^{Welcome.
Please visit this post for our long-standing site rules.
### Kindly identify all AI products, per warning in the header ###}

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1

We got our miracle.
America is back.

Let us dedicate ourselves to the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of our beautiful nation.

God will guide us.
Prayers & thanks to God for President Donald J. Trump.

Rural v. Urban.

Last week’s discussion of separatist movements was thin on the details regarding the motivations of those wanting to redraw the lines for their state. But the most common issue mentioned seems to be that nearly all of the time, the urban areas of a state are running the state without much consideration of the people living in the more rural areas.

Fourteen States – or more.

From the article referenced last week, there are active separatist movements in at least 14 states: California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.

The goals aren’t the same in each place — and some movements are far more serious than others. Dozens of counties in Illinois and Oregon, for example, have already voted in favor of some form of separation from their current states.

In conclusion the author proposes:

In this short Essay, I have argued that allowing different standards for urban and rural areas in key subjectmatter areas, something that can be done by both state and federal governments without any constitutional changes, is likely to accomplish that goal. I believe that little of value would be lost by this approach, and much, potentially, might be saved.

An Example.

“Leave Illinois Without Moving – Demand a New State”

In Illinois, the proposal is for all but one county to leave the state of Illinois with essentially only Chicago (about 1/2 of the state population) remaining under the current state government of Illinois. The New Illinois organization will be holding their 7th Constitutional Convention in a little over two weeks from now.

The History of New Illinois

Not long ago, those of us who founded New Illinois were talking about moving away. Just like more than half the state’s residents, we found that in Illinois the taxes were too high, the opportunities limited, and the government corruption outrageous. Then one day the thought struck – Why should WE have to leave? Our families and our roots are here, going back to 1870. Why not stay and fight for our home? In June 2018, we formed New Illinois, a nonprofit organization with the mission of educating Illinoisans about their RIGHT, under the U.S. Constitution, to pursue the formation of a new state. Rather than moving away, we wanted to leave Illinois without moving.

Their vision is compelling for many others living in rural areas who feel out of step with the urban-centered governments running their states.

OUR VISION
New Illinois envisions a NEW State free from a tyrannical form of government, where residents will be able to experience a government representing their Constitutional Rights.

Our Turn.

We can’t leave this to others. We can get informed on what has been found, what is being done about it, and what more needs to be done.

We can make a difference.
And we must make a difference.

May God bless and guide you
as you pray and take action for our nation.

Twitterati, etc.

May I recommend to you @40daysforlife. Each year during Lent, all around the world, a 40 Days for Life prayer vigil is observed to pray for the protection of the unborn.

These prayers and outreach have made a difference. Since the start of 40 Days For Life to now, they have recorded 25,386 babies saved, 162 abortion centers closed, and (perhaps the most stunning) 268 abortion workers have quit, often being assisted in finding a new career through help from 40 Days For Life volunteers.

Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.

^{Welcome.
Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.}

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1

We got our miracle.
America is back.

Let us dedicate ourselves to the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of our beautiful nation.

God will guide us.
Prayers & thanks to God for President Donald J. Trump.

Rogue States.

Picking up from last week’s presentation, United Sovereign Americans (USA) states that they have the evidence for declaring 5 states as having “gone rogue,” as being out of compliance with the U.S. Constitution, as provably illegitimate:

18/ Illinois, New York, California, Pennsylvania and Michigan are rogue states. No one in those governments knows if their congressional representatives are legitimate. I don’t know, you don’t know, and neither do they. Certifying elections for Congress with millions of fictitious voters and votes is an act of defiance against the United States Constitution, and USA has gathered the proof, from the states’ own official records, that this is exactly what happened. – @UnitedSAmerican

Not only is all of the above true, but there are many other ways in which many of the states are failed. Bankrupt. Corrupt. And worse. The levels of dissatisfaction of the people in all of the states are sky high.

Secessionists.

At this point in the conversation, it’s important to note that any discussions of states leaving the Union will need to overcome this ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. “Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1868)” which is summarized here:

The secession of the Southern states in 1861 sparked the Civil War. The Confederacy was defeated on the battlefield rather than in the courts. However, subsequent legal issues created by attempts at independence led the courts to express an opinion on the legality of secession. In Texas v. White, a dispute over a bond sale by the Confederate States, the Supreme Court ruled in 1869 that Texas’ secession had not been legal. According to the majority opinion, entry into the Union formed “an indissoluble relation”; it was “final,” “perpetual,” and left “no place for reconsideration or revocation, except through revolution or through the consent of the States.”

