Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

MissMillie

(38,454 posts)
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 06:49 AM Sep 2022

LOL. Public Records requests for voting records

Trump backers flood election offices with requests as 2022 vote nears


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-backers-flood-election-offices-with-requests-as-2022-vote-nears/ar-AA11IhIM?li=BBnb7Kz

In Kentucky, officials don’t recognize the technical-sounding documents they’re being asked to produce — and when they seek clarification, the requesters say they don’t know, either.


****************************************

Funny, but of course not funny. That's a nuisance request if there ever was one. These folks ought to be held accountable for this sort of thing.
19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

stopdiggin

(11,092 posts)
2. this is a 'denial of service' strike
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 07:16 AM
Sep 2022

against elections, and the ability of government to run them. The dupes that have been roped in to this tactic may not understand it - but it is the essence of undemocratic.

Many of the places this is happening - have been stalwart Republican bastions for years. Try to get your mind around this - your leaders and mentors are against elections. You okay with that?
----- --- --- -----

MissMillie

(38,454 posts)
3. They WOULD appear to be okay with that
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 07:24 AM
Sep 2022

considering many of these states are trying to give their legislatures the ability to just simply ignore election results.

I can't even begin to imagine how anyone would be okay with that, but it's happening all over the country.

stopdiggin

(11,092 posts)
5. but then how do you install your
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 07:31 AM
Sep 2022

'constitutional' sheriff, your book banning school board, your bible thumper county clerk? How do you get what you want - if you disallow elections?

DBoon

(22,286 posts)
17. "a republic not a democracy"
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 03:34 PM
Sep 2022

if you want billionaires to rule over us, you must eliminate elections

Samrob

(4,298 posts)
4. Some voters with standing ought to get their names and begin a legal suit against them for
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 07:26 AM
Sep 2022

attempting to or for actually interfering with their civil rights to vote. These folks are impeding the functioning of the election officials.

Lonestarblue

(9,880 posts)
7. Is there a deadline for responding, or could election officials just say we'll deal with this
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 08:01 AM
Sep 2022

after the election? These requests are clearly to prevent elections clerks from preparing for the real election. MAGATS want nothing so much as to destroy every legitimate US system. We had one of the fairest and least fraudulent election systems in the world. Republicans are now turning it into a Putin-style election where who counts the votes is all that matters.

AverageOldGuy

(1,462 posts)
10. 5 days
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 08:13 AM
Sep 2022

All such requests must be considered as a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA). An initial response must be returned within five days of receipt of the request.

ret5hd

(20,433 posts)
13. initial response:
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 09:09 AM
Sep 2022

"Due to an unusual number of requests, your request will be considered in the order in which it was received. Your patience is appreciated. The estimated wait time is now 6 months."

Escurumbele

(3,340 posts)
8. MAGAts are like cucarachas, no matter how much insecticide you spray, they still come
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 08:11 AM
Sep 2022

What a bunch of imbeciles, so much anger in them, so little thinking, exempt of independent analysis...it is so hard to understand the level of stupidity from these people, they must suffer from permanent "Stockholm Syndrome", the more republicans hurt them the more they adore them. They have seen the people from the insurrection now wasting years of their lives in prison, but they still push on.

AverageOldGuy

(1,462 posts)
9. This is an actual request . . .
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 08:11 AM
Sep 2022

. . . that was received by damn near every General Registrar in Virginia. It came from out-of-state.

Under Common Law this public records request does not require a special form.

I am requesting a text, comma, or tab delimited file, or a text-based report, listing, in the
sequence processed by the county, every ballot, its sequential ID, its timestamp, its method of voting (for example: in-person, mail-in, provisional, absentee, "other", etc. – any and all ballots that were tabulated as part of the following elections

• 2015 General and Primary election
• 2016 General and Primary election
• 2017 General and Primary election
• 2018 General and Primary election
• 2019 General and Primary election
• 2020 General and Primary election
• 2021 General and Primary election
• 2022 Primary election),

the specific votes contained for all races, and the batch ID and tabulator ID. Should any fields not be available, please include the fields which are. I am requesting a per-ballot report. This set of information is sometimes known as a "Cast Vote Record" (CVR), "ballot log", or a "summary of ballots". If the data exists as multiple files or reports, for instance by batch or by precinct, you do not need to aggregate them, please send the individual files.

A report of this type would have very likely already been created when County) County audited their election results. If not, and you are not readily familiar with how to generate this report, you can refer to the instructions outlined in the ES&S Electionware Volume V Results User’s Guide. You will find the relevant information begins on page 37. Simply select choices for ALL records. I have also included some screenshots and detailed instructions for EVS version
6.1.1.0.

I am also requesting the Ballot Manifest Report (also known as the Tabulator Batch Report) for all ballots included the tabulation of the results of the Nov. 3, 2020 general election. This
report should include the information that specifies the method by which each ballot was cast. (ie: in-person, by-mail, provisional, absentee, etc.)
I am hopeful that there is someone within the (County) County Elections Commission or Board of Elections who will be able to generate the reports I am looking for.

Please also confirm the required retention period for all 2020 election records.

Please confirm receipt

(Signature deleted)



Lonestarblue

(9,880 posts)
11. I thought specific ballots could not be released, just aggregated data.
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 08:47 AM
Sep 2022

Could some of these documents identify voters by name and how they voted? That should not be public information.

In any case, this is an obvious attempt to delay election workers from doing things like sending mail ballots out on time. Republicans believe that Democrats use mail ballots and few Republicans do. I donKt know whether that is true, but this is obviously an attack on our election syatems.

oldsoftie

(12,410 posts)
14. There is no way to know how a voter voted; only that they DID vote.
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 09:15 AM
Sep 2022

Absentee ballots aren't marked in a way to ID a voter with the cast ballot

These people are idiots. I'd simply answer "NO"

SouthernDem4ever

(6,459 posts)
15. Change the law so that the names, home addresses and phone numbers
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 09:17 AM
Sep 2022

of everyone involved with these requests, including supports/backers financial or otherwise of these stupid groups should made public on a website for all to see.

ewagner

(18,964 posts)
16. Same here......
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 09:25 AM
Sep 2022

Not sure who is orchestrating it...

Clerk says it's just a damned nuisance....some of the "stuff" they are demanding have to do with the internal workings of the vote counting machines which is propriety to the manufacturer and we have no control over.

gratuitous

(82,849 posts)
19. Daily Kos has identified it as a Mike Lindell-inspired campaign
Mon Sep 12, 2022, 03:53 PM
Sep 2022

By way of a story in the Washington Post. Link to Kos story here.

Mike Lindell and Trumpers gumming up midterms with onslaught of record requests about 2020 election

Incited by MAGA conspiracy theorists like MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, Trump supporters are flooding elections offices nationwide with records requests from the 2020 presidential election—an election they lost handily according to all lawsuits and disputes but refuse to believe was fair and democratically won by President Joe Biden.

According to reporting from The Washington Post, dozens of states and a slew of counties across the country are being overwhelmed with what appear to be duplicate requests for “cast vote records,” as they’re called by Lindell.

* * *

“The only way to look at it is as a denial-of-service attack on local government. ... The irony is, if Lindell wanted the cast vote records, he could have just put in a request to get them. They don’t do that. They put out this call to action for people to do it, and they know it’s going to inundate these offices, especially medium and small offices who are understaffed and overwhelmed already. They know exactly what they’re doing.”
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»LOL. Public Records requ...