hand counts
Dear Friends,
It’s been a little while.
I’ve been doing lots of thinking, reading, observing, and last but not least, praying.
Oh, and a little speaking, too.
Some people are getting restless. They want God to change things, and do it now, while they sit, wait and watch.
I have news.
God isn’t going to change things just so people can be comfortable again and go on their merry way.
The end of all being isn’t the happiness of man.
The end of all being is the honor and glory of God. The end of all being is to love Him supremely and our neighbor as ourselves.
And as long as we’re on this earth, God expects us to suffer to that end—to the end that others might be saved—just as He has done for us and just as so many of His people have done in the past.
Consider Moses. He suffered. And God ended up using him to bring both judgment and salvation. Judgment to His enemies and salvation to His people. What a time.
By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. (Heb 11:23-27)
We seem to be in the same predicament today…judgment/justice is needed on one hand and salvation on the other.
We’ll see.
One thing is certain. We can’t be too close to God and too fearless. We must engage and be living and speaking the truth. Our form of government was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other. If we want our government back, that is how we need to be living.
God needs a few good men and women.
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. (2Ch 16:9)
Before I get to the usual subject (elections), I’d like you to listen to just 2 min and 20 seconds of this old sermon. It should automatically start playing at 23:20. If not, move the timeline to that point. Listen for 2 min and 20 minutes up to the 25:40 mark.
Moving on to Hand Counts.
I accepted the job of scouring through our State laws to see if hand counts were prohibited. They are not. I knew they weren’t. But we had to prove it.
Here’s my outline. If nothing else, at least read through #1. You can skim the other two. And then there’s some great links in the postscript.
1. Argument from Common Sense
2. Argument from our Constitution (NE)
3. Argument from our Statutes (NE)
1. Argument from Common Sense
Common sense and self-evident truths predate our Constitution and subsequent Statutes.
So do hand-counted elections.
The question is, who owns our elections?
Assuming we are a republic, elections are owned by “the governed.” (The last two words of Article I.)
Therefore, “the governed” have the right to DEMAND honesty, transparency and verifiability in the administration of their/our elections.
Special interests, and politicians controlled by special interests, have no right to say otherwise. Anti-common sense and unconstitutional statutes notwithstanding. (Note: Nothing in our statutes prohibits hand-counts.)
Any other form of election "administration" is a direct attack upon "We, the people" (the first three words to our Preamble).
Because the electorate can be widely divided ideologically, election "results" can lead to widely divergent paths for our communities, our states and and our nation, depending on their veracity or the lack thereof. Honesty, transparency and verifiability in our elections are of the utmost importance to our form of government.
False election administrators can just as easily be dressed in sheep's clothing as any false, ravening-wolf prophet can:
Beware of false [election administrators], which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Mat 7:15)
Never has it been easier to conduct transparent and verifiable elections.
Technology can be designed to work for us just as easily as it can be designed to work against us. Even more so. (I’m speaking of cameras that would capture the whole count and provide any voter with the ability to audit the vote-count.)
Yet, election administrators refuse to do so. Why? What are they hiding? Are they just lazy? Are they afraid? What??
Speed is not the goal. Transparency and verifiability are the goals, and they are game-winning goals for both voters and administrators.
No honest person can argue with transparent and verifiable elections. Every person wants to know that their vote was counted and not diluted or cancelled by fraud.
The right to truly elect our representatives is the bedrock of self-government, beyond personal integrity and equal love for our neighbor, of course.
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WE CAN’T JUST ASSUME our votes are being counted with honesty and integrity, ESPECIALLY WHEN a certain public actor (Evnen) insists on paying a certain private actor to "count" our votes in secret...AND he is friends with that private actor AND stands to benefit from that private actor's "work."
********
Give me a break.
For all we know, a felon is writing the software that counts our votes. No one can say otherwise. Because there's no transparency. Nor is there any law against it. Wouldn't matter if there was. Felons have rights. More rights than voters, in Evnen's mind. Oh, and those partial hand-counted self-"audits" Evnen touts? They prove ABSOLUTELY nothing.
Our state motto is "The Salvation of the State is Watchfulness in the Citizen" (not blind trust). Never is watchfulness more important, politically speaking, than when it comes to vote-counting.
