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| 50 voters present 30 minutes before meeting |
Those who voted to certify were Chair Sharon Gavin-Levy, Daniel Lopresti, Margie DeRenzis and Vicki Evert. Scott Hough was the lone No vote.
Commissioner comments
Noting that his term expires at the end of this year, Hough said he doubts he'll be reappointed. He was disturbed that the Lamont McClure administration ignored an unanimous request from the elections commission to establish a second drop box in the northern tier of the county (Region 4) to make voting more convenient to people to vote in that largely rural (and Republican) part of the county. He added that his request for a "special meeting" was rejected. Hough finally condemned the communication between the elections office and poll workers on election day. "This was really bad," he observed. "I think we all know that."
Before the vote, elections commission solicitor Richard Santee advised the board they had no choice. He stated that, unless there is an existing challenge or an outstanding petition for a recount, state law (25 P.S. Section 3154) mandates that they certify.
Prior to the vote, Commissioner DeRenzis noted that the issue only affected the retention races for Superior Court and no others. Through questioning of Registrar Chris Commini, she established that the Superior Court retention race was statewide, and how Northampton County voted had no consequential impact. Of the remaining races, she said "[w]e have no reason to believe that these votes were not calculated correctly."
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| Comm'r Lopresti advocates contingency planning |
Chair Gavin-Levy, who thankfully called for a 10-minute break after three hours of public comment, suggested that "[w]e need to do a better job of training."
ES&S apologizes ... again
Adam Carbullido is an executive at ES&S, which supplied the Express Vote XL voting machine used in Northampton County. He is also becoming something of an apology expert and might just have a career at Hallmark if ES&S goes tets up.
Carbullido got his first job at “I am sorry for the pain I caused you, I feel so bad.” during the 2019 election, when many of the machines sent to the county were never properly aligned at the factory. That error was somehow missed during election pretesting (called logic and accuracy testing) that is supposed to be run on each of the county's 350-plus voting machines.
He's apologizing again. He apologized to un unhappy County Council last week and did it again yesterday after hearing from a mostly angry and suspicious public. "It wasn't pleasant to hear, but it was important that I hear it."
He noted that one of the changes his company will make as a result of pretesting failure will be the preparation of a spreadsheet comparing a card ballot printout with an actual paper ballot. "I'm confident we can prevent this kind of mistake from happening again," he predicted.
Registrar Report
Voting Registrar Chris Commini first went through the turnout statistics, which also can be seen on the county election website. Turnout was 33.18% The turnout at the precincts on election day was 21.5%. He added that there's been an increase in the number of Republicans who now choose to vote by mail. He said that Republicans cast 6,022 mail-in ballots, an increase form the 5,276 votes cast by Republicans in the 2021 Municipal General Election.
In response to questions from elections commissioners, Commini stated that the Department of State was notified as soon as the problem was discovered. He said his office initially told election judges to suspend using the machine in favor of emergency ballots. Each precinct was supplied with 20 emergency ballots and 25 provisional ballots. All of the remaining instructions to elections officials were court ordered.
He indicated that there was no way to print additional ballots in house, and acknowledged authorizing a Nazareth precinct to copy some ballots on its own. They were reconciled with other emergency ballots during the canvass.
He stated that having so few ballots was a problem he inherited. He indicated that more emergency ballots will be prepared in the event this problem occurs again, and that there will be runners on hand to provide them to precincts.
Commini also relieved an election judge who refused to comply with a court order authorizing a return to using the Express Vote Xl.
Anti-certification Arguments
Thomas Little, a cardiologist from Williams Township, said "[w]e are asked to have faith in a system that has not earned our trust. ... Do not certify. Do not accept this travesty/"
He was echoed by Maryann Morales, a Hanover 4 election judge. "How do we know if what you're telling us is the truth?" she asked. Then she admitted advising voters that there would be a special election in the superior court retention races. She was joined by another Hanover 4 election worker, Robin Given. She argued "the thought of certifying this election is reprehensible."
