Mystery group wants copies of all Michigan's 2016 presidential ballots

[demmiblue]

Source: The Detroit Free Press

Somebody with a lot of money wants copies of the ballots Michiganders cast for president in 2016.

All of them.

Clerks across Michigan are reporting receiving identical Freedom of Information Act requests seeking copies of the ballots and other records from the election in which almost 4.8 million Michiganders voted.

"Hundreds of communities are receiving this request," said Westland City Clerk Richard LeBlanc, whose city received the request earlier this week. "If this request is completed, it would be the largest one we've ever processed."

Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/24/michigan-ballots-foia-presidential-election/1083737002/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

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[Yavin4]

1. Does this person's name rhymes with Pladimir Vutin? n/t

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

3. AND your darn TUTIN'?

[Lulu KC]

19. laughing n/t

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

2. vote suppression by unmasking voters paper ballots.

Doesnt sound kosher to the nation-wide swing to paper ballots and receipts..

[lagomorph777]

12. Ballots are anonymous here; I believe that's required everywhere

So no unmasking would be possible. However, a very thorough audit would be possible and I think that's the goal. Good idea.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

13. If it's still anonymous. Hail YEah!!

Wonder what they'll find. Maybe this is the end-around re-count they needed?

[lagomorph777]

15. 2 years late, but if they can complete it by November it will increase scrutiny on MI.

Which is a good thing.

[DownriverDem]

17. Except

When you sign in your name is matched with a ballot number. I don't think that is what the clerks are asked to produce though.

[LakeSuperiorView]

22. Ballots are numbered? Your name is matched to the registered list of voters.

Could be different in MI, but all ballots in a given precinct/school district in MN are identical. It would be astonishing if ballots were uniquely numbered anywhere in the US. In fact, in MN, it is illegal to make identifying mark on your ballot.

Having a list of what ballot was associated which voter would be absolutely mind blowingly against the concept of an anonymous ballot.

[llmart]

30. I think the poster is referring to absentee ballots.

I vote absentee in Michigan and your ballot is numbered and you sign the outside of the envelope if I remember correctly. Then in order for election workers to make sure you don't try to vote again at an actual polling place, they track the ballot. If I understand the process correctly, there are many checks and balances on these absentee ballots.

I have maintained from the start that Michigan was stolen.

[dflprincess]

32. In Minnesota the outer envelope(s) (for absentee votes) are used to track that you voted,

not the ballot. The ballot you mail in (or file in person with the city cleark) in the absentee envelope looks just like one you would fill out at the polls on election day - and is just as anonymous.

Once the envelopes are open, they are not kept with the ballot they contained.

As far as ballots being numbered. When we sign in here, we get a slip to paper to give to the next judge who will hand us our ballot. The judge who takes the slip of paper puts a number on it & hands you your ballot. The slips of paper are numbered consecutively, ballots are not numbered.

At the end of the night, the slips of paper are used to reconcile with the number of ballots fed into the machine. If the last slip of paper was marked 500, there machine better confirm that 500 ballots were cast.

I'm not sure how they track the spoiled ballots as I've never had to request a new ballot because of a mistake. The machines we have are also supposed to reject the ballot while you're standing there (for example if, for some reason you marked to candidates in the same race or there was just a random pen mark on the page). If this happens, you will be given a new ballot to fill out. I assume they have some way the count the spoiled ones as well and reconcile them at the end of the night.)

[LakeSuperiorView]

34. I have worked as an election judge in Minnesota.

The only numbers placed on the ballot receipts given by the poll book judge is the school district if the precinct is split between two school districts. If there are school measures on the ballot, the voter has to get the correct one.

Considering that there are typically three poll book judges working independently, there would be no way to consecutively number the ballot receipts. The ballot receipts are counted, but they are not numbered. The usual scheme is to paperclip groups of 25.

Spoiled ballots are not counted, except as meaningless stat, as they are never scanned as completed ballots. If the ballot is rejected by the scanner, it is not counted. The voter has the option of having the ballot counted with the errors, or getting a new ballot. The voter requesting one simply gets a new ballot and the spoiled ballot goes into an envelope designated for spoiled ballots. The new electronic poll books are synchronized at the end of the night and count the number of voters checked in. Beats the heck out of having to count the paper poll books if the number of ballot receipts do not match the vote counter. One voter checked in, one ballot receipt, one scanned ballot counted.

[dflprincess]

40. In my precinct there has always been just one judge handing out the ballots and

Numbering the slips. But my precinct is not split between school districts. I asked once and was told the slips are used to reconcile the ballot counts.

Goid info on the spoiled ballots I have always wondered if they were accounted for in some way.

[LakeSuperiorView]

41. The ballot judge doesn't know your name. I misred your post.

That's part of the purpose of separating the poll book judges from the ballot judge. The poll book judges ask your name and verify that you are a registered voter, With the new electronic poll books, you can be registered by the poll book judge on the spot, eliminating the job of registration judge. At that point one is handed a ballot receipt with no identifying marks (other than school district, if necessary).

The ballot judge takes the receipt in exchange for a ballot. Numbering at this point is moot since you are anonymous (unless you know the judge). In the elections that I have worked, we just paperclipped groups of 25 ballot receipts and didn't number them. There is an hourly check to make sure that the count of ballot receipts matches the ballots counted by the scanner. Can be a bit tricky when it's busy, because of the people holding ballots to vote have to be accounted for.

