Was just live with Alison Morrow and Stephen Horne discussing the Wake County lawsuit and where things stand right now.
https://youtu.be/C42zZDsonlw

YouTube

Banned activist sues election board || Lynn Bernstein & Stephen Horn

#Elections #Censorship #Constitution Lynn Bernstein has filed a federal lawsuit after being trespassed from the Wake County Board of Elections headquarters. ...

1. While we're on the topic of budget. The Wake BOE budget meeting happens in January. The ED has not released the proposed budget, yet. They need to release the proposed budget publicly & to the board, before the Jan meeting. Budget should be fully transparent + detailed enough so that members of the public can be assured that $ is being managed well. [Alarm bells should go off if you see $M+ for new machines. It would indicate that Wake may be trying to switch to barcode ballot marking devices for ADA voters or potentially for ALL voters.]

2. Would board consider using sort & stack method of counting votes in the audit? Observers cannot hear the counts, but can see into the room. If BOE used sort and stack (instead of tally marks/ paper), then at least the public could see how many ballots are placed in each stack. This would make the audit more transparent & give more confidence in the process. Additionally, best practice is to use red ink pens to do any tally or work near ballots & not blue/black. Using pencil is not best practices. [in past, public has seen auditors in Wake writing in pencil and erasing!!!]. Wake BOE needs to release it's audit procedures to the public. https://twitter.com/bernstein_lynn/status/1457814701124067331?s=20&t=w6OSQl8z8-m8Cx59jbNINA

3. Wake county does not use tamper evident-serial numbered, seals on boxes of voted ballots. They continue to use a white label sticker (no serial numbers & not tamper evident) on the seam of the boxes of voted ballots. This is not keeping the ballots in a secure chain of custody and is not best practices. Encourage Wake BOE to adopt any of the secure methods that other counties in NC use. https://twitter.com/bernstein_lynn/status/1457804175656382465?s=20&t=w6OSQl8z8-m8Cx59jbNINA

4. Ask that the board take a vote to start putting all the public comments received through the portal online at the Wake BOE website. Right now, after you submit a comment, there is no way to know if the board ever received it since, during the meetings, they don't even say what public comments they got and what they were about. It's like a public comments blackhole. That needs to change - the point of public comment is that it's public!

5. Why do the Wake Board of Elections members not have a .gov email? BOE members have asked the ED for one, but the ED says that is a security risk & to just send comments through the public comment portal. The public comment portal is not always working and I challenge everyone to go to the Wake BOE website and try to find it. The public must have a way to communicate with the board other than through their private mail addresses. The Wake BOE members are conducting board business with private email accounts, which would be difficult for the public to foia.
   PUBLIC COMMENT PORTAL http://msweb03.co.wake.nc.us/bordelec/downloads/3election/3electioncalendar/boardschedule.pdf

*?? CALL TO ACTION #34
WAKE BOARD OF ELECTIONS AUDIT-CANVASS*

THURS, NOV 17 AT 10am
AND
FRI, NOV 18 AT 11 am

Wake BOE Warehouse, 1200 N. New Hope Rd.

I NEED YOU TO SHOW UP!

*?*? If I go to the meeting, I will be arrested since I'm still banned from the BOE building. We want the BOE to know that even if they ban one of us... there will be dozens more that show up & multiply in numbers every meeting moving forward!**

*? GIVE PUBLIC COMMENT & OBSERVE THE AUDIT*

Public comment topics: Pick 1- 2 that resonate with you & spend your 2 min letting the board know why these need to be addressed or use the public comment portal After 4pm, comments will get to the board for Friday's meeting. Send comments even after 4pm.
Don't just cut/paste.

1. According to the SBE, ALL county board members must be present on election night at their county location when the polls close to supervise the uploading of vote totals from precinct tabulators media (USB sticks) onto county election systems. Wake BOE used to have a policy of having at least 3 (a quorum) until 2020, now their policy is to have only 1 R & 1 D to prevent a quorum in order to prevent the public from observing. Wake BOE will not release their policy on this matter.
Numbered Memo 2018-05 p. 10-11, 18
2. According to the SBE, the public is allowed inside to observe these election night process, but Wake BOE members & Wake Election Director (ED) refuse to allow public to observe or even stand in the parking lot.
Numbered Memo 2018-05 p. 10-11

3. Several members of the public, along with leaders from Transparent Elections NC, held a peaceful protest near the Wake BOE building on election night, even though BOE leadership tried their best to prevent the protest from happening! We were protesting about 1 and 2 above. https://twitter.com/stephenehorn/status/1590394410914951168?s=20&t=w6OSQl8z8-m8Cx59jbNINA

4. When we arrived at the protest, we could see that Wake BOE erected a long black screen along the entire length of the fence. This was in the area near the BOE where members of the public have, in the past, observed processes taking place in the parking lot. How much $ did Wake taxpayers have to pay to have LESS transparency? Also, did the board decide this or was this another decision made solely by the Election Director? https://twitter.com/stephenehorn/status/1590146084114157569?s=20&t=w6OSQl8z8-m8Cx59jbNINA

On May 14th, I went near the BOE to scope out a place to protest their negligence & secret actions. Sims had the police called on me while I was in my car on the property next door. Then, made false statements to law enforcement that I'd committed a crime. The police said they had to issue the trespass because Sims asked them to! Police said it looked like I was being blackballed & that I should file a complaint against him. They said I did not commit a crime. I haven't been able to go to meetings for 6 months!

I wasn't given a public defender since I was never charged with a crime. So, I have to pay to take my case to federal court & I'm banned until the trial.

I NEED YOU TO SHOW UP TOMORROW AT 11AM
ALSO, PLEASE SEND PUBLIC COMMENTS TO THE BOE RIGHT NOW!

