Month: December 2016

Observations And A Theory On The Detroit Recount.

I only spent one day at the recount, but was able to observe more precincts than many people were able to. One thing that I noticed was that when the counts were done properly, there was a small shift to Clinton from the undervotes. I was noticing 2-6 per precinct.  If there was consistency, it would add up to almost 7,000 votes in Wayne county alone.  Richard Hayes Phillips had been saying that we need to look at the undervotes in Wayne, especially outside of Detroit. Continue reading “Observations And A Theory On The Detroit Recount.”

How Clinton Lost 5 in Dearborn. Observations of the recount in Detroit Part 2

Part 1 is here. 

Most of my day as an observer went well. I started out in the smaller room in Cobo Center. At the end of the first two precincts, it was about 2 and I went out to my car for a phone call and a sip of my (now cold) coffee.

Continue reading “How Clinton Lost 5 in Dearborn. Observations of the recount in Detroit Part 2”

My experience as an Observer in Detroit Part 1

The first thing that I want to say is that I am not one of the experts that Recountnow.org sent into the field. Before joining them, my plan was to be an observer either in Michigan or Pennsylvania. I had second thoughts on where my energy would be best spent, but after hearing from Jan Bendor of the Michigan Election Reform Alliance, about the problems that they (and others) were expecting in Detroit, I decided to go on my days off. With reports of empty tables during the recount on Tuesday, I felt that my experience from the 2004 recount, as well as my experience as an election observer, that I would be useful on the ground.  In retrospect, I wish that I had written more of the details of my day in Detroit regarding names, numbers and precincts.

Continue reading “My experience as an Observer in Detroit Part 1”

What I’ve been doing and why I haven’t been publishing.

I was asked last week to join RecountNow.org. Since then I’ve been busy working on the recount and trying to make things go well.

RecountNow’s primary focus at this time is to get experienced eyes on the ground in the recount states. We have a handful of such “experts”  on the ground now and are mobilizing more. These are people who have been a part of the election integrity movement for years, have been through recounts before, know particular things to be alert for, and several are even familiar with the computer and network aspects.

In 2004 I was an observer for the presidential recount here in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. There were many volunteers, the problem was that we were inexperienced and didn’t know what to look for. It turns out that the recount here was fraudulent (there were later court trials and people were sentenced to prison). The precincts that we recounted not only were not randomly chosen–they were presorted (“recounted”) before the recount ever started! The Board of Elections put on a good show, and we, in our ignorance, bought it.

RecountNow’s goal is to make sure this doesn’t happen again.  We want to make sure each county proceeds with the recounts accurately. We’ve had some setbacks in all three states, but there is still much that we can learn even in the counties that are recounting by machine.

We need donations to reimburse our experts for travel, food and lodgings (Some supporters have offered housing). So fundraising is one of our greatest needs.
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If you know someone else who could give financially, it would help us the most right now. Most of us are missing work and dipping into savings in order to do what we believe needs to be done now. It makes a real difference in our lives and expands our ability to oversee these crucial recounts.

In addition to donations, you can help out by sharing the link to our website (www.recountnow.org) with your friends, share us on social media (like us at  facebook.com/recountnow and on follow us on Twitter @recountnow).

Michael Polsinelli

RecountNow.org
http://www.recountnow.org/

Michigan Recount Delayed by Trump’s Campaign

Trump’s lawyers filed a complaint with the Michigan State Board of Canvassing, asking them to withdraw their agreement with the Stein Campaign for the recount. A meeting is set at 9:30 tomorrow, the Board is made up of 4 people (2 Democrats and 2 Republicans). They would have to vote 3-1 in favor of Trump to cancel the recount. If they vote 2-2, the recount will be delayed as much as two days.

The Detroit News

The Detroit Free Press

Clinton Adds 24,000 votes in Pennsylvania before recount begins

Trumps lead slips from 70,638 votes to 46,435 votes. This difference is from counties that just published their uncertified results. (Especially Philadelphia who hasn’t updated their vote totals until today.) It was originally reported on twitter by Decision Desk HQ. Decision Desk HQ is a site that tracks election results on a county basis. While counties are updating their totals, the state’s website hasn’t done so yet.

 

Jill Stein Increases Fundraising Goal After Wisconsin Jacks Up Price

Wisconsin is charging a ridiculous $1.31 to count each ballot in the state. They had an addition error and raised the price from $3.5 million to $3.9 million. As I mentioned earlier, the previous statewide recount cost $520,000. That’s almost as much as their addition mistake!

Jill Stein needed to raise her fundraising goals because of this. She needs just under $3 million more dollars to get the recounts in all three states.

Continue reading “Jill Stein Increases Fundraising Goal After Wisconsin Jacks Up Price”