Forks Tp voter Kathleen Gain stated her precinct was closed 1 1/2 hours. When she learned of the switch in the appellate court retention race, she asked "[h]ow do I know anything else matched?"
Nazareth carpenter Al Smith had a suggestion for replacing electronic voting machine with another kind of machine - a wooden box with a lock. He even offered to make them.
Theresa Heese (sp?) suggested that Northampton County should start conducting elections like they do in Georgia. "Why does this always happen to Republicans?" she lamented.
NorCo GOP Chair Glenn Geissinger said he has 100 affidavits from voters who experienced problems. He argued against certifying results. He said that instead, the elections commission should investigate and never use the XL again,
Attorney Kevin Danyi, who represented the county GOP in court on election day, noted the irony. "In 2019, we were told to trust the card. In 2023, we were told to trust the machine."
State Rep. Milou MacKenzie called on Executive Lamont McClure to resign, stating the election is "his responsibility." "Maybe you voted Republican and a 'glitch' changed it to Democrat. She added "[i]t is un-American to have voters go to a poll and find the door is locked."
Pro-certification arguments
Most of the pro-certification arguments came from successful candidates in various races as well as Lower Saucon Tp residents who worked for candidates opposed to a landfill expansion. Some of them agreed with many of the complaints, but argued against "throwing out the baby with the bath water," as Lower Saucon voter Lynn Hill put it.
NorCo Dem party Chair Matt Munsey defended the elections office. "I believe the office did everything to the best of their ability." Few would dispute that contention.* He noted the staff size has increased since 2019 and is always professional and courteous. He also noted that certification is a "formality" that actually starts the clock ticking for those who wish to file legal challenges.
John Boulette, a successful Wind Gap Borough Council candidate, conceded there were "serious problems," but they were with the pre-election testing, not the machine itself.
Victoria Opthof Cordaro and Pricilla deLeon, who waged successful campaigns for Lower Saucon Township Council, argued that a refusal to certify would disenfranchise those who voted for them. Several of those voters added their voices to that argument. Two of them were Republicans who voted for Democrats because they oppose the landfill expansion
_________________
*) In my experience, the elections office is the best-run row office in the county.
UPDATED 11:15 am: Northampton County's election results are now marked "official."
Judge race: Brian Panella won with 54.31% of the vote, defeating Nancy Aaroe by 6,103 votes.
County Controller: Tara Zrinski won with 54.11% of the vote, defeating John Cusick by 5,818 votes.
County Council I: Ken Kraft (63.14%) over Bill Rowe by 4,304.
County Council III: Jeff Warren (56.28%) over Casey Foreman by 2,500.
78 comments:
Was lawyer Lamont there to speak? Did dodo Dertinger apologize for this blunder, as he runs the elections department? Probably not. You are OK with that as you are in the bag for the McClure boys.
Besides, McClure was busy on social media attacking LVH and republicans on council. Is LM a teenage girl? What a loser.
I'm sure Glenn is secretly glad this happened. It gives him something to distract from the fact that the overall republican campaigns this year were terrible. He can threaten all the lawsuits he wants, but the fact is that republicans lost big in every swing race, especially in Lower Saucon. How was he not able to develop a strategy to get an actual math professor elected controller over someone who seems outright disinterested whenever money or budgets are discussed, or unable to organize a campaign to get Kerry Myers 250 write-in votes during the primary? It's been frustrating to watch them basically punt away the last 3 years hoping for some rollback in mail-in ballot laws, and now he's putting out the message to not trust the machines either.
Crooked election run by crooked people in a crooked County. Dertinger needs jail time. He's going to get it. NorCo elections are completely corrupt and last night locks in the one party corruption. It's who we are now. McClure made it that way. Dirtiest elections in the state.
"State Rep. Milou MacKenzie called on Executive Lamont McClure to resign"
Her job is to return a budget on time. How'd that go?
