by Patrick Colbeck at Let’s Fix Stuff
The same committee members then proceeded to claim that there were “severe weaknesses in our election system”. Seems pretty “systemic” to me. To add insult to injury, the same committee members pushing this double speak are now pursuing “statutory improvements to our elections system”. Does it seem odd to you that the same people who stated there was no evidence of election fraud are now championing the cause of statutory improvements to our election system? If they don’t know what fraud has been committed, how could we reasonably have any confidence that the signatories to this report are competent enough to determine what statutory improvements are necessary?
In the wake of the release of this “report”, I was contacted by multiple reporters seeking a comment from me on the report. After all, about half of the content referenced in the report corresponds to information that I have shared with the committee on behalf of fellow affiants. The other half corresponding to evidence surfaced by Attorney Matt DePerno and his team during their investigation of Antrim County election. It may be just me, but I like to read reports before commenting upon them. Once I did review their report, I released the following formal statement the same day to the media…which was promptly ignored by the vast majority of reporters seeking my comments.
PRESS RELEASE: “Oversight Report is Full of Oversights” by Patrick Colbeck
I believe that the 55 Page report by the MI Senate Oversight Committee demands a much more substantive review than I was able to provide in the rush to respond to media inquiries on the day of the report release. This post is my attempt to do so.
NOTE: This post in response to the Committee report has been prepared in a matter of days under threat of investigation using publicly available data while the Committee required months of work supported by staff and subpoena authority.
General Observations
Before I get into specific observations, I would like to share the following general observations concerning the report:
- Significant emphasis in the report was placed upon how election SHOULD have worked not how it DID work. Sworn affidavits and eyewitness testimonies from poll challengers on the ground were dismissed as confused or due to poor training while testimony from election officials were affirmed as a matter of fact whether supported by evidence or not.
- The Committee repeatedly pushed the responsibility for investigating evidence to the citizens offering the evidence. These citizens often did not have access to the information needed to investigate further. In fact, the Michigan Secretary of State and Dominion lawyers waged an aggressive campaign to block any attempts by citizens to access this information via clerks willing to cooperate with such an investigation. In contrast, the Committee (i.e. the people PAID to investigate such matters) were able to access this information via legislative subpoena authority, yet, when they did so, they required non-disclosure agreements for anyone in the legislature seeking to view the data gathered from the subpoena.
- There was a remarkable lack of substantive footnote references in the Committee report that would allow interested observers to review the sources for themselves. Context-specific links to footnote references would allow readers to draw their own conclusions regarding the evidence discussed. Clearly, the intent of the report was to tell readers what to think rather than provide them with the information needed for them to examine the evidence for themselves. The appendix, for example, which in scholarly papers features a bibliography, simply provides a table of Antrim County election results by precinct plus images of precinct tape printouts from each precinct without explanation. The table and images in the Appendix don’t even include timestamps. No wonder they do not understand why citizens are demanding a forensic audit. There are significantly more references provided in this post. Readers are thus provided with the information they need to make an informed decision about the validity of the assertions made.
- The report consistently repeats the flawed assertion that the integrity of the election can be demonstrated simply by running ballots through the tabulator. Using their logic, if the tabulation yields the same results as the tape printouts from election day, then all is good. No wonder they equate recounting ballots with an audit. Anyone who understands how elections are conducted, however, knows that the integrity of any election is dependent upon much, much more than a successful tabulation of the ballots at hand. In order to demonstrate the integrity of an election, it is critical that the chain of custody for election materials is maintained. That is why it is a federal felony to destroy election records within 22 months of an election. Yet, the report asserts that insisting that election officials demonstrate that the chain of custody has been secured is “incredibly misleading, demeaning, and irresponsible.” I would assert that the exact opposite of this is true. Fraudulent voters in the Qualified Voter File result in fraudulent voters in Poll Books. Fraudulent voters in Poll Books results in fraudulent ballots being issued. Fraudulent ballots being issued results in fraudulent election results. Not a difficult concept to grasp for most reasonable observers. Demonstration of the integrity of the chain of custody is an important factor in the call by citizens for a forensic audit. The report’s dismissal of the importance of the chain of custody demonstrates why the pursuit of a forensic audit has been dismissed by members of the Michigan Senate. Their failure to understand the importance of the chain of custody is a serious issue.
- The Committee appears to be operating under an extremely unique definition of “election fraud” that dismissed any evidence of fraud if it did not add up to the 154,188 votes promoted as the margin of victory for Joe Biden. This failure of reasoning dismisses the cumulative effect of breaches in the chain of custody and violations of existing statute.
- The report appears to be designed to intimidate anyone asserting election fraud rather than inform reasonable observers. The Chair of the Senate Oversight Committee, Senator Ed McBroom has a well-known visceral hatred of Attorney Matt DePerno who is leading the investigation into Antrim County election fraud. This hatred appears to have significantly influenced his efforts to “investigate” allegations of election fraud. In other words, it appears that a petty personal agenda of the Committee Chair severely impaired his objectivity as evidenced by this report and references to “known liars” in related correspondence. In fact, the report calls for criminal investigation of people such as Matt DePerno by the attorney general of “those who have been utilizing misleading and false information about Antrim County to raise money or publicity for their own ends”. That is how a banana republic operates not our constitutional republic. In a constitutional republic, we have a right to free speech. We have a right to freedom of assembly. We have a right to freedom of the press. We have a right to seek redress of our grievances. Under the Michigan Constitution, we also have a right to an audit. The Committee investigation seems to be focused more upon settling personal vendettas rather than respecting the rights of our citizens.