Bangor Area School District: Michael Goffredo leads Courtney Gilmour by 48 votes.
Northampton Area School District Region III: Brian McCulloch leads David Gogel by 45 votes.
As most of you know by now, Northampton County's election last Tuesday was a disaster. A simple coding area in the retention races for Superior Court was missed when the voting machines went through their pre-election testing. This error was discovered by two Forks Tp voters early on election day, and for several hours, the county had to stop using its $2.9 million machine and issue emergency paper ballots to voters. Though each precinct is supposed to have enough paper ballots to permit everyone who is registered to cast a ballot, most election judges only had a handful. As a result, some voting places ran out of paper and were telling voters to return later. By late morning, a court order authorized elections officials to continue with the machines despite a paper receipt that failed to reflect the voter's intent. All of this amounted to voter suppression. How many voters saw what was going on, turned around and left? How many voters had no opportunity to return because of other commitments? Did this affect the election results?
In most of the races, No. The margins of victory were so large in the countywide and district council races that thousands of people would need to attest they were turned away or had no choice but to leave. But this voter suppression may have affected 11 down ballot races where margins of victory are under 50 votes. I've listed them below.
There is an important public policy that favors finality in elections, Persons who claim they were turned away or told to come back later in these 11 down-ballot races would probably need to sue, and very quickly. I doubt much relief will be available even if they do.
Having said that, there is little doubt in my mind that this "minor error" did suppress the vote and deprive people of their most basic right. That's why it's a mistake to try to minimize what happened.
In 2019, after the last election mess, Executive Lamont McClure vowed, "We will do better." He actually did worse in one of the most basic functions of county government.
Right now, the canvassing of the vote is ongoing. I have no idea whether all emergency ballots have been tallied and have seen no results for provisionals. Once the official count is complete, the county really needs to conduct a thorough after action review.
This is why we need an independent Controller.
Close Races
Northern Lehigh School Board: Mathias Matt Green leads Glen a Williams by 6 votes.
Lehigh Tp Supervisor: Michael F Jones leads Phillip Gogel by 45 votes.
Lower Mt Bethel Tp Supervisor: Dave Ascani is ahead of Sandra Newman by 45 votes.
Lower Nazareth Tp Supervisor: Nancy Teague leads Robert Hoyer by 48 votes.
Glendon Borough Council: Kathryn Harstine leads Jeffrey Muschlitz by 2 votes.
North Catasauqua Borough Council: Jessica Cope is ahead of Scott Homes by 5 votes.
Roseto Borough Council: Mark A Goffredo, Jr, leads Carl Renna by 7 votes.
Tatamy Borough Council: Michael Lester leads Daniel Dewey by 12 votes.
Bangor Borough Council: Marc Sperling is ahead of Forest Myers by 26 votes.
Someone must lose their job over this debacle. Who is ultimately responsible for this embarrassment? Dertinger heads the team????? This is a National embarrassment. Candidates for office may very well lose in these close elections because voters were denied the right to vote. Dertinger must be fired.
ReplyDeleteSo it seems to me that we are looking at damage that should ultimately lay at the feet of Dertinger. He strong-armed the XL machines through and caused disruption within the election office itself. Then he did it again with his arrogant and controlling behaviors towards Cozze which ultimately drove her out of the elections office into Casey's crew. He is a poison pill and a control freak. If Lamont was smart, he'd give Charlie the heave ho.
ReplyDeleteBO - McClure screwed this up so bad and you initially tried to downplay it and defend him. Milou Mackenzie called for him to resign, he gave some bonehead response and you backed him up. Give me a break! McClure needs to go! This whole election is tainted.
ReplyDeleteDems are at it again they were even caught on tape-- Trump weas right..
ReplyDeleteAs much as you and McClure try to downplay this fiasco, it was truly a royal F*&^up. Dertinger should pay a price. When any questions were put to him, he did his usual smug condescending tone. These are the guys, or experts as they use to preach who told council it was impossible to have remote access in council chambers. Then the president of the company said of course you can do that. Then they attacked any who questioned these machines and now they have screwed up twice in four years.
ReplyDeleteYour simple math problem they fed you is meaningless. Enough excuses. The McClure gang has done more damage to public confidence in county elections then you can imagine. They won't even let the election chief, Casino guy talk, why? Is he so incompetent at the job he would sound foolish? They had a real pro and pushed her out since they need only yes men. Lucky us.
Their arrogance and condensing attitude have made it even worse.
People want to believe in a real voting method. Math problems are not the problems of the voter, and it is not an excuse. They are incompetent.
These "oops, we messed up" election day suppression schemes are the new new, in the age of early vote dumping. It was always going to happen. None of this is an accident. Early votes carry more weight under the current system, which is operating precisely as intended. Election day votes will always be discounted by the percentage of "problems." One relying upon election day voters can only win by garnering half of all votes plus one, plus the margin of cheating. America.