As of this writing there are groups in Texas, California, Louisiana, Alaska, and New Hampshire that have as their stated goal to get their state to secede from the Union. However, it seems, without armed conflict, the only path for success involves a Constitutional amendment (which would require getting approval by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and being ratified by 38 states). This doesn’t seem very likely.

A New State.

What does the U.S. Constitution say about creating a new state? Article IV Section 3 of the United States Constitution says: “New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.”

Reading this in the context of those groups wanting to form a new state from territory currently part of another state it would require: (1) consent of the old state, (2) consent of the new state, and (3) consent of Congress.

The history of the creation of West Virginia’s statehood should be instructive (ref: National Archives, WVencyclopedia.org). I’m going to try and create the “Cliff Notes” version of the difficult and contentious history of the creation of the new state of West Virginia.*

1. Virginia joins confederacy, seceding from Union.
2. Western part of Virginia doesn’t agree with leaving the Union, but there is no longer a legitimate old state government to get consent from.
3. Western Virginia deliberates and develops a “reorganized” government of Virginia made up of representatives from non-secessionist areas in the state of Virginia (from June of 1861 to May of 1862).
4. On May 13, 1862, the state legislature of the reorganized government approves the formation of the new state from the non-secessionist areas of Virginia and a government of the new state of West Virginia is formed. (This new state of West Virginia obviously “consents” to the formation of the new state.)
5. An application for admission to the Union is then made to Congress. On July 14, 1862, the US Congress adopts a statehood bill for West Virginia, which includes the condition of gradually freeing all blacks under the age of 21 on July 4, 1863. 
6. President Lincoln signs the enabling act on December 31, 1862. 
7. The revised constitution for West Virginia, which meets the demand for gradual emancipation, is adopted on March 26, 1863. 
8. On April 20, 1863, President Lincoln issues a proclamation admitting West Virginia to the Union at the end of 60 days, on June 20, 1863.

• *Please respond in the comments if there are errors in the above summary, I make no claims to know much at all of what I am writing about here.
• Dear Wolf and kind readers: some of the above was built from text given to me from Brave AI’s summarizer. I have now gone to the referenced sources to check Brave’s work and updated the text where necessary for clarity and to give credit to sources.

Separatist Movements.

Time will not permit going into much detail on the various separatist movements active today (for creating new states or redrawing of state lines), but a pretty detailed article “Splitsville: separatist movements are gaining steam in blue states” written by Dave Seminara (published in “The Spectator” in January of this year) covers some of it (reprint here). Dave muddies up some of the details, but it’s still a great place to start reading. From the article:

According to Grant Dahl, co-host of the Secession Speakeasy podcast, there are separatist … movements in Oregon, Illinois, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Louisiana, California, Washington, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania.

The goals aren’t the same in each place — and some movements are far more serious than others. Dozens of counties in Illinois and Oregon, for example, have already voted in favor of some form of separation from their current states.

Apparently there are also movements in Michigan and Maryland, which are not in Dahl’s list.

Interesting Times.

Our Turn.

We can’t leave this to others. We can get informed on what has been found, what is being done about it, and what more needs to be done.

We can make a difference.
And we must make a difference.

May God bless and guide you
as you pray and take action for our nation.

Twitterati, etc.

And now for something completely different. @BretWeinstein might be an outlier in terms of your usual “trapline” on X (to borrow a term from another denizen of our tree, MarieUrsula), but he brings good insights to the table from time to time.

Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.

^{Welcome.
Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.}

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1

We got our miracle.
America is back.

Let us dedicate ourselves to the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of our beautiful nation.

God will guide us.
Prayers and thanks to God for President Donald J. Trump.

Federal Crimes

We pretty much already knew that the elections were not being run lawfully. Marly Hornik of United Sovereign Americans knows the law. Let’s take a look.

Exhibit A: California.

Securing Liberty in America. (link to thread)

United Sovereign Americans @UnitedSAmerican Mar 4

1/ SECURING LIBERTY IN AMERICA
Marly Hornik, co-founded the national election validity organization, United Sovereign Americans, with cyber and election security subject matter expert Harry Haury. Her presentation warning fellow Americans of the constitutional and legal disaster of our elections, made at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on March 3, 2025, is contained in this thread:

2/ The current election process nationwide is an uncontrolled, unmonitored catastrophe that is producing false returns. The last bastion of freedom on Earth is at risk of being destroyed forever, as early as 2026. Under President Trump’s decisive leadership, we see the proof that our own government has been selling out our kids’ future by stealing trillions of dollars per year from the American people, making us pay for their often-twisted agenda. Nowhere have officials betrayed us as badly as in our elections, nationwide.

