Flawed Election Memories
(2021©donnliston.com)
Anybody who has ever been scammed online should be concerned
about our last state election, but it appears our public officials in
Juneau are not likely to do much about it before the first half of this Legislative
session is over in a month or two. Juneau swamp reporter for the Anchorage
Daily News, James Brooks reports that change in Alaska election
laws are driven by national politics, but that is not true. Alaskans know
something is fishy. [1]
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SB 39 by Sen. Shower has a hearing scheduled April 8, Thursday 3:30 p.m. at Butrovich 205 or by Teleconference. It provides penalties for election crimes.
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Flawed elections lead to strong man chaos in Third
World Countries. We should be concerned about it. Some Alaskans have taken
steps to document the problems and have been dismissed as conspiracy theorists.
So let’s let the skeptics make their case here and now.
Overview of Election Results
Not long after Alaska certified its election results and
published those numbers online, I downloaded the files and quickly scanned
through them myself looking for anomalies as already being reported in the
six key states that swung the 2020 election, explained Mike Armour, in an email to this
writer. Intuitively I knew the numbers didn't add up but the single text
file that the State published containing all 441 districts vote tallies made it
difficult to see exactly what was going on.
With the aid of an associate, Troy W. Swanson, who has expertise in large scale data
manipulation in a few hours we managed to sort out the data into a coherent
Excel file format and confirm my earlier suspicions.
This writer has downloaded Division of Elections results and
reviewed them myself for every Alaska election since 1978. It is a way to see how
certain communities think and try to understand how some people are elected to
public office. I believe the voters deserve exactly who they elect, if the
election is fair.
All Alaska election results are available at the Alaska
Division of Elections website. [2]
Armour continued: What became glaringly obvious was that
Alaska had more votes cast than people to cast them and almost without
exception each district reported a surplus vote tally over 100%. In a small
number of districts those percentage figures rose to anywhere from 115% to in
one case over 300%. Throwing in a formula that would calculate an average for
all 441 districts we determined that Alaska experienced an Average of 107% over
vote statewide. These figures were later confirmed by an independent analysis
that placed Alaska at the top of the nation in "Over Votes" with
108%.
But what can Lt. Gov. Kevin
Meyers do about it?
Eight different ideas—two from Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s
Administration, three from legislative Democrats and three from legislative
Republicans—are percolating in the state capital, according to Brooks’ ADN piece. His
story goes on to let one house Democrat, Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Thompson of
Sitka opine on the equivalent of Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing.
Then, in his vacuum of objectivity, Brooks compares the Alaska situation to
something he calls controversial in Georgia.
ADN as usual wants us to do it the way they do it Outside. I subscribe
to ADN strictly for entertainment.
An overview of introduced bills
related to Alaska election is in the References. [3] Further details can be found at akleg.gov.
This is the first half of the 32nd Alaska Legislature. 160 House bills have been introduced and 117 Senate bills. We have all seen how the circus has been conducted to date with a majority of Republicans elected by voters but a minority of Democrats able to seduce two Republicans to assure more of what we have all come to expect from Juneau.
But the Scam May be Bigger than this: What are the
possibilities of Electronic Voting Manipulation? If you have ever lost any
money from someone who convinced you to contribute to something online, you know how
helpless you feel when that person disappears into the ether. Once the money
transfers the former “friend” is gone and you don’t want to accept that you
have done something so stupid. Perhaps that is the reason our elected officials
have not taken meaningful steps to deal with the election calamity we have
experienced—they are in denial.
I was one of the Alaskans who received the pathetic letter from our Lt. Governor declaring that the voter database was hacked. [4]
The mere fact that any
person with physical access or remote access via the Internet can alter vote
counts should scare the hell out of everyone,
continues Armour. To compound the problem there are NO security features
built into the system to prevent this type of action, and NO encryption
techniques or restricted access methods employed to prevent them from altering
or deleting the log files that would normally capture this kind of illegal
activity.
In the 2020 election an initiative to change the primary
election system passed. Could The Jungle Primary with Ranked Choice Voting lead to one-party rule?
