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By Guy Page
For the second consecutive election cycle, the Vermont Secretary of State’s reporting software incorrectly tabulated election results reported by city and town election officials.
In both cases, the errors were detected by human oversight comparing the computerized returns with the local returns delivered to the Secretary of State’s office. This year’s mistakes concerned the results of last Tuesday’s statewide primary election.
A similar situation developed in 2022, longtime Secretary of State Jim Condos’ last election. The repetition of the problem is the product of the Secretary of State’s office “limping along” with a “legacy” election software that is scheduled to be completely replaced in 2025, after this year’s election, Bryan Mills, spokesperson for Secretary of State Sarah Copeland-Hanzas, told VDC today.
This is Copeland-Hanzas’ first election cycle. The 2022 problems demonstrate that this week’s problem had nothing to do with the transition to new senior leadership in the Elections Division, Mills said. Longtime election leaders Will Senning and J.P. Isabelle, as well as Deputy Secretary of State Chris Winters, left the office with the Condos administration.
Copeland-Hanzas made clear that the report-generating process is separate and distinct from the official counting of ballots and the local certification of results by town and city clerks.
“I want to assure the public that this delay does not impact the 100% confidence we have in the accuracy of the vote totals submitted by Vermont’s town and city clerks,” Copeland-Hanzas said in a press statement Tuesday, August 20. “The report function did not operate correctly this morning, and our built-in checks caught the issue. My team carefully cross-checks all statewide tallies. We work on a tight timeline but will always prioritize accuracy over expediency to ensure the integrity and confidence of the results that end up being certified.”
The problem came to light Tuesday morning when a scheduled ‘canvassing’ meeting to certify the August 13 primary results was delayed, then postponed until today. GOP Chair Paul Dame, who was present at the meeting, said Copeland-Hanzas made a brief announcement about the decision.
At least part of the problem stems from the software attributing almost all of the write-in votes for two Franklin County incumbent senators to just one of the senators, Sen. Randy Brock of Swanton. In fact, voters cast about the same number of write-ins for both Brock and Sen. Robert Norris. Both incumbents are Republicans.
“I can confirm that we are aware of an issue with write-ins and how they are attributed to candidates in the Franklin County Senate race on our website,” Bryan Mills, spokesperson for Secretary of State Sarah Copeland-Hanzas, told VDC yesterday. “The vote counts are correct. We have verified it with the town clerks and the results have been certified.”
“Within our software system, the report function appears to be creating the error and misrepresenting the vote totals,” Mills said. “We have prioritized being ready for the statewide canvass; however, our team is looking into this issue, and we intend to provide an update to the report on our website related to those write-in campaigns by the end of this week.”
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Categories: Elections
Reminds of the joke;
A fellow had just been hired as the new CEO of a large corporation. The CEO who was stepping down met with him privately and presented him with three numbered envelopes. “Open these if you run up against a problem you don’t think you can solve,” he said.
Things went along pretty smoothly, but six months later, sales took a downturn and he was really catching a lot of heat. About at his wit’s end, he remembered the envelopes. He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope. The message read, “Blame your predecessor.”
The new CEO called a press conference and tactfully laid the blame at the feet of the previous CEO. Satisfied with his comments, the press — and Wall Street – responded positively, sales began to pick up and the problem was soon behind him.
About a year later, the company was again experiencing a slight dip in sales, combined with serious product problems. Having learned from his previous experience, the CEO quickly opened the second envelope. The message read, “Reorganize.” This he did, and the company quickly rebounded.
After several consecutive profitable quarters, the company once again fell on difficult times. The CEO went to his office, closed the door and opened the third envelope.
The message said, “Prepare three envelopes.”
The fix is in.
“The enemy is already here”. – Dan Bongino
I don’t doubt it one little bit! The dem/progs (those that control today’s democratic party) have had 4 years to perfect the steal so it’s not as obvious as it was in 2020!
Technology is great !! Until it isn’t !
