Earlier this year, Mark Coakley, director of elections for Henrico County, Virginia, received an email from a concerned voter.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1483861
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1483861
Good job these mooks have an unfettered money-spinning lie machine to drive their membership.
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here’s a thought: maybe the extremists could get some pointers on how to seem human…to ANYONE.
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Vote fraud? Let’s count 'em by hand! And get them wrong. Again. And again. And again. Oh, and by the way, when you hand count, they aren’t auditable.
ETA: none of them seem to comprehend that counting ballots isn’t just “1, 2, 3, 4”. It’s one person reading aloud for each race and issue on the ballot. Some ballots fill the front AND the back. And then there are multiple people listening, recording only their part of the ballot votes. When it’s all done, they give their numbers to someone else who enters them into a spreadsheet. Each of those subject to error. One of the officials said for one precinct to have an error of “only two” wasn’t a big deal. Hey, buddy, what if those two would have been for TFG And what if every single precinct in the country was “only off by two” How many votes would that be when you are done?
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It may be necessary but it has a flavor of Stockholm Syndrome: how long can you accommodate crazy w/o going a little crazy yourself?
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My husband and I worked as poll workers yesterday for the AZ presidential preference election and I learned two important things: there are people out there who really want to start a fight about rigged elections and the process is amazingly secure and fair. If more people became involved in the voting process, there would be fewer baseless claims of fraud.
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Good to know. These blowhard can’t be allowed to run rampant. Citizen journalism will be a big help. A lot for work for the cops too, locking up their in-laws.
Kudos to this official and his dedication and calmness in the face of assertive ignorance. I would have said aggressive, but sounds like the “doing their own research” individual in this case was less nutty than some. Still, this whole story tells me I could not be an election official in this day and age. I would not have the patience.
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There is a single source to this problem. But once he’s defeated (again), dead or dead before he’s defeated it’s not going away. It’s in the rethug playbook and will be there for a generation.
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“A lie travels halfway around the world while the truth is still putting its shoes on.”
This guy takes the conspiracist out to lunch, and while they are now “friends” the conspiracist still isn’t 100% convinced.
What exactly can you do when there is a huge section of the US that will only trust propagandist news sources like Fox, Newsmax and OANN (and Breitbart, and talk radio, and. . . .)
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And, how many radio stations does Sinclair own?
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How not to appear to be one of the lizard people… 
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Just meet with brain-damaged loons!
Everything’s fine!
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The one problem with that statement is that some number of the MAGA faithful who are pushing to get involved in elections are doing so in order to corrupt it so their candidates always win. They won’t accept the idea that their candidates lose elections…if they lose it must be fraud, there’s no other reason that their person would lose! Some people who go in with suspicion end up being convinced our elections are run well (aside from rare errors they really are), but I’m not sure the MAGAites can be convinced, even if they see it all from the inside.
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Trump says if he doesn’t win there will be a “bloodbath.” But his supporters may not be able to pull off a second January 6 riot. That was a surprise, but now we are ready for them.
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Important to note that Bill Gates, one of the Maricopa County supervisors quoted in the article has chosen to not run for re-election and says he has PTSD from the nightmare surrounding the aftermath of the 2020 election. He is a nice guy, an old-fashioned honest Republican stalwart whose life and family have been threatened constantly by Trump’s minions.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/01/key-arizona-election-official-step-down-00099752
We are living in this crazy world where the tantrum of a toddler who cannot admit losing even a simple golf game, much less a presidential election, has had terrible effects here and around the world and continue to reverberate. I continue to have a hard time believing in this alternate universe.
@sophie13 Many thanks for your bravery in volunteering for this thankless task.
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So it is your assessment that the people alleging fraud are acting in good faith? All they need is education? See the comment by @drriddle also.
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They‘ll just shift from “the counting is being fudged” to “there are voters pulling funny business that we haven’t been able to detect yet” to keep their “stolen” belief alive and intact…
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My 13 month-old pinned Tweet remains disturbingly evergreen.
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How many times did Trump and his pathetic band of misfit lawyers lose after the 2020 election? Where was the voter fraud?
Oh, right. It was committed by republicans.
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