Last week’s big political news was the upset victory of Democrat Doug Jones over Republican Roy Moore in Alabama’s election for U.S. senator. There was also an important but not widely reported drama behind the drama of the election itself: the question of whether digital records of the voters’ paper ballots should be saved. Featured in that drama was John Brakey, the Tucson head of AUDIT-AZ.
Jones’ win was sizable enough—about 20,000 votes, a 1.5 percent margin—that everyone accepts his victory except Moore and some of his most ardent supporters. But if the margin had been narrower and a recount was called for, the digital records question could have been a significant part of the story.
In Alabama, as in Arizona, voters’ paper ballots are fed through optical scanners, which then count the votes electronically. The scanners can easily save the ballot images. It’s just a matter of flipping a switch. But in Alabama, when the scanners are turned off, the images are destroyed. Brakey, working together with a group of Alabama voters and a lawyer with vast experience in election recounts, fought to have the images preserved. Dec. 11, the day before the election, a judge agreed and ordered that the images be saved. Later that day, the Alabama Supreme Court stepped in and blocked the lower court ruling.
Arizona’s scanned ballot images used to be destroyed as well. However, according to Brakey, “In Arizona, it’s no longer permissable because we sued Pima County and won the case.” The decision to save the images was adopted in ten other Arizona counties which use the same machines.
Brakey decided he wanted to expand beyond Arizona. “I’ve been traveling the country for years doing speaking engagements” he said. “I gathered together my peers, and we’re getting organized.” He’s working alongside Chris Sautter who Brakey calls “the number one election attorney in the country.”
Sautter’s bio lends credence to Brakey’s praise. Sautter coauthored a book, The Recount Primer, in 1994, worked on the 2000 Florida presidential recount for Al Gore and was the lead attorney for Al Franken in the 2008-9 Minnesota recounts. He worked with Barack Obama’s campaign as well. Brakey says they met when Sautter came to Arizona during the 2016 primaries to do work for the Bernie Sanders campaign.
Sautter acknowledges Brakey’s importance in the fight to preserve ballot images. In an interview with Brad Friedman, who writes and speaks about election integrity issues, Sautter said, “John Brakey founded or cofounded this movement in Arizona, and he is expanding his organization so that it can begin to move in other states.” They decided that Alabama was a good place to expand their work on preserving scanned ballot images nationwide.
Brakey hopes to go beyond simply preserving the ballot images. “We want the images put online by precinct, and anyone can pull down the results and count them.” Some states, including Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin, currently make the scanned images public.
The fight in Alabama isn’t over. The state Supreme Court simply stayed the ruling to preserve the ballot images, they didn’t rule against it. Brakey, Sautter and the Alabama voters will have their day in court in January to argue that future images should be preserved.
This article appears in Dec 14-20, 2017.
That’s great news. Nothing is more important in a Democracy than the integrity of the voting process.
The Defeat of the Bigot Moore in the Alabama Election is a fine indication that the Electoral process can work when Voters Organize and Participate in our Democracy. Let us hope that we do the same in the up-coming 2018 Election Cycle and eliminate the Trump supporters from the Arizona Legislature and Congress;, and, with this in place, the Removal of Donald Trump form Office!
The voters of this country deserve PAPER RECEIPTS of their votes. If this can be done at any store why can’t our elected officials do the same for us. We can send a man to the moon, rockets to Mars, and information gathering machines beyond the solar system but somehow they find it impossible to create a paper receipt at the voting booth. These receipts would be proof of our choices and could be used for verification in questionable elections. When are the American people going to DEMAND what we want from our elected officials. They are suppose to be serving us not themselves.
Hats off to John Brakey and the other Election Integrity folks who have worked so hard to bring this issue to the attention of the public. If our government cannot insure that election counting is on the level, we have no democracy. It is good to FINALLY see the Weekly do some decent (if small) coverage of the issue. There should be much more.
A little-known process in Arizona is that we audit all of our statewide elections.
After the election, a random sample of precincts and races are pulled and representatives of the political parties go to the County Recorder and count the ballots by hand.
Hmmm…. I wonder who designed that process.
Francis, once the tax overhaul package starts implementation the only thing being removed from office will be the old, angry outdated socialists. You can tell how scared they are by their opposition to the legislation. Obama increased debt by 12 trillion and they said nothing. OMB says this new bill could increase it by 1 trillion. Democrats run around lying as if their hair was on fire.
With the income increases and various other successes, the public will start to see it was the Clinton’s and the Democratic frauds that tried to steal this election.
Mr. Olson: Only those who refuse or are incapable of a Critical Analysis of the Facts and the Actions of Donald Trump will deny that he is an Inveterate Liar, Mentally Unstable, has undermined the very nature of our Three Co-equal Branches of Government and the Independent Press; and, as such, poses a threat to our Constitutionally Protected Freedoms and National Security.
The Ongoing Investigations into His and His Minion contacts with Russia before, during, and after the 2016 National Election will leave no doubt of the necessity for his Removal from Office!
As Stated above: “…Nothing is more important in a Democracy than the integrity of the voting process.”
Jill Stein is being investigated for collusion with Russia during 2016 Election. Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating the Green Party Candidate. Does everyone collude with Russia?
As a true believer in our Constitutional form of government, I live by the latin phrase, “Vox Populi, Vox Dei.”
All political power derives from the voters, the citizens of this country. The Constitution, our national social contract, reflects this truism. Anyone who obstructs the will of the voters commits _treason_ against us all and betrays the principles enshrined in our Constitution. (Hence my contempt for the abominable _Citizens United_ decision–which _usurped_ the will of the flesh and blood majority in favor of corporate “persons.”)
The republic was established to defend the Constitution. Why anyone would want to obstruct knowledge of the truth reflected in the ballot eludes me–unless they have committed, or intend to commit, electoral fraud. To me it smacks of treason.
Be well.
Boy oh boy, Francis. It must really suck being you. Every morning you get up and before you’re even out of bed your day is ruined because of President Donald J. Trump. For someone who likes to use $50.00 words and comes on like Mr. holier than thou intellectual, you don’t know your asshole from third base when it comes to the economy. And that my friend is patently obvious.
By the way I thought molester Moore, not bigot Moore. Just Sayin’!
Whether he is a child molester or a bigot, you and your ilk still backed him up; just as your hero tRump did. This is what makes you and your ilk, in the words of your hero, sad.