Dominion software uses
fractionalized vote counts, whereby vote tallies are stored as fractions rather
than whole numbers, explains Armour. Fractionalized
vote counts enable use of a feature known as Ranked Choice Voting or RVC. Anyone
can set the weighted percentage that a vote receives; for instance a single
vote for a particular candidate can be assigned a 1.25 value while that
candidate’s opponent is assigned 0.75. The number of votes reported will remain
true, but the count will favor a chosen candidate over their opponent by
whatever margin is pre-selected. The operator's manual describes this as a
"predetermined outcome" that allows manipulators to "pick the
winner."
 |
| 2020 Alaska Election results are color-coded on Excel spreadsheets, to show over vote numbers for all 441 Alaska precincts, in research done by Armour and Swanson. |
But there is more to the problem, according to Armour: The entire adjudication process within the system is designed to
allow an individual to alter or delete a single ballot or a group of ballots as
they see fit. There is no auditing feature contained within the adjudication
function to track these changes and the resulting ballot images will only
reflect the outcome of any alterations that were made. This is why the Georgia
Secretary of State has petitioned the courts to withhold the paper ballots from
the auditors and ONLY allow inspection of the ballot images.
In the meantime Armour has put information gleaned from
Division of Elections data out there for Alaskans to consider. He believes the
computer system used to count Alaska votes is flawed and has been for a while. He
has set up a petition for Alaskans who also think something should be done.
The intended purpose of
my petition was to have the state decertify Dominion Voting System based on the
deficiencies of its nonexistent security systems, its lack of any real auditing
functions and the ease with which it can be hacked by any interested third
party, explains Armour. Not one of the proposed
bills in either the House or Senate addresses these issues, and so far as I can
tell none of them provide a solution to a major problem that we know exists
within the election infrastructure. At best some of those bills criminalize an
already illegal act and will do nothing to stop a criminal from committing that
act. At worst some of those bills will only enable even more voter fraud with
more mail in ballots and even preregistering underage teens. Alaska has enough
problems with bloated voter rolls and the solution is to make it even worse?
 |
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ban-dominion-now
I wrote
and published online back in Nov. of 2020 demanding that Alaska decertifies and
ban Dominion Voting Systems from use in Alaska and listed the reasons why those
steps should be taken,
Armour explained. Not one of the several letters I wrote to the Lt. Gov. or
the Director of the Division of Elections, explaining the petition or the facts
surrounding its claims, ever elicited a single response from any government
official. To the best of my knowledge every fact I listed in that document as
reasons for decertification still holds true today and has never been refuted
or disproven. Given what we knew immediately following the election Alaska
should have never certified its results without performing a complete forensic
analysis to determine if in fact anything untoward happened in our election.
Gov. Dunleavy has proposed legislation to allow Alaskans to
challenge election irregularities for investigation by the Alaska Attorney
General. But as the elected officials in Juneau are now preparing their itineraries for return
to their districts this is probably out of their reach before they go home.
With elections coming up in 2022 maybe they will remember before
then.
References:
[1] Anchorage Daily News,
James Brooks, “Proposals emerge to change Alaska’s election laws,” April 3,
2021 https://www.adn.com/politics/alaska-legislature/2021/04/03/alaska-lawmakers-are-considering-a-range-of-proposals-to-change-the-states-elections-laws/
[2] Division of Elections Primary,
General and Statewide Special Election Results
https://www.elections.alaska.gov/doc/info/ElectionResults.php
[3] Current bills dealing with Alaska Elections pending in the Legislature.
HB 23-Raucher, McCabe,
Vance—Short Title: BALLOT CUSTODY/TAMPER;
VOTING; VOTER REG; "An Act relating to elections and voter
registration; relating to ballot custody, retention, 2 and destruction;
prohibiting possession of another voter's ballot; requiring signature 3
verification; establishing an election offense hotline; and providing for an
effective 4 date." Introduced 02/18/21. It has been referred to four
committees. Status: In State Affairs, then Judiciary, Finance.
