On Wednesday, Banana Republican Cheeto Benito, our wannabe tin pot dictator, filed lawsuits in three states to stop the vote count. Trump campaign files lawsuit in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, demands recount in Wisconsin.
The campaign filed suit in Georgia Wednesday night to stop ballot counting. President Trump currently holds the lead 50 to 48.8 percent, by about 50,000 votes, with 97 percent of precincts reporting.
The outstanding ballots are from the Atlanta metro area which is heavily Democratic, and may be enough votes to give Joe Biden the win in Georgia when all the ballots are finally tabulated. Well, we can’t have that!
Earlier, the Trump campaign announced it had filed a lawsuit in Michigan to observe ballot counts and promised to demand a recount in Wisconsin, both states where Joe Biden holds a narrow lead and the race [has been] called by the AP. Biden wins Michigan, Wisconsin, now on brink of White House.
Trump’s personal attorney [and Russian stooge] Rudy Giuliani stormed to Philadelphia with his legal team, vowing to ensure Democrats do not “steal” the election.
Again, the outstanding ballots are largely from the Philadelphia metro area, as well as Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, all Democratic strongholds. There will likely be enough votes to give Joe Biden the win in Pennsylvania when all the ballots are finally tabulated. Well, we can’t have that!
At Philadelphia polls, Giuliani said poll observers “can be 20 or 30 feet away. Never able to see the ballot itself, never able to see if it was properly postmarked, signed on the outside– all the things that often lead to disqualification of ballots.”
Wrong. Political parties are allowed to appoint elections challengers to observe a transparent vote-counting process. There is a formal process for challenging ballots. Rudy is full of shit, per usual. Why is anyone still listening to this traitorous fool?
With these bogus lawsuits filed to stop the counting of lawfully cast ballots, the Trump campaign pulled a page out of the Roger Stone dirty tricks playbook — the Brooks Brothers riot in the Florida recount of 2000 — to send his MAGA red hats thugs to disrupt the vote count in Detroit. And in Arizona they demanded that the vote count continue — which is exactly what elections workers were working diligently to do.
The AP reports, Trump backers converge on vote centers in Michigan, Arizona:
Dozens of angry supporters of President Donald Trump converged on vote-counting centers in Detroit and Phoenix as the returns went against him Wednesday in the two key states, while thousands of anti-Trump protesters demanding a complete tally of the ballots in the still-undecided election took to the streets in cities across the U.S.
“Stop the count!” the Trump supporters chanted in Detroit.
Video shot by local media showed angry people gathered outside the TCF Center and inside the lobby, with police officers lined up to keep them from entering the vote-counting area. They chanted, “Stop the count!” and “Stop the vote!”
Earlier, the Republican campaign filed suit in a bid to halt the count, demanding Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state allow in more inspectors.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, insisted both parties and the public had been given access to the tallying, “using a robust system of checks and balances to ensure that all ballots are counted fairly and accurately.”
Supporters of US President Donald Trump gesture and chant slogans as they gather outside the room where absentee ballots for the 2020 general election are being counted at TCF Center on November 4, 2020 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
“Stop the steal!” they said in Phoenix.
The protests came as the president insisted without evidence that there were major problems with the voting and the ballot counting, especially with mail-in votes, and as Republicans filed suit in various states over the election.
President Donald Trump supporters kneel as they rally, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, outside the Maricopa County Recorders Office in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Wearing Trump gear, the Phoenix protesters filled much of the parking lot at the Maricopa County election center, and members of the crowd chanted, “Fox News sucks!” in anger over the network declaring Joe Biden the winner in Arizona.
Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican and staunch Trump supporter, joined the crowd, declaring: “We’re not going to let this election be stolen. Period.”
However, observers from both major political parties were inside the election center as ballots were processed and counted, and the procedure was live-streamed online at all times.
Several sheriff’s deputies blocked the entrance to the building. And the vote-counting went on into the night, Maricopa County Elections Department spokeswoman Megan Gilbertson said.
Two top county officials — one a Democrat, the other a Republican — issued a statement expressing concern about how misinformation had spread about the integrity of the election process.
