King County Elections Redacted...(Part 2) - WSRP Press Release for Potential Litigation
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This is a follow-up to my Oct 4, 2023 article King County Elections Redacted.
Oct. 23, 2023: Attorney Joal Ard, Ard Law Group representing the Washington State Republican Party (WSRP), sent Litigation Hold Notices to Julie Wise, Director of King County Elections, Leesa Manion, King County Prosecuting Attorney and other public agencies involved in election administration in Washington State. - Link here RE: Retention of Documents Relevant to Litigation Concerning 2023 Primary Election.
Thank you to Mr. Ard and his Law Firm - The litigation hold notices ordering KC Elections to not destroy the 2023 Primary election records are necessary and important! It requires KC Elections to preserve all relevant data that may relate to legal action and ensures the documents relating to potential litigation are not destroyed and are available for the discovery process prior to litigation.
Today the WSRP Issued a Press Release:
Bellevue—On Monday, October 23, 2023, a law firm representing the WAGOP delivered litigation hold notices to the King County Elections department, the King County Prosecutor’s office and other public agencies involved in election administration in Washington. The litigation hold notices apply to correspondence and other materials related to specific activities of King County Elections during the recent state primary election that took place in August 2023.
During the ballot counting process of that primary, King County Elections replaced certain computer hardware systems in a manner that appears to violate sections of both state statute and administrative code.
Click here for the litigation hold notice that explains the context of its demands.
“In light of the apparent decision of Secretary of State Hobbs to disregard these admitted violations of law (a decision we only infer by his refusal to respond to correspondence regarding the matter), WAGOP is evaluating all options, including the prospect of litigation to compel King County Elections to cease its violations of law and comply with all elections related laws in the future.”
Specific materials that the notice demands elections officials preserve include:
All emails and voicemails between any employee or representative of King County Elections and any person related to any aspect of the conduct of the 2023 primary election.
All tabulation equipment, including all servers and backup servers (or primary and secondary servers, or servers denominated any other way); server software and any flash drives of data of any sort from the servers; any manufacturers’ manual for tabulation servers; backups and operating manuals for any other network servers used at King County Elections.
All records of any sort regarding any software or hardware updates performed on any election-related systems including at a minimum records showing the date and time of the update, who performed the update, who was present, what specifically was updated, the procedures followed, and the results of the update; all records of any sort concerning any testing performed, and the results of the tests.
All correspondence with the ballot printer.
All records showing the manufacturer make and serial number for all computers of any type or nature on which King County Elections employed election management software for the conduct of the 2023 primary election, including for purposes such as to create ballot layouts, create an election, export an election to any external drive, or to generate Cast Vote Records reports.
All signature envelopes from the 2023 primary election; all ballots; all signature verification equipment and software used to check the ballot envelopes; all versions of the list of challenged ballots and matchback reports; all scanning and adjudication equipment and software; all Cast Vote Records.
All daily tabulation records, certification documents and related reports, including the confidence reports and any reports showing adjudication and resolution of changes.
All lists or records of all election office staff and vendor employees who worked during any part of the 2023 primary election; all lists or records reflecting the presence and names of election observers.
All pass key records or other entry/exit monitoring of the election facility during the 2023 primary election; all cameras and maintenance logs comprising any kind of recording or record, for whatever purpose created, showing the facilities during the 2023 primary elections.
All correspondence between any employee or officer of the office of the Washington Secretary of State and any employee, officer, vendor, or other representative of King County Elections from May 1st, 2023.
After litigation hold notices were delivered, WAGOP Chairman Jim Walsh issued the following statement:
“On behalf of all Washington voters, WAGOP is taking action to assure free and fair elections in our state. We must restore the people’s confidence and trust in our state’s elections. King County Elections has admitted it ‘swapped’ election-related computer hardware in a way that does not comply with state law and administrative code. That county agency now insists that the ‘swap’ had no effect on the primary election results. Whether that statement is true remains undetermined—and beside the point.
“Elections officials in Washington need to follow the law. They need to be transparent and accountable for their actions. Holding county elections officials accountable is the Secretary of State’s responsibility. WAGOP asked the current WA Secretary of State to do so, in this case, in a letter dated September 29, 2023. He has not responded to our request. So, we may have to do his job for him.
“Washington Republicans are committed to making sure that every legal Washington voter’s vote counts. That ballots are counted fairly, legally and transparently. We’re not going to tolerate slipshod practices anymore. No more bins of ballots found after election day. No more dead people or people living in other states voting. This state’s elections must be clean. They will be clean. And WAGOP will do everything necessary to make sure that they are clean.”
