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India Flint's avatar

Here in Australia we vote by marking pieces of paper using a pencil. This may seem primitive, but allows votes to be counted and re-counted if required. Voting is also compulsory, which is a fine thing, and applies to all citizens aged 18 and beyond. I suspect that if the UK had a similar system they might still be in the European Union…as for your country, you might well have found yourselves inaugurating the first female president.

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Margie Stewart's avatar

In many places in the US we also vote on paper ballots: that’s how I vote in Durham, NC. The potential problem comes afterwards, because the subsequent photo imaging and tallies are done by computer.

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Robert Crone's avatar

Same in Canada. Federally. Sometimes the old way is the best way.

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FridaCat's avatar

Living in a state with mail-in voting, not only can I vote with all my information in front of me, I can expect that my paper ballot will not be digitally tampered with. We need national mail-in voting.

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Lux's avatar

As well as the second I suspect. Two hundred and fifty years is long enough between revolutions in MY humble opinion, it is time for another. Since this system, contrary to what its original designers were proposing, and expected, has only really ever been updated but once, and we're technically STILL fighting the same war over THAT update, it is perhaps time to scrap it, and build a new one.

Ground up, new declaration, new constitution, the whole bit, in fact, fuck this system entirely, this country is big enough, and the population large enough, that were we to get enough people on this page, we could declare independence, form a breakaway government, make our own economy, our own laws, courts, judges, totally make this one irrelevant, refuse to recognize it as legitimate.

People had better wake the fuck up and soon, to what this actually is, these people are not acting like an administration that has any intention of abiding by the results of an election, I'll be shocked if they even allow them to happen. Even if they do, from Kamala's instant concession, to all the influencers on the left, pretending there's nothing to see here, they pretty much have carte blanch to fuck with THIS one, so they're unlikely to be legit.

But I suppose my ever insufferably "optimistic" countrymen will have to find out the hard way that we're not getting out of this "peacefully", it's shocking to me so few can see it, denial, and "exceptionalism" die hard in America, but die they will, I'd bet anything.

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India Flint's avatar

I am inclined to agree, and I think you’ll find the larger the population, the bloodier and more lawless the revolution is likely to be. It will not be pretty.

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Tracey Gotham's avatar

You're absolutely correct. It's terrifying nonetheless

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Andrew Todd's avatar

It seems to me that America should be using the pen technology system too. Computer type machines are always vulnerable to corruption, and there's none more happy to indulge in a little of that than trump and his undergoblins. They'd feel insulted if anyone thought they'd won honestly.

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WinstonSmithLondonOceania's avatar

We used to have voting machines where you enter the machine, pull a lever to close the curtain, flip a bunch of mechanical switches to choose your candidates, and then pull the lever the other way to simultaneously register your votes, clear the switches and open the curtain. All mechanical, no software involved, or even electricity, and, as far as I could tell, tamper proof.

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Brenda Streed's avatar

There were challenges with those also. No paper trail if hand recount needed and the mechanical counts had to be transmitted. Those counts could be altered.

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WinstonSmithLondonOceania's avatar

That's true, they weren't perfect either, but I don't think they were quite as vulnerable as the networked, computerized ones we're using now.

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laura oshea's avatar

There are 40 million people in California alone. We do fill out paper ballots but machines count the fill in the dots.

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India Flint's avatar

Fair point. That’s nearly twice the population of Australia…and way more than the actual number of enrolled voters here (17,939,818).

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Carol Taylor Boyd's avatar

Hillary Clinton WON the popular vote in 2016. We have to eliminate the Electoral College! The orange blight got the presidency on an antiquated technicality.

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Brenda Streed's avatar

We also mark paper ballots FYI

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Susana Montano's avatar

Who finds comfort in ‘privately owned companies running a government function?? Not me!

I’m a corporate employee, and I know how those things can be played with, usually out in front of God and everybody. BEST way to do it - everyone thinks it must be ok.

No! I want to see all the decision makers nervous when two or three Regulatory Agencies come through to do their audits, and no one leaves town till they’re checked, rechecked and accounted for.

I would expect to read something like this, dated back in the late 1800s, early 1900s, when there were no computers, etc. Some heads need to be rolled here!!

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Jane B's avatar

Thank you for this work. Alarming implications, to be sure. Assuming you are aware of

https://thiswillhold.substack.com/p/she-won-they-didnt-just-change-the?utm_source=share&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true

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Dissent in Bloom's avatar

Yes, the author is someone I know :) we actually met when my original article from a few days prior had made national headlines and that had inspired her to start her series on Substack exposing more. She is very knowledgeable. She actually credits me in the first paragraph of it. I'm the investigator she's referencing 😊

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Angela Predhomme's avatar

You guys are doing EXTREMELY important work. Stay safe and THANK YOU!! Please keep it up.

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Jennifer Perreault's avatar

This is fantastic work. I’m wondering if by chance either of you were among those discussing and/or looking at possible involvement in some of Elon’s doge minions and their hackathon-like activities as it might relate to prov&v even. There was a Reddit discussion a couple weeks back and somebody turned up some possible source code in a group forum a on a stack-exchange type site. I’ll see if I can find the discussion I’m remembering in case this is something you haven’t come across.