ReplyDeleteYour credibility is now 0. Where’s Northern Lehigh School District ?
ReplyDeleteNorthern Lehigh, eh ? Didn’t the old folks call this Yellow Journalism.
ReplyDeleteYou’re as bad as this election. Just trying to cause trouble now.
ReplyDeleteNazareth area school district 2, Chris Miller leads Jason Swails by 43 votes
ReplyDeleteWe need Controller Cusick to immediately, oh, wait, what, Tara won.
ReplyDeleteDid Pinsley do this audit for you ?
ReplyDeleteAt this point, given all that we know, these results cannot be certified. Period. If the shoe were on the other foot, and republicans had swept up while voters were told to 'come back later', dems would be our organizing protests and calling for a re-do. But because these results appear to show only republicans were disenfranchised, dems are fine with what happened. Hypocrites. All of em.
ReplyDeleteBernie even if it didn't affect the outcome, voter suppression occoured across Northampton County in all races. Voters were told there were no paper ballots, voters were told to come back, voters were told to "trust us this time."
ReplyDeleteThe polling places were unprepared, communications were faulty at best.
Said it yesterday and I'll say it again today. Heads need to roll. Soon. Start with all 5 members of the Elections Board and the Registrar, and go from there.
A family member and I voted together and we both filled out paper ballots. As of this morning neither of our ballots have been counted…. Does it usually take this long?
ReplyDeleteI thought this only hurt Republicans. It’s very unlikely Liberal Democrat Gilmore was denied a Bangor School Board seat because of an Election Day problem.
ReplyDeleteYour tune continues to change from last week, Bernie. Perhaps ask the public to comment on this specifically, as you have done in the past on other issues. Perhaps ask the public to relate their stories about their Election Day experience specific to
ReplyDeleteNorthampton County. I know you think you have an idea on how the day went from social media posts but you haven’t heard or seen all of it.
So turning machines on and off didn’t corrupt any data on the USB sticks?
ReplyDeleteN. Catty is very dem and Kope barely won last time. Doesn’t seem too irregular there.
ReplyDeleteAscani is an R in a borough that went all Red. Beat Newman who’s on the Blue Team. How’d Newman do on Election Day.
ReplyDeleteIndependent controller? Hah, Elections have consequences!
ReplyDeleteMcClure screwed up Lehigh County’s Election too. This is worse than I thought.
ReplyDeleteAscani is an R in a borough that went all Red. Beat Newman who’s on the Blue Team. How’d Newman do on Election Day.
ReplyDeleteIf I would like to see how my vote was cast to confirm my votes. Is there a way for me to find out what actually was submitted now???? I know you can't change them now but just to ease my mind. It is sad that a computer can make a mistake on my vote. If punched a wrong hole or pushed a wrong lever that's on me. But now a computer programmer can screw a whole election. It is my fault for trusting Lamont and chucky.
ReplyDeleteGoffredo should have won. Should it have been by more. Possibly I guess.
ReplyDeleteNancy Teague campaigned hard on warehouses.
ReplyDelete"Your credibility is now 0. Where’s Northern Lehigh School District ?"
ReplyDeleteA portion is in Northampton County. But my credibility isd still zero. There are more than 11 close races. I accidentally deleted close school board races in Bangor and Northampton.
"Your tune continues to change from last week, Bernie. Perhaps ask the public to comment on this specifically, as you have done in the past on other issues. "
ReplyDeleteI have been consistent. It was a minor coding error that was missed during L&A testing, and it screwed up the entire election. County officials have attempted to downplay this instead of taking responsibility.
I do not criticize the Express Vote XL. It is a superior voting machine that combines the convenience of a touchscreen with the paper receipt. I backed this system and still do. I criticize the humans who programmed it and the humans who missed the problem when testing. Most of the complaints directed at the XL are nonsense. An election can be just as screwed up with paper ballots by the way. Moreover, the old lever machines were failing to record many of the votes cast. You just didn't know so yoy thought everything was fine.
Just called elections office
ReplyDeleteI was told that they are unable to produce my individual ballot so I can review it
I voted at the polls
Is this true
11:23, I refer you to my comment at 10:51. If you voted provisionally, you are given a receipt and can call to determine if your vote was completely or partially counted. If you voted on the machine, you are recorded as having voted. How you voted is unknown and should be unknown. If you voted by mail or by emergency ballot, your ballot cannot be retrieved to see how you voted individually bc that would mean your ballot is not private. Imagine what could happen if you received a copy of your individual ballot. You could sell your vote.
ReplyDelete"Bernie, I was given a paper ballot, sat at open table (no privacy) then the ballot was put into a manila envelope. No number was given, is there a way to know if these votes were counted?"
