday, June 07, 2021

Lehigh Tp: We Don't Need No Stinkin' MIBs

Thanks to a reader, I learned that Lehigh Tp Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution on May 11, indicating they will refuse to recognize mail-in ballots (MIBs). Supervisor Cindy Miller, herself a former State Rep. candidate, indicated she intends to present it in person. But she's presenting it to the wrong body. Northampton County Council has nothing to do with recent changes made to election law made by a Republican-controlled state legislature. If Northampton County officials refused to accept MIBs, they themselves would be suppressing the vote and violating state and federal law. I believe what really bothers Lehigh Tp Supervisors is that, thanks to MIBs, more people are voting.

According to the meeting minutes, "The problem [Miller] has with the mail in ballots is the way they are distributed. Her son moved away five years ago and he received mail in ballots and registrations not only from Northampton County, but also mail from Ohio telling him to fill it out and send it to the County. Anyone could have filled it out and mail it in and he is no longer a resident of Northampton County. The companies who are sending the mass mailings of these mail in ballots have no idea who the people are."

What Miller is referring to are applications for MIBs, not the ballots themselves. The only entity that has the legal authority to send a ballot is the Northampton County elections office. That office refuses to send out applications unless they are first requested. 

It's true that both the Republican party and PACs on the left and right mailed unsolicited ballot applications prior to the last Presidential election. But they were only applications. 

Miller also claimed, according to the meeting minutes, that the "County government is not supporting this county. She watched what took place with the last election. It is not bipartisan. There is one party representing the entire election department of the County. They eliminated the bipartisanship last year. There are a lot of elections within our County. This resolution is to make a point and say to the County Council, enough is enough, you need to start talking to the people and listening to what they want."

This is simply false. Northampton County's Elections Commission is, by definition, bipartisan. It is made up of three members of the majority party and two members of the minority party. In 2020, tha majority Democrats actually appointed Maude Hornick, a Republican and sister of the GOP boss, as Chair of the Elections Commission. 

In the canvass of the Presidential election, GOP party boss Lee Snover objected to just about every Democrat vote she could. The Elections Commission conducted lengthy hearings, and sustained some while rejecting others.

Their decision could have been challenged ion court, but nothing was filed. 

GOP party boss Lee Snover complained at a legislative hearing and on a TV show about election fraud in Northampton County. But she failed to complain in court - the one place where it would have mattered.  

This baseless  challenge to the integrity of our elections will no doubt be an election issue. It's coming from (1) sore losers who hate that Trump lost and (2) bigots who want to make it impossible for minorities and the poor to vote. 

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does Lehigh Township have the ability to refuse MIBs? They are sent to the county elections office.

Anonymous said...

Their resolution is BS. They have no power to do what they're doing. What they have actually accomplished is to embarrass themselves as elected officials. Its Trump country up there and they prove it with nutty moves like this one.

Anonymous said...

Aren't they breaking the law?

Anonymous said...

Couldn't finish your article.
"People are voting again"

Anonymous said...

I’ve read more than enough reports about election irregularities throughout our state to convince me full forensic audits, not just re-counts, are justified. Citizens need actual proof their voting is legitimate. We live in a time when lying is much too common. News media and people think nothing of regularly lying if they believe it helps their case. What can be fully trusted anymore? Hard to understand what harm can come from a total examination. Can’t understand why anyone would oppose something so important.

Anonymous said...

Did NorCo issue a ballot, as well as the Ohio county? Lots of applications deliver lots of ballots, as seen by increased participation percentages in Nov and last month. Are the voter roles clean? My dad remained electorally alive for eight years after his death. He was summoned for federal jury duty after being in the ground for ten years. It took Oregon a long time to get this right. You may not like the messenger, but the message is worth exploring, just like it was in Oregon.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"Does Lehigh Township have the ability to refuse MIBs?"