Summary: KC Election Director Julie Wise confirmed the main tabulation server failed in a Sept. 25, 2023, letter to KCGOP Chair Mathew Thomas, admitting that King County Elections never did an Emergency Logic & Accuracy (L & A) test, but did say a “Mid-Election” Logic and Accuracy test was conducted July 31, 2023, when the second server was in use.
PRR logs appear to show that an abbreviated Mid-Election L & A test was done before normal business hours (about 7:30 - 8 am).
Why was there no notice to the WA SoS or political parties, no elections observers, no proper signed documentation / certification of the test, no evidence or proper documentation of security protocol for the previous sealed ‘test deck’ of paper ballots, witnesses, etc.?
King County Elections, Julie and PRR records say / show the two main security cameras covering the tabulation area were not functioning. However, new Oct 20, 2023, PRR video footage received from two working surveillance cameras from different angles appear to show two KC election workers performing the July 31 early morning substandard “Mid - L & A Test.”
King County Elections and Director Wise says that an emergency L & A test was not required as no changes were made to the ballot counting programming.
The KC Elections argument is absolutely ridiculous, and they know it.
FACT: KC Elections replaced the entire tabulation server and ALL programming that goes along with it. That is a 100% change to the ballot counting programming!
FACT: A REQUIRED BY LAW NEW L & A EMERGENCY TEST NEVER HAPPENED per RCW 29.A.12.130 and WACs: 434-335-330, 434-335-310, 434-335-290?
WAC 434-335-330 (4) If, for any reason, changes are made to the ballot counting programming after the official logic and accuracy test, an emergency logic and accuracy test must be conducted pursuant to WAC 434-335-310.
The KC GOP Chair issued a press release Sept 12 and has done several media interviews exposing the issues. He also asked former WA SoS Sam Reed about the situation, who said the Emergency L & A Test should have been done. Reed served as president of the National Association of Secretaries of State and received several national honors for programs run by his office.
Sept. 29, 2023, WSRP State Chair Jim Walsh sent a letter to SoS Steve Hobbs saying: To prevent a crisis in voter confidence, I urge you to carefully review the documents and public statements provided by King County Elections regarding the non-compliant server replacement during the August primary. Recognizing the implications of these records, I ask you to take all necessary actions to formally reprimand King County Elections about its actions, which have set a dangerous precedent for future elections in Washington State. Preserving the confidence of Washington voters in our state’s electoral processes is of utmost importance. I trust that you will take the necessary steps to uphold this confidence.
OF NOTE: AS OF THIS WRITING NOTHING HAS BEEN RECEIVED BY THE WSRP / JIM WALSH FROM THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE / STEVE HOBBS REGARDING JIM WALSH WSRP SEPT. 29 LETTER.
Regarding King County Provided PRR Primary and Secondary Server Election and Web Activity Logs:
Below is analysis from highly respected data analyst, election cybersecurity and forensics expert, IT specialist and software developer, Mark Cook.
There is no way to verify the integrity of these log files; they could be easily changed/modified (as evidenced by the fact that they (King County Elections) DID make changes to them putting the word 'Redacted' in place of other text.
The KC Election provided log files are highly unusual, were tampered with and included many ‘file modifications.’
There is no legitimate reason to redact anything in the log files unless something is being purposely hidden.
It is quite strange that the KC Elections PRR log files would be emailed out using Excel spreadsheet formats. The redactions are concerning, because virtually everything is redacted.
The redactions make it impossible to effectively audit the system.
These are some of the worst log files I have ever seen in many years in cybersecurity and forensics.
L&A Test Comparison.pdf - Look at all the 'ERROR: Access Denied' entries at 2023-08-01. An error is a failure of some sort, and 'access denied' can mean that something was attempting to access something it wasn't supposed to access. An absence of 'access denied' can mean that access granted, but not showing where access was granted could keep that hidden. There should be no errors like this in a properly working secure system.
The PRR error messages are particularly troubling because there are so many on August 1st, the day AFTER KC Elections say they had a successful Mid-Election L & A test, and at least four days AFTER the secondary tabulation server was put to use in the election.
Election integrity investigator and data analyst, David Cross, GAballots.com from Georgia, concurs with Mark Cook and says many of the KC Election system log files are innocuous and should in no way have ever been redacted in the first place. David reported that in Los Angeles County and San Francisco County CA similar types of log files (including Cast Vote Records) are all available online to the public.
But in Democrat Controlled WA State they are redacted and forbidden. Hmm…
Another very experienced data analyst who is on the WSPR Election Integrity Committee, who has worked with computers since the 1970s and has spent many years in cybersecurity, with a master’s degree in software engineering says:
Certification basically certifies the server hardware and resident software.
