This publish first appeared at All Issues Politics and was republished with permission.
Visitor publish by Invoice Bruch
Sept 5, 2024, the Washington State Republican Occasion (WAGOP) and their legal professional Joel Ard filed a lawsuit claiming ballots “cured” by King County look like invalid, after they used the OmniBallot system within the hand recount for second place within the August 6, 2024, WA State Major Election Commissioner of Public Lands Race.
Thanks to the WAGOP and Mr. Ard for doing this. Voters needs to be grateful and inspired that the WAGOP is making efforts to strengthen and enhance our elections.
WA is an all mail-in state and when a voter forgets to signal the envelope containing their poll or when the signature on the envelope doesn’t match what’s on file, “poll curing” is important. That is the method of informing a voter to repair/treatment their signature, so their vote is counted, per WAC 434-261-053.
Within the lawsuit, the WAGOP says King County illegally used a web-based instrument that helped voters repair issues with their poll, and that it affected the end result within the statewide major race for Public Lands Commissioner. The lawsuit additionally alleges that King County Elections Director Julie Sensible didn’t be certain that voter data transmitted over the app had sufficient privateness and safety protections as a result of the instrument is operated by a personal firm.
The WAGOP claims Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson would have defeated Democrat Dave Upthegrove within the major race if the app hadn’t been used. The occasion desires the votes that have been “cured” by way of the app to be invalidated.
King County Elections, which controls 17 of the State’s 49 Legislative Districts, contracted with the leftist third occasion company, ”Democracy Reside.” Democracy Reside operates the OmniBallot voting system, which used the web/cell phone net app poll curing program for the Major Election.
In keeping with the criticism, King County counted 2,092 poll signature affidavits that have been illegally “cured” violating RCW 29A.60.164(4) through Democracy Reside’s OmniBallot voting system within the election. If these 2,092 votes weren’t counted, then Upthhegrove would have had a lower than one in a billion likelihood to have completed forward of Pederson for second place within the race.
After the statewide recount was formally licensed Sept 4, 2024, vote outcomes modified barely however nonetheless had Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler and Democrat Dave Upthegrove making the highest two normal election in November.
The recount indicated a 49-vote margin separating second-place finisher Upthegrove from Pederson, who completed third within the contest. Earlier than the recount, the margin initially stood at 51 votes with over 1.9 million votes counted. After consolidating the amended outcomes licensed by every of the 39 particular person county canvassing boards, Upthegrove gained 4 votes and Pederson gained six votes.
“Overvotes” – “undervotes” and “write-in” votes have been additionally recognized throughout the guide recount, which helped result in many minor adjustments within the total vote complete adjustments for the seven candidates in most all WA State 39 counties.
Democracy Reside’s OmniBallot platform is a web-based system for clean poll supply, poll marking, and on-line voting.
FALSE CLAIM REGARDING FEDERAL CERTIFICATION: A June 2021 report states, Democracy Reside’s deceptive and unfaithful statements aren’t restricted to claims relating to the safety of its programs. In a press launch issued Nov 2019, Democracy Reside wrote: “Seattle-based Democracy Reside has been awarded full certification of the primary stand-alone accessible balloting machine within the elections business… The OmniBallot Pill is the primary vendor-neutral, off-the-shelf poll marking machine that has been reviewed and accepted by an EAC-approved impartial check lab.”
FALSE CLAIMS OF SECURITY: There may be widespread consensus from laptop scientists and nationwide safety specialists that any on-line transmission of voted ballots can’t be secured.
Different studies say OmniBallot can be utilized to mark ballots that will probably be printed and returned within the mail, the software program sends the voter’s identification and poll decisions to Democracy Reside, an pointless threat that jeopardizes a voter and the key poll.
The Net App depends on various third events to carry out its companies. The app runs JavaScript loaded from Amazon, Google and Cloudflare, making all three corporations, in addition to Democracy Reside itself, potential factors of compromise for the elections system.
Additionally, Democracy Reside can obtain delicate private data, together with voter ID, poll picks, signature picks and in some circumstances, even a browser fingerprint, all which might be used for nefarious functions.
Of Observe: On April 9, 2020, greater than 60 scientists and election specialists signed a letter to governors, secretaries of state and state election administrators urging them to chorus from permitting using any web voting system.
Given the well-established dangers of web voting, it’s laborious to imagine that anybody would use such an insecure net app vulnerable to manipulation and hacking for ANY kind of voting.
Invoice Bruch is the WA State GOP Election Integrity Chairman, WSRP Government Board Member, 4-Time period Skagit County GOP Chairman, Citizen Journalist, Blogger, Enterprise Proprietor, “2021 Citizen Activist of the 12 months” award by the Olympic Convention, 2020 WA State Home Consultant Candidate, Former Council Member, and WA State 2016 and 2024 RNC Nationwide Conference Delegate.
