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Former U.S. congressman, operative pleads guilty to election fraud charges

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Re: Former U.S. congressman, operative pleads guilty to election fraud charges

#31
They make it sound so simple:

Bribe the Judge of Elections who oversees everything. Dilute the vote tallies by using the voting machines to increment the votes for specific candidates. Certify that the fake results are correct. Lie if anybody asks.

This person did this with 2 separate judges. Why is it so easy?

Re: Former U.S. congressman, operative pleads guilty to election fraud charges

#32
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many occurred?

Luckily, Justice Department and FBI will likely have no incentives for investigating that given how they actively positioned themselves in the political debate. So we may never find out.

No post body was provided.

Re: Former U.S. congressman, operative pleads guilty to election fraud charges

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of progressives have been against electronic voting machines from the beginning. What we're calling right-wing people out on is only caring about it when their candidate loses, and calling the previous election where they won "the most secure in history".

I don't understand the us v them mentality. I have lots of right wing friends and family and many of them have been against electronic voting from the beginning. For example, in my home state of oregon, many right wingers are against vote by mail and have been since oregon became the first state to go fully vote by mail. These issues are not so binary as you're making them out to be, and I think everyone would do wel…

Us v them has been drilled into the populace for decades to divide based on tribal allegiances. The best thing you can do to break down tribal walls is to talk to "the other side" and find solutions that are acceptable for everybody.

Re: Former U.S. congressman, operative pleads guilty to election fraud charges

#34
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some reason progressives are against voter ID laws. I've said that before and will say it again: Most of EU requires ID to vote. I will support Republicans that want to do this. It is sad to bring EU in the picture to convince progressives but it is a magic word that somehow brings logic and reason. We shouldn't have to say "They do it in EU, so it must be good". People have stopped thinking for themselves. Anyth…

How would ID laws stopped this?

I'm just ranting on general election integrity. Probably should have commented at the top level, too late.

Re: Former U.S. congressman, operative pleads guilty to election fraud charges

#35
post #13

> payments ranging from between $300 to $5,000 per election Surprisingly affordable relative to today’s campaign budgets.

If I'm understanding the indictment right, these are elections for low-level judgeships:

>On or about May 19, 2015, Domenick J. Demuro, and others known and unknown to the grand jury, added 40 fraudulent ballots during the primary election in the 39th Ward, 36th Division, on behalf of defendant MICHAEL "OZZIE" MYERS' client candidates running for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, and on behalf of defendant MICHAEL "OZZIE" MYERS' preferred candidates for other state and local offices.

(this is just one incident on the list). I don't know what the campaign budget for a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas is, but I suspect it's not that high if they're willing to bribe someone for an extra 40 votes!

Re: Former U.S. congressman, operative pleads guilty to election fraud charges

#40
post #29
post #5

European countries and Canada could finish counting ballots in a day. All paper records. US had to take days, and any questioning into the process is labeled, of course, racism and right wing. It must be because the US is so advanced and progressive. It's a shame, I guess, that the damn European countries or our neighbor can't follow our lead.

It sounds like you're advocating for something like the SAFE Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2722 So, the Democrats are the racist right-wingers, and Mitch McConnell is the progressive in this story? Note that, on their own, paper ballots don't actually address the attack described in the article, though the bill provides funding for mechanisms that would.

No. I'm advocating a civil discourse in which people evaluate the pros and cons of different approaches without resorting to racial attacks. I'm advocating that people should be encouraged to ask questions, like why does it take so long for the US to count ballots without getting into partisan bullshit.
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