HB 39—Hopkins—Short title: VOTER PREREGISTRATION FOR MINORS; "An Act relating to voter preregistration for minors
at least 16 years of age." Introduced 01/08/21. Referred to
three committees. Status: In State Affairs, then Judiciary.
HB 96—HOUSE RULES BY
REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR—Short Title: ELECTIONS; VOTING; BALLOT REQS; "An Act relating to
elections; and providing for an effective date." Introduced 02/18/21.
Status: In State Affairs, then Judiciary and Finance.
HB 138—Kreiss-Tomkins—Short
Title: VOTING BY MAIL; "An Act relating to
elections; requiring a risk-limiting audit of selected election results;
requiring state elections and local elections conducted by the state to be
conducted by mail; requiring certain vote-by-mail ballots and election
materials to be provided in certain written languages other than English;
establishing an online ballot tracking and registration verification system;
establishing vote centers, ballot drop boxes, and ballot tabulation centers;
eliminating the use of precincts, polling places, absentee ballots, and
questioned ballots in certain elections; establishing new elections offenses;
and providing for an effective date."
Introduced
03/17/21. Status: In State Affairs then Judiciary and Finance.
SB 39—Shower—Short Title: BALLOT CUSTODY/TAMPERING; VOTER REG; MAIL;
"An
Act relating to elections; relating to voter registration; relating to ballots
and a system of tracking and accounting for ballots; establishing an election
offense hotline; designating as a class A misdemeanor the collection of ballots
from other voters; designating as a class C felony the intentional opening or
tampering with a sealed ballot, certificate, or package of ballots without
authorization from the director of the division of elections; and providing for
an effective date."
Introduced 01/25/21 with
hearing scheduled April 8, Thursday 3:30 p.m. at Butrovich 205 or by
Teleconference. Then to Judiciary.
SB 43—Hughes—Short Title: ELECTIONS, VOTING, CAMPAIGN FINANCE; "An
Act relating to campaign finance and initiatives; relating to elections and
voting; and relating to unlawful interference with voting." Introduced
01/15/21 and referred to two committies State Affairs and Judiciary. It was
heard in State Affairs on 02/22/21 where Sen. Holland and Sen. Shower voted for
it and Sen. Reinbold voted No Recommendation. This bill was referred to
Judiciary and Finance by Sen. President Mich
SB 82—Senate Rules by
Request of the Governor—Short Title: ELECTIONS; ELECTION
INVESTIGATIONS; Described in part: “Sec. 15.56.140. Civil
enforcement of election laws. (a) A person may file with the division a written
complaint alleging that a violation of an election law or rule adopted under
this title has occurred, the factual basis for the allegation, and any related
evidence. A complaint filed under this section must be filed within 30 days after
the election at which a violation of an election law or rule is alleged to have
occurred or within 30 days after the date of the violation of an election law
or rule is 10 alleged to have occurred, whichever is later. Introduced 02/12/21 and referred to Judiciary, State
Affairs, and Finance Committees.”
For Fiscal
Note Analysis of this bill go to References.
SB 83—Senate Rules by Request of the Governor—Short
Title: ELECTIONS; VOTING; BALLOT REQS; "An Act relating to elections; and providing for an
effective date." Provides for security of information and procedures for qualified
voters. Introduced 02/12/21, this bill is currently in
State Affairs Committee and next goes to Finance.
SB 83 Fiscal Note analysis: “This
bill includes permissive provisions that would allow the division to conduct
elections in a way that ensures confidence and integrity in the election
process and its results. The bill allows for increased post-election audits,
by-mail voting in communities under 750, and stronger requirements for absentee
ballot voter certificates. Additionally, it requires the division to determine
the costs of recounts in regulation instead of statute. Passage of this
legislation will have no financial impact on the division.”
[4] Division of Elections Press Release RE: data breach
Previous observations of the 2020 Alaska Election are here: https://donnliston.blogspot.com/2021/03/alaska-election-questions.html