In the primary a couple of weeks ago, the ballot judge spot was the one desired by the people who don't like technology. The electronic poll books are much faster than the paper poll books, if one doesn't mind using an iPad. For people that are not comfortable with computers, they are a bit intimidating.

The biggest complaint didn't involve the poll books, it was the people that have been fed the lie that voter fraud exists and that we didn't check their IDs.

[Retrograde]

33. My mail-in ballot in CA is numbered, but

the number is on a perforated strip that the voter is supposed to remove before mailing it back.

Once the registrar gets the mailed-in ballots, the signature is checked, and, if it matches sufficiently, the envelope is opened and the ballot pages removed. At this point, there is no way to match the voter with the actual ballot (source: person who works in the election office)

[ret5hd]

24. Only in Russia. Where you from?

[The King of Prussia]

27. United Kingdom

Numbered ballots here.

[fleabiscuit]

29. Why? nt

[Iliyah]

4. My understanding is that Detriot, well a lot of it was not even counted

which favored Clinton/Dems. If they were counted, HRC would have won Michigan. Same with WI so far as to the suppression.

[MichMan]

39. Detroit is 100% Democratic in all elected offices.

Why would they not count votes for Hillary? Makes no sense

[FM123]

5. My first thought was Emily's list?

It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. According to the Examiner, Emily's List is "the nation's most influential pro-choice political action committee." The group's name is an acronym for "Early Money Is Like Yeast", Malcolm commenting that "it makes the dough rise".

[More_Cowbell]

7. That was my first thought, too

At any rate, it seems like Democrats would be more interested in investigating ballots than Republicans would.

[Lucky Luciano]

6. Steyer?

[StevieM]

10. I hope so. Either way, I am confident that he will make a great president. (eom)

[yallerdawg]

8. Ballots are for a recount tally, obviously.

Ballots do not have voter's names on them.

Everything Emily is asking for is public record - if you'll pay for the service.

[Lonestarblue]

9. Maybe a late check on Detroit especially.

I seem to remember something like 80,000 voters in mostly black precincts who voted but for some mysterious “chose” to leave their choice for president blank. Highly unusual. That number alone would have swung Michigan to Hillary.

[Takket]

26. the number is right but they weren't necessary black precincts nor was the number unusual

this article breaks it down pretty good.........

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/14/1-7-million-people-in-33-states-and-dc-cast-a-ballot-without-voting-in-the-presidential-race/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c518effcad34

[MichMan]

38. Not true

Statewide there were 87,810. This was for the entire state, NOT just Detroit

Understand, that in Michigan write in votes only count if the candidate has registered as a write in candidate. I would guess that there were a significant number of voters that wrote in Bernie Sanders name in 2016 & none of those votes were recorded as a vote for president.

"87,810: Number of voters this election who cast a ballot but did not cast a vote for president. That compares to 49,840 undervotes for president in 2012."

https://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/11/michigans_presidential_electio.html

[2naSalit]

11. One or the other...

It's either someone trying to investigate irregularities in the election OR a villain trying to out voters to purge them or worse AND preoccupying the election officials so they aren't as vigilant about the upcoming election and potential threats.

[lagomorph777]

14. Can't out voters using anonymous ballots.

It sounds like a positive thing to me, but the secret organization should make themselves known to make this look more legit.

[2naSalit]

16. That's what I was thinking but

they have asked for names of absentee voters, that's a little fishy. If it's to revisit irregularities, I'm all for it.

[bucolic_frolic]

18. Swiss Cheese legitimacy is melting away

with each act of accountability

Dizzy Dean said it best "If you can do it, you ain't braggin'."

[orleans]

20. googling that phone number

i'm seeing it appears to be out of ann arbor michigan
one link is showing a name (not emily) and street name
when i google the name i'm not getting much

i looked up the email and according to one website, they aren't showing me the name behind it but they show the ip address of 64.233.186.27 (in case someone knows how to look it up from there)

[jay1124]

28. check whatsmyipaddress

hi, i took the liberty of doing a ip look up and it in a area outside of wichita kansas.

i don't know how to screen shot but does anyone know of anyone in that area?

https://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/64.233.186.27

[rlegro]

31. Well, if the queries come from Kansas....

then it must be noted that Kansas is territory for the Koch brothers (Wichita) and for Kris (vote suppresionist) Kobach, the notorious Kansas secretary of state who created that since defunct vote-fraud "commission" in the TrumpCo administration, and who was recently on the Kansas Republican gubernatorial primary ballot.

[7962]

36. None of that is accurate when readily available.

My current IP shows me currently in an area 150 miles from where I'm actually located.
And thats without attempting to cover my location. If I wanted, I could make it look like I was in Europe

[SunSeeker]

21. Better late than never I guess. nt

[pazzyanne]

23. Think of it as political forensics.

[pecosbob]

25. I noticed the request did specifically ask for names on all absentee and all provisional ballots.

They got the request in just under the wire before they were to be thrown out in September, so they've done their homework. My supposition is that someone wants to show vote tally manipulation in that presidential race.

[LakeSuperiorView]

35. The names of people voting absentee are tracked (to prevent them from voting twice)

but their ballots do not have their name. In Minnesota, we have election day registration, so provisional ballots do not exist. I imagine they track the names of people forced to vote provisionally, but like wise do not track the provisional ballot to the person.