Dertinger was responsible for guiding ESL in the testing for the county, he failed. Chuck is a self-professed expert. Remember he was the one who defiantly told county council that it was impossible to have remote access of their meeting during covid. The president of the Company said that was not true.
Santee is arrogant but do not blame him. he is just a symptom of a rude and arrogant administration that looks down on everyone. I've talked to council people who have said the level of rude and arrogant behavior by Administratio officials is causing problems in the effective governance of the county.
McClure even wrote that he can't wait until January when his people take office. Home Rule Study time!
Well, there is certainly no need to be concerned about the twice malfunctioning ESS voting system now that the
advisory election commission, which last they met voted against the same ESS system, has decided they are ok now, and ESS CEO Carbullido , once again, apologized for the 2019 mishaps that he promised would never happen again, but did happen again in 2023.
Will third time be the magic in 2024?
This County government is a circus any more. It’s one thing after another. The leadership is terrible and the politics toxic. Total incompetence on every level.
GOP Glenn Geissinger should have went to the testing of those machines. Munsey did. Instead GOP GG was too busy allowing his own parties candidates to be slandered and defamed. Good thing the candidates disallowed from attending NCRC meetings won.(all of them🤣) Good for them for saying no to that CORRUPT establishment. He needs to RESIGN and take the unwell area 11 chairman with him!!
Your Friend,
Dumbass
PS Dumbass hears someone's going down for making false reports GOP GG, Pastor MF, or his new wife? I'm not sure maybe you can shed some light on this subject
Jason “Bananas” Banonis of LST was there, crying as usual.
Mackenzie she be more concerned about her bum son getting beat in 24
Does McClure realize that this issue is going to defeat him in his next election? This made National news. He must do something more positive than simply apologizing. He has to relegate Dertinger to a lesser role (like putting him in charge of the janitors). No, he would probably screw that up too.
The Republicans (I am one) MUST promote the mail in ballot.
It is here to stay.
I understand that the R's have a propensity to vote in person, however, they may be missing some critical votes that way. That includes visiting homes of R's and assisting with getting the votes. The D's have it all figured out, and those multitudes of mail in votes, counted last minute, have a tendency to impact the results beyond expectations.
There are jurisdictions in the United States - Oregon, for one - which conduct their elections solely by mail. Oregon and Pennsylvania have more in common than we think. There’s a populous liberal part of the state (the coast, Portland) and a very conservative eastern portion. They have many large counties with low populations or low population density. Their election system has not been in the news, probably because it’s been working.
I don’t know what their implementation process was. With more Republicans trusting mail-in ballots in Northampton County, this could be a smart approach after 2024 for an off-year contest.
Integrity is so easily lost and nearly impossible to restore. Having to overcome a blue county's margin of cheating is tiring. Is there a process by which a part of a county may secede? The clean, low crime areas to the north are sentenced to be represented at the county level by the high tax, high crime types from southern NorCo. Could Monroe be petitioned to acquire Lehigh, Moore, Bushkill, Plainfield, the Bethels and Washington? Seriously, is there a process by which municipalities may leave?
From the original post:
"Before the vote, elections commission solicitor Richard Santee advised the board they had no choice. He stated that, unless there is an existing challenge or an outstanding petition for a recount, state law (25 P.S. Section 3154) mandates that they certify."
and
"[NorCo Dem party Chair Matt Munsey] also noted that certification is a "formality" that actually starts the clock ticking for those who wish to file legal challenges."
Two points:
1) These statements seem at odds with each other. One is saying that unless there is an existing challenge, they (the Election Commission) must certify. They other is saying that they must certify now to start the clock on legal challenges.
2) Any time someone says that members of a Board have "no choice", or that a vote is "mandatory" or a "formality", I get suspicious. Especially if one of the people using that language is the lawyer advising a public board.
If this is true, why even have an Election Commission? From those comments, the Commission exists merely to give the pretense of oversight and fairness. If that's actually the case, I have even less faith in the process than I did before.
