March 28, 2024 09:57 AM UTC
0 Feedback- by: Erik Maulbetsch
(Promoted by Colorado Pols)
When it comes time for a celebration led by election deniers to rely ballots, belief is inevitably arduous to return by. Chairman Dave Williams, together with former state Rep. Ron Hanks, a fellow election fraud conspiracist whom Williams has appointed Chair of the celebration’s Poll & Election Safety Committee, are in a tricky spot. They have to placate the anti-machine majority (through which they declare to incorporate themselves) who insist on hand-counting solely, whereas on the identical time try to administer a purposeful election and tabulation course of involving 1000’s of ballots and dozens of candidates, resolutions and committee positions. Their activity is made much more tough within the wake of their final meeting tabulation catastrophe in 2022, when quite a few candidates accused then-Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown of rigging the digital vote clickers.
The answer, in accordance with Hanks’ Feb. 16 e mail to the celebration? “Two Nineteen Seventies-technology optical readers from Scantron.”
Hanks went on to clarify the reasoning behind this compromise plan:
“There are additionally time constraints related to the occasion location, so ought to the voting process and the hand-counting take longer than scheduled, extra charges must be paid, and folks touring from throughout the state could also be inconvenienced,” says Hanks. “For these causes, old-style optical readers, first usual within the Nineteen Seventies, might be used to supply a preliminary rely. Many individuals will keep in mind these machines from grade faculty, once we took a number of alternative checks and crammed within the bubbles with a gentle lead pencil. Bear in mind, nevertheless, the hand rely will prevail.”
The timeliness points introduced by hand-counting had been already evident in final weekend’s El Paso County Republican Celebration Meeting tabulation, which took round three hours to rely about 450 ballots. Roughly 3,500 ballots might be solid by delegates on the state meeting. 
Fremont County Clerk Justin Grantham, a Republican who’s the newest previous President of the Colorado Clerks Affiliation, expressed a variety of issues with utilizing Scantron machines.
“Scantron is nice for a single query with single reply amongst a number of alternative, however not for a single query with many solutions, which is what’s going to occur. I may see the simplicity for questions on resolutions equivalent to vote (A for sure) and vote (B for no), [or if] you have got one place and fewer than 5 candidates. Nevertheless, with regards to electing candidates on a subject greater than 5, it will develop into an enormous and horrible conundrum. Many individuals run for Nationwide Conference and due to that, there might be one query that spreads over a number of traces on the Scantron card. This causes problems with readability, points with spoiled ballots, voter confusion, Teller Committee confusion, and plenty of different points.
“Not one of the stuff I’ve talked about above even addresses different points such; confidentiality, chain-of-custody, programming the Scantron, or correct audits, amongst different points. There might be no true audit of the Scantron; it might be a comparability solely. Scantron doesn’t have the power to seize and retailer the picture and have a solid vote report to audit the unique poll to the machine rely, particularly en masse. There are such a lot of verify and balances in place with an official election. The actual fact they eliminated Peg Cage (who has been Teller Committee chair for years), is unlucky. To not say the following individual is nice at it or not, however Peg had been in that position for years. The entire state of affairs is simply venturing into the unknown and we’re solely two weeks away. I hope it seems nicely.
“Scantron is minor answer, however on the finish of the day, it’s not superior sufficient to conduct a correct or correct rely and results in confusion for each delegates and the Teller Committee. I’m not assured sufficient in Scantron machines getting used the best way the celebration conducts its elections on the present time.”
Denver Gazette columnist Jimmy Sengenberger, who reported on this proposal final month, additionally believes Hanks & Williams’ answer is lower than severe.
“Numerous research spanning many years have underscored the mess that’s hand-counting America’s multifaceted ballots — a demonstrably less-reliable strategy than automated strategies, stated Sengenberger. “…Let’s be severe: With over 200 candidates vying for 70 nationwide conference delegate spots, that is pure absurdity.”
In response to Treasurer Tom Bjorklund, the celebration “has entry to 4 machines: one rental, one [from] eBay, 1 contracted to purchase from Scantron, and one loaner.” The fashions in query are Scantron Rating, which look barely extra trendy than the machines readers could recall from their faculty days, however they nonetheless require customers to fill out ballots with pencils.
Requested whether or not he expects pushback from meeting delegates who might be requested to submit votes in pencil to be counted on machines obtained by the celebration chair who can also be a candidate, Bjorkland stated the one issues he’s heard is about utilizing any machines in any respect.
One of many loudest of the “hand rely solely” voices is Boulder Republican Peg Cage who till final mon th had run the celebration’s Teller Committee for a number of cycles. The Teller Committee is answerable for administering the ballots and counting the votes at meeting. Cage, like Williams and Hanks, is an election fraud conspiracist who believes the 2020 election was stolen. She has additionally publicly promoted the QAnon conspiracy. A fervent opponent of utilizing any machines to rely ballots, she refused to implement Williams and Hanks’ plan.
Williams responded by changing her as Chair of the Teller Committee with Shawn Smith, an election fraud conspiracist and Jan. 6 insurrectionist who has known as for the homicide of Sec. of State Jena Griswold. 
Williams gave co-chair duties to a different conspiracist, Jeff Younger, who together with Smith authored a debunked report for the group they labored with previous to Explanation for America, the U.S. Election Integrity Plan (USEIP). The report summarized USEIP’s canvassing effort, through which election conspiracists knocked on voters’ doorways in Democratic neighborhoods in the hunt for phantom ballots. This undertaking led the NAACP and League of Ladies Voters to sue Smith and two of his fellow USEIP founders for voter intimidation below the Ku Klux Klan Act.
After her removing, Cage filed a grievance with the celebration upon studying of the Scantron plan, alleging that their use would violate state and nationwide celebration guidelines.
“I’m submitting a proper grievance with you and the State Govt Committee and reserve the suitable to attraction to all superior governing our bodies concerning the deliberate use of digital machines within the elections on the April 6, 2024, Colorado GOP Conference,” wrote Cage. “…It has been confirmed through e mail with Scantron Corp. that none of their machines, together with the “Scantron Rating” machine, have open-source coding, subsequently their use in CRC conferences is in violation of the 2023-2024 Colorado Republican Govt Committee Insurance policies and Procedures for the Conduct of Elections at Conferences of the Colorado Republican Central Committee… Chairman Williams has dictated using Scantron machines and using Scantron ballots for the Conference in violation of the RNC RULE NO. 16(f) FILING SUMMARY which was filed with the RNC.”
Cage additionally wrote an open letter to Smith and Younger, congratulating them on their appointments and praising their work with Mike Lindell’s Explanation for America group, however urging them to be cautious of the Scantron machines and concluding that “my expectations for sincere elections are low.”
Neither Williams nor Hanks nor Smith responded to e mail requests for remark. This text might be up to date with any responses acquired.