By Guy Page
Last Tuesday night I discovered that in my town of Berlin, anyway, the new Dominion voting tabulator counted votes just fine. I know because I and a handful of other Justices of the Peace counted the results ourselves.
When the polls close after every Town Meeting, Primary and General Election, the Town of Berlin Justices of the Peace go to work. We count the number of ballots to ensure the tabulator counted accurately. We record the write-in candidates – something no scanner can yet do reliably. (Santa and Mickey Mouse usually fare well.) When the tabulator spits out a tape of election results, we read and sign it.
The work takes just an hour or two. The even split of Republicans and Democrats work collegially. If there’s a spat it’s usually because one Type A personality is telling another Type A how to improve their performance, with predictable results. It’s never about politics.
Some JP’s are politically active. Some aren’t. It doesn’t matter. And although we trust each other, a Republican will always verify a Democrat’s count, and vice-versa. Trust but verify – that’s how the system works and in both towns in which I’ve been a JP (Cambridge is the other), it works happily and well.
Justices of the Peace are among the few remaining elected offices in Vermont where the titles Democrat and Republican matter, yet all truly work together in the common interest.
What we don’t do – normally – is count the actual voting results. Handcounting is no longer the law of the state. Machines scan hand-marked ballots and tabulate the results.
This year, we finished all of our ‘official’ work and decided, at the request of JP Carl Parton, to audit one statewide race. We decided we would examine all 1254 ballots cast (mailed in, same-day voted, the works) and count by hand the results of the lieutenant governor race between Republican Joe Benning and Democrat David Zuckerman. That race was chosen long after the polls closed and the final tape was printed out.
Parton and I and others knew that many voters were questioning the accuracy and even the integrity of the Dominion voting machines. One JP said she heard people feed their ballots into the machine saying, ‘Dominion, huh? Into the shredder it goes.’
Speaking personally, my mind was open. The handcount would either match the machine totals, or it wouldn’t. And if it didn’t, someone would have some ‘splainin’ to do.
We paired off into several teams of two JPs each – one Dem, one GOP. While one counted, the other verified. In my case I counted about 250 ballots, while a Democrat watched and verified.
And in fact the final totals were off – but only by one vote. The machine counted 596 for Benning, 557 for Zuckerman. We counted 595 for Benning, 558 for Zuckerman. The consensus was that we probably B a Z by mistake.
“It shows that we went the extra mile,” Parton said. “We were doing something that people have done for 200 years. It was fun.”
I left the Berlin Town Office glad we’d engaged in the informal, unofficial audit. For me, anyway, it set to rest any concerns about a miscount, at least in our Town and in that race.
Categories: Elections
And based on this audit, the 2020 results were validated.
Keep believing that if you so choose. You’ll be right where the Progressive/Marxists want you. Many of us really would like it to be true. Unfortunately, there is more than ample evidence if you are interested to see it.
Well written and interesting – I would like to see this exercise repeated in battleground states where confirmation of the authenticity of those voting, and the validity of the electronic count would be a calming salve to the national distrust that is building each day.
Was there a comparison between the number of ballots cast and the number of registered voters? And how up to date is the checklist? Not saying there is a problem but if you don’t check there could be one.
So for me, as the voter, I wanna see a printout of what the Dominion Tabulator marked as my vote. Who knows what it tabulated? Also, it states at the top of the ballot to use Black Ink Pen. At every voting box there were black felt tip markers, no ink pens. When I asked the poll worker why, she said the Dominion company strongly encouraged the use of said, felt tip markers???
I was told that in Waterbury you don’t have to have equal numbers of Justice of the Peace officers, they can all be Democrats? It looks like only one Republican got voted in as a Justice of the Peace.
Ann,
That’s not true. Please look at the requirement in the Vermont Statutes for Major Party Representation on the Board of Civil Authority. If a minimum of three persons do not exist on your Town Board of Civil Authority for a major Party, (Republican, Democrat, Progressive) you can request appointments are made.
