First they are laughin', then they start askin'! (2023 Year in Review)

From the lens of election reform, let’s take a moment to celebrate the small victories, the necessary steps on the path toward responsible, accountable government.

The 93rd Legislature made it clear its stance on centralized election control. Felon rights, registration for 16- and 17-year-olds, and automatic permanent opt-in for absentee mail-in ballot delivery were just three head-turners.

Close to my heart was the amendment to ban the release of the ballot image portion of cast vote records. Yet another was the amendment to Minnesota Statute 206.58 to remove the choice that counties have in whether to use electronic voting tabulation equipment. For what it’s worth, this statute violates the constitution as it is an ex post facto instance—counties would not have known that the previous choice was going to be binding.

(We really do have too many laws combined with a cowardly lawyer class and corrupt courts system. Fortunately, I do take heart in the belief that a legal reformation is on the way as indicated by the NextGen Bar Exam, already adopted by several states for 2026, dropping content antithetical to Constitutional Law.)

Looking at Minnesota election codes, the bright spots are that paper pollbooks are still allowed. It is actually required by Minnesota Statute 201.225 that a paper backup system be in place even if expensive electronic rosters (iPads with KnowInk software, for example) are being used.

Having traveled to a number of counties in 2022 during the 96-day secretary of state campaign, I put fewer miles on the car this year, but did attend Lindell’s Election Crime Bureau event in Springfield, Missouri, where friends from Crow Wing County, Clay County, and Mille Lacs County joined me.

It was a good convention with people from all 50 states in the union. I truly hope and half-expect this to be the last of that type of convention (3 is a good number). For why, I can now safely point you to the work of Derek Johnson, known online as RattleTrap1776, because I cannot at this time lay out the military occupancy and continuity of operations plan, both in effect as proven by current bipartisan legislation, better than he has, though I touch on some of that here.

Meanwhile, even with that context, it was, I think, a good year for local organizing and action. We are seeing that while most county boards are hesitant or non-responsive to election reform ideas, that by contrast city councils and township boards are eager to take control of their elections. Home-grown elections, a term I borrow from friends in the ACEIT group in Anoka County, are not only welcome, but I think necessary, if elections are to be verifiably trustworthy in the short and long run.

The people of Morrison stopped a clever plan by county staff to appoint an auditor instead of elect one by working together to collect thousands of signatures.

In Crow Wing, the people of Cross Lake have persuaded their city council to have their own ballot boards in upcoming elections. This means they will have control and oversight over their own absentee and mail-in ballots. This process has largely been forfeited (outsourced) up to the county level, thereby potentially decreasing ballot security from the perspective of the local municipal or township clerks.

Recently, I saw a number of representatives and senators at the Minnesota Republican Party State Central Committee meeting at Minnehaha Academy on December 9, 2023, some of whom voted to keep the Chair who is in my opinion a kind of puppet doing the bidding of others.

One of the senators had previously declined to put election legislation on the table, even if I wrote it. I wonder if any will want to help the people in 2024? (This has steadily occurred in some other states in the union.)

Back in March, I’d witnessed and helped to change what were in my opinion deliberate tally errors in an Excel spreadsheet used in SD50 elections, an important district in the heart of the Twin Cities and home to the headquarters of the MNGOP. Interestingly, it turned out that one of the new Chairs had relations to Tom Emmer which perhaps explained the reluctance to properly audit the results. At the time, my observation, which caught the errors in the officer elections, was interfered with and suddenly an unexpected result occurred in the State Central Delegate elections. As if it could not get any more obvious, those ballots, and only those ballots, were apparently shredded within 24 hours. That means at least one State Central Delegate should not have been at August and December meetings. In meetings where about 300 people are voting, each vote matters quite a bit.

The MNGOP remains at the center of election fraud in Minnesota by failing to correct the illegal removal of delegates in many precincts way back in 2022 following the precinct caucuses. Although it was barely mentioned (in about five seconds, at the SCC meeting), the Republican Party of Minnesota faces continued pressure from lawsuits that are likely to keep their lawyers busy and the members of the press who don’t understand that the MNGOP leadership is actually on their side, happily writing articles about this major political party’s dysfunction. (In my opinion, this dysfunction and incompetency can at this point only be by design.)

If republican voters wish to change things, they simply need to show up in significant numbers at the precint caucuses on February 27th to vote themselves and known allies in as delegates. (This can happen on the DFL side as well.) Then, the new BPOU delegates can recall the State Central Delegates who recently voted in favor of keeping a Chair who seems comfortable continuing to cover up clear violations of Minnesota election law. It’s really that simple, purely from the political involvement perspective. It’s, as it is said, a numbers game, and while there are a large number of people willing to cut corners, there are many more who are not okay with that.

When clear cut wins feel few and far between, remember the context. There are multiple layers to this movement: military, special operations, psychological, spiritual, political. Not everything is always as it seems. (Sorry, logicians will, hopefully, appreciate the understatement in the previous sentence! All this studying for the LSAT is having me decode writing and speech all the more.)

What’s more, in Minnesota, we are not alone. Just look to the west. Our neighbors in South Dakota are doing quite well! They have been a huge thorn in ES&S’s side, validly tarnishing the popular vendor’s reputation. (About 85% of Minnesota 87 counties have contracts directly with ES&S or through the Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust, whose headquarters I visited this year in St. Paul to pick up requested documents.)

But not only have the teams in South Dakota picked apart ES&S, they’ve also managed to elect one of their own to auditor role in the largest-population county! Check out USCASE.org to see progress on hand count studies as well. That site is run by Rick Weible, an “election denier”, whatever that means, who in 2016 as Mayor of St. Bonifacius, within minutes hacked into the KnowInk electronic poll pad during the product pitch, and then declined to sign the contract, making his municipality the only one in Hennepin County to pass on the dubious equipment. (If that’s what makes someone an “election denier”, please bring me more more election deniers!)

There’s often more to say, but it’s best to focus on what’s important, what we can do each day. All of that good work adds up!

If you’ve been doing good work and you want to get the word out, please let me know!

If you want to help out specifically with local election reform, go to Cause of America and input your email address. We’ll get you plugged in. In the meantime, recognize who in your local area you can count on, based on their actions, not words, and consider meeting with those people regularly, perhaps at your county commissioner meetings, perhaps at your township or city council meetings. To see examples of that being done, visit https://projectminnesota.com/anoka.

At the end of this is, I believe, is peace, at least on this planet. My guess is there is contention beyond it. If that is true, it seems reasonable to establish unity here to strengthen our position. That contention likely goes back thousands of years, if we can even trust the relatively near-term history. I don’t think it was an accident that our very DNA became center stage in recent years.

But let’s take things one step at a time, if you like. I hope you enjoy the time with family this season and seek the blessings inherent in the light of one another.

And if anyone tries to get you down for your insights, remember what I learned from a fisherman in Missouri, “First they are laughin’, then they start askin’!”