Interesting to hear about the frustration that the Election Commission has had with McClure's office. This is the way that office operates under the heavy hand of Charles "I'm always right and I'm in charge" Dertinger. Again, he needs to go and Lamont would be wise to let him roll for this.
10:12, There can be several kinds of challenge lawsuits prior to certification. These include appeals of decisions made by the judge on election day that allowed voters to return to use the machine. They could have been appealed and might be considered an election challenge. There could also have been a petition for recount. As I understand what Santee stated, this would stop certification. But Munsey is also correct. It is certification that starts the clock ticking for election challenges. They cannot go on forever bc of an important public policy favoring finality in elections.
"I don’t know what their implementation process was. With more Republicans trusting mail-in ballots in Northampton County, this could be a smart approach after 2024 for an off-year contest."
I'd be very happy to see elections run exclusively by mail or even by a manned drop box. It would be cheaper for the taxpayer and there would be far less drama. Election night tabulation would be far smoother. We'd miss the bake sales that add inches to waists. But that won't be happening for some time if yesterday is any indication. There were several there who want to return to limiting the vote to the polls.
"Could Monroe be petitioned to acquire Lehigh, Moore, Bushkill, Plainfield, the Bethels and Washington? Seriously, is there a process by which municipalities may leave?"
I have never researched this interesting question. It believe Article IX of the state constitution would require the involvement of the General Assembly. I think it would also require that the municipalities involved be contiguous.
"Mackenzie she be more concerned about her bum son getting beat in 24"
Though I disagree with her, what she did was politically smart and appeals to her base. It also helps her son in a primary against two other Republicans. The election fiasco will hurt McClure in 2025 if he has an R opponent who is actually sane.
1:25, Dertinger was there and responded to the request for a special meeting, saying he would arrange it. McClure was not there. I believe he was at the budget hearing, which was going on simultaneously.
(I posted this comment at 1:40 am from my phone, but neglected to sign in so the comment appeared as "anonymous." I must have forgotten to ID myself. I do not post anonymously and hence have deleted my original response and am re-posting it under my name.)
I favor investigating Norxit. The municipalities mentioned are contiguous to each other, and all but LMBT are contiguous to Monroe. Is there a rule preventing the creation of a 68th PA county?
Can we just address this paper ballot thing? If the county is going to start sending out hundreds of thousands of paper ballots on election day "just in case" what the hell is the point of even using the voting machines??? Just switch to an all paper system. The paper ballots are supposed to be for EMERGENCIES not incompetence. These machines go out twice a year, if they can't manage to make sure they are functioning correctly TWICE A YEAR- they need to fire whoever is in charge, not saddle the tax payers with a new outlandish expense. The fact that no one from the county has actually accepted responsibility is abhorrent. Ultimately the registrar and Chuck were in charge of making sure the machines worked before deploying them. The buck stops with them, not the company providing backup support, not any previous employee - Chucky and Casino Man.
The comment at 11:15, attacking both Dertinger and the current Registrar, comes from a desktop computer at the United States Senate. IP 156.33.241.77
The former Registrar is employed by the US Senate.
I rarely look at my statcounter and o0nly did so because someone insisted the comment came from the former Registrar. That person might very well be correct.
Nobody attacked the former Registrar, but she seems to think otherwise and is responding in an unprofessional manner.
The simple reality is that more emergency ballots were needed and failure to provide them was in hindsight a mistake.
Amy @11:15 doesn’t Anne have a computer you could use to at least mask the IP address. Really
If anything use a VPN so your can’t be detected. If this is the quality of people Fetterman has working for him I might need to change my vote!
Ruh roh. Looks like the former may have left to stay a couple of Peter Principal career steps ahead of the fecal storm created by not having enough emergency ballots. It's hard to believe NorCo elections got this bad overnight. It seems they may have simply gone from bad to worse.
