Free Republic

Elon Musk’s Twitter Truth Squad is exposing the FBI’s role in suppressing free speech before the 2020 election. But the FBI was practically a bit player in a far greater federal conspiracy to censor any American who cast doubts on the mail-in ballots that made Joe Biden the 46th president. That conniving doesn’t mean the 2020 election was stolen. But the bureaucratic racketeering was a travesty of political fair play. The FBI pressured Twitter to target an Oct. 26, 2020, tweet from a former Republican official who wrote that “between 2% and 25% of Ballots by Mail are Being Rejected...

PITTSBURGH — The first thing Allegheny County Republican Chairman Sam DeMarco saw on election night after the polls closed was the more than 100,000 votes from his home county that dropped for Democrat John Fetterman through mail-in ballots. Although he wasn’t sure just yet that that meant the race was lost, he also knew Republicans needed to fix something in the party’s way of doing things going forward. “Those initial large dump of voters were mail-in ballots from Democrats,” he said of the advance voting that began in 2020 during the pandemic. Democrats embraced it with gusto, but Republicans shied...

Despite the Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Republican challenger in a local election in Pennsylvania, the Democratic winner will keep his seat, despite the fact that his victory may have come from hundreds of ballots the Supreme Court deemed illegal. More than two hundred mail-in ballots cast in the race were challenged by David Ritter— who lost his election for the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas to Democrat Zachary Cohen by a margin of only five votes—on the grounds that the voter signatures did not include dates. In accordance with state law, absentee ballots in Pennsylvania must...

ballots and voter information guides for the Nov. 8 election were found inside a dumpster at a Lake Elsinore apartment complex, officials said. The Riverside County Registrar of Voters received a report about the discovery on Wednesday, Oct. 19, the registrar’s office said in an emailed statement. The U.S. Postal Service confirmed the report. It’s unclear how many ballots and guides were found in the dumpster or where the apartment complex in question is located. A resident reported on social media that at least 100 pieces of election-related mail were in the trash. The ballots and guides were recovered and...

How are mail-in and absentee ballots verified? Whether a state requires voters to request an absentee ballot or participates in universal mail-in voting, all ballots cast by mail or dropped off at a drop box are vetted to ensure their legitimacy. Election officials log every mail ballot so voters cannot request more than one. Those ballots also are logged when they are returned, checked against registration records and, in many cases, voter signatures are on file to ensure the voter assigned to the ballot is the one who cast it. Still, mail ballots are one of the most frequent targets...

top election official in Pennsylvania says the state will disregard the U.S. Supreme Court's guidance on counting mail-in ballots arriving in envelopes with typos or incorrect dates, saying that the state's Commonwealth Court has already established the practice as licit. Pennsylvania's election laws have historically required voters to include a signature and date on the outside of return envelopes when voting by mail. However, acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman announced that Pennsylvania election officials should continue counting ballots that arrive with improperly filled-out envelopes, in accordance with the Commonwealth Court's previous ruling on the matter.

“In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Delaware has ruled the state’s mail-in voting and same-day voter registration statutes unconstitutional,” Delaware Live reported. “Neither will be allowed in the Nov. 8 general election.” “The ruling, which came just one day after oral arguments, is a major defeat for Gov. John Carney and Delaware Democrats,” the ruling continued. “In an abbreviated order, the court said the vote-by-mail statute ‘impermissibly expands the categories of absentee voters identified in Article V, Section 4A of the Delaware Constitution’.” “As for the same-day registration statute, the court said it conflicts with Article V, Section...

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed several bills into law Friday. All of them were radical leftist monstrosities advancing his totalitarian control over the state. They ranged in severity from the petty to the monstrous, showing he can promote evil at every level. But one can argue none of them will affect more citizens and likely kill more Californians than AB2098. According to the San Diego Tribune: The bill, AB2098, introduced by Democratic Assembly Member Evan Low, declares that a physician or surgeon commits professional misconduct if they disseminate “misinformation or disinformation” about the nature and risks of COVID-19, its prevention...

Two-plus years into New York’s war on public order, it’s clear who the victims have been: Blood-spattered city sidewalks from Brooklyn to Buffalo speak for themselves. But cui bono — who are the beneficiaries? Gov. Kathy Hochul, for one. And the Mexican drug cartels. Hochul because she’s soaring politically as the titular head of a Democratic Party that elevates post-George Floyd ideology over common sense and public safety. She’s Andrew Cuomo’s cynical little sister in this regard — not so bombastic as her predecessor but equally invested in the criminal justice “reforms” that have turned so many urban neighborhoods into...

In the middle of the election cycle, the Pennsylvania Department of State has suddenly changed its voter registration application form to include a mail-in ballot application. The applications used to be on separate forms, but this seemingly small clerical change is creating logistical headaches for county election directors and causing voter confusion. Registering to vote and seeking a mail-in ballot are two different actions requiring different responses in the county election offices. “We use the voter registration application for one thing, we use a mail-in ballot application for something different,” Christa Miller, Lancaster County’s election director, told The Epoch Times....

