Tag: elections

Wisconsin Election in Jeopardy? Concerned Clerk Sounds Alarm on Absentee Ballot Vulnerabilities

A Wisconsin election clerk has come forward with a chilling warning about major vulnerabilities in the state’s absentee ballot system, raising urgent concerns about election integrity just weeks before a crucial Supreme Court election.

Fearing retaliation and job loss, the clerk remains anonymous but reached out to The Gateway Pundit in a desperate plea to expose a serious threat to election security.

According to this whistleblower, a primary election glitch involving the state’s electronic voter registration system, Badger Books, could serve as a preview of potential fraud in the upcoming election.

“We had a glitch with Badger Books on Tuesday, February 18, that really got me thinking and worried to the hilt. I am happy to go into great detail. It is not nuanced and it all falls on clerks and the trustworthiness of our larger areas–Milwaukee and Dane Counties,” the clerk said.

On February 18, Badger Books reportedly malfunctioned by checking in absentee ballots that had never been returned, creating an erroneous voter turnout rate of up to 27% in some townships.

The whistleblower describes a deeply flawed absentee ballot process that appears ripe for abuse. Here’s how it works:

  • A voter requests an absentee ballot online or by calling their clerk. The request is processed through BadgerBooks, and the clerk prints labels for the ballot.
  • The ballot is mailed to the voter, recorded as sent, and then recorded again when returned.
  • However, there is nothing stopping election officials from printing duplicate ballot labels, tracking unreturned ballots, and fabricating votes with forged signatures and fake witnesses.

“There is no signature verification, no ID matching an address, and nothing preventing someone from printing extra labels and submitting fraudulent ballots.” the clerk warns.

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Democracy Dies In Romania… After ‘Winning’ In December, Georgescu Now Banned From May Presidential Election

Is Romania the canary in the ‘death of democracy’ coalmine?

After today’s news, that canary – along with ‘democracy’ – is well and truly dead.

In a stunning turn of events – that we have a feeling could backfire disastrously on the elite establishment – Romania has barred far-right frontrunner Calin Georgescu from running in May’s presidential election, in a move that could worsen the country’s political turmoil.

The Bucharest-based electoral bureau invalidated Georgescu’s candidacy, a spokesman from the bureau said on Sunday. 

It received more than 1,000 challenges to Georgescu’s candidacy mostly related to his so-called anti-democratic and extremist stances. 

The decision can still be appealed at the Constitutional Court.

The decision to eliminate Georgescu from the May 4 presidential race will likely deepen Romania’s anti-establishment mood and benefit the far-right. 

Polls showed that had Georgescu run, he would’ve garnered between 40% and 45% of the vote in the first round, giving him a real chance of becoming Romania’s president.

Georgescu submitted his candidacy for May’s election – as an independent – reminding voters of the utter farce he has been through over the last coupel of months:

“Everyone is watching Romania and how the corrupt system acted,” said Georgescu on Friday, adding that he thought it’s impossible for his name not to be on the ballot’s list of candidates.

“They can’t afford to repeat the mistake.”

Well, they did!

As a reminder, after emerging victorious from the first round of voting in November’s presidential election, Romania’s top court in December to annul the outcome of last year’s presidential vote, which cited suspicions of Russian meddling (via TikTok!?) in his campaign.

Following their decision, the Black Sea bordering nation tumbled into its biggest political crisis since the collapse of communism. 

The decision has also buoyed the success of Romania’s extremist parties, in a country already disillusioned with the political mainstream, prompting massive protests nationwide…

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Utah GOP to End Universal Mail-In Voting, Moves to Restore Election Integrity

Utah Republicans are making a stand for election security, passing legislation that will dramatically change how mail-in ballots are handled in the state. The GOP-controlled Legislature has approved legislation that would end universal mail-in voting and implement stronger voter identification requirements. The bill now awaits the signature of Republican Governor Spencer Cox, who has already signaled his support.

For years, Utah has been one of the few Republican-led states that embraced universal mail-in voting, which automatically sends ballots to every registered voter. But amid growing concerns about election integrity, particularly from voters who have watched election chaos unfold in other states, Utah lawmakers are taking action to tighten security measures and stop potential absentee ballot fraud.

Eight states and Washington, D.C., allow all elections to be conducted entirely by mail: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington state.

