July 22, 2022 Election Integrity Update
Yesterday 25 Attorney * Litigation "Hold Letters" were emailed out from Attorney Pete Serrano / The Silent Majority Foundation to the counties in Washington State that admit via PRR that 2020 Election Log Records were Entirely Deleted (or are unable to provide) and were not "backed up" in the following counties:
Asotin, Benton, Clallam, Columbia, Cowlitz, Douglas, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Island, King, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Okanagan, Pacific, San Juan, Skagit, Skamania, Snohomish, Stevens, Whatcom and Yakima Counties.
* A litigation "Hold" Letter / Notice is written correspondence directing an entity or an individual to preserve documents and data that may be relevant to a threatened or pending litigation or an official investigation.
For more info and updates see the SkagitRepublicans.com Election Integrity Page
Below is the letter to Skagit County which uses Hart InterCivic voting systems and Whatcom County which uses Clear Ballot voting systems.
_______________________________________________________________________________
July 21, 2022
Attn: Sandra Perkins, Skagit County Auditor
Re: Preservation of Document in Anticipation of Litigation
Dear Auditor Perkins, Our democratic republic cannot survive if citizens believe their vote is nullified by election systems that have the potential for fraud. These systems include the counting of illegal ballots and the negligent or intentionally inaccurate counting of ballots. Additionally, using computers to scan ballots, manipulate the ballot images, and then count the ballot images, has caused increasing doubts as to the legitimacy of our plebiscites. The 2000 Presidential election Florida recount that led to the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision, Hillary Clinton's claims that the Russians caused her 2016 loss to Donald Trump, and Trump’s claims concerning the 2020 election process, have all diminished public trust. Governor Inslee recently championed the cause of election integrity immediately prior to the 2022 Legislative Session as he assisted in introducing Senate Bill 5843, which directly addressed election integrity.The Governor then testified on behalf of the bill. Clearly, election integrity is an issue of high importance to nearly everyone, including the Governor.
Trust in government increases when people find through open investigation that government has complied with the law and the Constitution. Washington’s Public Records Act, RCW 42.56.030, states; public servants do not get to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. When investigation by the people is blocked, the peoples’ ability to dispute the integrity of elections is inhibited, diminishing trust in government, and the validity of elections.
1. Washington and Federal Law Election Record Retention Requirements. Washington law requires that all federal elections records be maintained consistent with federal law. State RCW 29A.60.110, 2 WAC 434-262-200, and Federal laws 52 USC § 20701 and 42 U.S.C. § 1974, require the retention for twenty-two months of “all records and papers ... relating to any ... act requisite to voting.” Violation of this provision stipulates “any officer of election or custodian who willfully fails to comply with this section shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.” The elections officials and custodians, to whom this letter is directed, have failed to comply with the cited laws, and are at risk of such penalties.
2. Hart InterCivic, Inc.’s Impact on the County’s Election Records for the 2020 General Election.
Hart InterCivic, Inc. provided voting systems to sixteen counties in Washington for the 2020 General Election. The system does not count paper ballots. Instead, ballots are scanned, and the ballot images are saved. Then the images are read by the election system and tabulated. If the software is unable to read the ballot selections, the image/record is manipulated through adjudication, and then tabulated. Each step in the process, for purposes of this letter, is termed an “event.” Events are logged for each process within the system in real time. These logs are the record of events that take place within the system while processing and counting the votes. These records must be maintained by counties in compliance with Federal and Washington State law. Our extensive team of professionals, data analysts and volunteers have noted that these logs were no longer available for your county, upon request, through the Washington Public Records Act (RCW 42.56, et. seq.).
3. Skagit County’s Failure to Retain Election Records Compliant with the Law.
A response to a review of a public records request, to the Skagit County Auditor, was received which stated, “Our office upgraded to Verity 2.5 last year. We do not currently have a machine that would allow us to re-install the 2020 election and run the report you are requesting. In order to do so, we would have to pay HART InterCivic to build a machine with the version of Verity required and have it shipped to our office.". June 16, 2022, Gabrielle Clay - CEA, Elections Supervisor, Skagit Co., WA.
You, and each of you, are hereby requested to preserve any and ALL election documents, records and communications pertaining to 2020 elections and after, including but not limited to: The logs generated by the Hart InterCivic system and software; the logs of any other system used by the county to tabulate the ballots; all records referenced by, or associated with those logs; and all electronic and physical storage. If in doubt about whether a document is responsive, retain the document.