Starbucks is alleging that NLRB officials tampered with an election in the Kansas City area.The coffee giant is asking the labor board to suspend all mail-in ballot union elections nationwide.Starbucks is also requesting that all future elections will be held in person.

Politico is reporting on the likelihood that Joe Biden is preparing to extend the national COVID-19 state of emergency through the 2022 midterm elections. The debate, as outlined in just about every media narrative surrounding renewals of a national COVID emergency, is obtusely presented as if the primary political concern is public health. Again, everyone must pretend not to know the true motive of the “emergency” is extending unilateral executive power and all of the control mechanisms therein. One mechanism would include the use of ‘Mail-in election ballots‘, which has absolutely nothing to do with public health. The article appears...

DEVELOPING STORY: As many as 63,000 mail-in ballots were delivered to the wrong voters in Pinal County, Arizona. Click here to join Todd’s private Facebook page for conservatives. The Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Arizona released a statement calling for the immediate resignation of the county’s election director. “During Arizona’s primary elections the RNC and Republican Party of Arizona’s poll observer program documented and reported multiple failures by Pinal County’s Election Administrator, including 63,000 mail-in ballots delivered to the wrong voters and multiple Republican-heavy precinct locations running out of ballots,” read a statement released by the parties....

BOSTON (AP) — An effort led by Massachusetts Republicans to block election officials from putting into effect the state’s new mail-in and early voting law was denied Monday by the state Supreme Judicial Court. The decision ensures Massachusetts residents will be able to take advantage of the expanded voter options this year. Opponents had argued the new law — dubbed the VOTES Act — violates the state constitution. The bill was signed into law by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker in late June after clearing the Democrat-controlled state Legislature. State election officials have already begun readying more than 4.7 million ballot...

A judge has ruled that Arizona’s legislature is within its constitutional rights to allow “no-excuse” mail-in ballots, denying the state GOP’s legal challenge ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.Mojave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen ruled against the Arizona GOP and its chair, Dr. Kelli Ward, in support of a 1991 law that permits no-excuse mail-in ballots.“Defendants for the past thirty years have applied the laws of Arizona as written,” Jantzen wrote in his ruling (pdf). “The laws are far from perfect and nobody anticipated thirty years ago that approximately 90 percent of Arizona voters would vote by mail-in ballot...

Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz slammed his primary opponent David McCormick for attempting to count undated mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania’s deadlocked Senate primary.In a statement posted to his Twitter account, the Oz campaign slammed McCormick for “following the Democrats’ playbook,” and eroding voters’ confidence in election integrity, after it was revealed that lawyers for the McCormick campaign were pressing state officials to count the undated mail ballots.“David McCormick has been a formidable opponent, but it is becoming obvious that he is likely going to come up short to Dr. Mehmet Oz,” Oz’s campaign manager Casey Contres said Saturday....

With just a few tenths of a percentage point separating Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania’s GOP Senate primary, it may be weeks before we know who won. There are still thousands of votes left to be counted — largely absentee ballots that will be processed slowly in the coming days. And once those votes are tallied, the race is likely headed to a recount — a process that could drag into early June, according to state law. Here is what you need to know about Pennsylvania’s still-uncalled GOP Senate primary. What is left to count? The Pennsylvania Department...

The Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary has yet to be decided, and the final result may come down to tens of thousands of outstanding mail-in ballots that won’t be counted until Wednesday. Currently, businessman Dave McCormick leads Trump-endorsed TV doctor Mehmet Oz by about 1,700 votes, well within the margin for a mandatory recount. Upstart candidate Kathy Barnette, who appeared to be gaining ground on her competitors early in the night, is currently at 24.7% Just before midnight local time, McCormick told supporters, “We had a pretty good day today. I want to thank you all so much for your support...

A new law in Oregon known as the “postmark rule” says that any ballot postmarked by Election Day is considered on time even if it arrives at elections offices up to 7 days after the election. Voters may be able to put their ballots in the mail as late as Election Day if their mail is collected by USPS and postmarked that day. The new law could mean that very close contests will not be decided on election night. Prior to this ballots had to be received by 8:00 on election night, regardless of when they were mailed.

French voters in Sunday’s presidential election will use the same system that’s been used for generations. French voters in Sunday's presidential election will use the same system that's been used for generations: paper ballots that are cast in person and counted by hand. Despite periodic calls for more flexibility or modernization, France doesn’t do mail-in voting, early voting or use voting machines en masse like the United States ... PAPER BALLOTS.. Voters must be at least 18 years old. ... Voters make their choices in a booth, with the curtains closed, then place their ballot in an envelope that is...