No.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"We live in a time when lying is much too common. News media and people think nothing of regularly lying if they believe it helps their case. What can be fully trusted anymore? "

Four years ago, Trump was elected President. Those who were critical of him over anything, even his most vulgar and offensive statements, were accused of suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome." Now Trump has lost, and these very same people are screaming election fraud with zero evidence. They are attempting to undermine public confidence in the very basis of our democratic form of government - the election.

" My dad remained electorally alive for eight years after his death."

That is most likely bc you and other members of his family failed to notify elections officials. I am aware of one instance in the state in which someone cast a vote for a dead relative. That person was a Trump supporter. So when you talk about dishonesty, recognize where it is coming from.

There is no evidence of any voter fraud conspiracy or widespread fraud. None. There are a few individual instances of election fraud, and they exist in ALL forms of voting.

Anonymous said...

If it were just the Tumpsters who were lying, this would be so much easier....

Anonymous said...

So, what is the reason to fear a comprehensive audit that will end these accusations for good? If there are features in our voting system that are most subject to fraud, we need to discover them in detail before further controls can be put in place.

Anonymous said...

Bernie,

How can you possibly state that there is no evidence of voter fraud? Is your head that buried in the sand that you havent took notice of all the irregularities, affidavits, and anomalies? Just like covid not coming from a lab, Ivermectin is a conspiracy theory treatment, lockdowns and masks were effective, these talking points that have been shoved down are throats have all been proven to be out right lies.

So why would the clearly ignorant and unfounded statement from CISA's former director that this election was the "most fair and free of fraud election ever" be taken seriously when our election officials in Philly were removing republican poll watchers and covering the windows? Vote surges that were almost exclusively Biden in historically corrupt cities that have had issues with voter integrity before isnt suspicious? Can we at least have an investigation before we say it was fair?

Look into Ruby Freeman down in Fulton County. They have subpoenaed her and her daughter. Fulton County(where they were working) hired a defense attorney because they are investigating the late night counting that took place there. If you remember, there was a "water main break" and everyone had to leave (a urinal was leaking). With only 4 workers and no poll watchers, they continued to count ballots from containers that were pulled out from under a table. VIDEO EVIDENCE has these 4 people talking about following through with the plan and having to make up 30k votes. VIDEO EVIDENCE also has RUBY FREEMAN running the same batch of ballots 4 times in a row. But yeah, I can see your argument of no evidence.

There is so much sh** that stinks about this election and you have the audacity to say there was no fraud with having done absolutely no leg work of your own. You have simply accepted the narrative from our News outlets as gospel.

NO EXCUSE Mail in Ballots have one purpose and one purpose only, to make fraud easier. Was it republican legislation? Sure. Doesn't mean it wasnt a mistake that was taken advantage of immediately.

Anonymous said...

Who are these idiots who have no clue about things but speak up and demand change?

local politicians, sorry i forgot

Anonymous said...

Trump was with out a doubt cheated by the pa vote and others

Anonymous said...

I believe Cindy Miller was "anointed" by General Lee to the County Republican party executive committee after her failed vote in for Vice-Chair. Birds of a feather.

Anonymous said...

It is foolish not to conduct a thorough audit of the 2020 election. There really were too many problems with no satisfactory explanations. The 2022 and 2024 elections will be just as suspicious as 2020 without a careful examination of 2020. Citizens MUST have faith in the elections. Right now, too many do not.

Anonymous said...

I support a full comprehensive audit of the election. If it comes back to the dismay of 10:20 and 10:54 I don't think it will solve a thing. I'm going to speculate that no amount of truth will convince these two there was no widespread voter fraud.
10:54 list a few things that have been "proven to be outright lies". The only thing that has been proven is your own opinions in your head.
If the MIB were so ripe for fraud, you want to believe that our party (R) didn't have the balls or brains to take advantage as well?
As a service to your country, please list all the actual evidence you have in your possession to back up you claim. Otherwise, you're just talking out of your ass, which smells a whole lot like fox news talking points.

Anonymous said...

Jeez Bernie, your morning Kool aid drinkers are in full force!

Anonymous said...

It's easy to vote in two or more states. WTF. Let's not pretend.

Anonymous said...

