Kathryn Dodge, the Democrat who ran for House District 1 against Republican Bart LeBon, has asked the Division of Elections to count.
Through her attorneys, she states that the loose ballot from Precinct 6 should be counted “unless there is conclusive evidence supporting its disqualification.”
“There is one ballot that appears to have been cast in Fairbanks Precit 6, but which was not counted or included in the results that were certified on Monday, November 26. You [Division Director Josie Bahnke] indicated that the Division was ‘still investigating’ that ballot and that no determination has been made whether to count it. We understand this decision to continue the investigation was not a final determination on whether to include the ballot in the recount.”
The ballot had been cast for Dodge, and it tipped the race from a tie vote to a win, by that one vote. But the ballot was found outside the voting machine, and didn’t have accompanying paperwork.
The Democrats believe the ballot should be counted because there isn’t conclusive evidence that the ballot was illegally cast. They say the decision should always be made in favor of counting ballots. The letter sets the Democrats up to sue over the results if the ballot is not counted.
[Read: District 1 certified as a tie]
The Democrats surmise that the ballot was either given to a poll worker who misplaced it or was placed in the box with “questioned ballots,” rather than in the optical scanner.
They say this explains why 366 ballots were issued, but only 365 were counted. The stray ballot makes up for the one apparent missing ballot.
Republicans say that the ballot showed up mysteriously and the chain of custody of that ballot is in question. To say that that particular ballot is the missing one is purely speculative, since the ballot showed up the Friday after the Tuesday, Nov. 6 election.
A machine recount of the District 1 race takes place in Juneau on Friday, at approximately 10 am. There’s no word yet on whether that stray ballot will be added to the mix.
Here’s the letter from the attorneys for Kathryn Dodge:
In recent election challenges in court, the decision has gone in favor of the decision made by the Division of Elections. In 2016, in spite of extensive evidence of fraud, Judge Philip Pallenberg allowed the District 40 results to stand, giving the win to the Democrat — a win that was accomplished with multiple proven instances of double voting.
Is this letter a threat? “You better count the vote Ms. Bahnke, or……” Looks like a whole lot of bullying to me. Kind of scary what they will do to win. Sad thing is I don’t think you would have to convince her too much. But please, let’s do what’s right – and I don’t mean republican – I mean what’s correct. Let’s not count votes that we find laying around that don’t have a chain of custody! Who wouldn’t want that? Is it December 3rd yet?
The letter is typical mumbo jumbo legalese that any 1st year law student could put together. Make a few threats, apply a little case law that is insignificant and not on point, and print it on fancy law firm stationary. Then, charge Kathy Dodge (or the state Democrat party) a few thousand bucks, pray the Democrats are still in charge of Elections Division on Friday morning and be ready to make one final gratuitous act to one of their desperate own. We all know how it works with Democrats.
So, Mr. LeBon, please hire your own law firm and provide them with this case: BUSH v. GORE, 531 U.S. 98 (2000).
This is not magic or rocket science. Kathy Dodge claims that Precinct #6 in Fairbanks District 1 had a mysterious “ballot that should be counted unless conclusive evidence supports disqualification.”
The holding in Bush v. Gore supports the proposition that different standards in counting ballots, AND that a manual recount of votes seeking to meet a “safe harbor” deadline is UNCONSTITUTIONAL under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The Florida Supreme Court was reversed under the application of the U.S. Constitution Article 3, Amended XIV; 3 USC Sec. 5.
The runaway ballot from Precinct #6 was improperly placed and improperly jacketed, and mysteriously arrived after the counting officially ended. This is conclusive evidence that there is an attempt by Kathy Dodge and Democrats to overcount and apply different tabulation standards within the voting precincts of District 1. This clearly violates the constitutional rights of Mr. LeBon under the 14th Amendment, and can only he viewed as an attempt to steal an election. The ballot must be disqualified.
ORDER: Rogue ballots, which have been misplaced and improperly attended at official polling locations, will not be tabulated in Alaska elections and therefore be disqualified.
Good luck, Mr. LeBon. Hope you win, and stick it to the cheaters.
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