Thread by @RobertGehrke

If you’d like a sneak preview of what Rep. Steve Christiansen will claim about election fraud, here are his slides. #utpol le.utah.gov/interim/2021/p…

Rep. Lowry Snow: You would like taxpayers to expend money on an audit without any verifiable information that the election results are not valid?

Rep. Lyman: “The fact that 53% of people are concerned should be a red flag to the Legislature.” #utpol

Christiansen and Lyman will present evidence at a later meeting.

Snow can’t attend, will meet separately. If you are alleging collusion by elected officials “You are attacking people who are above reproach.”

Christiansen says he’s not attacking election officials. #utpol

Weiler: Did the audit in Maricopa County increase confidence in the election results?

Christiansen: Can’t speak to that. Says the audit confirmed a lot of the concerns expressed before the audit. #utpol

Now Rep. Hawkins introducing @LGHendersonUtah and Weber Co. Clerk Ricky Hatch to discuss what can be done to strengthen trust in elections.

Here are their slides. #utpol

le.utah.gov/interim/2021/p…

Henderson: Elections are run locally. Votes are counted locally.

There have been a lot of concerning inaccuracies since the last election.

Ballot access and election security are not mutually exclusive and do not need to be divisive. #utpol

Henderson: Last year, Utah conducted 462 races and there has not been a single challenge to those races.

Utah’s clerks are good people who have all told her that last year was really hard for them.

There are areas that can be improved, including audits of voter roles. #utpol

Henderson: “We believe in the peaceful transfer of power in the United States of America. We value that every citizen has a right to have their voice heard … and the process by which they do that is free and fair elections.” #utpol

“I fear the talk that has been circulating is serving to undermine, deliberately undermine voter confidence and it concerns me greatly. Because it becomes a threat to our democracy, a threat to our constitutional Republic and our freedom.” #utpol

Weber Clerk Ricky Hatch: Our elections are accurate. Some voters worry about integrity of our elections. No election system is perfect, so we constantly work to improve the elections we administer. #utpol

Hatch serves on US Dept of Homeland Security’s election security, worked on DHS election cybersecurity.

Election risks are mitigated by “an arsenal” of safeguard. He’s walking through those safeguards in the slides above. #utpol

Hatch says the public should visit their clerk and see how the process works.

Rep. Craig Hall (soon to be Judge Hall) says if people get mail-in ballot they are more likely to vote. Has confidence in mail-in system. His constituents have confidence in it. #utpol

Rep. Brammer: We do audits if there is evidence of fraud or abuse. I have not seen any evidence of such. It’s appropriate to look at election issues to improve the process, but “it doesn’t need to add to the cynicism.” #utpol

Now moving to public comment — and things are really going to get wild.

People are going to have a minute each to say …. well, pretty much any nonsense they want. #utpol

Marcie Campbell (sp?) who ran for Senate said she was the victim of many election violations. Need rules and accountability.

Jennifer Dredge (sp?) says Ranked Choice was passed in the dark of night without public input. (Fact check: False) #utpol

Now he’s bringing up the Douglas Frank analysis. Wants an audit.

A guy saying there is no chain of custody for ballots dropped in drop boxes. Ballots are changed with no records.

Wendy Hart: We’re looking at a ballot initiative on election law. #utpol

Hart: “We the people cannot verify.” Can’t see inside machines. She wants hand-counts of votes in precincts. (Terrible, terrible idea.)

Tamara Mullen: We have concerns. Same people who orchestrated coups globally were behind U.S. coups with Antifa and BLM riots. #utpol

Rebecca Connelly (sp?): Ranked choice is a scam and unconstitutional. Elections need to return to paper ballots.

Alena Ericson (sp?): What are you hiding? Perhaps our freedom deserves more effort than putting a ballot in a box. #utpol

A woman whose name I didn’t catch: We have to ensure integrity of elections. How do we know they were above board if we don’t do an audit? (Fact check: Utah clerks audit election results)

Jason something?: We the people are very concerned about the state of our govt. #utpol

If you don’t listen to the people “we’ll have Steve Christiansens in every one of these seats.”

Woman who said she’s a statistician says she found 18k excess ballots cast.

Kevin Thomas alleging treason. If we don’t have fair elections, “we might as well be in slavery.” #utpol

This woman says she “is seeing algorithm.” When Ds go up, Rs go down. We have excess ballots. “Wonky things going on.”

Ron Jones (Sandy mayoral candidate): No one who wants the truth should be opposed to an election audit. #utpol

Sophia Anderson wants LG to provide private voter rolls, says she’s required by law. (Fact check: She is legally prohibited from doing it).

I think I’m turning this off. It’s the same garbage and not informative in any way.