I don’t trust it and many people who are aware of the vulnerabilities don’t !
Maybe just maybe we should have people become more involved and return to the human way of conducting elections?
There is a way that this can be done – even in November. Stay tuned for more information. A short clip is in the works – should be done by next week.
“In the United States, a couple of decades ago when leftists were a minority in the universities, leftist professors were vigorous proponents of academic freedom, but today in those universities where leftists have become dominant, they have shown themselves ready to take away everyone else s academic freedom. This is “political correctness”. The same will happen with leftists and technology: They will use it to oppress everyone else if they ever get it under their own control”.
Ted Kaczynski
Well, well, well! This confirms State of Vermont election cheating using computers that are purposely rigged! No way to prove this will ever be corrected without an independent audit.
An independent audit is extremely unlikely. The Cabal is in complete control of everything. Revolt.
In VT, everything is accountable for. Just attach paper money to the election ballots, The money perhaps would be deposited into some account, if not pocketed. Money in VT is the blood flowing into legislative, SoS pockets. Money can override any political affiliation. And the real ballots may be counted.
On the last VT ballot for President, Biden’s name was at the top, Trump’s name at the bottom (hidden). Wonder that Mortimer Snerd’s name wasn’t at Trumps place on the ballot along side puppet Howdy Doody– Bidens.. I have the last Prez election ballot. Other states, Biden and Trump’s names were at the top, side by side. Crooked VT, top to the bottom. Be interesting to see the make-up of the next Prez election VT ballot. New SofS face, same old policies????
What if – We the People – said locally, we are the government and took it upon themselves to count the ballots locally by hand instead of computer tabulators?
Hand counted ballots. I don’t trust machines. The machine in my town kicked out my ballot because the g in the last name of the person I wrote in went into the write in box below. It was scanning the write in area and not the oval it should be scanning. It has no business looking at anything other than a filled in oval. I didn’t consider my ballot a spoiled ballot.
Yes, let’s WE the People, return to hand counted ballots. It would be cheaper than paying for Dominion machines that are operated with Smartmatics software that has a long history of playing corrupt games that interfere with international elections. Is this really the company we want representing integrity in our elections?
John – When the tabulator scans the ballot, if you write in a name that goes below the line, which is easy to do, you get a message “errant mark.” It is also looking for the oval to be filled in. Hopefully, you were given the choice to get a replacement ballot and correct the problem. By law, you can have a total of 3 ballots. When you choose to receive a replacement ballot, the ballot with the error is then torn in half by the election official in your presence, placed in a special envelope for that purpose and not counted. The other choice you should have been given is to go ahead and “cast” the ballot the way it was, but that race would not count.
remember/// the people you voted for sold you out at the last election//// i will not vote for any of these creeps in franklin county/// they were warned about the covid scam demic and all of them got paid when every one else went broke/// most of them, with the vermont govie, should be in jail/// a complete over throw of the vermont constitution/// now, do you have any questions////
Well, year after year it seems there is always a glitch, be it a computer or software, with Vermont being the size it is, all ballots should be paper and hand-counted.
But if we do that, all certifications should done that day, county by county, if we do that, all ballots are counted with no glitches, and that’s how it was done for years and years, and when we went to computers, glitches and swayed counts and that’s how
progressives won’t stay in power but maybe that’s only a coincident ……… sure.
Wake up people, voting is a privilege, for legal citizens, so not letting every Tom, Dick, and Harry just because they have an address and live here part-time does not
make them legal citizens either ………. how do you stay in power year after year ??
Tweak the system, and computers can be tweaked.
I believe the last election or before that, in the town of Victory had an election. Many second home owners (from out of state) voted and was allowed. The state stepped in and it went to Court. These people weren’t allowed to vote not being residents, but did. Wonder how many other towns did the same.
I know in NH you have to show proof of residency with at least two forms of ID / documents and a picture. They used the machines for tabulating the votes. How accurate or programmed to switch who you voted for as a huge problem nation wide?
when ballots used to be counted by hand, we knew by the next morning who had won. not days later! if the lottery can know the nation wide winner quickly! why can’t voting machines, what’s wrong with this picture?