PATRIOTS? Hello... are you still there?

Where were you today?
Only 2 people showed up to hold Wake Board of Elections accountable for not allowing the public to observe on election night & for the board neglecting their lawful duty to supervise on election night.
Did you know that in Wake County - the election director can just ask the police to trespass you & the police have to comply?!
You don't even need to be on their property or do anything wrong. The director, Gary Sims, can have you trespassed just because he doesn't like your point of view or advocacy.

Just before the latest protest, Sims used our tax $ to put up a huge black privacy screen so we couldn't even see into the parking lot!

Where are you all? Seriously, I cannot push back on them alone. I cannot even go to the meetings. You can!

YOUR NEXT OPPORTUNITY IS TOMORROW
11:00 AM
WAKE BOE

1200 N NEW HOPE RD - RALEIGH

https://twitter.com/bernstein_lynn/status/1592956153272864769?s=20&t=u1w69yB1V2sUsUALyj3RLA

1. While we're on the topic of budget. The Wake BOE budget meeting happens in January. The ED has not released the proposed budget, yet. They need to release the proposed budget publicly & to the board, before the Jan meeting. Budget should be fully transparent + detailed enough so that members of the public can be assured that $ is being managed well. [Alarm bells should go off if you see $M+ for new machines. It would indicate that Wake may be trying to switch to barcode ballot marking devices for ADA voters or potentially for ALL voters.]

2. Would board consider using sort & stack method of counting votes in the audit? Observers cannot hear the counts, but can see into the room. If BOE used sort and stack (instead of tally marks/ paper), then at least the public could see how many ballots are placed in each stack. This would make the audit more transparent & give more confidence in the process. Additionally, best practice is to use red ink pens to do any tally or work near ballots & not blue/black. Using pencil is not best practices. [in past, public has seen auditors in Wake writing in pencil and erasing!!!]. Wake BOE needs to release it's audit procedures to the public. https://twitter.com/bernstein_lynn/status/1457814701124067331?s=20&t=w6OSQl8z8-m8Cx59jbNINA

3. Wake county does not use tamper evident-serial numbered, seals on boxes of voted ballots. They continue to use a white label sticker (no serial numbers & not tamper evident) on the seam of the boxes of voted ballots. This is not keeping the ballots in a secure chain of custody and is not best practices. Encourage Wake BOE to adopt any of the secure methods that other counties in NC use. https://twitter.com/bernstein_lynn/status/1457804175656382465?s=20&t=w6OSQl8z8-m8Cx59jbNINA

4. Ask that the board take a vote to start putting all the public comments received through the portal online at the Wake BOE website. Right now, after you submit a comment, there is no way to know if the board ever received it since, during the meetings, they don't even say what public comments they got and what they were about. It's like a public comments blackhole. That needs to change - the point of public comment is that it's public!

5. Why do the Wake Board of Elections members not have a .gov email? BOE members have asked the ED for one, but the ED says that is a security risk & to just send comments through the public comment portal. The public comment portal is not always working and I challenge everyone to go to the Wake BOE website and try to find it. The public must have a way to communicate with the board other than through their private mail addresses. The Wake BOE members are conducting board business with private email accounts, which would be difficult for the public to foia.
   PUBLIC COMMENT PORTAL http://msweb03.co.wake.nc.us/bordelec/downloads/3election/3electioncalendar/boardschedule.pdf

*?? CALL TO ACTION #34
WAKE BOARD OF ELECTIONS AUDIT-CANVASS*

THURS, NOV 17 AT 10am
AND
FRI, NOV 18 AT 11 am

Wake BOE Warehouse, 1200 N. New Hope Rd.

I NEED YOU TO SHOW UP!

*?*? If I go to the meeting, I will be arrested since I'm still banned from the BOE building. We want the BOE to know that even if they ban one of us... there will be dozens more that show up & multiply in numbers every meeting moving forward!**

*? GIVE PUBLIC COMMENT & OBSERVE THE AUDIT*

Public comment topics: Pick 1- 2 that resonate with you & spend your 2 min letting the board know why these need to be addressed or use the public comment portal After 4pm, comments will get to the board for Friday's meeting. Send comments even after 4pm.
Don't just cut/paste.

1. According to the SBE, ALL county board members must be present on election night at their county location when the polls close to supervise the uploading of vote totals from precinct tabulators media (USB sticks) onto county election systems. Wake BOE used to have a policy of having at least 3 (a quorum) until 2020, now their policy is to have only 1 R & 1 D to prevent a quorum in order to prevent the public from observing. Wake BOE will not release their policy on this matter.
Numbered Memo 2018-05 p. 10-11, 18
2. According to the SBE, the public is allowed inside to observe these election night process, but Wake BOE members & Wake Election Director (ED) refuse to allow public to observe or even stand in the parking lot.
Numbered Memo 2018-05 p. 10-11

3. Several members of the public, along with leaders from Transparent Elections NC, held a peaceful protest near the Wake BOE building on election night, even though BOE leadership tried their best to prevent the protest from happening! We were protesting about 1 and 2 above. https://twitter.com/stephenehorn/status/1590394410914951168?s=20&t=w6OSQl8z8-m8Cx59jbNINA

4. When we arrived at the protest, we could see that Wake BOE erected a long black screen along the entire length of the fence. This was in the area near the BOE where members of the public have, in the past, observed processes taking place in the parking lot. How much $ did Wake taxpayers have to pay to have LESS transparency? Also, did the board decide this or was this another decision made solely by the Election Director? https://twitter.com/stephenehorn/status/1590146084114157569?s=20&t=w6OSQl8z8-m8Cx59jbNINA