Here is the Vermont Statute:
17 V.S.A. § 2143.
Political Representation on Board of Civil Authority
(a) If the board of civil authority of any political subdivision does not contain at least three members of each major political party and the party committee or at least three voters request increased
representation for an underrepresented major political party by filing a written request with the clerk of the political subdivision, the legislative body shall appoint from a list of names submitted to it by the underrepresented party a sufficient number of voters to the board of civil authority to bring the underrepresented major party’s membership on the board to three. A person’s name shall not be submitted unless he or she consents to serve if appointed.
(b) The persons so appointed shall have the same duties and authority with respect to elections as have other members of the board, but those persons shall have no authority with respect to
functions of the board of civil authority which are not related to elections.
When you suckle at the government teat, you simply vote for more milk.
Good example of a balanced system in one small town, although it may not necessarily be the case in other districts. Some towns for instance have a long list of Dems only as JP’s
In Pawlet, some guy [A DEM] running for JP sent out by mail to all voters a very expensive vote solicitation ad……..! WHY?
Dems only as JPs? A plausible reason is that principled Republicans might not wish to participate in ‘civil union’ ceremonies…Dems seem to be in unison for same sex entanglements while rubber stamping the endorsements of Hillary and her tribal jackals touting abortion as a reproductive right and religion…
Thank you Guy…a very small sample, in a “safe” state.
A battleground state, in Dem controlled cities, and the same, in GOP strongholds, would be a more reflective, and real world exercise.
In my old, and very experienced, security minds eye, if it is a machine, or software, touched by the web, in any manner, it is not secure.
Thank you for showing us one aspect and one State Race in your voting system for November 8th. It’s not just the machines many people are questioning. How about the remaining pieces of the present Vermont Election System?
Since there is no longer a “chain of custody” for ballots, how do you know who voted with the ballots you counted? How many registered voters didn’t vote at all in spite of having unrequested ballots mailed directly to them? Why? Are all the ballots accounted for that were mailed out to non-voters?
Since ballots were mailed to all voters on your checklist, did you have a 24 hour ballot drop box? Do you know if there was any ballot harvesting done in your town? Does your town require voter ID’s? Do you know if any non-citizens voted illegally in your town? What about the other candidates running and their vote tallies?
We know voter registrations are easily done online, through the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles and also by any persons seeking to sign up new voters. With ALL these moving pieces and a 40 day plus voting time period, there are many opportunities for cheating and corruption.
Thanks to Progressive Legislators and a weak Governor, Vermont presently has an untrustworthy election system. Be honest with yourself, what do we really KNOW for sure when an election is over?
Than why even have the machine?
That the folks working the polls and watching the process are fair, honest and do there level best to insure an accurate election in Vermont was never a doubt. It is,
however the mail-in ballot process, the voter checklist and lack of ID that concerns
many. Thank you for your service, Guy- as well as the many others statewide that do the work.
I am sure that the ‘anecdotal and circumstantial’ evidence offered nationwide indicating fraud and irregularities, for 2020 and 2022 has merit and is more accurate than we are led to believe. Flooding the nation with mail-in ballots and lax security was and is a sure way to cheat. Vermont voters would be best served by eliminating the questionable changes made in 2020 to our election law, however it suits the current majority legislature- so no change will be forthcoming.
PAPER BALLOTS..all voted on election day by perons on the checklist with valid I.D.s if they are not personally known to the check in people….counted by hand and witnessed and recounted to confirm……..IT’S THAT OR WE WILL BE TAKEN TO THE CLEANERS……as we have been over the last several years. I have participated in this process. It’s fun, fast and it works. Yes, there is even comraderie between D and R counters….not a bad thing to foster. –D morrisseau W Pawlet
So, Guy, as a JP how did you all determine who actually filled out the ballots that you counted? Can you describe the tools at your disposal to “trust but verify” that I (were I in your district) didn’t fill out and send in my non-voting college kids’ ballots? Or my “a pox on all their houses” wife’s non-voting ballot? Or the one I found in the trash at the post office?….
