If President Donald Trump considers asking the Justice Department to use RICO laws to prosecute people and organizations potentially involved in election fraud in Florida, as I recommended yesterday, he should ask them to investigate Montana, too. In each of those states, the Democrats followed a pattern that sometimes indicates fraud.
On Election Day, the vote totals from key counties and precincts controlled by the Democratic Party, counties with the most Democrat votes, were not reported until the votes from all the Republican-controlled counties were reported. Only after the total Republican votes were reported did the final vote numbers come in from the Democrat strongholds.
Tammany Hall, Chicago, and the Box 13 Scandal
That pattern is as old as Tammany Hall. It is the basis for the jokes about dead people voting in Chicago. It formed Democrats’ challenge to the results of the Florida presidential vote in 2000 – the infamous Florida Recount. That was the attempt by Democrats to recount and reassess spoiled ballots in only four Democrat-controlled counties, including Broward and Palm Beach, but not statewide (the Bush v. Gore case).
The most famous example of the pattern is the Ballot Box 13 scandal from Lyndon Johnson’s September 1948 runoff election for the Senate. Johnson won that election by 87 votes, but only after a tally sheet from tiny Alice, Texas showed an increase of 200 voters three days after the original vote count was finished (six days after the election).
The tally sheet showed “765” had been altered to read “965.” The final 200 names all had been written in the same hand, using the same pen and ink, and were listed in alphabetical order, just as they appeared on the voter registration list. 198 of them were tallied as having voted for Johnson. Ballot Box 13, containing those actual ballots, had been “lost.”
In spite of the obvious fraud, the election was certified by subsequent legal wrangling, and Johnson became a Senator. He later became Senate Majority Leader, of course, and Vice President. One of his prized possessions was a photo of Texas political fixer George Parr and some of his “boys” sitting and standing around a car with the missing Ballot Box 13 setting on the hood.
Florida, Georgia, Arizona
When experienced election observers see the pattern, we think instantly of electoral fraud. The modern, updated version includes seemingly coordinated media participation and public demonstrations. The pattern is obvious in Florida, and Governor Rick Scott stepped in quickly with law enforcement. Hopefully, that will be sufficient to stop any fraudulent vote manufacturing, and the judicially mandated machine recounts will end the matter.
How to steal a close election:
1. Wait till all the votes are counted.
2. See your margin of loss.
3. “Find” some “previously uncounted” ballots in a county you control.
4. Bring in DC lawyers.
5. Riot!
6. Corrupt media pretend you won.
We’re at step 4.— Bart Marcois (@bmarcois) November 9, 2018
In Georgia, the attempts by Stacey Abrams to delay certification of the vote do not follow the “hold back your vote count” pattern. Abrams is down about 60,000 votes, and is not arguing that she won. She is arguing that Brian Kemp may not have gotten over 50 percent of the vote.
Under Georgia election law, that would trigger a mandated runoff election in December. Kemp says there are insufficient uncounted ballots, even including provisional ballots, to force his total below the 50-percent margin, but Abrams refuses to concede.
Arizona presents a separate problem. Although Martha McSally appeared to have won with a comfortable margin on Election Day, Kyrsten Sinema refused to concede. Many Arizona voters voted early, and dropped off their ballots at the polling places on Election Day rather than mailing them in. Those ballots have still to be counted.
Democrats oversee elections in Maricopa County and Pima County, which contain the major population centers of Phoenix and Tucson. State Republicans filed suit to stop irregularities in vote counting, and accused Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes of mingling tainted ballots with approved ballots, and destroying evidence. He has denied the charges, and both sides seem to have declared a temporary truce after agreeing to settle the lawsuits.
What About Montana?
Montana’s Election Day story, however, followed the pattern. On Tuesday night, with over 98 percent of the precincts reporting, Matt Rosendale had beaten Senator Jon Tester by over 3,000 votes. Wednesday at lunchtime, media outlets were still reporting that Rosendale led the vote, but his margin had dropped to about 2,000.
Only one of the counties that had not yet finished reporting, though, leaned Republican. All the others were majority Democrat, many with large populations. Why did so many Democrat-controlled counties delay reporting their results? Only 500,000 votes were cast statewide, and the majority-Republican counties were more rural and isolated. It should have been more difficult for them to report their figures than for precincts in the cities.
Was there a fraudulent operation in Montana, which succeeded because there was no national attention? Were there county officials that changed the votes, either by counting ineligible provisional ballots, by old-school “Box 13” methods, or in some other way?
On November 14th, the Montana state board of canvassers will begin an audit of randomly selected precincts and races. This must be completed before official vote certification on the 28th. Matt Rosendale must insist on having representatives present for the audit. The Department of Justice should send federal observers as well.
It may be only coincidence that the pattern exists. It may also be too late to change the results if there was any fraud. But we should send a signal that the government is serious about ensuring clean, honest, fair elections.