Logic and Accuracy tests the specific programming to make sure the tabulator accurately deciphers the data scanned from the ballot images. This is different for every precinct in every election.
Once the ballots are finalized, the software must be validated to assure it properly responds to a voter's selections on each of the ballot forms for every precinct in the election. This is not something that carries over from election to election. Thus, the need for full L&A testing prior to each election.
In my opinion, anything done during those three days (July 28 - July 31) before a new L&A would be invalid, regardless of the type of test. At the very least, ALL ballots would need to be re-tabulated AFTER a proper “Emergency” L&A. This says nothing about the lack of notification or lack of observers.
Additionally, with no observers or video evidence, it is not conclusive that a Mid-Election L & A test was even actually performed as it would be possible for anyone to upload test results from the July 6 L & A test from a thumb drive to a new server, change the date and say there was a Mid-Election L & A test July 31. That is what graphic software does, it would easily allow someone to just go in and change the date…
Many other consulted election integrity data analysts are all saying based on the information provided, the King County "Mid-election" L & A test was NOT sufficient to test a secondary tabulation server for the 2023 primary election. And all the many redacted PRR logs are very concerning.
In other words: WAC 434-335-330 (4) If, for any reason, changes are made to the ballot counting programming after the official logic and accuracy test, an emergency logic and accuracy test MUST be conducted, is written in such a way to make it very clear that the emergency L & A test needs to be done. Confirming what experienced data analysts are saying: The complete "Emergency" L & A test is very important and necessary to test all the parts and components of the new tabulation server so an election can be accurate and validated.
More concerns: According to data analysts at WhoCountsTheVotes.com, who have studied many of the recent PRR provided by King County Elections:
King County Elections administrators consistently worked outside of office hours, and did NOT inform the political parties as required by RCW 29A.40.100 and WAC 434-261-020. Their office hours are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, yet they started processing ballots sometimes as early as 7 am and as late as 8 pm, 10 pm, even past midnight in 2022.
PRR log files shows in 2022, over 21% of the activity was outside of normal business hours, again with no notice to observers or observers present, adjudicating, deleting ballots and re-s canning ballots up until the day before certification, Nov. 28, 2022, where 4,440 ballots were being adjudicated up until midnight.
Logs show they are adjudicating alarming numbers of ballots, all the way up until the day of certification. On 11/28/2022, system logs show there were, 4490 resolved ballots. They went all the way up to midnight that day, adjudicating ballots. That close to certification, we would expect them to have adjudicated these ballots much earlier.
Obviously, this could have a significant impact on the many King County races!
OF SERIOUS CONCERN: 2022 PRR logs show that 49% of deleted batches were outside of normal business hours, apparently much of the time with no observers notified or present. Some of the batches were being deleted / scanned / re-scanned and then adjudicated over a three-week period. Issues include: 4,280 batches scanned, 638 outside of business hours (15%).
TIMELINE OF EVENTS: According to testimony of Republican Election Observers and the PRR logs:
July 6, 2023: Normal required by-law L & A test done with the primary (original) server.
July 17, 2023: Republican Party election observer sees two people looking at server / server issues in the ballot processing room and asks what are they doing? Observer was told there are “problems with the server.” Election observer requests logs via PRR.
July 19, 2023: PRR logs show unusual and strange activity.
July 20 - July 28, 2023: New secondary (back-up) server installed - Aug. 2023 Primary Election continues - ballots scanned, adjudicated, etc.
July 31, 2023: “Partial” L & A test (no scanning of ballots - error messages).
Aug 1, 2023: PRR logs show unusual and strange activity with many error messages.
Aug 4, 2023, 9 AM: Republican Election Observer sees 6 or 7 Clear Ballot employees at King County Elections looking at server.
Aug 11, 2023: KCGOP sends letter to Julie Wise expressing concerns and asking for resolution
Aug 15, 2023: Director Wise sends response letter to KC GOP
Sept. 12, 2023: KC GOP issues press release
Sept. 29, 2023: WSRP Chairman Jim Walsh sends letter to Sec. of State Hobbs to take all necessary actions to reprimand KC Elections - AS OF THIS WRITING STILL NO RESPONSE FROM THE SoS!
Oct. 20, 2023: PRR video footage received from two KC Elections working surveillance cameras from different angles appear to show two KC election workers performing the July 31 early morning “Mid - L & A Test.”
Oct. 23, 2023: Attorney Joal Ard, Ard Law Group representing the Washington State Republican Party (WSRP), sent Litigation Hold Notices to Julie Wise, Director of King County Elections, Leesa Manion, King County Prosecuting Attorney and other public agencies involved in election administration in Washington State. - Link here RE: Retention of Documents Relevant to Litigation Concerning 2023 Primary Election.
