At a press conference on Thursday, in an ongoing quest to give the residents of North Carolina a greater sense of security and more election transparency, the North Carolina House Freedom Caucus discussed how they have gone through the paces to seek transparency about how the machines work, which tabulated voters ballots in the 2020 election, and someone who is threatening them if they continue their investigation.
” Today we are talking about the voting processes. We have had two meetings with the State Board of Elections, staff was accommodating and the machine manufacturers permitted an investigation of the machines and modems. ES and L would allow the inspection we requested, they seemed eager to assure the public, but there was pushback by the State Board of Elections.
We have received a letter from Ms. Karen Brinson Bell, Executive Director State Board of Elections, of the State Board of Elections, that was accusatory in tone, accusing us of misinformation. She has told county election directions that if I , or any member of the Freedom House Caucus show up they should contact Board of Election lawyers,” Ketih Kidwell(R-Beaufort, Craven) , Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said.
“We want legal votes to count and to have no illegal vote to count. Even Facebook fact-checkers never questioned our posts about these matters, on social media posts, however, a wall with a threat of lawyers has been placed in our way,” Kidwell said.
“Everyone wants to cooperate except for Brinson Bell, who is the only one who is putting up obstacles to us doing what the people have asked us to do,” Kidwell said.
Kidwell held a press conference to discuss the letter his group received from Brinson Bell, after altering the public, in June, that they would investigate the DS200 tabulators manufactured by Election Systems and Software (ES&S) used in the 2020 election and that their investigation was not based on the belief there was a fraud, but that it was based on general public concern.
So what could the Board of Elections be trying to hide?
It is interesting to note here that Brinson Bell was a central figure in changing the elections laws alongside Marc Ellias, when the state was in early voting, triggering then Lt. Governor Dan Forrest to contact William J. Barr of the Department of Justice and to cause one Board of Election employee to walk off his job in protest to the illegal law changes regarding absentee ballots at the time. *(see Further Reading Below)
The following is a partial text of the letter Kidwell received from Binson Bell:
Re: Request for Access to Voting Systems
“We respectfully decline your request to inspect voting equipment used for elections in the state for the reasons specified below. “
An email from Rep. Kidwell indicates that ES&S is “willing to take any machine the Freedom Caucus accesses back to their factory and recertify the system at no cost to the state.” We have spoken to several top ES&S officials, and they stated that they were unaware of any commitment by the company to take
To that end, the State Board does not permit members of the public to access, manipulate, or disassemble certified voting equipment. Under Rule 08 NCAC 04 .0306, county boards of elections are responsible for the safekeeping, storage, maintenance, and care of voting equipment. Voting systems must be stored in a location such that “access is restricted to county board of elections staff and the system cannot be tampered with when not in use on Election Day.”
The State Board has received no credible evidence that the certified results are not accurate, and elected officials from both sides of the aisle have stated that the 2020 general election in North Carolina was conducted fairly. We will not allow misinformation about voting systems or any other aspect of elections to dictate our priorities in administering elections. Neither the State Board’s Investigations Division nor any law enforcement agency in our state has received credible evidence that modems caused a single issue in the 2020 election in North Carolina.
North Carolina elections officials at the state and county levels work extremely hard to secure elections for the state’s 7 million registered voters, and we strive to improve upon those efforts every day. We do not intend to partake in nor perpetuate, myths and falsehoods about voting systems or elections. To that end, we’ve created a “Combating Misinformation” webpage to respond to inaccuracies about elections, which greatly affect voter confidence. We encourage all voters to go to the State Board website, NCSBE.gov, or reach out to their bipartisan state and county elections officials for accurate information about elections. For more information about election security in North Carolina, please read the “Election Security” section of our website.”
Full Letter: Correspondence_FreedomCaucus_Modems_07072021
Kidwell addressed the press.
“People want to know that their vote counted and that is what we are trying to do for them. We want to see the inside of the machines, and we want to be able to tell the people that there is nothing there. We need transparency,” Kidwell said in response to a media question about why he wants to see the machines.
“Ms. Bell is putting up a wall and we are going to go through that wall because we have oversight over this. I am inviting Ms. Bell to meet with us. We are not saying there is a problem, we are saying there is not a problem, but the public is concerned and we want to show them they have nothing to worry about. We want to show that there is not a problem,” Kidwell said.
“We are the General Assembly. We make the laws. We are being denied access to something we should have access to,” Rep. Edward Goodwin (R-Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Perquimans, Tyrrell, Washington) said.
Further Reading:
I broke the story for Gateway Pundit that went viral about the original announcement of the investigation:
BACKGROUND
Karen Brinson Bell hearing on Election integrity:
North Carolina altered the nation to the Marc Elias’ activity in changing election law without the consent of the state legislators early on:
NC top Conservative Senator, Phil Berger altered the public the Democrat’s schemes by Marc Elias while early voting was going on in the state:
The tactics that activist lawyer Marc Elias employed to cause a massive influx of absentee ballots around the country, especially in strategic areas.
Kari is an ex-Community Organizer who writes about Cultural Marxism, grassroots activism, music, IndyCar racing and political campaigns. @Saorsa1776