3/ USA is the first organization to measure election misconduct as defined under criminal law, to deeply study Supreme Court precedent, and document the scale of defined election fraud nationwide. After years of law enforcement meetings, official reports, legislative hearings, criminal referrals and staggering trial-ready evidence, massive election fraud is still being illegally certified as accurate. Asking whether election officials are bad people is irrelevant—their job is to prevent fraud, and they are legally required to prove it to us. That’s what we pay them for. Twenty-one Chief Election Officials have been fully briefed, nine have been sued, and every last one has proven disloyal to the sovereign they serve—the American people—and disloyal to the contract we made with our government, the United States Constitution.

4/ USA has tracked tens of millions of individual felonies. We were the first to discover and document the algorithms and central vote manipulation. We filed our detailed data with states, the FBI, Homeland Security, and the DOJ under the previous administration, and filed nine federal lawsuits demanding that election commissions follow the law. And what did we prove? Every last federalized state election official believes they are the sovereign, and they are the one who chooses our representatives. Every last one. They are perfectly content to continue violating our Constitution down to the root.

5/ Our founders were masters of philosophy. They said the job of a government is to protect the gift of life. Our government guarantees individual sovereignty, within the boundaries of a social contract. To fix our election problems, we must work inside this structure, or we will damage our gift in anger and undisciplined haste.

6/ The first sentence says we secure the blessing of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. The second sentence says all power to make laws is vested in Congress. The third sentence says that the people of the several states shall choose those lawmakers. Period. They work for us. If valid elections were not the key to securing liberty, the Constitution would be written in a different order.

7/ And that is why election officials who ignore and break federal law are prosecuted as criminals. When they register false voters, accept and count illegal ballots, certify false tallies, and destroy or hide records, they sacrifice our future in their arrogance, and they can land in federal prison. The job of an election official is to act in honor for our country. It’s not for the weak.

8/ A voter registration record cannot contain false or invalid information. If a record is not 100% legitimate, it is suspicious. Before it can be added to the official list of voters, it must be scrutinized according to strict legal process.

9/ USA audited the official state records of the certified 2022 midterms, in 21 states. We found 29 million material errors in the official lists of voters. Voters registered before they were born, registered after voting in federal elections, voters named asterisk, voters with no name at all, or blank addresses. Garbage data. How did they get this bad?

10/ Now let me show you what we found in California’s infamous 2024 election: 9.5 million times, the control process failed at registration. This is not clerical error, this is criminal. When the voter rolls are broken, it is criminal election fraud. You can’t “clean” them. They cannot be trusted, nor used to secure a world power against enemies, foreign and domestic.

11/ In New York, the control process broke 5.8 million times. Elections secure the law; if elections have no law, we have no law.

12/ Here are the sickening facts regarding California’s actual vote in 2024. The only legal way for these voters to vote was via provisional ballot. Did California accept 5.5 million provisional ballots in 2024, and adjudicate each one according to the law? That’s one in every three voters who voted. How can they not know who one third of their voters are?

13/ They can’t. California broke the third sentence of the Constitution, and illegally certified 52 members for the United States House of Representatives, plus Adam Schiff. We need to stop maligning voters we disagree with, and start putting criminals in jail.

14/ New York illegally certified 26 members of the House of Representatives, and Senator Gillibrand. Who are each of these people working for? We’re not saying none of them were chosen by the people. The problem is no one knows. Why are we accepting that for our loved ones and our country? Is that the life you were created for? The theft of legitimate representation is a heinous crime.

15/ We took it one step further. USA studied the identity of the voters ourselves. Our attorneys hired a private investigator. Searching in three unique commercial law-enforcement tools, used to find people precisely in space and time, we could not find 993,000 voters in California’s midterm. Nearly a million voters who don’t exist had their votes counted. Nearly half a million voters who don’t exist had their votes counted in Pennsylvania. You’re looking at 8.5 million illegal votes. No one bothered to verify them. Our country is under attack. We put people in jail for a handful of fake ballots, yet these crimes have so far gone unpunished.

16/ USA is strongly in favor of voter ID. It will make the election officials’ job much easier, which protects them and protects America. But as you can see here, it will not fix the entire process of an election. There are numerous control points within the election system under direct attack. They must all be secured and only USA knows how to do it, mostly using current law.