Please confirm, within five (5) days of receipt of this letter, your commitment to retain these records. You are also advised that the election records generated in the 2022 election, including log files and associated records, must be retained, and will be requested. Moreover, if you fail to respond to this request, a lawsuit may be filed against your county and each individual who failed to comply with state or federal law. If you have questions on these obligations or our request, do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards,
Pete Serrano
Director/General Council
Cc: Skagit County Elections Dept. Skagit County Commissioners, Skagit County Prosecutor
1 See: Governor Inslee’s statement: Efforts to stop violence fueled by election lies, www.governor.wa.gov/news-media/inslee-statement-efforts-stop-violence-fu... and TVW broadcast on SB 5843 hearing, where Gov. Inslee was the first to testify on behalf of the Bill: 2 The term “ballot” is broad, including paper and electronic images and related material. RCW 29A.04.008. 3 “Voting systems” is used as defined in RCW 29A.12.00
SILENT MAJORITY FOUNDATION 5238 Outlet Dr. Pasco, WA 99301 www.silentmajorityfoundation.org
_______________________________________________________________________________
July 21, 2022
Attn: Diana Bradrick,Whatcom County Auditor
Re: Preservation of Documents in Anticipation of Litigation
Dear Auditor Bradrick,
Our democratic republic cannot survive if citizens believe their vote is nullified by election systems that have the potential for fraud. These systems include the counting of illegal ballots and the negligent or intentionally inaccurate counting of ballots. Additionally, using computers to scan ballots, manipulate the ballot images, and then count the ballot images, has caused increasing doubts as to the legitimacy of our plebiscites.
The 2000 Presidential election Florida recount that led to the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision, Hillary Clinton's claims that the Russians caused her 2016 loss to Donald Trump, and Trump’s claims concerning the 2020 election process, have all diminished public trust. Governor Inslee recently championed the cause of election integrity immediately prior to the 2022 Legislative Session as he assisted in introducing Senate Bill 5843, which directly addressed election integrity. The Governor then testified on behalf of the bill. Clearly, election integrity is an issue of high importance to nearly everyone, including the Governor.
Trust in government increases when people find through open investigation that government has complied with the law and the Constitution. Washington’s Public Records Act, RCW 42.56.030, states; public servants do not get to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. When investigation by the people is blocked, the peoples’ ability to dispute the integrity of elections is inhibited, diminishing trust in government, and the validity of elections.
1. Washington and Federal Law Election Record Retention Requirements. Washington law requires that all federal elections records be maintained consistent with federal law. State RCW 29A.60.110, WAC 434-262-200, and Federal laws 52 USC § 20701 and 42 U.S.C. § 1974, require the retention for twenty-two months of “all records and papers ... relating to any ... act requisite to voting.” Violation of this provision stipulates “any officer of election or custodian who willfully fails to comply with this section shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.” The elections officials and custodians, to whom this letter is directed, have failed to comply with the cited laws, and are at risk of such penalties.
2. Clear Ballot Group, Inc.’s Impact on the County’s Election Records for the 2020 General Election. Clear Ballot Group, Inc. provided their ClearVote voting system3 including the ClearCount software, to 17 counties in Washington for the 2020 General Election. The system does not count paper ballots. Instead, ballots are scanned on the scan station which produces and saves images of the ballots. The images are read by the election system and tabulated during the scanning process. If the ClearCount software is unable to read the ballot selections, the image/record is manipulated through adjudication, and then tabulated. Each step in the process, for purposes of this letter, is termed an “event.” Events are logged for each process within the system in real time. These logs are the record of events that take place within the system while processing and counting the votes.
Clear Ballot’s system creates two logs while the system is running: The Election Activity Log and the Web Activity Log. Some overlapping information exists between the two logs. However, each log contains unique information, and together are considered the audit logs for the ClearCount system. *These records must be maintained by counties in compliance with Federal and Washington State law. Our extensive team of professionals, data analysts and volunteers have noted that these logs were no longer available for your county, upon request, through the Washington Public Records Act (RCW 42.56, et. seq.).
3. Whatcom County’s Failure to Retain Election Records Compliant with the Law. In response to a review of a public records request, Karen N. Frakes, Whatcom County Chief Civil Deputy, spoke with the Auditor, who confirmed the record was deleted, stating, “The Web Activity Log is only available for past elections if we are running on the same version of Clear Ballot. Once we upgrade to a new version, the Web Activity Log is no longer available. We upgraded in 2021 to a new version of Clear Ballot, so any Web Activity Logs that are needed for elections before this date will not be available. These logs are not part of the system backup, so they aren’t available there either. This situation has been verified with the vendor.”
You, and each of you, are hereby requested to preserve any and ALL election documents, records and communications pertaining to 2020 elections and after, including but not limited to: The logs generated by the ClearCount voting system computers and software; the logs of any other system used by the county to tabulate the ballots; all records referenced by, or associated with those logs; and all electronic and physical storage. If in doubt about whether a document is responsive, retain the document. Please confirm, within five (5) days of receipt of this letter, your commitment to retain these records. You are also advised that the election records generated in the 2022 election, including log files and associated records, must be retained, and will be requested. Moreover, if you fail to respond to this request, a lawsuit may be filed against your county and each individual who failed to comply with state or federal law. If you have questions on these obligations or our request, do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards,
Pete Serrano Director/General Council
Cc: Whatcom County Elections Dept. Whatcom County Councilmembers Whatcom County Prosecutor
* According to Clear Ballots Documentation [ClearCount Functionality Description 1.3.2.2 pages 21-22]
SILENT MAJORITY FOUNDATION 5238 Outlet Dr. Pasco, WA 99301
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