VirginiaCottage

Woman who served as a poll watcher in NYC says the voting process was “sketchy.” She began observing the audit after the election, but says election officials were extremely uncooperative and refused to let her verify whether the seals on the ballot bags at the audit location matched those used at the original polling station. “The first thing they did was deny our certificate, which is a perfectly legal certificate for observation. But they had two attorneys there to fight with us and argue that our certificate was not valid. Then we had to spend an hour looking around. We got another certificate from a different political party, and they finally let us into the audit. But by that time, they had already opened all of the early voting ballot bags, so we didn’t have an opportunity to check whether the ballot bags arrived at the audit with their seals intact. Then we asked to see the log from the polling location, which would show whether the seals on the bags were the correct seals or whether, for some reason, those seals had been switched out. But they absolutely refused to show us the seal log. In fact, the deputy chief clerk had a bit of a meltdown when we asked for it. The log showing that the seals are the same ones that were on the ballot bags at the polling location is really the single most important document in the audit. The fact that they’re not willing to show it to us speaks volumes. It essentially means their process is meaningless because they should be checking that the seals are the same ones that left the polling location. Our presence is just an added layer of protection, with poll watchers checking the process. But the Board itself is supposed to be making that very important comparison, and obviously, they’re not. So we’re going to be back in court with them.” New York law specifically authorizes poll watchers to observe the unlocking, examination, and resealing of voting machines and ballot boxes. While this woman appears to be following the law, the election officials seem to be doing everything they can to obstruct her. If they have nothing to hide, why are they being so uncooperative?