ES&S downplays problems w/ its voting machines. To know what occurred, we need public records requests. @RGarella did one in 2019 & found that, “‘poll workers & technicians reported issues with the new machines at more than 40 % of polling locations,’...1/

...[in Philadelphia], yet the voting machine vendor ES&S said that ‘it was ‘simply inaccurate’ for anyone to imply there were widespread issues.’” 2/
Although the GOP wants everyone focused on Dominion, it is ES&S that for years has arguably caused the most concern among election-integrity advocates and experts. I wrote about these concerns in detail here. 3/ https://t.co/uzCEQgwOFJ
Stacey Abrams’s group, Fair Fight Action, created this document detailing concerns with voting machine vendor ES&S, which had the Georgia contract before Georgia switched to Dominion. 4/ https://t.co/DtYMfV6fQC
Look what happened on ES&S’s watch in Georgia in 2018. The situation w/ ES&S & these vanishing black votes was under congressional investigation when a court ordered Georgia to replace its old touchscreens in time for the 2020 election. 5/ https://t.co/25on1yEMHx
ES&S also had the servicing and maintenance contract in Memphis in 2015 when black votes vanished, as discovered by @benniejsmith and reported in Bloomberg. 6/ https://t.co/XL13Zc0T2k
I wrote about ES&S & vanishing black votes for @whowhatwhy here. Rs in Memphis, TN are determined to buy more ES&S touchscreens. Democrats & election-integrity advocates have pushed back hard for the past year. It is a situation to keep a close eye on. 7/ https://t.co/ApYH2nMYAM
Democracy requires vigilance. IMO, we have a duty to call out these concerns. Trump supporters chose instead to mix real concerns w/ a firehose of lies, including the big lie that they had proof Trump won. Then they stormed the Capitol & tried 2 execute MOCs like wild animals. 8/
That is on THEM and on TRUMP and the GOP, which actually blocked legislation, the #SAFEAct, which would have banned internet connectivity to voting systems & required robust manual audits for all federal races. 9/ https://t.co/LDXnPl3Kkx
The result of their treasonous misconduct cannot be that the rest of us are cowed into silence about legitimate concerns re: election integrity & transparency. If we don’t address those legitimate concerns, the GOP i& other bad actors cld exploit them in the next election. 10/
If u think you’re sure the GOP has never stolen an election electronically, then you haven’t watched Atticus v the Architect which is free to Amazon Prime members. It details Democrat @DonSiegelman’s “loss” to Republican Rob Riley in 02 in Alabama. https://t.co/rOITAOfgII 11/
Notice how Don did NOT incite violence, while acknowledging concerns w/ the unexplained subtraction of 6k votes from his total behind closed doors (after he was declared to have won AL) & how Rs had blocked a recount in that one precinct. https://t.co/o65Omykj7g 12/
13/ Note: Although not mentioned in his concession speech, Karl Rove had already radicalized the Alabama Supreme Court with right-wing judges, so a court recount would have had to get past that red wall.
14/ I interviewed @DonSiegelman about the 2002 race and its aftermath here. He was the last Democratic Governor Alabama ever had. https://t.co/sEVyk5pP1d
15/ The vendor? ES&S. Here’s a photo of its office in Birmingham, Alabama.
16/ Bill Pryor is the Religious Right (anti-choice & anti-LGBTQ rights) zealot who was Rove’s former client & who, as AG, blocked the recount in the one problematic precinct in AL in 02. In 03, when Congress was in recess, Bush rewarded him w/ a spot on the 11th Circuit.
17/ Under Trump, there were concerns he would kiss up to the Religious Right by nominating Bill Pryor to SCOTUS. https://t.co/DHSnoMOptA
18/ This is Bob Riley, who supposedly beat Don in 02 in AL. He claimed to be anti-casino, but his campaign was secretly funded in substantial part w/ laundered money from an Indian casino in Mississippi. https://t.co/yBF7heGZtA
19/ The casino that funded Riley’s 02 campaign was the client of Jack Ambramoff, a GOP lobbyist who later went to prison for corruption & fraud. Abramoff was Karl Rove’s secret weapon. They wld meet outside the White House so that they wouldn’t have to record it on visitor logs.
20/ This is a great and detailed account of what went down on election night in 02 in Alabama. The vote totals were changed twice, the final time was after everyone was told to go home from the courthouse where the central tabulator was kept. https://t.co/eG497AtXK2
21/ “In law-enforcement interviews, Abramoff is said to have confirmed that he frequently met with Karl Rove outside of the White House so as to avoid being recorded in the visitors’ log.” https://t.co/us7u22YcCv
22/ What Karl Rove goons did to Siegelman after the 2002 election is one of the most appalling examples of abuse of power in the last few decades. It is discussed in the Harper’s article and in the Atticus v the Architect documentary.

More from Jennifer Cohn ✍🏻 📢

IMO, the #SAFEAct is better on election security than HR1 bc it wld ban most touchscreen voting machines currently available. HR1 wld allow them as a primary in person system bc vendors call the paper they spit out a “paper ballot.” Pen & paper is safer #HandMarkedPaperBallots 1/


I have not looked at other aspects of HR1. It addresses more than election security. The #SAFEAct shld be the starting point for election security reform in my opinion. 2/

HR1 requires that all voters have the option to mark their ballots by hand. But it does not specify that, for jurisdictions with in person voting, the hand marked (pen & paper) option must be available for in person voting (vs it only being an option w/ vote by mail). 3/

HR1 may still be a good start. But it does not go nearly far enough on election security. Here are my suggestions for election security. Maybe these could be addressed in a later bill, but we shld keep them on our radar. 4/ https://t.co/mNdHrvwHcN


The key section is 1502. IMO, it shld add the following. “For jurisdictions that offer in person voting, the option to mark a paper ballot by hand must be offered at the in-person polling location; giving this option only for vote by mail won’t suffice for such jurisdictions.” 5/

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