Five Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing the bill, which passed with veto-proof margins in the House and fell one vote short of a veto-proof majority in the Senate.

Democrat State Sen. Nate Blouin was quoted by the Associated Press as saying Republicans were “conspiracy thinking” around election security.

Under the new Utah law, voters who wish to receive mail-in ballots must opt-in, rather than having ballots sent to them automatically. This represents a major shift from the current system, which many critics argue is vulnerable to fraud and manipulation. Additionally, the bill strengthens voter ID requirements, requiring anyone returning a ballot by mail or drop box to provide the last four digits of their driver’s license, state ID, or Social Security number.

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Detroit Activist Brings 80 Citizens To DC To Plead With Lawmakers To Help Fix Stolen Elections In Their Crooked City: “The false narrative that only whites think elections are being stolen—that’s a fabrication!”

Longtime Detroit activist Ramon Jackson, who is currently running for a seat on Detroit’s city council, joined the popular Detroit Pastor Lorenzo Sewell, to bring an estimated 80 Detroit residents by bus to Washington, D.C. on Thursday. Their goal is to shine a bright light on rampant voter fraud in the black-majority city of Detroit. Larry Jasper and Craig Jefferson from Pontiac, MI, which is also a black-majority city, accompanied the Detroit delegation to help bring attention to their city’s broken elections. Election integrity expert and former Trump attorney Cleta Mitchell, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), Rep Mark Miller (R-IN), and Rep.Josh Breechan (R-OK), joined the Detroit contingent to discuss the importance of the SAVE Act to protect our elections by requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship to vote in every state.

In his speech in front of 3 US lawmakers, none of whom were from Michigan, Mr. Jackson spoke about a lawsuit against Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey and Michigan’s dirty SOS Jocelyn Benson, that is currently pending in the 6th District Court. Jackson said he hopes to get a Republican jury to hear his case, because he believes they will be more fair when it comes to taking voter fraud seriously in Detroit.

Ramone also told the crowd that the narrative that only White Republicans care about voter fraud is a lie, as he pointed to the 80 + Black Detroit citizens who accompanied him to DC, hoping to get lawmakers to help them stop the ridiculous, unchecked voter fraud in Detroit and the state of Michigan.

He explained how the names of people who move out of state or to a new address are being used by others to cast illegal votes. Mr. Jackson knows what he’s talking about since he was a victim of identity theft when someone voted in the city of Detroit using his name while he was living in Ohio for a short period. Jackson has discovered dozens of examples of friends or acquaintances who’ve told him they’ve never voted, yet Jackson has found their names on the Detroit voter rolls showing they’ve voted in one or more elections.

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Vote-Buying Scheme Exposed: Stacey Abrams Admits on MSNBC Biden EPA Handed Her $2 Billion to Buy New Home Appliances to Reduce Electric Bills Just Months Before the Election

In a jaw-dropping admission on MSNBC, failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams proudly revealed that the Biden administration’s EPA funneled nearly $2 billion into a program she spearheaded to replace home appliances—just in time for an election year.

During an interview with left-wing host Chris Hayes, Abrams proudly recounted how the Biden administration greenlit her project, Vitalizing DeSoto, a so-called “climate justice” initiative that handed out free home appliances to a select group of residents in a small Georgia town.

But the real bombshell? This taxpayer-funded windfall was part of a larger effort to implement the Democrats’ radical climate agenda under the guise of “helping” Americans with their electric bills.

President Donald Trump, in a fiery rebuke, called out the scheme for what it is—a politically motivated slush fund designed to curry favor with voters using taxpayer dollars.

“Take a $1.9 billion to recently created Decarbonization of Homes Committee headed up—and we know she’s involved. Just at the last moment, the money was passed over by a woman named Stacey Abrams. Have you ever heard of her?” Trump said during his joint address to Congress.

Rather than deny her involvement, Abrams openly confirmed it, boasting that her pilot program successfully provided government-funded appliances to 75% of DeSoto’s residents.

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Romania – The first “post-election” democracy?

In December 2024, a Romanian court cancelled the second round of the planned Presidential election and annulled the completed first round, citing (totally theoretical) “Russian interference”.

This caused massive protests in Romania, as you can imagine. The first round had been won by right winger Călin Georgescu following a social media-based campaign, and he was predicted to quite easily win the second round as well.