Oct. 24, 2023: The WSRP Issues a Press Release
OF NOTE: ELECTION OBSERVING IS VITALLY IMPORTANT: If it was not for the Republican Party Election Observer who saw the people working on the primary tabulation server July 17, and the many ensuing PRR we most probably would have never known the extent of the KC Elections issues. Makes one wonder how often other similar issues in violation of state law have happened and are happening that go unnoticed?
After much research, this is all a very clear breach and without a doubt when installing a different tabulation server in the middle of an election, it needs to be fully and properly tested per state statute.
It is obvious that King County Elections has absolutely no respect for the process.
King County Elections has a fiduciary obligation to the public trust, and they have failed miserably by not doing an obviously needed, proper and required by law, Emergency L & A test for this situation.
At a minimum, King County Elections are simply denying the facts and making up excuses. By doing a substandard abbreviated test before normal business hours (7:30 am), not having any election observers present, and not providing video evidence of the test, it dramatically compounds the situation and makes it look like it was deliberate and even a cover-up.
Also, if there is nothing to hide, then why are they hiding basic log records of events by heavily redacting them?
If not deliberate, it was incompetence at a minimum and a cover-up of their mistake to not properly test the secondary tabulation server.
Never mind the fact that Julie may have made it a normal practice to swap out tabulation servers in the middle of elections without proper testing for many years.
Also, how can an election be certified if there was never any required-by-law emergency L & A test done with the new server?
A duty of the SoS is to make sure that all the counties are in full compliance with the election laws. It is very interesting that the SOS and mainstream media are crickets on this. But we should not be surprised, incompetent Democrat Julie Wise is up for re-election…
King County is by far the largest populated county in Washington State, the county estimated 2023 population is 2,371,204 with 1,380,823 registered voters. About one out of every 3.5 ballots in statewide races are cast from the ‘fraud factory’ in King County and Julie Wise KC Elections continues to set very dangerous precedents for future elections in Washington State - see articles here.
There is very little voter confidence under these circumstances, and if King County elections are not reprimanded for not following the law, they (and others like them) will keep breaking laws in the future. Making up policies and procedures to whatever suits them.
SOLUTIONS: For the reasons stated above and the many other reasons outlined and described, Director Wise needs to resign or be replaced by the voters Nov. 8, 2023.
King County Elections must be held to account and comply with the Litigation Hold Notices, retain ALL listed documents and NOT DESTROY THEM!
The WA SOS needs to answer the WSRP State Chair Jim Walsh, do a thorough investigation and reprimand Julie Wise / KC Elections.
The WA State Auditor’s Office also should do a thorough investigation.
Any King County August 2023 Primary Election Candidate that ran for office should seriously consider contesting their respective election / race.
Vote for Doug Basler, who is an election integrity candidate running for Director of King County Elections in the upcoming 2023 November General Election.
Bill Bruch
Bill Bruch is the WA State GOP Election Integrity Chairman, WSRP Executive Board Member, 4-Term Skagit County GOP Chairman, Citizen Journalist, Blogger, Business Owner, “2021 Citizen Activist of the Year” award by the Olympic Conference, 2020 WA State House Representative Candidate, Former Council Member, and WA State 2016 RNC National Convention Delegate.
More Related Source Docs, Links and Articles:
King County Elections Redacted…- Including Podcast
VIDEO: King County Elections Department Caught Making Secret Server Swap in Middle of Election
Video: King County Elections - What the Heck are they doing after hours when nobody is looking? Why?
Video: King County Elections Server Switch - 2023 Primary
Rantz: Concern as Democrat Director Privately Tested Ballot Tabulation Server
VIDEO: ELECTIONS SCANDAL in King County, Washington
What is a Server? Why Important? Types of Servers
VIDEO: King County Citizens Election Oversight Committee Meeting - 9.20.23
The Jason Rantz Radio Show - Interview of KCGOP Mathew Patrick Thomas
King County Republican Party Demands Accountability and Transparency in Election Process
King County Republican Party Calls for Investigation into King County Elections
Why King County Elections Policies Foster Corruption and Fraud!
King County - Election Fraud Epicenter in WA
Washington State Sham and Scam Election “Audits” That Are Not Audits
25 Counties in WA Notified of Potential Litigation for Deletion of Elections Records
Problems with King County Elections Mount…
Praise to the election observer who got this ball rolling and kudus to you Bill for all your hard work spent reporting on this and other election integrity issues.