The first step in a legal process is to follow critical national security infrastructure law, FISMA, and implement the Risk Management Framework. The entire system must be subject to rigorous threat testing, exactly as it is going to be used. Risk-limiting audits conducted by election officials are a fraud on the people. The voting system is a digital border of our country that must be continually monitored for dynamic, evolving attacks. We are securing the multi-trillion-dollar economy of the dominant world power, and our great-grandchildren’s inalienable rights.

Next, we must train all election personnel in threat assessment and process control, at every polling site. Then we can begin registration of verified, qualified voters. Nothing else can pass through the control point. USA found 29 million instances where this control broke. This means the states have no idea who is in their voter rolls. After that is voter ID at the polls, here. If you want to get rid of mail-in ballots, a great idea, that’s here. But every mail-in ballot goes through this judging table, and if it fails, the ballot is supposed to be thrown out. That control point broke in Pennsylvania in 2020, and Arizona 2022, among many others. If we get rid of the machines, that’s here. Scanning errors must be scrutinized here, chain of custody here, and if aggregate error exceeds the legal limit, the election fails here.

If we made it this far, we can start reporting to the media. But every single record from every county and polling site must now be reviewed by the Chief Election Official. When they certify a mixed state and federal election, this one clerk, of whom there are only fifty in the whole country, attests that the state and federal governments are both legitimate and duly authorized republican governments. They better be certain, because they can be held personally responsible when they commit perjury.

USA is in complete agreement with President Trump. We love the President’s idea of a constitutional amendment for a national election holiday, using manual voting systems. But after years of meticulous research done out of devotion to country, while countless undisciplined screamers have profited off USA data and discoveries, acting like suspicion and opinion are equal to hard evidence, we still lack the votes. We need strategy, not theatrics. To pass an amendment, we have to have a valid election in 2026. We can’t pass it with imposters living in our House and Senate.

17/ In 1868, ten states were barred from voting on the fourteenth amendment. Three states were denied Electoral College votes. Why? Because they betrayed the union. They went rogue, and Congress refused to recognize their delegates. Congress called them “territories of the United States,” and ignored their governments until they complied with the Union.

18/ Illinois, New York, California, Pennsylvania and Michigan are rogue states. No one in those governments knows if their congressional representatives are legitimate. I don’t know, you don’t know, and neither do they. Certifying elections for Congress with millions of fictitious voters and votes is an act of defiance against the United States Constitution, and USA has gathered the proof, from the states’ own official records, that this is exactly what happened.

19/ In these Supreme Court decisions, election officials went to federal prison. Read the prosecution guidelines. False voters, false votes and false tallies are all defined federal election fraud since 1873. Election officials are not allowed to take their orders from the Brennan Center; they must follow the law.

20/ The United States Department of Justice under Attorney General Bondi must immediately open a criminal investigation of this digital invasion, prosecute those responsible, and compel the states to follow legal process in 2026. Our right to legitimate congressional representation was stolen in 2022 & 2024. We cannot repeat this and have the rule of law. But we don’t just need to investigate blue states. This problem is in Ohio and Florida, it’s in Georgia and Texas. We have lost control of our elections everywhere and it’s a crime against our country. We must enforce the law—or the defense of inalienable rights on Earth may end. Today, we remind the DOJ that we gave them the proof starting in 2021. We look forward to Attorney General Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Bove making great strides to fix this disaster. United Sovereign Americans is standing by to assist in every way we can.

21/ We are already working with states and congress members loyal to our country to upgrade our election security laws to the current reality. We are taking the offensive against the denial of our civil rights with personal lawsuits against the most egregious actors in the country. unite4freedom.com/

22/ We are offering an election validity training conference this April in St Louis, Missouri. Will you join us in securing legitimate representative government in 2026, and beyond? No one is above the law. Those who have declared war on our liberty, our children, and our families, will be held accountable. No one is allowed to usurp and destroy the blessing of liberty in America. https://unite4freedom.com/securing-2026-the-usa-solution-april-2025-conference/

Go Local.

Our own Gail Combs highlighted this yesterday: The Precinct Strategy

Our Turn.

We can’t leave this to others. We can get informed on what has been found, what is being done about it, and what more needs to be done.

We can make a difference.
And we must make a difference.

May God bless and guide you as you pray and take action for our nation.

Twitterati, etc.