“Everyone should want all the votes to be counted, whether they were mailed or cast in person,” said the statement signed by Clint Hickman, the GOP chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, and Democratic Supervisor Steve Gallardo. “An accurate vote takes time. … This is evidence of democracy, not fraud.
Meanwhile, from New York City to Seattle, thousands of demonstrators turned out to demand that every vote be counted.
Laurie Roberts of The Arizona Republic captures the special kind of crAZy of Rep. Paul Gosar and Arizona Rep. Kelly Townsend (whom we unfortunately have to endure for another two years). Trump supporters are getting their crazy on in Arizona:
Arizona has taken a header straight down the rabbit hole.
Republican Rep. Paul Gosar and other “patriots” (sic), some of them armed (few of them masked) mobbed the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday evening, demanding that the votes in the presidential election be counted.
This, as inside the votes in the presidential election were being … you know … counted.
Meanwhile, Arizona’s resident Queen of Hearts, state GOP Rep. Kelly Townsend, was asking voters to come forward with information on the “forced use of Sharpies” at the polls after a conspiracy theory sprouted online, claiming that elections workers were doling out the felt-tip pens to Trump supporters in order to invalidate their ballots.
A lawsuit was even filed. [Seriously?]
This, even though both county elections officials and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs have said (repeatedly) that using a Sharpie wouldn’t invalidate your ballot – that, in fact, the ink dries more quickly, eliminating any smearing as the ballot is fed through the tabulation machine.
Transparency and security is of the utmost importance to us. We provided Sharpies to be used for in person voters at all @maricopacounty Vote Centers. After multiple tests, we found Sharpie to have the fastest-drying ink and best suited for our Vote Center tabulators. https://t.co/B8vmwSTK3f
— Maricopa County Elections Department (@MaricopaVote) November 5, 2020
Not to be outdone, the Arizona Republican Party was demanding that FOX News “retract its early and rash call” that Democrat Joe Biden has won the state.
This, even though it doesn’t matter one hoot who FOX News or anyone else proclaims as the winner in Arizona.
As of early Thursday, an estimated 470,000 votes remained to be counted, which is not unusual in Arizona where most people vote by early ballot.
Biden’s lead over Trump has narrowed by tens of thousands of votes since Tuesday evening when FOX and the Associated Press each called the race for the Democratic candidate.
By early Thursday, Biden was leading Trump by just 68,390 votes. The president still could eke out a win here, provided he gets at least 57.6% of the vote that remains to be counted.
In the end, the winner in Arizona will be the candidate who gets the most votes…
… including those votes cast with Sharpies.
It can’t happen soon enough though it doesn’t help when county elections officials are interrupted in their work by gun-toting protesters who see a conspiracy behind every cactus.
Ironically, Wednesday’s counting had to be halted early due to safety concerns of the sort that quite naturally arise when there’s a mob of angry protesters carrying assault rifles and various other weaponry right outside your door.
Protesting what, you ask?
Beats me.
But it all serves as a reminder that you really can’t spell crAZy without AZ.
And that’s a wrap here in wonderland where down is so often up and white is on occasion black and almost nothing seems certain except for this:
The. Votes. Will, Be. Counted.
If you believe in democracy, you count every vote.
And be patient waiting for the final results… we should know by this weekend.
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The usual suspects are behind the “Sharpiegate” conspiracy theory. “Election officials in Arizona rebut claims that ballots marked with Sharpies were disqualified”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/04/sharpie-votes-arizona/
In addition to Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) (who has never seen a conspiracy theory that he did not retweet):
Matt Schlapp, who heads the American Conservative Union, wrote in a tweet that “Apparently the use of Sharpie pens in GOP precincts is causing ballots to be invalidated,” a tweet that was later labeled as possibly misleading by Twitter.
[This is the same guy who hosts the annual cosplay freak show convention for fringe wingnuts, CPAC, in Washington D.C.].