Hey 10:54. In what part of PA is Fulton County??

Anonymous said...

@6:00 AM

I’ve read more than enough reports about election irregularities throughout our state to convince me full forensic audits, not just re-counts, are justified.

What are you reading? Where are you reading it? The internet? What is the reputation of this news source that has caused you concern.


Citizens need actual proof their voting is legitimate. Was 2016 legitimate? What changed in 4 years?

We live in a time when lying is much too common. News media and people think nothing of regularly lying if they believe it helps their case. What can be fully trusted anymore?

Again, why is your news source more reliable than major networks that have stockholders, plus years of experience and reputations of accuracy. Sources that agree to your opinion aren't always the most accurate or reliable.

Hard to understand what harm can come from a total examination. Can’t understand why anyone would oppose something so important. Outside of the expense/cost to the government, are we going to do this for every election? Or just the ones where the results aren't to your liking?

Anonymous said...

@10:54 - There was no fraud. Was there a 2020 surge? Absolutely. Just look at 2016 election results. Urban/inner city simply DID NOT turn out for Hillary Clinton. Put away your tinfoil hat and walk away from your internet chat rooms and Facebook friends telling you ghost stories. There are other chat rooms out there that say Trump will be indicted next month, while others say he'll be reinstated as President in August. Its all fantasy bullshit, stop whining about an election thats over and done with, and stop caring so much about politics.

Reevaluate your life. Seriously, FOX News, MSNBC and politics in general has become an addiction for some people who have no clue about how they're being manipulated.

Anonymous said...

Bernie, are there any changes to MIBs you think should be implemented, or did we get it right the first time?

Anonymous said...

Under this program no military stationed away from the Lehigh Valley, Those that are home or nursing home bound like many seniors, and those that are traveling for work will be able to vote.

Oh but with many other laws that they inflict upon people they have given themselves a by and say that their importance of being a politician is above reproach and that they get to not have to adhere to this law.

Perhaps we should then put a requirement on them that they have to show up just like in another job or they get fired and lose their benefits and self direct giveaways.

Anonymous said...

Make it simple and require a thumb print when you vote. Open the voting 24/7 for a week in person if you want to do away with MIB's.

And do a 100% cull of all people in the region. Part of the problem with voting irregularities is that politicians want more people including on the books so they can get higher giveaways and feel more powerful until it comes down to when people actually get out and vote. Then they cry and complain that it is not fair.

Make it simple if you conduct election fraud you go to jail for a year for each individual you conduct fraud as. And if a politician conducts fraud or creates irregularities they get double penalty. Also it they or their team claims unjustified regularities then they can either be ban from any future public office or association with any public entity. And if anyone can be connected to the same politician they also bear the same impact as the politician. And as a big gt their head out their butts moment they have to follow the exact same rules they inflict on anyone else or they lose their status as well.

Anonymous said...

Trump said it himself when he bragged about taking advantage of bankruptcy over and over and over again while at the same time taking millions and millions out of his companies that all he was doing was taking advantage of the laws on the books. Let's really put the politicians in a bad place and let's all of us start using the laws on the books to our benefits. And when something goes against us let's reference all the political scum who were given the pass be cause they are politicians and demand that we are given the pass.

Anonymous said...

7:55 Am Do you realize you are in violation of election law? and thereby have been part in election fraud. Allowing someone know to you who has deceased to remain on active election roles is a violation. Especially as direct relative and if you were the executor of to the estate more especially.

Anonymous said...

Zero evidence. The Bib Lie! No fraud. If you believe this I have a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell you. Keep telling yourself this enough and maybe you will believe it but I won’t. Arizona will show you that followed by Pennsylvania then Georgia .. talk to anyone who wears a badge, they will tell you.

If you read an article in the newspaper about the freaking weather. and the article was written by someone from the Associated Press there will be a sentence about Trump and the big lie in that article. I am so tired of it.

I thought it would take Biden four years to inflict the damage he has done already, and we are only six. Months into his occupying the White House. November cannot come soon enough.

Anonymous said...