ReplyDeleteI assume you were provided an emergency ballot. The ballot would be placed in a separate envelope and is counted during the canvass. As of Friday, there were 2100 of them. Not sure if there are more. Yes, your vote is counted.
Questioning election results undermines democracy. These posts are dangerous. NY's governor has pledged to crack down on election-denying crackpots, even visiting them to "speak with them" about their wild and dangerous online claims. It's time to police blogs like this for acceptable content. Democracy hangs in the balance.
ReplyDelete11:51, I have received no pushback from anyone in county government for reporting on the problems, how they occurred or how they may have impacted results in some races. Your comment is nonsense. But unfortunately, there are conspiracy theorists who have been making wild claims about nonexistent issues.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny. I am accused of both downplaying and exaggerating the problems.
Election mishap
ReplyDeleteLawsuit for deputies breaking arm of man who voluntarily surrendered on minor warrant
Not a good week for Lamont
Election in this country is controlled by the democratic party. Trump was 100% correct.
ReplyDeletePeople who recognize errors in our voting system, and then publicly complain are NOT conspiracy theorists (a much over-used label). If nothing is done to fix whatever damages occurred those people should continue speaking out. I’ve noticed a wide variety of errors reported all around this nation ever since the 2020 Election. My observation is, most of these seemed to benefit Democrats over Republicans. So, is this just an unusual coincidence, or a still-unfounded conspiracy theory?
ReplyDeleteElection integrity must not be so easily dismissed. Not by news media, politicians, paid opinion writers, nor average citizen voters. Put to test, some theories prove to be true. Information is still trickling out, thankfully.
Everyone seems to forget that these voting machines were rammed down the throats of Pennsylvanians by then Gov. Wolfe. He made sure that there was no uniformity and no direction; just a dictate that all of Pennsylvania must use these machines. So glad he is gone.
ReplyDelete"People who recognize errors in our voting system, and then publicly complain are NOT conspiracy theorists (a much over-used label)."
ReplyDeleteThey are when they spout or rely on misinformation. Things went haywire in this election, and I have noted what problems ensued. They do not include vote dumping, as some conspiracy theorists contend. They do not include the Express Vote XL, as others falsely claim. In some of the close races, it is Rs who are ahead. Yet you hint that what happened might have been intended to help Dems. While what happened most certainly suppressed the vote among some voters, the turnout itself was actually about the same as the 2021 municipal.
You're in NO position to make those statements with such authority. You act like you have your finger on the pulse of everything, yet you're just a boomer. You have no idea what piec3s of paper were out into envelopes at every precinct in the county. GTFO
DeleteThat is why there should be a re-election with stringent oversight...ALL of the votes from last weeks election should be thrown out. If you can't be 100% then it can't be right no matter what things they did to correct it AFTER the errors were found and after such a long delay and even some elections sights totally unaware it was going on because they were too lazy to turn on or look at their election phone!
ReplyDeleteThis was an embarrassing & unnecessary screwup, there need to be consequences. Now, the "Dems control elections in this country Trump was right" guys need to look into what happened in Mississippi, where multiple precincts in Dem areas somehow ran out of paper ballots (which is what they use there) leaving hundreds of voters stranded.
ReplyDeleteBernie, in my 1:34 post I did not include our Northampton County error in my term “most.” Certainly, in this instance I see no advantage to either political party. The point is, in various places, including Maricopa County, Arizona, Fulton County, Georgia, and Dallas County, Texas revelations of activity going back as far as the 2020 Presidential Election are still coming out! The Dallas County matter concerns the same election system as ours, coincidentally.
ReplyDeleteI refuse to slam those who continue to object over those elections. This includes Trump and his millions of supporters who are continually maligned as “conspiracy theorists.” They could be proven right!
It was a minor hiccup folks, nothing to see here now move along.............unless you're a republican that lost by a few votes. Everyone knows R's overwhelming vote on election day.
ReplyDeleteMcClure said things are fine, ESL said their machines are the best and things are fine, so of course Bernie says things are fine. So, nothing new here.
ReplyDeleteAny who complain are right wing conspiracy nuts and must be quiet. This was a great fair and accurate election. Now move on and no more questions. You are all too stupid to understand how these complicated things work, Trust your betters. right Bernie.
Booze face and his partner Dertinger the Dick need to go. Can't even run an off year election what a joke!
ReplyDelete…what problems ensued……..did not include the Express Vote XL as others falsely claim..
ReplyDeleteHmmm.”flipping” a term that came up in 2019 and returned in 2023…”Screen Sensitivity”
Sorry, those issues are machine related.
"what problems ensued……..did not include the Express Vote XL as others falsely claim..
ReplyDeleteHmmm.”flipping” a term that came up in 2019 and returned in 2023…”Screen Sensitivity”
Sorry, those issues are machine related."
Incorrect. In 2019, the pre-election testing was inadequate and failed to note that 70% of the machines had been improperly aligned. In 2023, we have a coding error followed by bad testing.
