This audit shit has to be stopped!

[garybeck]

Last edited Thu May 27, 2021, 01:18 AM - Edit history (2)

I am seriously concerned that these audits are fueling the lies and allowing the doubt about the election to increase to a dangerous level.

First of all the audits are ILLEGAL and they need to be stopped on the federal level. Presidential ballots must, by law, be kept secure for 22 months (see below). Why hasn't there been a federal lawsuit about this already? The SoS of AZ should be facing serious legal trouble for allowing this to happen.

Remember when Biden was running and they assured us that they had 5,000 lawyers ready to go and there was no way Trump was going to pull any funny business?

They did a great job on election day but WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

NOW is when we NEED THEM!

A couple weeks ago there was talk about the feds stepping in but i have heard not anything since.

I'm tired of hearing pundits on MSNBC and other news agencies laughing at these audits. This is not a laughing matter. This is serious shit. We might think it's a farce but i'm telling you the idiots on the right are very focused on the audits and they totally believe that they've already found fraud.

Please bring in the 5,000 lawyers! Call in the Cavalry! This is not a joke, these people are serious. Our democracy and country is at stake!

for reference here is the federal statute that is clearly being violated:

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title52-section20701&num=0&edition=prelim

§20701. Retention and preservation of records and papers by officers of elections; deposit with custodian; penalty for violation
Every officer of election shall retain and preserve, for a period of twenty-two months from the date of any general, special, or primary election of which candidates for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, or Resident Commissioner from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are voted for, all records and papers which come into his possession relating to any application, registration, payment of poll tax, or other act requisite to voting in such election, except that, when required by law, such records and papers may be delivered to another officer of election and except that, if a State or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico designates a custodian to retain and preserve these records and papers at a specified place, then such records and papers may be deposited with such custodian, and the duty to retain and preserve any record or paper so deposited shall devolve upon such custodian. Any officer of election or custodian who willfully fails to comply with this section shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
( Pub. L. 86–449, title III, §301, May 6, 1960, 74 Stat. 88 .)

[jimlup]

1. Yes but I think it will meet the end that it deserves without us really having to do anything.

These people are complete idiots. Never underestimate the ability of complete idiots to achieve absolutely nothing.

[msongs]

2. failure to fight back makes it look like dems don't care about it nt

[Orrex]

18. 100% correct

For too long the strategy seems to have been "let the Republicans do whatever they want, and people will see how ridiculous they are."

Those vile fuckers have framed the debate and controlled the discussion for decades, more or less unanswered. How is this a viable strategy?


Not bashing any Dems here, but simply beyond frustrated about years of Republicans facing little or no consequence for their openly criminal and treasonous actions.

[stillcool]

3. I don't know that the federal government

has any power over how states conduct their elections, or recounts. I thought states had their own laws. If the Secretary of State is breaking the state laws, then what? If the state government is majority Republican and are fine with it, even support it, do laws even matter? The way things have been going, I don't think so. The Confederacy wants their war back.

[garybeck]

9. it is a federal law.

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title52-section20701&num=0&edition=prelim

§20701. Retention and preservation of records and papers by officers of elections; deposit with custodian; penalty for violation
Every officer of election shall retain and preserve, for a period of twenty-two months from the date of any general, special, or primary election of which candidates for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, or Resident Commissioner from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are voted for, all records and papers which come into his possession relating to any application, registration, payment of poll tax, or other act requisite to voting in such election, except that, when required by law, such records and papers may be delivered to another officer of election and except that, if a State or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico designates a custodian to retain and preserve these records and papers at a specified place, then such records and papers may be deposited with such custodian, and the duty to retain and preserve any record or paper so deposited shall devolve upon such custodian. Any officer of election or custodian who willfully fails to comply with this section shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

[stillcool]

40. I don't see see it...

they still have the ballots, as far as I know, and if they just have to designate a custodian to preserve them at a specified place, what part is non-compliance?

if a State or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico designates a custodian to retain and preserve these records and papers at a specified place, then such records and papers may be deposited with such custodian, and the duty to retain and preserve any record or paper so deposited shall devolve upon such custodian

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. SoS in AZ is a Democrat and it was the GOP legislature that ordered our ballots

handed over to these out of state clowns.

Other than that ... what you said!!!