It's a no-brainer: Computerized tabulators with parts made by our enemies and secret software that must be constantly updated CANNOT be trusted.
2. Argument from our Constitution (NE)
I-1.
Statement of rights.
All persons are by nature free and independent, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the right to keep and bear arms for security or defense of self, family, home, and others, and for lawful common defense, hunting, recreational use, and all other lawful purposes, and such rights shall not be denied or infringed by the state or any subdivision thereof. To secure these rights, and the protection of property, governments are instituted among people, deriving their just powers from the [actual, transparent and verifiable] CONSENT of the governed.
I-22.
Elections to be free; identification required.
(1) All elections shall be free; and there shall be no hindrance or impediment to the right of a qualified voter to exercise the elective franchise. [Vote-COUNTING is at least half of the elective franchise. Paying a private party to count votes in secret not only constitutes an impediment to the right of ALL qualified voters in a given jurisdiction to exercise their FULL elective franchise, it completely deprives them of that right.]
I-26.
Powers retained by people.
This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others, retained by the people, and all powers not herein delegated, remain with the people.
Annotations
This section is characteristic of republican form of government and distinguishes such government from monarchy or oligarchy.
This section removes all doubt that powers other than those specified in bill of rights were retained by the people, and any act in violation of such rights is as clearly invalid as though same had been expressly prohibited by fundamental law.
[A republican form of government is one in which the people choose their government/public servants. The world is not only upside down, it is extremely corrupt, when a Secretary of State thinks he can defy the explicit right of the people to exercise their election franchise, which consists not just in voting, but in being able to count those votes. All statutes, rules and regulations depriving the people of the right to exercise their FULL elective franchise are "clearly invalid," no matter what any judge says.]
III-1.
The people reserve for themselves the power to propose laws and amendments to the Constitution and to enact or reject the same at the polls, independent of the Legislature, which power shall be called the power of initiative. The people also reserve power at their own option to approve or reject at the polls any act, item, section, or part of any act passed by the Legislature, which power shall be called the power of referendum.
Annotations
Right of local self-government in cities and towns existed prior to present Constitution, is vested in people of respective municipalities, and cannot be taken away by Legislature.
[Supreme Court: Laws contrary to the Constitution are null and void.]
III-18.
Local or special laws prohibited.
The Legislature shall not pass LOCAL or special laws in any of the following cases, that is to say:
...
The opening and conducting of any election, or designating the place of voting.
[We are a compound republic, with powers divided between branches and subdivisions to serve as checks and balances against the abuse of power. Counties are state subdivisions that are designed to be very much autonomous. The centralization of elections, especially in a private company, destroys the autonomy of the people of our counties. County election administrators are supposed to be public servants, not dictators. More on this below, in the Statute section.]
3. Argument from our Statutes (NE)
32-207.
In order to further the purpose of fair and open elections free from outside influence, the election commissioner shall have the duty of operational and administrative oversight over the business of the office, subject to review by the Secretary of State. [Machine counts are NOT open and they are NOT free from outside influence.]
32-901.
(1) To vote for a candidate or on a ballot question using a paper ballot that is to be manually counted...
[Hand/manual counts are NOT prohibited by any statute, but only by the tyrannical rule of our SoS.]
32-910.
...no person shall be permitted to be within eight feet of the ballot boxes or within eight feet of any ballots being counted by a counting board.
32-1012.
(1) If for any reason it becomes impracticable to count all or a part of the ballots with optical scanners, the election commissioner or county clerk may direct that the ballots be counted manually following as closely as possible the provisions governing the manual counting of ballots.
(2) If for any reason it becomes impracticable to count all or a part of the ballots with optical scanners, the election commissioner or county clerk may direct that the ballots be counted manually following as closely as possible the provisions governing the manual counting of ballots.
32-1013.
Counting location; watchers; counting board members; oath; authorized observers
(1) In each counting location, watchers may be appointed to be present and observe the counting of ballots. Each political party shall be entitled to one watcher at each location appointed and supplied with credentials by the county central committee of such political party. The district court having jurisdiction over any such county may appoint additional watchers for any location.
(2) The watchers and the members of the counting board shall take the following oath administered by the election commissioner or county clerk or an election official designated by the election commissioner or county clerk: I do solemnly swear that I will not in any manner make known to anyone other than duly authorized election officials the results of the votes as they are being counted until the polls have officially closed and the summary of votes cast is delivered to the election commissioner or county clerk.