One group that tweeted about the Sharpie issue, Students for Trump, is now planning a “Protect the Vote” rally at the Maricopa County ballot-processing center on Friday. Students for Trump Chairman Charlie Kirk said in a statement that the event is being held because hundreds of thousands of ballots in Arizona remain “outstanding.”
[Charlie Kirk is also a founder of Turning Point USA, and set up a Russian troll farm operation for Donald Trump through his company Rally Forge, which was banned by Facebook and Twitter. “Pro-Trump youth group enlists teens in secretive campaign likened to a ‘troll farm,’ prompting rebuke by Facebook and Twitter”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/turning-point-teens-disinformation-trump/2020/09/15/c84091ae-f20a-11ea-b796-2dd09962649c_story.html%5D
The Public Interest Legal Foundation, a conservative group that previously opposed the pandemic-era expansion of mail ballots, filed a lawsuit in the state’s Superior Court on Wednesday, alleging that a voter was not able to vote again after the Sharpie she used bled through the paper and the scanner was unable to read her ballot.
[The lawyer(s) who filed this frivolous lawsuit should be sanctioned by the court.]
Huffington Post adds, “Trump Allies Are Pushing #SharpieGate Conspiracy Theory To Claim Election Theft”, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-allies-sharpiegate-conspiracy-theory_n_5fa312c9c5b69c36d951dc9e
The theory, trending as #SharpieGate on social media, appears to have first emerged in Arizona … One early promoter of the SharpieGate theory is an Arizona real estate agent named Marko Trickovic, who has accused the state’s Republican governor of being a “tyrant” for implementing restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19.
Students for Trump founder Ryan Fournier stated as fact to his more than 1 million followers that “people literally had their votes cancelled because they were given a sharpie at the polls.”
Women for Trump co-founder Amy Kremer told her 62,000 followers that SharpieGate “is everywhere,” and Republican lobbyist Matt Schlapp shared the theory with his 230,000 followers.
Twitter has labeled Fournier’s and Schlapp’s tweets as containing “disputed” or “misleading” information about the election.
The Phoenix New Times reports that there were some “choice” individuals among the MAGA/QAnon conspiracy cult crowd. “Conspiracy-Driven Demonstrators Protest at Maricopa County Election Building”, https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/conspiracy-driven-demonstrators-protest-election-in-maricopa-county-11510933
The crowd here drew a fringe element. AZ Patriots leader Jennifer Harrison, currently charged with identity theft, showed up and told the crowd about her exploits, including how she had been kicked out of her position as a vote observer in a previous election and been sued for harassing asylum seekers. She claimed that the votes were taking so long because the results were being changed.
Also present and speaking to the crowd was conspiracy theorist, sexual-assault-apologist, and Trump supporter Mike Cernovich.
Protesters demanded that they be admitted into the building where votes were being counted. U.S. Representative Paul Gosar showed up and occasionally tried to convince Sherrif’s deputies guarding the entrance to let him in, while the crowd chanted “Let him in!”
The assembled group also chanted “Count the votes,” “Stop the steal,” and at one point, “Kyle Rittenhouse did nothing wrong.” After pizzas arrived and were passed around, the crowd chanted “Pizzagate” — in reference to a conspiracy theory spread by Cernovich which claimed Hillary Clinton was involved in pedophilia, and which led to a man shooting up a pizza parlor.
When one young man carrying a Trump flag and a long gun joked to his likewise armed friend that “tonight is the start of the civil war” (boogaloo), a man draped in a Trump flag next to him disagreed, causing him to clarify that he meant “politically, not aggressively.”
Trump didn’t tweet for 14 hours, then this:
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
STOP THE COUNT!
7:12 AM · Nov 5, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
I remember when we lorded our democracy over the rest of the world and bragged about how our form of government was the best and everyone should dress like us if they wanted to be cool.
Now the leader of the free world mocks our democracy and the whole world is watching.
Apparently the Trump campaign strategy is to stop the vote counting where he’s ahead and count all votes where he’s behind. Believers in the heads I win tails you lose philosophy of life. And, as he’s done all his life, when things don’t go his way send in the clowns, oops, I mean lawyers.