The machine itself is superior. It was the choice of the elections commission, including then GOP chair Lee Snover. It was the 8-1 choice of county council.
Paper ballots have their own sets of issue, by the way, from privacy to scanning to possible fraud at the polling place.
No system is perfect.
"Any who complain are right wing conspiracy nuts and must be quiet"
ReplyDeleteI have not said that any who complain are right wing conspiracy nuts. Those who do so based on misinformation are both right and left wing conspiracy nuts. There clearly were problems, and I have noted them. But there was no vote dumping and the Express Vote XL has gone through extensive testing. Attempts by the Green party to shoot it down failed miserably in federal and state court after both sides were heard. The "experts" they produced were terrible. That's just the way it is.
I love that these machines make a paper copy of your ballot that you review before submitting your vote. Other voting methods have their own issues but they’re less visible (“hanging chads”). The county needs to supply more emergency paper ballots to handle unforeseen issues. Please don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, and please have some perspective. At least we could see there was a problem! Many voting systems lack that feedback!
ReplyDeleteIs it correct to state that military ballots have 2 weeks post election to arrive and be counted? I am ok with that if it is an overseas ballot but if it is from another state, it should follow the same rules as domestic ballots. Personally, I believe all ballots postmarked the day of or before election, should be counted if received by Tuesday, the following week.
ReplyDeleteAre you convinced that, even after the voting machine misfires, they will function properly in 2024? It’s a yes or no…explanation not necessary.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely.
ReplyDeleteYet when Matt Munsey rallied non-partisan experts and local citizens to oppose these machines we were effectively laughed at. The convoluted nature of these machines is nothing short of asinine - one could not invent a more error-prone and complex system. There is quite literally no way to ever know if these machines are working properly. The county simply has to scrap these machines and seek their money back from the vendor, but I can tell you the country was quite well warned of these exact errors. I personally supplied written presentations explaining exactly how this would happen.
ReplyDeleteWhether it is user error, programming error, unknown error, flipping, whatever, these machines are simply prone to error in actual use.
Absolutely….okay your response will be noted for next year.
ReplyDeleteL.Marinelli, I suggest you read Judge Paul Diamond's opinion in Stein v. Bookvar, which was a direct attack on the Express XL. a nonpartisan "expert" testified in that case, too.
ReplyDeletehttps://casetext.com/case/stein-v-boockvar
I don't know whether Judge Diamond laughed at him, but he specifically found that this"expert" lacked credibility. Before the trial, the XL went through a rigorous certification and subsequent recertification. This is an open process and takes about four days. Judge Diamond ordered that an XL be produced and made this observation.
Judge Diamond rejected all criticisms as "daft theories" that unfortunately "will undoubtedly shake the belief of some in their government because [Jill} Stein has convinced them that voting integrity is at risk in Pennsylvania."
"The machine is reliable and easy to use. It is a hybrid device, combining ballot-marking and tabulating/scanning functionalities within a single system. (2/18/20 Tr. 105:1-6; 2/19/20 Tr. 186:22-187:6.) The voter first inserts a blank card into the slot to the right of the screen; this prompts the XL to load the appropriate ballot, which appears on the 32-inch touchscreen. (2/19/20 Tr. 186:25-187:6.) After she makes her selections, the machine prints them, producing a summary card ... .":
I do have a problem with last week's election. The state certification provides that "the human-readable text on the ExpressVote XL's paper card is "The official vote of record." If that is so, then the votes in the Panella race would have to count, even if contrary to the flash drive. All other elections were voter verifiable. Fortunately, the Panella retention race was statewide and the problems with the ballot have no impact on his retention.
You are funny,,,you want it both ways? You do have a problem with with last week’s election (AKA: voting machine shutdown) ..BUT, you say the machines are reliable and easy . Ask the voters their definition of a working , reliable voting machine….
ReplyDelete3 million dollar contract means BOTH coding and programming from ESS PLUS Machine…
They are not separate, they are integrated together as a voting machine…the machine failed INCLUDING the promised contractual programming….why defend a failed contractual promise?
"You are funny,,,you want it both ways? You do have a problem with with last week’s election (AKA: voting machine shutdown) ..BUT, you say the machines are reliable and easy . "
ReplyDeleteI may be funny but you are stupid. There is nothing wring with the XL. They are reliable if coded properly and tested properly. You can have a Mercedes Benz and it won't driveif you fill it with coffee instead of gas.
Nothing wrong with the XL….
ReplyDeletePut that statement out among the voters and see what they believe, not what you want them to perceive…
There is a difference between what is factually accurate and perception. The simple fact is that the XL is a superior voting machine. The machine did not fail. The people who programmed it did. Not having sufficient paper ballots is not a machine failure. Closing a poll on election day is not a machine failure.
ReplyDelete