Times Standard (Eureka)

Election integrity

- Matthew Owen resides in Eureka, and believes the First Amendment allows for free speech.

This week, a former Trump campaign staffer said, “It was Rudy (Giuliani) and these misfit characters who started calling the shots. The campaign was throwing enough s—t at the wall to see what would stick.” If you believe and value our election integrity, you should be furious.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any crazier, Trump created an alternate road to crazy town as we learned the Trump clown car was on fire. We now have documented proof of election fraud in the 2020 election. Unfortunat­ely, all the fraud was committed by the Trump campaign. I’m not sure why it took over a year for this informatio­n to come out for the various states.

The United States Constituti­on is set up so that the presidenti­al winner of each state gets all that state’s electoral votes for the Electoral College. Since Biden won the battlegrou­nd states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvan­ia and Wisconsin, he won all those state’s elector votes and effectivel­y won the Electoral College.

Desperate people do desperate things and no one was more desperate than Trump. The Trump campaign with their lackeys of Rudy Giuliani decided to come out with alternate (fake) GOP electors in those seven states, even though Trump lost the popular vote in every one of those states. Never before in the history of our country, and hopefully never again, will any presidenti­al candidate stoop to such election fraud.

Under federal law, after states certify their presidenti­al balloting, electors for the winning candidate are required to meet in their state capitals on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. In 2020, that date was Dec. 14. Giuliani and his cronies had numerous meetings and calls between the Trump campaign and those seven GOP state operatives. These seven GOP state officials met on Dec. 14 and circulated drafts of fake certificat­es that were ultimately submitted to the National Archives and Congress. The GOP submitted signed certificat­es as “alternate electors” in those seven states that Trump lost claiming they were “duly elected and qualified” to represent their states. Only problem was, they weren’t. Biden won, Trump lost. It was fraud. Note: the fake electoral documents in Pennsylvan­ia and New Mexico had the caveat that they were only alternate electors in waiting if Trump’s legal challenges prevailed in the courts. Considerin­g Trump lost 62.5 of 63 postelecti­on lawsuits, including two Supreme Court lawsuits that were thrown out, there was no legal challenge.

The scheme was part of Trump’s plan to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to throw out the Biden Democratic electors in those seven states and replace them with the Republican fake electors when Congress met on January 6th to formally count the electoral votes. In other words, “fraud”. Dana Nessel, Michigan’s Attorney General, has been investigat­ing the submission of fake GOP electors for a year. “This is a crime. This is election fraud.” She said, “The evidence points toward a coordinate­d effort to convene GOP electors in multiple states Trump lost and have them declare themselves authentic electors for that state.” She noted that the forms the fake electors used in those seven different states were nearly identical, from their wording to their fonts.

Some pro-Trump allies are referring to “The Hawaiian Factor” as a precedent. In 1960, the initial election results showed that Richard Nixon had narrowly won Hawaii. Even so, three Democratic electors from Hawaii met to cast votes for John F. Kennedy while a recount was underway. Those Democratic electors submitted those results to Congress and the National Archives, the clearingho­use for elector certificat­es. The recount ultimately reversed the outcome, showing Kennedy defeated Nixon by fewer than 200 votes. The state’s governor then certified the Democratic slate. On Jan. 6, 1961, the Democratic electors from Hawaii were counted by Congress, with Nixon, then Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vice president, presiding over his own election loss. The main difference in 2020 was Biden won Michigan by over 158,000 votes, Biden won Wisconsin by over 20,000 votes, and Biden won both Arizona and Georgia by over 10,000 votes. Not even close.

Between Trump calling the Georgia and Arizona secretarie­s of state “to find votes” for him, Trump writing a draft executive order for the military to seize the voting machines in states he lost, having Mike “Pillow” at a White House meeting to promote martial law, the majority of Americans are thrilled the clown car left Washington, D.C. It’s back to 24/7 bash Biden on Fox.

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