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Thread about my observations participating in the #Gwinnett County presidential #recount in #Georgia:
#gapol #Elections2020
#gapol #Elections2020
1/ First I confirmed my former status as a candidate is not a barrier to participation in the recount since my race is not being recounted - only the Presidential election is being reviewed. I was there as a certified designee of the Gwinnett County Democratic Party. #Georgia
2/ The recount is happening at the Gwinnett Board of Registrations & Elections in Lawrenceville, GA, which, from the outside, looks like a former TJMaxx anchoring a sleepy suburban strip mall, across the street from an LA Fitness, just to paint a picture for you.
3/ Inside the large, secure, warehouse-like space is a sea of tables, surrounded by a roped off walking track for observers, with hundreds of election office staffers, party designees & police officers organized around a massive assembly line of ballots.
4/ When I volunteered for the recount, I did so knowing I'd be confined indoors for hrs w/ 100+ stangers, potentially exposing me & my family to COVID. I hope Pres. Trump, Sen. Leoffler & Sen. Perdue appreciate the sacrifice Americans are making to placate their egos.
5/ My role was to re-join original, defective ballots w/ their duplicates to be checked for accuracy & recounted. Why duplicates? Bc some ballots get torn, stained, damaged, etc, which the scanners reject, so the voter's choices are duplicated on a new, readable ballot.
6/ Many ballots we handled are UOCAVA (Uniformed & Overseas Citizens Absentee Voter Act) ballots, aka mostly military ballots. UOCAVA voters have much greater leeway in how their ballots are returned, in that they may not come back in perfectly standard, easily scannable format.
7/ My station was in a roped off area in the corner of the room, where citizen observers & @CarterCenter election integrity volunteers watched us w/ clipboards like animals in a zoo. I viewed their role as peacekeepers - if anyone wanted to cry "foul" on the process, they could.
8/ Each table in our station had 3 people: a nonpartisan elections staffer, a Republican Party designee, and a Democratic Party designee. It's the parties' responsibility to field volunteers, and both the Rep & Dem parties in Gwinnett appear to have successfully recruited.
9/ I worked with our 3-person team from 9AM-3PM (w/ 1 hr lunch break from 12-1pm) pairing original, defective ballots w/ their duplicates. The work we did was rather menial. If you enjoy organizing closets or doing puzzles, this job is for you.
10/ Thanks to our very focused staffer Ms. Wendy for facilitating our station with professionalism. Thanks also to my Republican counterpart Mr. Scott for being absolutely delightful to work with. We both agreed our motivation is simply to ensure a fair & accurate recount.
11/ The only hiccup I witnessed occurred at the Voter Review Panel at the table next to us. The job of that team (1 staff, 1 Rep, 1 Dem) is to review defective ballots where the voter's intent isn't clear (e.g., a stray mark, a correction, a partially filled bubble, etc.).
12/ A dispute arose at the Voter Review Panel as to whether a write-in vote for Mike Pence should count as a vote for Donald Trump. The Democrat on the panel said no, the Republican said yes, the staff member sided with the Republican, thereby outvoting the Dem 2:1.(con'd)
13/ The Dem argued that if the voter intended to vote for Trump, s/he would've simply done so, instead they expressed intent to vote for Pence for Pres. The Rep argued the voter expressed intent to vote for the Rep party ticket, which is the same as a vote for Trump. (con'd)
14/ My understanding is this dispute over write-in votes for Pence was brought to the attention of the elections director. She had to correct her staff & reiterate that a write-in vote for Pence is *not* a vote for Donald Trump. This happened w/ only a very small number of votes.
15/ A common mistake voters made was voting for 2 candidates in the open US Senate race. W/ 20+ candidates, the ballot has a line separating the 1st column from the 2nd column, making it look like 2 different races. Voting for 2 candidates spoils the vote, but only for that race.
16/ Participating in the recount was a valuable experience. I walked away w a greater appreciation of how serious the process is, how many layers of review it entails, & how many hardworking Americans must be accused of a criminal conspiracy to claim it's rigged or unfair.