@DataRepublican isn’t just working to open up our ability to see into the public data in a meaningful way as some kind of a job or hobby. For her, it’s about all those who have served and suffered in wars for our nation. And her work is making waves with the thieves who are robbing our country blind. So they sent the dox-dogs after her. Looks like she has had to leave her home and is in an undisclosed location under the protection of the Cajun Navy.

God bless her, and her family as they pay the price for doing a good work.

Who is paying the foot soldiers that do the hits (doxxing)?

@DataRepublican’s Awesome Tool
for New Testament Text Confirmation

But, those attacks won’t stop this courageous, brilliant, and compassionate woman. Now that her name is known, what does she do? She shares her Christian faith and access to an amazing tool she has created. Jennica (@DataRepublican) says about her work:

This website is an aggregated cross-reference between the early Church fathers (up to the Nicaea Council of 325 A.D.) in Ante-Nicene Fathers as originally hosted by Christian Classics Ethereal Library, inspired by the e-Catena. I have mirrored the legacy website here, as it contains structural hyperlinks and formatting that are not present in the current edition. The intent of this website is to visualize the evolution of the NT canon’s popularity.

The authors/groupings of the translated works in each volume are as follows (note that volume 9 is missing). You can drill down by volume or jump directly to a NT book.

• ANF-01: Clement of Rome, Mathetes, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
• ANF-02: The Pastor of Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus of Antioch, Writings of Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria
• ANF-03: Tertullian
• ANF-04: Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Origen
• ANF-05: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian
• ANF-06: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Alexander of Cappadocia, Theognostus of Alexandria, Pierius of Alexandria, Theonas of Alexandria, Phileas, Pamphilus, Malchion, Archelaus, Alexander, Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, Alexander, Methodius, Arnobius
• ANF-07: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius Urbanus, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, Clement, Nicene Council, Early Liturgies
• ANF-08: The Twelve Patriarchs, Theodotus, Clement of Rome, Pseudo-Clementine Literature, Apocrypha of the New Testament, The Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa, Ancient Syriac Documents, Remains of the Second and Third Centuries
• ANF-10: Works Connected with the Gospels, Apocalypses and Romances, The Epistles of Clement, Origen

Color gradients are based on the percentage of times a particular author or set of writings referenced a book of the New Testament. This helps establish the relative influence of specific NT books with the author(s). [link to view table]

LINK: New Testament Cross Reference Tool

Her post introducing it is here.

Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.

^{Welcome.
Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.}

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1

We got our miracle.
America is back.

Let us dedicate ourselves to the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of our beautiful nation.

God will guide us.
Prayers and thanks to God for President Donald J. Trump.

Can We Watch?

The ability to watch the process of an election–from beginning to end–MUST be intentionally designed into the process. Otherwise, it’s just as prone to sleight-of-hand as a magician’s trick.

As Bev Harris (BlackBoxVoting.org) explained, we want to validate who can vote, who did vote, what each voter marked on each ballot, and how all elections materials are tracked and secured.

Provision for observers at each stage of the process is part of what gives legitimacy to our elections.

Election Observers, the Theory.

In theory, at every step of the process, open and transparent access for observers from each interested party should be expected and provided for. Not just when it’s convenient for the elections officials and their staff.

Any resistance to making provision for observers MUST be considered as suspicious at best, possibly a sign of guilt, and always an indication of maladministration of the election process.

You may remember poll workers taping up sheets of cardboard to block the view of the poll during the 2020 elections. I’ve heard reports of similar behavior in other places since then. Didn’t some group have a way to send on the spot reports to them when these types of things were happening during the 2024 election?

Voter Rolls.

If voter rolls are not freely visible to every citizen, if there is not an audit trail for how rolls change over time, if list maintenance procedures are not transparent, then there is room for hidden fraud. You might just want to check what level of access and transparency your state provides for your voter rolls.

“Maintaining an accurate voter registration list is essential to protecting election integrity. Keeping voter registration lists up to date is a continual process that includes adding new eligible voters, updating voter registration information when a voter moves and removing ineligible voters. The process of adding, updating and removing voters is referred to as list maintenance.”
— Election Assistance Commission

As mundane as keeping a list up to date would seem, apparently even a lowly voter roll can aid and abet rigging an election. Or elections. Lots of elections.

As documented by Andrew Paquette in the paper, “The Caesar cipher and stacking the deck in New York State voter rolls” someone was clever enough to encode into the rolls a veritable army of zombie voters to be conjured up when needed to tip the scales for an election.