[garybeck]

8. yes i know but

the SOS could/should have said no. they are responsible for the ballots and they let them go. regardless of which party

[Hugh_Lebowski]

13. With the shitshow we have going on down here, Ms. Hobbs would never have felt safe again

the rest of her entire life had she done that ... assuming you're correct she actually had that authority, which I'm not sure about.

[inthewind21]

43. yes i know but

The SOS did say no. In fact, her office fought the lawsuits as well as the subpoenas filed by the republican senate in court. A judge ordered the ballots be turned over and she had no choice. And the prize she just got from the republican legislature, they just stripped her from overseeing any future elections in the state. But, it's only temporary, the legislation expires when her term ends. ALL of this is very public information.

[PortTack]

5. The only voters that will be discouraged and lack doubt in election integrity are the qgop

It only further fuels the Dems to vote every last one of them out!!

It is terrible. But they are just further digging their own grave- squabbles, infighting and threats against each other of suits or arrests if one side or the other doesn’t get their way

[Trueblue1968]

6. WHAT YOU SAID .... is what Rachel Maddow had on her program tonight. SO ENTERTAINING !!!

[smirkymonkey]

7. Hear, hear!

I am so fed up with this bullshit and the lack of action to stop it.

[gab13by13]

10. Federal election laws are being broken,

the DOJ needs to step in because this will spread to every state controlled by the GQP.

Why freaking bother to vote in Republican controlled states if they can simply decide who won? Don't get me wrong, I will walk through barbed wire to vote but this shit has to stop, passing the For the people act must be the only priority. Kill the filibuster if need be, if Dems vote no keep putting pressure on them.

[StarfishSaver]

33. What federal election law is being broken?

[Hoyt]

11. Others will just say, "What are the states hiding?" I do think surveillance

of any audit must be exacting, balanced, and meticulously documented.

Don’t think there were any significant errors in vote counting. Even if a few errors occurred, it appears they often favor GOPers.

But, if something serious did happen, I think we’d want to know.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

14. It's been audited twice Hoyt ... by people who know what they're doing.

Yes we'd want to know, but this clown show is not how we'd ever find that out.

Also opens up a Pandora's Box. This isn't how our elections and vote counting works.

What's next? GOP demands Cyber Ninja audits in every state they lost?

[Hoyt]

17. I know it's been audited. But GOPers are going to want it audited over and over.

It’s not like Democrats have never questioned an election, although not to this extreme. Next time we lose close, we will rightly be doing the same thing.

Besides, how do we stop a state from allowing another look? For all that, I don’t think demanding audits stop is productive.

[garybeck]

19. "how do we stop a state from allowing another look?"

i don't think you understand, first of all it is against the law to turn over ballots to a third party. the federal law is clear:

§20701. Retention and preservation of records and papers by officers of elections; deposit with custodian; penalty for violation
Every officer of election shall retain and preserve, for a period of twenty-two months from the date of any general, special, or primary election of which candidates for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, or Resident Commissioner from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are voted for, all records and papers which come into his possession relating to any application, registration, payment of poll tax, or other act requisite to voting in such election, except that, when required by law, such records and papers may be delivered to another officer of election and except that, if a State or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico designates a custodian to retain and preserve these records and papers at a specified place, then such records and papers may be deposited with such custodian, and the duty to retain and preserve any record or paper so deposited shall devolve upon such custodian. Any officer of election or custodian who willfully fails to comply with this section shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.


this issue is not "having another look." the issue is turning the actual ballots over to a third party

if they want to 'have another look' there are ways to do that legally, that preserve the ballots, so if someone else wants to audit the audit, they can. now the ballots have been compromised. so it is not an audit. it is a giving away of ballots.

[Hoyt]

21. I said with proper oversight and documentation.

And, honestly, I’m not sure ballots have been given to any organization, never to be seen again. If that happened all but makes any adverse findings unprovable.

[NJCher]

28. Did you even read the law?

[Hoyt]

29. I read it, did they give the ballots to GOPers to take away?

[NJCher]

31. Did you talk to them

To find out if they knew the law?

You are living in a country that actually has an organization called The Republican Attorneys General. Look it up. They have their mugs plastered up on the internet as if such an organization is notable when it is in fact a screeching testimony to the fact that they don’t even understand the purpose of their job.

[Hoyt]

34. Are the ballots still available for a "Democratic" audit?

[NJCher]

36. Democrats know how to ask for

Such an action, however, that is not their Shtick.