Perhaps Bernie, you could tell us why you really are going to bat for Charles. People who are trying to do their jobs, and do them well, have told you about running into his bullying and authoritarianism. He continues to make bad calls regarding these machines and the election office voting procedures that are affecting everyone who votes in this county. At the very least, as a former poll worker and voting citizen, call him on his BS this time before he really F's up McClure's administration and reputation. It may already be too late for that.
This reader hopes that you do not continue to expose us to the apparent false information (and horrible grammar ) of dumbass. We can only hope that person didn’t run for or even worse get elected to an office in this past election.
12:32, I'm not going to bat for anyone. I am trying to tell people what happened and doing my best to tell them why. I am more interested in correcting any problems than I am in collecting heads. The person ultimately responsible for what happened is the Executive, and he accepts responsibility. He will pay a price when he runs for re-election.
In the meantime, we know the following: 1) There is nothing wrong with the XL; 2) A coding error was made by ES&S when the ballot was prepared for the election; 3) This coding error was missed during L&A testing done prior to the election; 4) ES&S spearheaded the L&A testing and followed protocols established by the Department of State; 5) These protocols were obviously inadequate; 6) The voter verifiable ballots contradicted the voter's touchscreen races in some superior court retention races on election day; 7) There was no contradiction in any of the other races; 8) There was mass confusion among election workers at the polls; 9) There was poor communication between the county and the persons manning the polls; 10) There were insufficient emergency ballots on hand to enable voters to make their choices; 11) Many pollworkers were distraught and lost confidence themselves; 12) Some JOEs never turned on or looked at the phones supplied by the county; 13) One JOE reported that he was unable to use the phone bc it kept updating; 14) Some pollwoprkers complained they need better training.
I may have missed a few things, but that covers most of it. Attempts to justify the paucity in emergency ballots from someone who might be the former registrar appear in a comment above and are based in part on the expense of printing them out. That is a ridiculous justification in light of the expense that has since ensued.
You also said it was because of the weight of that many ballots for some of the older poll workers and that it was a decision by her and Charles.
12:32, I forgot to mention a very important consequence - the closure of some polls for as long as 1 1/2 hours. This is inexcusable and definitely violates federal and state law.
"You also said it was because of the weight of that many ballots for some of the older poll workers and that it was a decision by her and Charles."
It was. I wondered whether it was really just Charles, but the comment form the US Senate (where the former Registrar is employed) indicates to me that it was both her and Charles.
Bernie you should know by now that attempting to dox people on the Internet is also unprofessional. And who asked you to look at IP addresses? Was it Charlie? Did he also ask for every IP address? The fact of the matter is that they did try to place some blame, even if it was a tiny amount, on "previously established practices" for an inadequate amount of paper ballots. While I agree that most of the blame is on ESS, this does trigger trickle down issues like paper ballot stock and poll place communication and training. Hopefully that gets an internal review ahead of next year.
"I forgot to mention a very important consequence - the closure of some polls for as long as 1 1/2 hours. This is inexcusable and definitely violates federal and state law."
Wow.
"I wondered whether it was really just Charles, but the comment form the US Senate (where the former Registrar is employed) indicates to me that it was both her and Charles."
Wow.
Bernie
I agree with you. But is there a qualified candidate in the NORCO GOP? They have got to be the worst in the state, lynch was the best they had. The best person for the Dems right now is Glen the R party chair.
Washington State also conducts elections by mail-in ballots only. I was there 2 months ago and no residents I spoke with had any complaints about it.
Im glad that Ryan and Milou Mackenzie showed up last night! It's nice to see our elected officials show up and care. Lamont didn't show up and that shows how much he cares.