From the abstract:

Voters in New York State are identified by two identification numbers. This study has discovered strong evidence that both numbers have been algorithmically manipulated to produce steganographically concealed record attribute information. One of the several algorithms discovered has been solved. It first utilizes a mechanism nearly identical to the simple ‘Caesar Cipher’ to change the order of a group of ID numbers. Then, it interlaces them the way a deck of cards is arranged to create a ‘stacked deck’. The algorithmic modifications create hidden structure within voter ID numbers. The structure can be used to covertly tag fraudulent records for later use.

Election Observers, state-by-state.

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) provides a brief, “Policies for Election Observers.” You can find just about everything you would want to know about your own state’s policies at this link.

Political parties, candidates, citizen groups and independent organizations may deploy observers or watchers to witness election processes in the U.S. Generally, the purpose for these observers is to provide a layer of protection or transparency and to learn from and improve processes, which vary considerably by state. This webpage covers relevant laws and practices for multiple types of election observers nationwide.

In reviewing this brief, I didn’t see anything about allowing observers or insight into mail-in ballot drop boxes, or handling by the USPS. Seems like a problem. As President Trump reminds us all the time, mail-in ballots are “not good.”

Recent Changes to State Laws.

I found the list of recent legislative actions regarding election observers to be an interesting way to get a sampler of what states are focused on these days. Here they are:

Modifications to who can be an election observer of any kind:

• South Dakota HB 1182 (2024) allows members of the public to observe voting and counting processes at polling places and requires that polling places be arranged so that poll watchers can see and hear what is going on.  
• North Dakota SB 2292 (2023) clarifies that any individual beside a candidate on the ballot may be an election observer if they inform the election inspector of their intent to serve.  
• Louisiana SB 74 (2022) clarifies that those who require assistance with voting may serve as poll watchers. 
• Oklahoma HB 3321 (2022) requires poll watchers to serve in person and not via electronic devices. 
• Utah HB 387 (2022) Permits preregistered voters (those who are under 18 years old) to serve as poll watchers, permits poll watchers to observe the ballot curing process and requires ballot adjudication in larger cities to be projected on a screen large enough to be viewed by watchers.  
• Arizona SB 1835  (2021) requires poll watchers to be registered voters in the state. 
• Texas SB 1 (2021) requires a training program for poll watchers and requires watchers to present a certificate of completion when reporting for observation. The law adds to the list of processes that poll watchers can observe all activities relating to closing a polling place, ballot signature verification, ballot curing and voter assistance efforts. SB 1 also requires poll watchers to take an oath, establishes a penalty for election officials who knowingly refuse to accept a valid certificate for observation, permits election officials to call law enforcement for the removal of a poll watcher who is in violation of the law, and establishes legal remedies for watchers who believe they were unlawfully prevented from observing election processes. 
• Nebraska LB 1055 (2020) established the role of a poll watcher as either a registered voter of the state or an individual representing a state-based, national or international election monitoring organization. The bill went into effect after the November 2020 elections. 
• New York AB 1525 (2019) permitted any political committee supporting or proposing a ballot proposal to have watchers in any general, special, town or village election and any party committee and any candidate on the ballot to have three watchers for each election district in a primary election. 
• Utah SB 94 (2018) consolidated multiple terms for poll watcher (voting poll watchers, counting poll watchers and inspecting poll watchers) to the generic term “poll watcher” and permitted poll watchers to observe various aspects of the process. 
• Arkansas HB 2138 (2017) prohibited a member of the state or county board of election commissioners from serving as a poll watcher. 
• California AB 2021 (2016) clarified that international election observers may have uniform and nondiscriminatory access to all stages of the election process that are open to the public. 
• Tennessee SB 1945 (2016) prohibited the appointment of a candidate’s spouse to serve as an election observer. 
• Montana HB 529 (2015) prohibited a candidate from serving as a poll watcher. 
• New York AB 5075 (2014) prohibited candidates for public office in a given election from acting as poll watchers. 
• Alaska HB 104 (2013) required that poll watchers be U.S. citizens.

