Election integrity discussion draws crowd at commissioners' meeting

Should ballots cast in Antelope County elections be counted by hand instead of by machine?

Members of the Antelope County Patriots filled the Antelope County commissioners' meeting room, Aug 9, to discuss those questions and other election procedures.

Sheryl Baker approached the board and yielded her time to Professor David Clements, of New Mexico, and Connie Reinke with the Nebraska Voter Accuracy Project.

Clements introduced himself as a former law professor at New Mexico State University, a former prosecutor and noted he "has overseen six law enforcement agencies." He explained his reason for attending the meeting.

"Fifty-nine percent of all voters believe that this upcoming General Election will have massive complications; whether you want to call it rigged ... whether you agree with it or believe it, doesn't stop the fact that is the way the voters feel."

He spoke approximately 30 minutes, explaining concerns.

"In Otero County (New Mexico) - I just want to bring this up - we had access to ES&S tabulators and were able to find that there was a chip modem affixed to the tabulator which allowed for remote access and the reason why that's important is that 7,000 votes were flipped from ... Trump to Biden. It's not a potential vulnerability, it happened."

Clements talked about protecting the vote by getting rid of drop boxes, conveying and obtaining the trust of constituents, vulnerability of using tabulators along with the visual-impairment voting machines and duplicate ballots received by several people.

"Voter convenience is often brought up as a reason to have them (the machines). I'm telling you right now, being here in August of 2022, two years after an election, has not been convenient on our clerks to rebut these concerns, and this issue is not going to go away," Clements said.

“So by doing hand tabulation, you’re looking at effectively an audit that is taking place on Election Day because what do you do when you have any doubts on your machine? You end up doing a hand tabulation recount anyway.”

He recapped three steps he thinks need to be done to certify an election: the clerk needs to inspect the source code of the machines, physical inspection of the tabulators themselves by an independent person who is not from ES&S (voting machine company) and to partner with people to get the equivalent of the cast-vote record.

Reinke explained she led a group of approximately 50 individuals in Lancaster County that asked voters if anything particularly interesting happened to them about their voting experience. She was concerned when she heard that some people said they received four ballots. The more she traveled around Nebraska, the more people she found who had received multiple ballots. She recapped Clements’ assertion that the machines are not trustworthy.

Clements asked for everyone who trusts machines to raise their hands. Lisa Payne, county clerk, stood with her hand raised, along with a couple individuals in the back of the room who raised hands. He asked for those who do not trust the machines to raise their hands and the room immediately filled with raised hands.

Connie Baker, of Neligh, presented a new resolution requesting the county go back to hand counting, return to no use of ballot boxes and no use of machines.

Commissioner Regina Krebs said she did not feel prepared to vote on the resolution that was just handed to her.

“We tabled an IT contract for a week so that I could read it, so I’m not sure that as residents of Antelope County that as a board member you would want me to take less time at addressing the voting issue as I took to approve an IT contract,” Krebs explained.

Clements asked commissioners exchange the delay in vote to review additional resources. He asked them to watch the documentary “Standing in the Gap,” a complement to the movie “2,000 Mules.”

As members of the Patriots group were preparing to leave the room, Payne said, “I do have a question for you guys, you guys are asking us to break statute, which okay I get it, but where do we get to decide which statutes we break and which ones we don’t? So I need you to think about that also. I’m guided by the legislature in Lincoln on my election procedures and stuff, so you want me to break - I don’t know four or five (statutes) were mentioned today - but where do I get to decide which ones I break next week?”

Clements responded, “I think what folks are asking for is that when you say you are going to certify something that you remember your oath.”

Payne rebutted, “That’s not what this resolution says.”

Clements said if the machines are not fully inspected, then the certification doesn’t mean much.

“No one is asking you to break the law, we’re actually asking you to follow it, the law. To follow it,” Clements said.

Payne responded, “No, you don’t know the laws.”

Clements asked if Payne certifies the machines before, saying he knows she does in one form or another.

Krebs said that they will have to look over the list of certification for the machines.

Payne said, “I just meant to tell you that I’m not in the business of breaking the statutes, and I don’t plan on starting that today or tomorrow.”

Audience member Janet Frank, of Verdigre, asked, “Lisa, can I ask you what is the reason for your push back?”

Payne responded, “I’m not pushing back. I just am telling you the statutes kind of limit what I can do and cannot do. What I’m telling you is that I’m not going to break a statute to appease the resolution here, I’m not gonna do that. Don’t put me in that place.”

“Do you believe that hand counting would be as or more accurate than a machine?” Frank asked.

Payne said, “I’m not going to say that.”

Clements asked about Payne’s logic and calibration accuracy test, asking her if she has ever looked under the hood of the tabulator. Payne said she would not know what she was looking at.

Antelope County Attorney Joe Abler interjected, “You’re making a lot of accusations against an elected official, the county clerk … why doesn’t this board table this…?”

Clements said, “Sir, in response to that, we got a president that was illegally selected, and we’re all suffering.”

Krebs stopped the discussion when several people started speaking at the same time.

“I understand your concerns, and … the board will be working with Lisa to find out exactly what we can certify and the board has already promised to look at the additional information that professor will forward to us and ya, we’ll just go from there. I wholeheartedly agree that Lisa is not in any way conducting a fraudulent election.”

Many people in the audience said, “We aren’t either.”

Discussion on the resolution is on the agenda for the Sept. 6 meeting at 9 a.m.