"Bernie you should know by now that attempting to dox people on the Internet is also unprofessional. And who asked you to look at IP addresses? Was it Charlie? Did he also ask for every IP address? "
Except I doxed no one. I outed someone. I posted no home address, no phone number, no email address and no information about Amy Cozze's personal life, and would not do so. Someone comes into my house anonymously using a United States Senate IP. Cozze is the former registrar and now works for the United States Senate. The comment posted from that IP attempted to defend the decision to send only 20 emergency ballots to each precinct on the basis of cost, among other things. I think we all realize in hindsight that this was an error. I am sure that decision was made in consultation with Dertinger, so she's not alone. If she stopped there, I'd have no problem with her anonymous remark. But she had to attack and name call her successor, who is only trying to do what she should know is a very demanding job. So I outed her. She came into my house, pretended to be anonymous and personally attacked someone she's never met. Moreover, she did so from a U.S. Senate computer. This sheds light on her own character. Moreover, I believe the public has a right to know that the former registrar is attempting to defend an indefensible practice simply because it might look like she made a mistake. During her tenure at the county, she got a lot of things right. But not everything.
Nobody asked me to look up an IP address for the comment. I did it on my own. I rarely do it. I rarely care. If it just attacked Dertinger, that would be too bad. He has big boy pants. But this name-called the current registrar, who is not a policy maker or an elected official. It is usually difficult to determine who comments, but the statcounbter quickly identified the IP as US Senate.
Yeah, she ran good elections. No machine screw ups on her watch. So I'd say she has a right to bitch.
@1250 They did win election, and the info is not false, the GOP is full of lying clowns. Cant wait to visit them in prison where they belong!!!!
Dumbass
Hatch Act?
"I rarely look at my statcounter and o0nly did so because someone insisted the comment came from the former Registrar. That person might very well be correct."
"Nobody asked me to look up an IP address for the comment. I did it on my own."
Alright, good talk.
I attended yesterday's meeting of the Election Commission for two hours and heard a lot of people express a preference for paper ballots.
That option is available to all registered voters. Simply fill out an application for a mail-in ballot and the Election's Office will send one directly to your home or your vacation address if you're away in the weeks before the election. You will also get an email telling you when your ballot was mailed and when it was received.
There is no rule that insists you HAVE to vote on the machines. If you don't trust the ES&S XL, either get a mail-in ballot or fill out a paper ballot at the Elections Office during the Vote on Demand period.
Your ballot will be opened and counted on Election Day. If you're still concerned about the process, consider volunteering to open ballots at the courthouse or work at the polls. It helps to see first-hand how many checks and balances there are in the system.
Hit a nerve. Thanks. Now we know who you are, dumbass.
“She came into my house, pretended to be anonymous…”
She didn’t “pretend” to be anonymous. It’s an option on your blog that allows people to post without identifying themselves. It shouldn’t require an explanation or reason as to why someone wants to post anonymously, it’s a choice that should be honored.
It allows a more open discussion, and people with inside knowledge to join in and offer their opinions without fear of retribution.
I think that your outing her was wrong, and contrary to the level of privacy that most people expect when using the “Anonymous” option. I’d liken it to a regular reporter outing a confidential source.
Maybe you should add an explanation stating that “Anonymous” comments are anonymous only until you decide otherwise. To continue to just call the option “Anonymous” is misleading.
WTF - You guys are so full of s….! There is nothing wrong with our elections and the machines and mail in ballots.If you lost the election tuff, start wearing your big boy pants and accept reality. Thank god that the youngster’s will start voting out the Republicans and the disgusting lies which the spew.
And the democrats say Trump is ruining democracy
One more thing dumbass does have a contentious relationship with grammar and he gets lectured about it constantly and he does apologize....dumbass isn't dumb hes just crazy😂
Dumbass
Please please please would someone post a viable source or headline proving that any D has been convicted of voting for dead people or stuffing a ballot box . All convictions have been of repugs.
State Rep. Milou MacKenzie Is simply a liar.
Anon 5:22 said: “ That option is available to all registered voters. Simply fill out an application for a mail-in ballot ”
How do you think they’re counting those mail-in ballots? They’re stuffing them through a machine to read them. They’re certainly not looking at what was actually on the MIB and comparing it to what the machine is recording.
If 100% of the voters had used a MIB on Election Day, nobody would have discovered the problem.