[garybeck]

37. i think if you read the law, it is clear they broke it

once they released the ballots to anyone.

the democrats cannot ack for an audit now because the ballots have already been compromised.

[questionseverything]

44. The chain of custody has been compromised

Copies should of been given not the real ballots

The thing you are correct about is nothing adverse is provable

[Hugh_Lebowski]

39. My issue is not so much the idea of audits in general, but who is doing it

And I don't know how.

I do know we should damn sure vote out the assholes who ordered it.

[Under The Radar]

12. I think that it will self destruct and do much more harm than good to republicans

[ShazzieB]

32. I hope to God you are right.

Not sure I'd like the odds if I was betting $$ on it. But I REALLY hope that's what happens. 🤞

[monkeyman1]

15. republican's are going to need a audit of the audit & ballot's are now contaminated !!

[Takket]

16. I agree, but at this point it is going to play itself out, at least in AZ

and when it does what happens next will be interesting. either A, they will admit what they found, which is nothing.

or B, hey will invent their own result. I don't know if they have the idiocy to try that, but if they do THEN the next step is to subpoena EVERYONE involved, and see if they are so eager to repeat their lies under oath.

they have already floated nonsense about bags not being sealed and poll books not matching, which the election commission HUMILIATED them over since the Senate questions on these matters weren't because of shenanigans, but because cyber ninja do not understand how elections works, and they got called out on it. next step is to just outright lie about the vote totals.

[Joinfortmill]

20. Agree

[BadgerMom]

22. My thoughts, too.

Where is the legal pushback? It’s incredibly frustrating and frightening. The reporting goes on but the possible remedies aren’t mentioned.

[BadgerMom]

23. My thoughts, too.

Where is the legal pushback? It’s incredibly frustrating and frightening. The reporting goes on but the possible remedies aren’t mentioned.

[Warpy]

24. I think the majority of people in AZ, and certainly in their government

would wholeheartedly agree with that.

It's going to be quite a stinking albatross around the neck of the poisonous female who started it.

[Snackshack]

25. Agreed.

Why the DOJ has not acted at all when federal election law are clear on ballot security which is obviously being compromised here is confounding. In Az the GOP is not allowing any observers yet they screamed about having observers in the state audits (multiple ones already done) hand picking who is doing the recounting (one GOP official was photographed auditing ballots and they threw the journalists out who tweeted the image). Not to mention this private company Cyber Ninjas who has no experience doing this. Which led SOS Hobbs to say she cannot certify the machines they have compromised which will cost $6 million to replace. The DOJ should have been on this since day 1.

In some sense I think the election gave people a false sense of security in the system. After all the GOP attempts with 60 lawsuits, continuous GOP interference up to and including an attempted coup the system held and the will of the voters won the day. Hence this notion of letting the GOP do as they want with these audits it’s just going to end up hurting them in the end.

When in reality it came down to just a couple SOS (mainly GA’s) that said no to “fixing things right” or finding votes or fraud. If one or two people would have said “ok”. The outcome would have been much different and DT would still be President.

[StarfishSaver]

35. We don't know of they're acting or not.

A lot goes on out of the public eye.

[Mad_Machine76]

26. I don't know if you've noticed

But Arizona SOS is pushing back on the fraudit and Republicans are now trying to strip her powers to legally challenge their electoral shenanigans for the rest of her term.

[garybeck]

30. exactly why the federal dept of justice has to step in.

[H2O Man]

27. Recommended.

I agree 100%.

[Kid Berwyn]

38. Fraudit.

It’s a fraud, treason by another name.

[MissMillie]

41. "audits" performed (at taxpayer expense) by...

groups that are

not certified by State or Federal elections agencies
inexperienced with election audits
overtly biased

being performed where official audits and hand counts have already been performed.

EVERYTHING about this is wrong.


But my guess is despite the non-certification and the inexperience, and EVEN the bias, no game-changing fraud will be found.


It's a show. Unfortunately the show is spawning voter suppression laws. (And yeah, groups like Democracy Docket will fight those laws, but the tax-payers will end up footing the bill for the states to fight off every law suit that Democracy Docket files.)

All because someone who lied 30,000 times in a 4-year term said there was fraud.

[CrackityJones75]

42. They could backfire on the repub party

They keep calling them costing taxpayers money and they come up with nothing. Keep letting the public know they are wasting their money.