held hostage to electronics

and why i go on and on about them

1

one of my friends' licenses petitioned the supreme court for errors and omissions, she was then fined 25k and her license came under threat through a disciplinary hearing - even though she was right

2

another friend who showed there was a 700,000 ballot miss in the statewide voter registration system AFTER certification had gunshots at his house, even though he was right, and he's never been sued by the company whose security he exposed (neither KNOWiNK nor ES&S)

3

another friend was removed from podium in a commissioner meeting by bailiff by order of county administrator when that person was calling attention to inaction by that board, a violation of her first amendment speech rights

4

another was harrassed to the point she had to sue in order to recoup damages to her reputation and business

5

yet another, hired to the absentee ballot board in her county, was repeatedly told to come in at different times and found suspicious entries for social security numbers plus boxes being brought in that were not secure

6

and then there was the election judge let go for asking whether there might be a better way to check candidate tallies at poll close than to be forced to sign a summary statement produced by the tabulator with no means of verifying candidate totals from that computer - 2 more resigned in protest

7

only 1 out of 87 counties could produce a cast vote record in 2020 (with guidance from outside the office), a violation of chapter 13 minnesota statutes in every county who did not provide this government data which has no privacy issues, though in only 1 county were the responsible authorities challenged in court, and that case is partially still ongoing almost 3 years later related to internet-connected modems in tabulators

8

exactly Zero counties produced ballot images to the public in either 2020 or 2022, making one wonder if they even existed

9

one county auditor admitted to a federal crime, deletion of election records (the entire election was archived) when the vendor performed an update

this same auditor produced the first and only cast vote record in the 2022 primary election

10

in 2020, precinct 4950 was missing over 800 ballots (more than 60%) and a 2nd review was done behind closed doors and the election manager concluded that the result was satisfactory, though he later resigned after failing to reconcile a 2021 school board race multiple times

11

in 2024, the 4th largest county by population ignored 7 city's request to hand count their ballots, arguing if audits are to be done it must be at random

12

also in 2024, about a week before the election, ALL election judges in one county were sent a letter suggesting the county attorney would have no choice but to issue a felony to anyone using paper poll books, simply because the county auditor said they should be used

13

so why am i and a few of my friends here, when almost everyone who asks basic but serious and valid questions about the voting and election process, procedures, equipment, and violations gets the kind of pushback described above?

because that evasion, obfuscation, and intimidation actually fuels us - instead of making us want to quit, it makes us ask the next question, to sharpen our eye for detail, and to help out the next person who joins in the search for the truth

it is the government's responsibility to show the people that the voting process and elections are not only free of violation but basically accurate... it has repeatedly failed to do this

now, this county is being offered, and that is putting it mildly, these iPads, computers, internet-connected out of the box, from a St. Louis based company, KNOWiNK, whose founder has ties to the system and people intending to centralize control and remove it from the people, where it belongs

for electronics anywhere to be mandated, as they are with tabulators, after my friends and i suggested to a number of commissioners they opt out in 2021/22, is a shame and it is a shame it has been tolerated, especially when superior technology, paper, with the human eye, is available for counting and tallying

with these iPads, computers that are internet connected, they remain OPTIONAL, although having talked to some people, it seems like the perception is that they are not... and yet here we are, deciding whether to purchase or not

this offer, again, that is putting it lightly, because i have come to understand how this goes, as well as the background starting already in 2009 when the minnetonka clerk first used electronic rosters, and then was rewarded with a position at the secretary of state's office, until recently being the #2 role, the elections director for the state, this offer comes with a great discount, with funds pulled down from the state

mind you, it would be tempting to use the money for these... but the money could just as easily be used for hiring the election judges needed, or for additional training, or for just about any election administration task, according to the details of the VOTER accounts

i say save the money, save the headache, save yourself from being held hostage to electronics which are out of your control, out of the control of your elections manager, your auditor, and even to a degree out of the control of the secretary of state, someone who does not have a background in computer technology, yet somehow certifies the equipment for the entire state, even he does not in my estimation understand the details of this software because KNOWiNK is not very forthcoming about this information, although when i requested email communications between my county, Hennepin County, KNOWiNK, and the Office of the Secretary of State (OSS), the reply was at first, 'No responsive data', and i called bs, and the response came 'There was limited communication but it is protected under attorny-client privilege because the HC attorney was copied on the emails', and i called bs again, and the response was, 'Okay you can submit another request, and also we are still working on your other requests from months back, we are swamped'

so with this you now know that indeed the secretary of state's office is in contact, and was recently, with KNOWiNK, although you and i do not get to know what was being discussed, and i will likely have to sue to get any headway on that, seeing as i was asking about a new pilot program from 2024, which a separate data request replied 'no responsive data' yet again because 'the pilot was not completed' which again is very deceptive because it is omitted whether the program started, which i have reason to think that it did, having seen the contract proposal and having not received any acknowledgment of multiple emails from the hennepin county elections manager, who by the way ran her absentee ballot board 40 out of 45 days WITHOUT party balance, in other words only members verifying signatures and accepting absentee ballots from ONE party - during that time about 200,000 absentee ballots were reportedly accepted by the county

this pilot by the way was for BALLOT-PRINTING-capable machines, not just electronic poll pads that print a receipt for voters checking in, but actual ballots - i don't know why i am not being shared information about these contracts... ballot printing capability doesn't seem so bad, does it?

electronic poll pads are internet connected, by cellular, able to receive read/write synchronization from the statewide voter registration system, itself a bit of a black box from the public's perspective, especially during election day

these iPads, i'm sure, feel nice in the hands of an election judge and give the air of professionalism and indeed voter convenience, but there is a huge downside beyond the obvious costs of implementation, training, upkeep, and shelf-life... you don't know who has access and what kind of access, and KNOWiNK doesn't have to tell you, or even tell the secretary of state who has certified their system, convenient for the SOS because then he can maintain plausible deniability

the fact is that paper is a superior technology and i'm not sure why there are not creative projects being done to audit the paper process to improve it, instead of shoe-horning in the electronics in an under-the-radar kind of way from 2016 till now

there is much more that i could say - my friend hacked into one of these during the demo to his city in 2016 and then when he didn't like the contract (which said there were no guarantees of harmful code) and declined it, hennepin county warned him to reconsider, but he held firm to using the paper poll books and had a great election from that perspective in 2016

it's really up to this county and the cities and towns what they want to do... the statutes/election-codes/laws allow choice, even though they are vague about which direction the authority runs, it is clear that unless a city gives the county decision making authority, it really is up to the lowest level of government... that said, if the county says we aren't going to buy these, then the cities would have to arrange the purchase and implementation themselves and explain to their voting population why they are spending money on these, which quite easily enable voter and election data to be changed without oversight

i will stand for questions