For those who Trump has deluded into believing there was "massive fraud", please explain how across thousands of voting districts, each with their own systems, such a "massive fraud" can occur. According to Trump's lying legal team (the dreadful woman admits she made incredible claims up in her current lawsuit), Dominion software had an algorithm that apportioned votes dynamically to "make" Biden win. Only one problem with this theory - Dominion's machines were used in only a fraction of PA districts. And let's recall that despite the hype, vote tallies were certified everywhere. Trump's "massive dumps" are only in his mind and his water closet. What Trump has his minions believing is, if a Democrat wins, it was cheating, but if a Republican wins that is a deserved win. Bull! And think about this - people who voted for Clinton accepted that she lost. Clinton accepted she lost. We didn't keep signs up for months, claim that Trump cheated. It's a great big farce that Trump got his people to swallow hook line and sinker.

Anonymous said...

I understand that the very conservative board of supervisors in Lehigh Township largely reflects the views of the residents, but the amount of bloviating and Trump-style lying that some of the supervisors engage in is ridiculous and unnecessary.

If you attend board meetings in almost any of the townships in the valley, even the rural ones, they are largely professionally ran and focus on municipal administration. At an overlong Lehigh Township meeting you are likely to hear supervisors' thoughts on covid conspiracies, the validity of the 2020 election and other nonsense. Miller was actually at the shameful, un-American, pre-insurrection pep rally Trump held on January 6.

I sometimes wonder if pushing things like the MIB lie is just cynical pandering, but it more and more seems like they believe it.

Anonymous said...

@9:02 - What exactly has Arizona showed us? Examples please, and by examples we need concrete PROOF that can show a scalable effort by Democrats to either deny Trump votes or artificially inflate Biden votes. It was a close election no doubt, 10,000 votes made the difference in AZ, but this is America and this is how we choose our President. It's a popularity contest, and this time around Trump was marginally less popular.

Look at FL, PA, WI, & MI in 2016, were they virgin and pure victories for Trump?

Individual irregularities happen everywhere in every election - that is while the states and counties go through a process of verifying the votes.

My guess is you just don't care about any of the above. You're just salty because your guy lost, and unlike the previous 58 candidates in US history who lost their bid for President, many in very close fashion, your guy is the ONLY one who threw a temper tantrum and said the only reason he lost the popular vote AND Electoral college is because the other side cheated.

People believe in conspiracy theories because they can't accept reality and their mind substitutes preferred reasoning and rationale to justify their desired outcome.

Anonymous said...

12:28, you really exude a fear of what an audit might produce! I find that telling. You know, a close examination might well prove YOU are right in your opinion! Too risky for you?
The Dominion machines have had a very suspicious reputation both across America and in other nations of the world. Used in such places as Philadelphia, Atlanta. Huge areas that, on their own, can determine the final state total. Also know, having an election certified is no indication it should have been certified.
Finally, in Pennsylvania, election lawsuits were never given the right of evidence presentation in a courtroom before a random, citizen jury who hears expert testimony. Those doors were shut. This alone, should make everyone skeptical of what really went on.

c said...

Lehigh Township Supervisor meetings used to be an embarrassing circus. Since neither the cast nor the characters have changed much I anticipate that the three rings are full of the stuff of a lousy reality TV show. In all seriousness, this resolution comes with a $15,000 fine and a seven year prison term if you provide a voter with water outside of a polling place.

What a waste of taxpayer resources!

Bernie O'Hare said...

I was hoping to hear from you.

Anonymous said...

Lehigh Township has declared tis independence form Northampton County. It will now run its own elections.

Anonymous said...

Yes bring it on what is going on now under Biden and or I should say the Democratic party and its crony,Biden, is pathetic

Anonymous said...

Clinton accepted her loss? What a joke-get real. She still isn't over it. And Pelosi ripping up his speech behind Trumps back was pure disrespect, childish and very poor sportsmanship. What a beautiful example she made herself out to be. I could throw up.

Anonymous said...

Oh I see. And Hillary was perfection in her loss. Give me a break.