*For weeks now I've been asking contacts in the Election Integrity movement,* *all avid supporters of the mail-in ballot system, exactly how all those * *mailed-in * *ballots **will be counted. For some reason, I could not get a straight **answer, or * *any **answer, to that question; but now I've finally got a lead, from my **old friend * *Rebecca **Mercuri, who probably knows more than anyone else about **this * *urgent * *issue (one that's been ignored for decades by the US "left," both **liberals and * *"progressives," with catastrophic consequences for us all). *
*Let me add, just for the record, that I think the mail-in ballot system is a big * *mistake, for several reasons. First, committing to it months before Election * *Day has tacitly affirmed the panicky assumption that going out to vote as* *usual, in person, will have millions dropping dead (except for those who* *might storm polling places in memory of George Floyd, since, as we all * *know, they don't catch or transmit "the coronavirus"). Normally (so to* *speak), a pandemic **that commenced at **the beginning of the year, cresting * *in March/April, then **declining steadily, **would not last well into November; * *nor will this one—**unless, of course, the psychopaths in charge of * *this * *"New Normal" have planned to orchestrate* *that dreaded "second **wave" * *which **Bill/Melinda **smilingly foretold a few months ago.* *Also, vote-by-mail is just another way to vitiate the importance of Election* *Day—formerly a very useful gauge of national turn-out, but now a lot less* *telling, because of early voting (which I also oppose) and now the mail-in* *system. I believe Election Day should be a federal holiday, so **everyone can * *vote that day. * *Finally—and related to what Rebecca tells us here—I think mail-in voting* *is a bad idea because it's only going to make our voting system more* *opaque, since we'll have even less idea of how our votes are counted,* *or if they are at all, than we have now, with black-box voting and vote-* *"counting."* *Which brings us to the gist of Rebecca's email: Runbeck Election Services* *(RES)—whatever that is—will be in charge of "printing, mailing, and maybe* *even counting" many of the mail-in ballots this Election Day. So what is RES?* *It seems to have no partisan affiliation. Where exactly did it come from, and* *how did it get that contract? (Is it, like, CIA?)* *Such are the questions people should be asking—and will be asked by those * *now more concerned about US **electoral **democracy (or what's left of it) than * *about **beating **or "re-electing" Donald Trump. * *MCM* *From Rebecca Mercuri:* > *Runbeck Election Services in Phoenix AZ seem to have cornered the market > on printing, mailing, and* *maybe even counting a considerable amount of > the mail-in ballots. > <https://www.npr.org/2020/05/03/848347895/ballot-printers-increase-capacity-to-prepare-for-mail-voting-surge> > <https://www.npr.org/2020/05/03/848347895/ballot-printers-increase-capacity-to-prepare-for-mail-voting-surge> > What do we know about this company? (Answer: Next to nothing. In business > since 1972.) Occasionally there have been errors in mailing out the ballots > by this company. CEO Kevin Runbeck says "It's a highly unusual event." But > is it? The mistakes we know about are just the ones that got caught. > <https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article3412596.html> > <https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article3412596.html>* > > * If you look up Kevin Runbeck in public donation records, you'll see that > he has donated CONSIDERABLE $$$ to the "Printing Industries of America." He > doesn't seem to contribute directly to candidates or parties (so he flies > under the radar). Not as stupid as Wally O'Dell (President of Diebold) or > some of the other election equipment company officers, whose names > typically showed up under donations to the Republican Party. Runbeck just > contributes to the PIoA (as far as I could tell). I haven't looked up the > other officers of Runbeck's company, but I'm guessing there are more > bread-crumbs of $$ there too, likely leading back to the PIoA. These > donations show up in the public records because Printing Industries of > America claims to be "* > > > > > > *a nonprofit trade association which advocates for the United States > printing industry. It happens to be the world’s largest graphic arts trade > association, representing more than 6,500 member companies and an industry > with more than $174.4 billion in revenue and 1 million employees." You can > read more about them at <www.printing.org <http://www.printing.org>>. > PIoA's headquarters has moved around a lot. NYC (1902), Philadelphia > (1908), Chicago (1912), Washington DC (1929). Since 2003 they've been > located in western PA (near Pittsburgh). These cities all seem to have > something in common (I think you can figure out what this commonality seems > to be). I think it would be safe to say that if the Printing Industries of > America are in your pocket, it might be possible to print up pretty much > whatever you want on paper ballots. If you haven't looked closely at > Runbeck's company and the PI0A, now is the time. Will the municipalities > and states be in control of their elections and the vote counting? Or will > Kevin Runbeck be in charge (this IS among the services that they offer)? > I'm not saying that they necessarily are nefarious, but with any type of > centralized processing (whether it be creating or counting the ballots), > there's too many very easy ways to implement a bit of slight of hand that > could easily rig the election. I can tell you exactly how to do it, too. I > am seriously wondering if the "millions of fraudulently cast ballots" > argument we keep hearing from T and the RNC is just a smokescreen to cover > up what is REALLY being planned? * > > --- You received this email because you are subscribed to News from Underground. To unsubscribe from this email list, please go to: http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=pIdjNUgiG2h8yxbhC54SSy4SEskAoEMs