The Romanian opposition – denied a likely victory – took their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Then, earlier today, the ECHR threw the case out without even hearing it. Apparently, the Romanian courts were perfectly within their rights to simply indefinitely postpone their election on the basis of unproven allegations, and all those people who already voted and wanted to vote again can just go to hell.

This is the ECHR, which lectures the world on rights and democratic norms on the regular.

And everyone is apparently just fine with it. It’s crazy.

Imagine the outrage in the media if Putin or Trump had suddenly cancelled elections they looked like losing because “they weren’t going to be fair”.

Anyway, now Călin Georgescu has been arrested, and his supporters are taking to the streets, while  the Romanian government is set to crack down on “conspiracy theories” and other “misinformation”.

This anti-election narrative is growing outside of Romania too.

Ukraine, of course, hasn’t had any elections in years either. They also outlawed certain political parties, religions and television channels. Meanwhile, laundering billions of dollars/pounds/euros through the Ukrainian government to boost the bottom line of arms manufacturers is considered “defending democracy”.

Last month, former EU chairman Thierry Breton remarked that they had already had to cancel the Romanian elections, and might have to do the same in Germany. (As it happens the “right side” won in Germany, so I guess that election was fair).

To a smaller extent, nine local elections across the UK have been “postponed” for at least a year for unknown reasons.

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Ohio GOP Lawmaker Files Bill To Revise Voter-Approved Marijuana Law With Less Sweeping Changes Than Senate-Passed Measure

A Republican Ohio lawmaker has introduced a rival bill to Senate-passed legislation that seeks to amend the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law. And the proposed changes in the House measure are less sweeping—for example, maintaining the current allowable amount of cannabis plans that can be grown at home by adults.

Rep. Brian Stewart (R), chair of the House Finance Committee, is sponsoring the new 120-page cannabis bill.

Unlike the Senate proposal from Sen. Steve Huffman (R) that moved through the full chamber late last month, Stewart’s legislation would not alter a provision of the current law allowing adults 21 and older to grow up to 12 plants for personal use by cutting that amount in half.

However, it would reduce the maximum THC limit for cannabis extracts from 90 percent to 70 percent, as News 5 Cleveland first reported.

The Senate bill would lower the maximum household plant limit for home cultivation from 12 to six, but it similarly calls for the same reduced THC cap. Both bills would also make it so only 350 dispensaries could be licensed in the state.

“While there will obviously continue to be good faith debate and disagreement over the pros and cons of legalization, a majority of our constituents have made it clear to us that they support legal adult-use marijuana that is taxed at a reasonable rate, that is regulated by the state to ensure products are as safe as possible and that can, if desired, be grown at home,” Stewart said during a press briefing on Thursday.

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Marijuana Consumers Are Under Attack In Multiple States, And It’s Time To Fight Back

Seventy percent of Americans, including majorities of Democratic and Republican voters, say that marijuana should be legal for adults. Yet this legislative session, lawmakers from both parties are placing cannabis consumers in their crosshairs.

In Republican-led states like Montana, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota, lawmakers are seeking to either repeal or significantly roll back voter-approved legalization laws. In Democrat-led states like California, Maryland, Michigan and New Jersey, lawmakers are seeking to undermine existing legalization markets by drastically hiking marijuana-related taxes.

In all cases, elected officials are treating cannabis consumers as targets, not constituents.

These concerted attacks on state-legal marijuana markets are an explicit reminder that the war on cannabis and its consumers remains ongoing and, in some cases, is escalating. Our opponents haven’t gone away; in many cases they’ve simply regrouped and tweaked their strategies–such as by advocating for arbitrary THC potency caps or calling for new criminal penalties for consumers who don’t obtain their cannabis from state-licensed dispensaries.

Those who oppose legalization have also become bolder and more cynical in their tactics. No longer convinced that they can win the hearts and minds of voters, they are now frequently seeking to remove them from the equation altogether.

Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers in South Dakota sought to repeal the state’s voter-initiated medical cannabis access law, despite 70 percent of voters having approved it. The effort failed, but only by a single vote.

In Nebraska, lawmakers are also considering legislation to roll back that state’s voter-approved medical marijuana law and the state’s Republican attorney general has urged lawmakers to ignore the election results altogether.

