Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R), who personally blocked federal election-security legislation, is from TN. TN’s largest county is Shelby County where, in 2015, Bloomberg reported that voting machines in predominantly black precincts were losing black votes. 1/ https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-voting-technology/
3/ Shelby County’s touchscreen voting machines were supplied by Global Election Systems for early voting in 1998. https://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2016/aug/23/new-voting-machines-on-the-political-horizon/
4/ In 2002, Global was acquired by Diebold Election Systems. In 2006, all of Shelby County moved to Diebold touchscreen voting machines. It has used them ever since. https://www.shelbyvote.com/history-shelby-county-election-equipment
5/ In 2006, a “critical security breach” occurred during a Shelby County election when the Diebold central tabulator was plugged into the County network & unauthorized software was installed. https://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/NEDC-et-al.-Amicus-Brief-SAVE-v.-Hargett-filed-1.pdf
6/ This breach “allow[ed] unfettered remote access to the central tabulator to anyone connected to the county government network or the Internet.” https://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/NEDC-et-al.-Amicus-Brief-SAVE-v.-Hargett-filed-1.pdf
7/ It was election-integrity advocate Jim March who discovered that the Diebold central tabulator in Shelby County, TN had PC anywhere (remote access software) installed. (Appendix A.) https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/tacir/documents/trustbutverify_phase1.pdf
8/ Having remote access to the central tabulator is a big deal because the central tabulator is what aggregates all precinct totals.
10/ In August 2010, Republicans swept the countywide elections in Shelby County, TN. https://www.memphisdailynews.com/editorial/Article.aspx?id=51936
13/ “A technician in Shelby County said if he hadn't been dismissed, the Memphis portion of the Glitch Election could have been avoided,” but the county election administrator, Robert Holder, said he was “just..trying to create something out of nothing." https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/blog/20436400/he-could-have-fixed-it
15/ “Most voterless votes [in Shelby County, TN] were found in large Republican precincts, a non-random distribution.

The inspection team sought and obtained documents in connection with a lawsuit filed by ten defeated candidates over irregularities in the election.”
17/ The 2012 general election in Shelby County was also riddled with problems. “[V]olunteers and city officials said people were turned away because of address problems while others gave up in the face of long lines and overwhelmed poll workers.” https://www.timesnews.net/News/2012/11/06/Monitors-report-Tenn-voting-snags-but-not-over-ID.html
19/ In February 2013, the two Ds in the Shelby County Election board voted to oust Holden, but the two Rs voted to keep him. https://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/21292356/shelby-county-election-commission-administrator-keeps-his-job/
21/ Apparently nothing came of the FBI inquiry into the Republican-led Shelby county election commission, and Republicans again swept the countywide elections in August 2014.
https://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2014/aug/8/democratic-divide-widens-in-election-results/
24/ The lawsuit was tossed out, but in 2015, Bennie Smith, who was later appointed to the county election commission, discovered that votes from predominantly black precincts in the county had disappeared. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-voting-technology/
25/ Smith made this discovery by comparing the precinct totals to the reported totals.
29/ In 2018, “Democrats embarrassed the Republican Party of Shelby County by winning every countywide office, reversing their own embarrassing showing eight years before [in 2010].”
30/ The Shelby County Commission is thus led by the Democrats.
31/ Unfortunately, however, the Shelby County election commission is majority Republican (by one vote) because its makeup depends on the makeup of the state legislature, which is majority Republican.
32/ This matters bc the county May replace its ancient Diebold touchscreens b4 November 2020. Altho almost all election-security experts recommend #HandMarkedPaperBallots as a primary voting system at the polls, at least 2 of the 3 Rs on the election board want more touchscreens
34/ Among other concerns, almost all universal use BMDs put voters’ selections into barcodes. The barcodes, which voters can’t read, are the only part of the paper printout counted as your vote.
35/ Universal use BMDs from ES&S, which acquired Diebold in 2009, also take voters THREE TIMES longer to use than #HandMarkedPaperBallots and scanners. https://twitter.com/segreenhalgh/status/1232000197875687424?s=21 https://twitter.com/segreenhalgh/status/1232000197875687424
40/ Note also that Shelby County does not currently allow no excuse vote by mail. Even if it votes to allow it, the county will likely nonetheless have substantial in person voting as well.
41/ As noted by @SmartElections & other election advocates, touchscreens are a disease vector & their use should be avoided during a pandemic to the extent possible. Hand marked paper ballots are safer because voters can bring their own pens to mark them. https://smartelections.us/public-oversight-of-funds
42/ As shown above, BMDs also take voters THREE TIMES as long to use. In a normal election, this would be bad enough. During a pandemic, it could be deadly.
43/ Here’s an earlier report explaining that touchscreens create longer lines than hand marked paper ballots bc they limit the number of voters who can vote concurrently to the number of working machines at the polling place. https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0810/0810.5577.pdf
44/ The Republican-led election commission is expected to vote on what type of new equipment to buy this Thursday. If you live in Tennessee, pls consider contacting them to request #HandMarkedPaperBallots, not universal use barcode BMDs. Thank you.
45/ Here is their contact information. Thanks again. 901-222-1200
46/ Polling place equipment WILL matter this year in Shelby County. The Republican county election administrator rabidly opposes significantly expanded vote by mail. ⬇️ https://twitter.com/local24mike/status/1250102005139415041?s=21 https://twitter.com/local24mike/status/1250102005139415041
47/ Additional screenshot re: the missing black votes discovered by Bennie Smith in 2015. I should have included with post 25. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-voting-technology/
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