June 2021- Topics of Interest

Feeling the Pulse on Election Integrity in NC

Depending on where your news comes from, you may or may not have been hearing about election integrity concerns. However, we are all aware that Maricopa County Arizona is wrapping up a full forensic audit of the 2020 Presidential Election. We are all awaiting the results to be shared.

Many Americans (as much as 78%+ of Republicans) believe election fraud occurred, especially in the so-called ‘swing’ states. In fact, delegates from states from across the country travelled to Arizona (at least 13) and toured the audit while it has been conducted. Among them, Pennsylvania, which has just recently announced their intent to conduct a full audit for their state’s 2020 election results.

A full forensic audit can reveal what actually happened in an election. Such an audit is vital, only it can reveal key aspects of the truth. These include:

Official certified vote count reconciliation (valid or not and by how many votes as well as confirmation of who IS the real winner)
Voter registration database reconciliation (i.e. how many voted from a single address, who had fake addresses, folks that voted that had moved away, etc.).
Votes in precincts to census data reconciliation (whether dead people voted, people who have moved, phantom voters)
Authenticity of printed ballots (valid/foreign supply, etc.)
Analysis of voting machines (whether external access to foreign IP address or data uploads/downloads/manipulations occurred, whether ballots marked for a specific candidate were correctly read by the machine, etc.)

Most of NC is red, traditionally a Republican stronghold with pockets of blue. North Carolina was not among the touring group of the AZ forensic audit, so one wonders: Where does NC stand as it relates to election integrity? Are NC voters satisfied with the outcomes because Trump was declared the winner in the Presidential race?

First, the NC 2020 election outcomes realized a number of wins for Republicans for which we celebrate (the rundown on election outcomes and general sentiment was captured in the news article regarding Mike Whatley’s visit to Person Co. GOP). In fact, Whatley had much to share regarding how NC ran elections and the recipe for ensuring integrity in our elections moving forward. He also conveyed that NC was a shining example of how to be prepared for and conduct election oversight and highlighted his special invite and presentation on the topic at the spring CPAC conference.

However, are NC Republicans all satisfied that cheating was absent in our 2020 elections? Likely, no. Many are still questioning outcomes that did not make sense, including Cooper’s governor seat. The mention of this raises uneasy feelings that emerge of potential fraud from 2016 (with votes found in Durham Co. (counted post-election day) being responsible for his razor-thin win then).

In fact, recent news articles such as Every State Should Be Audited- NC Results Don’t Make Sense—Appear Likely Impossible and national non-profits (voter integrity project—cited NBC’s unveiling 2018 evidence that Chinese components exist in ES&S machines) are actively shining light on NC 2020 election irregularities, etc.

Some of this recent national attention has pointed to strange occurrences at least two NC counties (Durham and Orange). To note, these are university-based and heavily-democratic counties which had ‘whacked’ percentages relative to all other county results. Also, there is an out-of-the ordinary observation of numerous U-Haul trucks parked in Hillsborough just prior to and during the 2020 election. Did the trucks contain fake ballots that were later counted like whistleblowers in other states have attested?

Such odd occurrences could be an indication that in 2 relatively small NC counties, fraud could have tipped the scale for the Governor’s race and a couple of others. For those of us conservatives who worked tirelessly knocking doors and hosting events to engage voters in these counties, the idea of possible fraud does not sit well at all.

Despite the official Trump won NC outcome, citizens concerned over election integrity have subsequently voiced their frustrations to the NC legislature. In response and to their credit, Senator Newton and others are championing voter reform bills (SB326- Election Integrity Act) to shore up election fraud vulnerabilities (eliminate 3-day grace period to count mail-in ballots, online voting and private funding in elections) in NC laws. However, Gov. Cooper is happy vetoing every NC bill that emerges (15 in the last year alone) that deviates from the left-wing Democratic agenda so it is hard to say if these efforts will be effective in any way.

NC Senators have more recently pushed the inquiry concerning whether voting machines used in NC elections were connected to the internet or not. A response from the NCSBE assured everyone that newer machines did not possess internet capabilities and older ones had the capabilities disabled. Riiiiiiiigggghht!

Most everyone recognizes by now that the only way to know for sure is to conduct a forensic audit of the 2020 election, at least in the counties in question. To date, no one in NC is pushing for this. The really important question is: Why has NC not toured or championed a full audit as yet, especially since so many claim that our state is also a swing state?

As results emerge from AZ which will undoubtedly scream ‘FRAUD’, it is expected that all 13+ states (and firstly, the ‘swing’ states) that toured the AZ audit will commit to doing so in no time flat. So, how will the state legislators and GOP as well as county GOPs step up and activate, helping push for such a full audit.

For those who know that election outcomes in NC are highly suspect, how will you engage to move forward on election integrity. In particular, will you stay silent or stand up and fight for the forensic examination of results?

- Kathryn Lawrence