Yes, computers have long had very serious issues doing the difficult task of .. very basic adding of whole numbers. Makes sense.
Voting has been rigged for a very long time, even before the counting machines. Until people get serious punishments for cheating, and until we have 100% audit powers, nothing will change. We already know these machines have been proven to be untrustworthy. We already know elections have been proven to be untrustworthy.
The main issue is that we have laws and parameters in which the government is allowed to operate within. These parameters have been continuously perverted and ignored. These parameters are our only protection from someone getting elected who we don’t like, from being able to negatively effect our personal liberties and wealth. These parameters are the only thing that prevents corporations from buying politicians (because they should have nothing to sell). We live under lawlessness. We will continue to reap the destructive benefits of this lawlessness.
The government is a reflection of the people. Until people get smart and understand cause and effect, elections will do little to prevent consistent destruction.
Go vote for the lesser of 2 evils, and let’s overrun their rigging with a major turnout. You can audit your local elections and do exit polls. It takes effort and caring to expose things, but stay prepared, because waiting around for the government to change is a fruitless battle. We are doomed regardless.
I have two sets of friends who moved to Florida and changed their legal residency. John moved 8 years ago, and Daren 2 years ago and they still receive VT ballots in the mail and have gone so far as to email photos of the to the Treasurer’s office and still have not been taken off the voter rolls!
Hi, Pat. this is disheartening to hear and should be corrected. Voters can familiarize themselves with Vermont’s election law under 17 VSA and be sure the town’s checklist is correct (ask your town clerk for a copy of the checklist and review it for errors). The Town clerk and BCA of each town are required by law to “update” their checklist before every election. 17 VSA 2144 (d): Periodically, or at least five days prior to each election, the town clerk shall forward to the board of civil authority (BCA) a list of additions to the checklist. The law also allows for removing names from the checklist by “challenging” a voter and “systematic purging”: 17 VSA 2150 (b) (c) (d): The board of civil authority at any time may consider the eligibility of persons on the checklist whom the board believes may be deceased, may have moved from the municipality, or may be registered in another place and may remove names of persons no longer qualified to vote. However, the board shall not remove any name from the checklist except in accordance with the procedures in subsection (d) of this section, and any systematic program for removing names from the checklist shall be completed at least 90 days before an election.
(c) In addition to any actions it takes under subsections (a) and (b) of this section, by September 15 of each odd-numbered year the board of civil authority shall review the most recent checklist name by name and consider, for each person whose name appears on the checklist, whether that person is still qualified to vote. In every case where the board of civil authority is unable to determine under subdivisions (d)(1) and (2) of this section that a person is still qualified to vote, the board of civil authority or, upon request of the board, the town clerk shall send a written notice to the person and take appropriate action as provided in subdivisions (d)(3) through (5) of this section. The intent is that when this process is completed there will have been some confirmation or indication of continued eligibility for each person whose name remains on the updated checklist.
Sarah Copeland Hanzas, her predecessor Jimmy, their brothern at NASS (National Association of Secretaries of State), co-defendents/co-conspirators, AG Charity Clark, and her brotheren of the NAAG (National Association of Attorneys General) have colluded to upend and rig the election process. Why? Because they are well compensated to do so and pretend it is a “technical issue” and anyone raising a complaint is a racist, deplorable, insurrectionist. Projection is their weapon of choice. Think Maricopa County, Fulton County, et.al. See how it works below and I bet many had no idea this is going on with our elections. Here’s your lawn sign and keep believing your vote matters, let alone is counted as marked. It’s all captured and linked on the internet by a third party – the hackable internet!