(3) Except for polling places using precinct-based optical scanners, all other persons shall be excluded from the place where the counting is being conducted except for observers authorized by the election commissioner or county clerk. No such observer shall be connected with any candidate, political party, or measure on the ballot.
32-1027.
(1) The election commissioner or county clerk shall appoint two or more registered voters to the counting board for early voting. ... The counting board may begin carrying out its duties not earlier than the second Friday before the election and shall meet as directed by the election commissioner or county clerk.
(6) At the discretion of the election commissioner or county clerk, the counting board may begin counting early ballots no earlier than twenty-four hours prior to the opening of the polls on the day of the election.
[Statutes recognize a counting board. The purpose of a counting board is to hand count ballots. Feeding a tabulator is not counting.]
32-1041.
Voting and counting methods and locations authorized; approval required; when; electronic voting system prohibited.
(1) The election commissioner or county clerk MAY USE optical-scan ballots or voting systems approved by the Secretary of State to allow registered voters to cast their votes at any election.
(3) Any new voting or counting system shall be approved by the Secretary of State prior to use by an election commissioner or county clerk. ["May use." Optical scan voting systems are NOT mandated anywhere in NE Statutes. Moreover, hand counting is NOT a new counting system.]
Bottom line: Nothing in Nebraska law prohibits hand counts. Moreover, hand counting is the gold standard for counting ballots. This is necessarily implied by the fact that hand counting is how Evnen conducts his precinct "audits."
That’s it. I’m leaving some excellent links in the postscript.
God bless,
Robert J. Borer
PS:
Jenny Cohn. She’s on the left, but she’s for election integrity:
https://jennycohn1.medium.com/es-s-is-americas-largest-voting-machine-vendor-7ac10934a923
https://jennycohn1.medium.com/the-corruption-of-americas-computerized-elections-3d5b77124ebe
https://demcastusa.com/2019/10/23/jenny-cohn-election-security-advocate-extraordinaire/
LOTS of vital info! What happen if….you forwarded it to Pillin, Evenon, etc…. would they get a clue that their cover is blown? Would they repent and straighten up their mess? Would the newspapers and tv coverage put a little “push” to encourage that change? I’m not trying to suggest these things to God, because I’m sure He has a better plan, but I love the “wonder if” scenario. :)
Composing for next Tuesday:
A recent Gallup poll revealed that Americans are becoming more conservative rather than more leftist. If you haven't seen this, if you think the ratio of conservatives to liberal in America is not changing at all, I'll confidently assert that you aren't a consumer of daily news. However, if you've instead been led to believe Americans are becoming more leftist, I'll confidently assert that you're consuming daily news that is leftist and is censoring the truth and misleading you. They wouldn't be very successful at that, would they, if they didn't also control elections and a lot of political polling companies, as is the case with an unvetted organization named Edison Research that calls their unvetted selves "the sole provider of Election Day data to the National Election Pool" on their "About Us" page. I repeat that unvetted company name for a memory help - Edison Research. It is an unvetted central controlling point for BOTH election results and political polling. "Edison conducted Election Day exit polls, early voter exit polls, RBS pre-election surveys, and also collected and tabulated the national vote across every county in the United States", also on their "About Us" page. That puts their unvetted selves seriously in control of information that we use to shape our "world view" with.
Do you trust them to do that unvetted for you? Because you shouldn't if you've taken an oath like you and many of us have to defend our constitution against domestic enemies. In fact, really NO ONE should trust an unvetted organization that has an agenda, especially a leftist organization, to be in such total control of our world view. Just like NO ONE should trust their children to unvetted strangers targeting them. For those of you who might have conscience sentiments towards your responsibilities of due diligence, how can you find out their leftist leanings? LinkedIn profiles of their stakeholders, owners, contractors and employees, past and current.
ES&S is likewise unvetted as to their political makeup, and you should understand that communists have very, very different conscience sentiments than the conservatives that are making up an increasingly larger segment of America. Again, it's up to you to vet ES&S yourself. Try the LinkedIn profiles of their stakeholders, owners, managers, contractors and employees, past and current. I'm just just hoping some LinkedIn profile browsing on your own will motivate you to investigate further.
(More coming to fill 5 minutes)