Court sides with state over Pennsylvania county's handling of voting machines after 2020 electio

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 12:57 PM EST, December 31, 2024


HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania court on Tuesday ruled 6-1 that the secretary of state has the authority to direct counties not to allow “unauthorized third party access” to voting machines or risk having those machines decertified and unable to be deployed for elections.

The Commonwealth Court said the Department of State does not have to reimburse counties when they decertify machines, a defeat for Fulton County in a dispute that arose after two Republican county commissioners permitted Wake Technology Services Inc. to examine and obtain data from Dominion voting machines in 2021.

That led the state elections agency to issue a directive against such third-party access based on concerns it could compromise security. Fulton’s machines were decertified as a result of the Wake TSI examination and the secretary of state was sued by the county as well as Republican county commissioners Randy Bunch and Stuart Ulsh.

Fulton had argued it had broad authority over the voting machines, while the secretary of state said that “would mean that every county board of elections can do whatever it wants” with electronic voting systems under their authority to inspect elections, “an absurd and unreasonable result,” wrote Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer for the majority.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-voting-machines-fulton-2020-7f2130b82d582aab34afd504b444dc0c

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The cases for this county have been going on endlessly since 2021 after they allowed multiple 3rd parties to "audit" their machines (the first being a vendor associated with Wake TSI - the ones who screwed around in AZ). The court said STOP! after that first time and they ignored the order and eventually had 2 more 3rd parties come in to "review" (tamper). This is one of the most rural and reddest counties in the state but also one of the few who also had Dominion machines.

[AverageOldGuy]

1. One person's experience

I live in a red, rural, Virginia county. All 133 localities in VA have a general registrar and an electoral board. The board is three members, two from the governor's party, one from the other party. Because we elected a Rep governor in 2021, I am the sole Democrat with two proud MAGAts on the board.

I've been on the board for 12 years, now resigned effective Dec 31, 2024, because we are moving. Our practice is that we do not have 2-1 votes. Everything we do is 3-0. I have to give the two Republican members credit . . . they drop politics at the door and are all business.

Our voting machines are locked in a room converted into a vault. Requires two-person control to enter. Door is alarmed and beeps loudly when opened. The only people allowed access to voting machines are registrar, her deputies, electoral board, and on election day the precinct chiefs. None of our county officials are allowed to enter the vault or have anything to do with our machines.

One of our county's many MAGAts was in league with a group that claims to work on ensuring "the integrity of our elections." They demanded access to our machines after the last election. After discussions, one of the Republican board members told them " This conversation is over. You will not touch our voting equipment. Go fuck yourself. " He then ordered them out of the office and called a couple of deputy sheriffs to escort them out.

This horseshit about stolen elections, election fraud, etc. etc. is everywhere. We have lost several poll workers because of the abuse from MAGATs. On election day we board members are all over the county, evicting MAGAts from polling places. You would not believe the FOIA requests our registrar receives.

Now that I am a private citizen and no longer the county electoral board chairman, I will go after these local assholes.