(Town of Lincoln webpage) “The Vermont Secretary of State has established an Elections Management Platform. This platform has three main parts:
Vermont Elections Management System (VEMS) – includes a statewide voter checklist and other resources and tools to be used by town and city clerks across Vermont to conduct all of their election related business – from registering voters, to processing absentee ballot requests, and reporting election results; VT Secretary of State Elections link
Online Voter Registration Tool – allows all eligible Vermonters to submit their voter registration application online anytime and anywhere they can access the internet; and Vermont Online Voter Registration link
“My Voter Page” – an online resource that allows every registered voter to login and have access to a unique, voter-specific web page where they can request an absentee ballot, track its status, update their voter registration record, find their polling place, view a sample ballot, and much more. My Voter Page Vermont link.”
(gocivix.com) “Vermont is using the Civix Election Platform, which includes modules such as voter registration; a centralized voter registration repository that registers and stores statewide voter information; My Voter Portal, a public access portal for voter registration information; and Election Night Reporting, which allows state officials to accumulate, report and securely share election results in real time.
The state has been using some of the Civix components for years to track absentee ballot activity during elections, but the system was never more important to Vermont than in 2020. The Civix team was easy to work with and responsive, and quickly made any modifications and additions needed to the system.
The primary addition was creating an export file for the ballot mailing that had all the data needed. It came down to applying an appropriate six-digit code to each voter that indicated the correct return clerk address and ballot style. The code was placed everywhere it needed to be within mailings to ensure there were no mistakes.”
Isn’t it telling of progressive hypocrisy, that on one hand it’s okay for Hilary Clinton and other democrats to claim Trump’s Russian collusion stole the 2016 election, that it’s okay for the U.S. government to claim the Venezuelan election was stolen by Maduro, but it’s not okay for us to criticize Vermont’s election process? We use voting machines manufactured by the same company, and we have no way of verifying signatures on Vermont’s mail-in ballots. Go figure.
No, we can’t prove our elections were stolen. But we can’t prove they weren’t stolen either. That’s the problem.
The burden of proof is on the “winner”. You won? Put ’em on the table.
And yes, we CAN prove they were stolen. That’s why J6’ers, Navarro, Bannon, Giuliani, and Tina Peters, among others, are political prisoners.
Good Lord! An eighth grade computer geek could write a program to correctly tabulate vote totals. It isn’t rocket surgery.
As far as I’m concerned, the only thing that has changed is the talking head complaining about getting caught. The excuses are the same – “Limping along”, “Legacy software”. You know what “Legacy software” is? It’s software written so long ago with so many backdoors and holes that if you built your house out of it, it would have collapsed years ago. So please, spare me. Give me ten minutes and I’ll find you a junior high kid who’ll fix this for you for the cost of a month’s supply of Cheesy Poofs.
This situation should be yet another wakeup call. Vermont just does not have that many people! Only Wyoming has fewer. So it should be the easiest thing in the world to go with paper ballots and hand counting with double verification. In many towns, if your counters can count to one hundred, it should take about twenty minutes.
Stop accepting the same old BS! I have to think we’re better than that.
But if the specs are to let you rig the election without being too obvious, then the job is complicated.
They know they are on borrowed time with the current tech. That’s why they want to move to ranked choice voting. That will muddy it all up so nobody can realistically audit the results.
Vermont’s government is an insider’s paradise. They get to steal from both the federal government and the lowly taxpayer but it only works if they can rig the game.
Fair, transparent voting is a threat to them.
So the state was aware of the problem in 2022, but instead of updating the software in the 2 years since, they postponed taking corrective action until after this November’s election. Does that sound suspicious?
Perhaps some citizen oversight is in order at the polls (watchers), legislature, and Secretary of State’s office.
What amazes me is that the machine you put your ballot into doesn’t give you a print out of what it recorded? I mean HELLO! I want to see what was recorded!!!
My question is how are all these peoples names, after handing out driving licenses to illegals and everyone else, being checked out when they are also are being given the right to vote at the same time? Even registering for the first time on election day should not be allowed. My other question is our states way of recording deceased people, my Aunt died in 2019 and received a mail in ballot in 2020, how can this happen?