Maybe that’s the goal.
"How do you think they’re counting those mail-in ballots? They’re stuffing them through a machine to read them. They’re certainly not looking at what was actually on the MIB and comparing it to what the machine is recording.
If 100% of the voters had used a MIB on Election Day, nobody would have discovered the problem."
If 100% of the voters used MIBs, there would be no problem to discover bc the coding error only affected the voter verifiable ballots on the XL.
"She didn’t “pretend” to be anonymous. It’s an option on your blog that allows people to post without identifying themselves. It shouldn’t require an explanation or reason as to why someone wants to post anonymously, it’s a choice that should be honored."
Anonymity is an option that permits more open discussion, but as I point out in my comment policy, I expect those who make personal attacks to identify themselves. What makes this particularly egregious is (1) the person who is making this attack certainly appears to be the former Registrar, who now works for the US Senate; (2) Her comment from that source has nothing to do with her current position or the United States Senate; and (3) she personally attacked the current registrar, whom she has never met and does not know.
I published no private information about Cozze, who appears to have been commenting from a United States owned computer. If I did, that would be doxing her. I outed her for coming into my house to attack someone who is neither an elected official nor a policy maker.
She's entitled to be angry at McClure or Dertinger or any other elected official or policy maker and bitch about them all she wants and I would let it go. But she crossed the line when she attacked her successor.
"Lamont didn't show up and that shows how much he cares."
As I explained earlier, McClure was attending a budget hearing concerning his half billion dollar budget for next year. And it was not just any budget hearing, but was instead the hearing at which amendments to his budget are being proposed. Not only does he oppose them, but spoke against them last night as did several members of his staff.
The Administrator (Dertinger) did attend yesterday's meeting of the elections comm'n. That's the second highest ranking official in the county. In addition to Rick Santee, the County's Chief Solicitor, Missy Rudas, was there. Towards the tail end of the meeting, I did see Lori Vargo Heffner and Tom Giovanni. They unfortunately missed most (if not all) of what the public had to say, but I give them credit for coming down. ,
Contrary to the assertions of “Dumbass” no candidates for office were disallowed at NCRC meetings.
4 State Committee Members have been banned, but none of them were candidates:
Steve Lynch, Rich Morea, Melanie Heilman, Deb Biro.
Dumbass truly is a dumbass.
' Not only does he oppose them, but spoke against them last night as did several members of his staff."
His staff agrees with him, shocking! How dare council do their jobs. Too bad he has no people skills or management experience or he may have avoided some of his issues and be able to work with people, instead of dictate, deflect and attack. You and he are similar, that is clear.
Glad you are censoring many comments people are leaving. Also, is it admirable to allow attacks anonymously on some people and even their family. As long as you protect the right people.
You should confirm your suspicions or apologize to miss Cozze but you won't.
I decline to publish an anonymous comment from someone who claims to have been at the meeting bc it contains several falsehoods. First, the current registrar has not been on the job for several years. He's been there about 18 months. Second, at no time did he even mention Amy Cozze. He accurately stated that sending 20 emergency ballots to the polls was a practice he inherited, and that's true. At no time did anyone cast aspersions. It's not his fault that this practice, which was initiated by Cozze (probably with the blessing of Dertinger), led to disaster at the polls. It's not hers, either. She just failed to foresee what could happen.
11:32, First you criticize McClure for his absence from the elections comm'n. When I explain that he was absent bc he was at an important budget hearing - the one in which amendments to his half billion budget are introduced - you attack him again for daring to voice his concerns concerns.
Also, if anyone should apologize, it is Cozze. She should apologize to Senator Casey for not doing her job and instead trying to attack someone she does not know and has never met. She should apologize to McClure, who offered her a job at a time when she was literally crying that she had no medical insurance. She repaid him by sticking a knife in his back. She should apologize to the people of Northampton County for threatening to leave two weeks before an election. She attacks McClure's people skills but she routinely ignored her own staff.