Modifications to the process of becoming an observer:

• Arkansas HB 1457 (2023) establishes a poll watcher bill of rights, requires poll watchers to be qualified electors of the state and receive training before an election.  
• New Mexico SB 180 (2023) requires poll watchers to attend training before accepting appointment.  
• Nebraska LB 1055 (2020) established an accreditation process for observers. The bill went into effect after the November 2020 elections. 
• Arizona SB 1054 (2019) increased the amount of time before an election for nonpartisan observers to apply to observe at a counting center. Only three persons or groups may observe activities at the counting center and are chosen by lot from those who apply. 
• Louisiana HB 563 (2019) required that a list of watchers be filed with the clerk of the court in each parish where a candidate will have watchers if the office is in more than one parish. 
• New Mexico HB 407 (2019) amended the definition of watchers to include an election-related organization or any group of three candidates for election in a statewide election and outlines which aspects of the process may be observed. 
• Mississippi HB 467 (2017) added a credentialing process and code of conduct for partisan poll watchers. 
• Virginia HB 1333 (2015) specified that the state or district chairman may designate authorized representatives of political parties if the county or city chairman is unavailable to do so. 
• Wisconsin AB 202 (2014) required all authorized observers to sign in at the polling place and provided for observation areas of not less than 3 feet or more than 8 feet from the voter check-in table. 
• Arkansas HB 1551 (2013) required the state board of elections to certify at least one state election monitor for each congressional district, and HB 1551 (2013) required training for certified state election monitors. 
• Texas SB 160 (2013) required election officials to provide poll watchers with identification to be displayed by the watcher at the polling place. 

Modifications to which aspects of the election process may be observed:

• Colorado SB 276 (2023) establishes poll watcher guidelines for primary and special elections and prohibits poll watchers from taking photos and recording inside the election office or polling place.  
• Montana SB 93 (2021) permits poll watchers to observe at mail ballot deposit locations (drop boxes). 
• Texas HB 1128 (2021) clarifies that poll watchers may be present in polling places, at meetings of early voting ballot boards and in central counting stations. 
• Arkansas SB 488 (2021) allows poll watchers to inspect voter statements and ballots during an election, even though these documents are protected under the state’s public records law. 
• Florida SB 90 (2021) requires poll watchers to wear identification badges while observing and allows each political party and each candidate to have one watcher with viewing access to ballot signature verification. 
• Hawaii HB 1248 (2019) enacted mail voting across all counties for all elections and included a section allowing poll watchers to be present at voter service centers. 
• Maryland SB 5 (2015) permitted authorized partisan and nonpartisan observers, and any others who wish to be present, to observe the canvass process. 
• Virginia HB 319/SB 537 (2012) specified that partisan observers may be close enough to the voter check-in table to be able to hear what is being said, but that observation shall not violate the secret vote or otherwise interfere with the election. 

Our Turn.

We can’t leave this to others. We can at least try and get informed on what has been found, what has been done about it, and what more needs to be done.

We can make a difference.
And we must make a difference.

If you care about building a lasting and resilient nation, consider yourself on the job.
What would be the 5 bullet points in your status report for this week?

Twitterati, etc.

Andrew Paquette (mentioned above) is a refreshingly creative mind to engage with. His latest substack, “X marks the spot,” about trying to get to X, then Grok, might be an interesting read for those of us still trying to get in the gate. One of the replies also gives more ideas for what to try when wanting to open the door into their walled garden.

Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.

^{Welcome.
Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.}

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1

We got our miracle.
America is back.

Let us dedicate ourselves to the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of our beautiful nation.

God will guide us.
Prayers and thanks to God for President Donald J. Trump.

Handling Gold.

Well, not really gold. But a process that is even more critical than handling precious metals, but let’s start there. The other day Steve was explaining how registered mail is handled and why precious metals dealers used registered mail due to the strict processes that are followed. The USPS handbook DM-901 covers all the details. It’s a nice document. Covers all the procedures, chain of custody, proper storage, how to document if seals are broken, etc. It’s almost like they are serious about handling registered mail.

What is more important than gold?

How about true and accurate elections that put into power those who legislate whether you get to keep your gold or not? Seems important.

Chain of Custody.

A key feature of the process of handling things of great value is called the Chain of Custody. Whether it is registered mail, election materials (ballots, equipment), or even evidence to be used in prosecuting a criminal case, unimpeachable Chain of Custody is essential.

The National Voting Rights Task Force says:

According to experts, the only way to know if an electronic vote total has been hacked is for voters to have separately recorded their intended selections on paper and for jurisdictions to then use the paper in a manual audit or recount, the results of which can be compared to the electronic total.

But even manual audits or recounts can be “hacked” if the selections on the paper have been marked by a machine, rather than the voter’s own hand.  And no matter how that paper is marked, manual audits and recounts can be gamed if the chain of custody between election night and the audit or recount has been compromised.