In Ohio, GOP lawmakers in the Senate recently approved legislation to rescind many of the legalization provisions approved by voters in 2023. Changes advanced by lawmakers include limiting home-cultivation rights, imposing THC potency limits and creating new crimes for adults who share cannabis with one another or who purchase cannabis products from out of state.

In Texas, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued several cities, including Dallas, for implementing voter-approved ordinances decriminalizing marijuana possession. As a result, local lawmakers in various municipalities–including Lockhart and Bastrop–are ignoring voters’ decisions to rethink their marijuana policies rather than face potential litigation.

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Rep. Pete Sessions to Introduce Make Elections Secure Act – Would Eliminate Voting Machines and Ensure Hand-Marked Paper Ballots – Severely Restrict Mail-in Voting

The Gateway Pundit has obtained a draft copy of the Make Elections Secure Act (MESA), authored by Representative Pete Sessions (TX-17), which would repeal the outdated Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002.

Among other things, it would also almost entirely eliminate electronic voting machines and ensure each voter casts their ballot on a hand-marked paper ballot with a manual hand-count.  Exceptions for machine use would be permitted for voters requiring accessibility accommodations due to disabilities.

The bill, which would also apply to primary elections, also “restrict[s] mailed ballots to specific eligible voters with stringent verification process.”  As of now, those are outlined as active-duty military stationed outside their voting jurisdiction and those with a physician-certified medical condition that would prevent in-person voting.

MESA would also provide accountability to the public by ensuring “maximum transparency by providing public access to all election processes and comprehensive Election Data, including unscrambled ballot images and cast vote records, with at least five days for officials to upload data.”

During the 2020 election and those ensuing, election officials often denied access to certain public records or quoted exorbitant prices for public records requests.  Garland Favorito and VoterGa have been engaged in a years-long battle to simply examine the physical paper ballots in the state of Georgia for the 2020 Election, despite a Supreme Court ruling that VoterGa did, in fact, have standing to bring their case.  That decision was made in December of 2022, sending the case back to the lower courts where it’s been waiting for an assignment ever since.

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Canary in the Coal Mine: Romania’s Dying Democracy

The commitment of Washington’s European allies to democracy is increasingly fragile, if not hypocritical, as Vice President J D Vance highlighted in his speech to the Munich Security Conference last month. That problem is most acute in Romania. In the first round of the country’s presidential election on November 24, 2024, Calin Georgescu, the candidate of a right-wing populist party, unexpectedly led the field. In addition to having populist social views, Georgescu is an outspoken critic of NATO. His “apostasy” on that issue makes him especially unacceptable to Romania’s political establishment and its U.S. supporters.

The United States was already busily expanding its Mihail Kogalniceanu military base at Constanta in southeastern Romania to eclipse even Washington’s long-time principal European base, Ramstein, in Germany. The expanded facility in Romania would be 50 percent larger than Ramstein, and it would bring a massive U.S. military presence much closer to Russia. U.S. and Romanian officials were not pleased about the prospect of having those plans aborted by a new, less friendly government in Bucharest.

To make matters even worse for the two parties in the current governing coalition, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), both of them failed to place a candidate in the runoff round. Instead, Elena Lasconi, a reformer representing another “minor” party took the other runoff spot. Thus, the establishment parties would not be able to focus their fire exclusively on Georgescu in the hope of inflicting a decisive defeat on the maverick.  Instead, whichever outsider prevailed in the runoff would not be from the usual governing elite or be a reliable client of the United States and its NATO partners.

The response of the beleaguered establishment forces was to get the country’s election commission, which the PSD and PNL dominated, to nullify the first round election results.  Romania’s Constitutional Court, which the PSD and PNL also dominated, ratified the election commission’s edict just two days before the runoff round was to be held. Instead, the Court rescheduled that round for May 4, 2025.  Both the Commission and the Court alleged that the election had been tainted by “Russian interference.” However, neither body cited tangible evidence of such interference on Moscow’s part, much less established that the alleged meddling was sufficiently egregious to nullify the election results. As New York Times reporter Andrew Higgins concluded: “The court’s intervention came after Romania’s security service released declassified intelligence reports that pointed to possible Russian interference in the election campaign but provided no solid evidence of that.”

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