Here are concerns. I can’t leave screen shot(s). My mail in ballot differed from my ballot that I got at the polls, the mail in ballot has a QR type code, a smaller one known as a data matrix code, right on the ballot. Its not on the hand-in one. In 2020 the state sent out more ballots than there are registered users. I spoke with my town clerk who thought it was beneath his dignity to watch 2000mules. He had by then already told me that the chips from the machines are sent by mail to the Secretary of State. By Mail!, Chips? we heard there were not ports. It appears there must be a port for the chips. Now if you and I can make a transaction by tapping a card next to a machine, so can dominion machines be affected. Here is another issue. A screen shot was taken of the NYT site 7 minutes after the polls closed. Peter Welch had been declared the winner with 0% of the votes counted. Let that sink in. As we all know the press is serving the parties who are serving the corporate elites, so the rig comes in VT by the unequal coverage, and unequal participation in debates. Our constitution art 6, 7 states that elections are not for a sub group and every person has a right to reform government and be involved in elections. Yet, this tiny group, wCAX, VPR, DIGGER. etc decide who gets to speak, EVEN AFTER VERMONTERS PUT PEOPLE ON THE BALLOT TO HEAR THIER VIEWS. There is conspiracy between the press and the major parties, to decide “top Tier’ candidates, and to suppress word of or denigrate the rest. If vermonters wanted to elect someone who did not base their campaign on raising funds they could not, because that candidate would be invisible and would not be able to contrast their position to the others in a public forum, especially now, with most newspaper refusing even candidate written letters to the editor.
I had made a personal effort to have the gov opps committee write into the misc election rules when that came up some years back, that every candidate MUST be invited to every public forum and debate of his or her race, so long as that person behaved with decorum. The press, upon their consideration of adding this language to the statute, quickly promised to sue the state that it was their freedom to choose who to feature (and thereby who to censor), the house members quivered in fear and withdrew the amendment before you could say BOO. Of course they do not want to alter the very status quo that defines their presence. So yes, there are many ways the elections are not carried out in a manner honoring our VT Constitution.
Well isn’t that interesting…….
nothing to see here, nothng to see
I also wanted to let you know that my town clerk told me that the State had subcontracted out the ballot distribution and that there were several issues he had, though he didn’t reveal them precisely for me.
Hand counted in the public. In person voting. That is trustworthy election practice. If you cannot get out, have the J o P go to the households that need to do remote voting and put the envelope without identifying name into the J o P’s hands and have that person mark them as voted, and only have mail in for military and for prison, send a JoP there similarly. Then have that envelope without identifying the voter get put into a box, only to be opened when the rest of the votes are counted.
We Have to trust. and Ever since I saw teh Sec of State cut Cris Ericksons’ vote in half on the official from the unofficial with merely and “oops”, you cannot tell me that we have that worthy system yet, the rig from the VPR VPTV CAX DIGGER etc also has to be overcome.
I think Cris lost votes because she stopped wearing fancy hats – not because of some slight of hand. Did she ever even break 1000 votes anyways ?
I’ve heard this distribution claim in other areas. This can lead to harvesting of ballots. The fact people are unwilling to view 2000 mules, kudos to you…..rather than counter the arguments, illustrates a closed mind.
Mail in the ballot, they surely know who voted and who hasn’t voted. What I found funny was this year I had to sign a affidavit that I hadn’t already voted by mail.
1) that gives them a list of same day voters for next year.
2) They didn’t do this last year in the most secure election ever.
3) If they need an affidavit, the can’t tell who voted and who didn’t.
Nothing to see here, nothing to see.
I’d like to see what this article says to be done & vetted for Chittenden County.
My spidey sense tells me to laugh out loud as we all know it’ll never happen, not to mention out of state students voting here, likely getting mail in ballots at home too.
Should be like Military, out of state student residency would be their home state, not the dorm or of campus house they temporarily reside in.
Non-citizens voting in local elections too, this is not right at all, what’s likely is they get mail in ballots, regardless of stipulated to only vote on local “school board” type votes.
I call BS!
So the totals match! Big deal! Let’s say the accurate vote count is 400 for A and 200 for B. So how does anyone know the machine didn’t count 200 for A and 400 for B? Apparently we don’t know!