There are many resources for elections. One resource, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is an independent, bipartisan commission whose mission is to help election officials improve the administration of elections and help Americans participate in the voting process. Their guidance, “Best Practices: Chain of Custody,” gives recommendations to election officials. “The chain of custody of ballots, voting equipment, and associated data is essential to ensure the election system remains trustworthy. Documentation of the chain of custody also provides evidence that all voting procedures were followed. It is a best practice for chain of custody procedures to be clearly defined in advance of every election, well documented and followed consistently throughout the entire election lifecycle or process. The key to an effective chain of custody is to have a set of procedures which are followed in practice. The procedures should be in writing with all steps documented.”

It may be important to note that I have yet to find any federal laws with guidance on the specifics of election materials chain of custody. A search of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 for the term “custody” does not yield any results. An internet search of “election laws chain-of-custody” provides guidance from various organizations (a good example here) and some links to individual Secretary of State websites. If there are federal laws, they are not easily found. Time didn’t permit for me to survey each state for specific chain of custody laws related to elections. It appears that a good number of groups that have public-facing sites with material related to the need for and the development of good practices for managing chain-of-custody.

However, when you get into actual county-by-county execution of these procedures the failures are all to common and even shocking. When regular citizens, concerned about their own local county’s handling of election materials simply asked for a copy of the chain of custody procedures in use during a specific election, the response was far from uniform. As anyone in any type of mission-critical work effort would expect, there needs to a least be: (1) a dated, documented procedure that is signed off before it is to be followed for a specific election and (2) checklists with spaces for signing off for the handling of items requiring chain of custody.

Even when a county is required by their state government to provide these prior to an election, the local elections offices sometimes could not provide these procedures when asked. One particular county office provided a non dated, unsigned document and stated that they weren’t sure which election it was for. Either they didn’t know what they were doing, they didn’t have the right person fulfilling the request, or something else. It seems like this would be posted right on their county elections office website (along with all the other elections documents!). In a number of counties that I know of, the elections office claimed there were “no records responsive to the request.” In other words, they are saying that they didn’t have the state mandated chain of custody procedures. How did they get the election certified without it? How did their Secretary of State sign off on the election without it?

Asking for public records, usually referred to as a freedom of information act (FOIA) request can be done by anyone. More recently the number of people taking it upon themselves to get involved in “citizen oversight” has grown to the point that some public officials have started complaining that all these requests are a form of harassment. Really? Why not just publicly publish all of it?

In one state it seems that a number of counties have hired the same particular law firm as “County Counsel” to advise on the handling of election matters. Unfortunately that liberal law firm seems to have been assisting counties to stone-wall access to public records. And in some cases the guidance given to the county board of supervisors was in fact unlawful. I’m not giving examples to prove my point, I’m just offering information that might be helpful to know if someone reading here is considering looking into how their elections are being handled where they live and vote.

In 2016 Bev Harris explained at her site, BlackBoxVoting.org:

Elections chain of custody refers to physical and electronic evidence controls for:

– who can vote
– who did vote
– actual ballots as marked by each voter, and
– evidence transfer and storage

:

Legitimate elections require public “right to know” (freedom of information) to allow the public and the media to authenticate truth of results. Proper chain of custody safeguards are part of the larger concept of political legitimacy.

:

Incurable uncertainty

Handling election records and data must be scrupulously careful in order to demonstrate to the public that there has been no tampering or contamination.

In court cases, chain of custody violations can result in refusal to admit evidence or even throwing a case out. In elections, chain of custody violations can result in “incurable uncertainty” and court orders to redo elections.

Bev Harris discovered election theft in 2002, wrote a book on it (download it here), advocated for change, and now others have carried on her work. The problems are not new, and they have probably grown worse. But now is the time for us to make our own local governments-that oversee the execution of elections–take note that we are asking questions, seeing problems and expecting better oversight. And for those who have been running elections, just knowing that more people are looking into their work appears to have led to some unexpected early retirements. I can’t say that is an indication of guilt, but it does seem significant.

We can’t leave this to others. We can at least try and get informed on what has been found, what has been done, and what more needs to be done. What do you know about elections and chain of custody. Please post your thoughts in the comments. Thanks

We can make a difference.
And we must make a difference.

If not us, who? If not now, when?
There has never been a better time.

Twitterati.

General Mike Flynn (@GEnFlynn) has been talking about citizen oversight for as long as I’ve been paying attention.

Gail and PAVACA are going to love this one (link):

Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.