I am allowing no more comments from Cozze or her shills. This is a story about something more important than she thinks she is.
Let us all be civil; let us all be kind. Happy Thanksgiving.
The 8:17 PM poster makes the point I tried to make earlier. Computers can be programmed in advance to output any specific data it is instructed to put out, and at whatever interval designed. The individual voter would be unaware at the time it occurs. The machine does what it is told.
Fact NCRC website stated only county and state candidates were allowed. It may have been removed but the way back machine verifies my statement.
Dumbass
After all this dust settles from the steady winds of opinions, reflection, apologies, and frustration, we must await the 2024 election voting machines and their contracted systems, including Nebraska programs, USB thumb drives, data input, ESS Carbullido confidence, and human factors for the anticipated results.
What a shame.
Looking at a paper copy of a ballot through a glass, or in-hand, does not guarantee any final indication as to how it was recorded by the machine. Your ballot gets sent along its way . . . and the voter walks away. Now, even if a computer is not involved and the voter hands the ballot directly to the human receiver or into a container, there is no guarantee it will be recorded precisely as the voter intended by the recording unit.
There is some risk of error in EVERY voting system, Northampton County’s present system, or any other system. Viewing the ballot at the polling machine you are using does provide some measure of confidence, though. I like that feature.
I am also rejecting exchanges between "dumbass" and whomever. They have nothing to do with this topic.
Happy Thanksgiving to you miserable bastage and the rest of your family !!!
How dare you say the election was fixed?
Was this Northampton County election fixed? NO !
Can a future Northampton County election be fixed? Absolutely, and from anywhere in the world.
The Express Vote XL is a stand alone machine. It is not connected to the internet. It uis therefore impossible to remotely access it from anywhere in the world. That is blatant misinformation from an ignorant person.
Bernie, in the recent past, an NBC article found although each machine is considered standalone, on the backend, or tabulating system, Express Vote does have a connection to the internet. Maybe that’s changed.
You are incorrect. There is no Internet connection. The Pa DOS refuses to certify any machine that connects to the Internet. Read the certifications. https://www.dos.pa.gov/VotingElections/OtherServicesEvents/Pages/Voting-Systems.aspx
I have found the NBC article to which you refer, which was published before the XL was in use and makes no allegation that ES&S has a back end way of connecting. Your claim is false.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/chinese-parts-hidden-ownership-growing-scrutiny-inside-america-s-biggest-n1104516
Curious as to how the machines that were having flipping problems were corrected? If there is no way to communicate or transfer data back and fourth externally, or via outside network, then how do you correct or make adjustment on any machine? There was no one or team of techs running around to different polling locations working on them. The JOE’s certainly didn’t touch the machines.
"Curious as to how the machines that were having flipping problems were corrected? "
They did not need to be corrected. The votes as selected on the touchscreen were accurately referred to the flash drive. The problem existed with the voter verifiable ballot, and only in the Superior Court retention races. .
Dertinger just resigned! Bye bye!
This isn't getting explained very well by anyone.
The votes were registered correctly, but the labels were flipped, so the paper said Panella but gave the Stabile vote and vice versa. No one fixed anything on election day. It was just decided that because of the nature of the problem they could resume using the machines and just tell people their vote would appear flipped for the two retention votes. The votes that actually get counted are the ones in the barcodes on the paper, and the barcodes were right (along with the vote total Numbers). It was just the labels that were wrong.
That's why the audit today still showed the problem. The labels were still backwards because nothing got fixed, but the votes were still in the right place.
"The Administrator (Dertinger) did attend yesterday's meeting of the elections comm'n. That's the second highest ranking official in the county."
Would that not be the President of county council?
This is simply Milou representing her finance chairman, Jason Banonis. The woman has literally done NOTHING as a State Rep and this is how she decides to break the ice?? All she cares about is her donors. It’s the Mackenzie way. The voters spoke in Lower Saucon. They don’t want an expanded landfill that helps Jason Banonis make more money.
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