Here’s my solution:
1. Paper ballots only
2. Same day voting only
3. Counting to be completed within 4 hours of polls closing.
4. National Voter ID
5. Term limits of 8 years cumulative, not necessarily consecutive.
6. Absentee voters visited and verified by a notary.
7. No (as in zero) mail-in voting.
8. No “calling the race” by the Fake News until a candidate win becomes a mathematical certainty to actually win.
9. Eliminate PACs from bankrolling candidates.
10. Eliminate polling entirely.
11. Only US citizens can vote.
12. Consider a NOTA option – None of the Above). If NOTA wins, have a new election with new candidates.
13. Have the ballot clearly marked with a D or an R next to each candidate’s name.
You’re welcome.
Some good ideas some not so good ideas.
#3) It would be impossible for larger towns and cities to always complete counting in 4 hours.
#5) I love the idea of term limits.
#7) This would disenfranchise soldiers.
#8) This might be a good idea although a pesky thing called the first amendment guarantees freedom of the press, association and speech.
#9) Great idea. This would eliminate Citizens United that has allowed wealthier enterprises to support many candidates like GWB. I am pretty sure Trump profited from donations allowed under Citizens.
#10)Good idea, although a pesky thing called the first amendment would stop your idea from being implemented.
#12) I love it ! I would probably vote NOTA all the time.
#13) Good idea but there are more parties than D or R.
Lots of good comments above. Thanks Guy for taking the time to audit the vote for one race in your district. It’s great that you got the other JPs to agree. I will explain what others have said but in a different way. It doesn’t matter how many times you count the dollar bills in your cash drawer, you’ll always come up with the same number. You need to first distinguish the counterfeit bills from the real ones, then you will get an accurate recount. The problem is that you cannot determine the counterfeit ones without doing a more in depth analysis. Canvas your neighborhoods with the official voter registrations and participation records. You will discover the ghost voters, dead voters, etc.
Kudos to everyone that is speaking up and pointing out the problems and vulnerabilities. We press on together.
Well summed up Brian! Let’s get to work!!
Readers …… please check your town Boards of Civil Authority (BCA). They work on voter checklists and all things elections. The BCA is your selectboard, town clerk and the elected Justices of the Peace. What parties are presently represented on your BCA since the election of JP’s on November 8th?
Do you know Vermont Statutes allow for minimum representation on your Town BCA? After assessing the party affiliations of your present BCA. Are there at least three Republicans? If not, willing Republican persons can be appointed and added to your Town BCA to participate in election duties. Here is the Vermont Statute below:
17 V.S.A. § 2143.
Political Representation on Board of Civil Authority
(a) If the board of civil authority of any political subdivision does not contain at least three members of each major political party and the party committee or at least three voters request increased
representation for an underrepresented major political party by filing a written request with the clerk of the political subdivision, the
legislative body shall appoint from a list of names submitted to it by the underrepresented party a sufficient number of voters to the board of civil authority to bring the underrepresented major party’s membership on the board to three. A person’s name shall not be submitted unless he or she consents to serve if appointed.
(b) The persons so appointed shall have the same duties and authority with respect to elections as have other members of the board, but those persons shall have no authority with respect to functions of the board of civil authority which are not related to elections.
Tom Finton of Judicial Watch in Washington asked this question,
How do we vote candidates out that weren’t voted in by the people. My question is, how do we get to correct the election laws when those in power use them to continually win elections and refuse to vote for free and fair elections? All of the above comments prove that people are not convinced that Vermont elections are fair.
good to see all of you finally coming around to my “your vote is a public record” platform!
Vermonts , Secretary of State , Outsourced the Web site for Elections to Servers in Washington State , Owned by a California Company .. Domain Expired On Election Night at 12:00 Midnight . Nobody has been able to access the site since Election Day
. Just One Race . In Just One Town Guy ?? now where Can we Track Every Race in Every Town ? Tell Me . Our Votes fly all around the Country Via Internet are You Stupid ? Servers In Washington State !! Owned by a Company In Comiefornia !!
https://tv.gab.com/channel/thelogger/view/tracking-vermonts-sos-website-6371a3b72c5ebfb515b95b53