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Jennifer Perreault's avatar

It starts around here. https://www.reddit.com/r/somethingiswrong2024/s/f4ttCyU0zg there’s a lot more info contained within the user comments and associated links screenshots and subsequent replies.

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Dissent in Bloom's avatar

This is actually a FANTASTIC resource and builds onto some other information I have and haven't started writing on yet. Thank you.

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Sharm's avatar

Oh my gosh, this is so complex. Hard to wrap my head around it but please, please keep going. It surely is embedded and I fear for 2026!

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James Vander Poel's avatar

As one who spent a career in software production and test, I am amazed that there is a 'de minimus' category of software changes. I do not ever recall using that term to describe software changes. We (the company I worked for) used peer reviews and committee inspections, line by line, to vet modifications. And strenuous testing, since people's lives were at stake.

Where I live, we use mark-sense paper ballots and electronic scanners (which are publicly tested before each election). So we have an open, publicly scrutable system and a paper trail. No internet connection. Coupled with honest election workers (our neighbors), we consider it safe and secure.

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Serena Fossi's avatar

Publicly scrutable is a good standard! Where are you located?

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James Vander Poel's avatar

Northborough, Massachusetts. Where they'll take away our paper ballots over several dead bodies.

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Natalie C's avatar

Owens and Walker have the exact same “signature” handwriting too? The Ws, loops, and Es are the same.

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Dissent in Bloom's avatar

Hi, so I hate that. My hope is that it is an automated signature you can do through things like DocuSign, but if not that's so sketchy.

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Debbie's avatar

Thank you for all the work that you do. I printed your article and faxed it to 22 democratic senators, those were all the fax numbers I have.

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laura oshea's avatar

I sent the articles to Gavin Newsom, Glenn Kirschner and Jack Smith(the ex-DOJ prosecutor)

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Joanna Conti's avatar

I am beyond appalled at how we have allowed shadowy companies such power over our electoral processes. Thank you for the work you are doing to bring this to light, Dissent!

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DidntThinkWeWouldBeHere's avatar

Keep bird-dogging this election fraud story. Back in February it was like shouting into the void to get people to pick this up. No longer. Even MSNBC dipped in. Many layers and players to this onion. But they are getting peeled back. It’s critical for 2026 voting integrity but also to eventually revealing on a larger media level, when PA and NY data come back from ETA audits, that the Supreme Leader Has No Clothes.

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Dotty's avatar

He not only has no clothes but also not a legal citizen as of SCOTUS new ruling in the 14th Amendment. Everything he's signed should be void and he lied about being a citizen as his wife and kids are not citizens either

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WinstonSmithLondonOceania's avatar

"...shedding accountability like a snake sheds skin".

Perfect analogy.

Have you shared your findings with Election Truth Alliance or Smart Elections?

https://electiontruthalliance.org/

https://smartelections.us/

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Dissent in Bloom's avatar

I work closely with ETA and I am connected with smart elections :)

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WinstonSmithLondonOceania's avatar

Ah, good. You're networked.

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Marcia Godinez's avatar

One of my sons has worked in aviation for several years at a company that repairs parts of aircraft, including military aircraft. It is an extremely regulated environment that requires each part to have its own documentation that travels with the part as any changes or repairs are made. The documentation process is so strict, if a mistake is made, whether it entails an adjustment to a composite formula or a smaller screw length, *no erasures can be made to the document* and instead, any and all errors made on the document—including a complete bungle like attaching the documentation to the wrong part and then discovering the mistake—all erroneous detail *cannot* be erased and must instead be struck through. Documentation is then sent with the part to quality control for inspection. So this process requires honesty and integrity (including the recording of mistakes) on the part of the repairer/record-keeper, and honestly and careful review on the part of quality control. When rejected parts were shipped back to his company for faulty repair work, my son began looking behind the scenes. His sleuthing revealed a pattern of inferior work and manipulation of documents and negligence on the part of both repair workmanship and subsequent quality control—all in an effort to meet deadlines and avoid taking responsibility and accountability. That was many years ago. My son watched as fired workers went on the get similar employment in other companies.

Obviously, I’ve posted this because yes, people who have been fired for doing substandard work can and do move on and bring their slipshod work ethics with them. If they have a friendly, gregarious “old boy” sort of countenance they are welcomed into new companies. Of course, if they start their own business they don’t have to worry about background checks, reviews, etc..

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Matt Smelley's avatar

Dissent in

Dissent... extremely time consuming and well written article.

in the DSA (divided states of murica) let's do the vote counting like we used to (hanging chads included) and like Canada, Australia and many other countries still count votes. ***** BY HAND****

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Maya J's avatar

We literally have all parties sitting at the table watching as votes are counted. Then we report back to our candidate’s headquarters as to the tallies for each candidate. This happens on election night. There is a government election supervisor who reports these numbers. How fucking hard could this be to implement??????

🇨🇦

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Bec Keegan's avatar

Great article! Reading the results of your research, and thiswillhold, gives me hope; the possibility that the majority of USA-ans are reasonable people who did indeed vote for a woman, then a black woman, because they were the better candidates.

I hope that having the truth come out helps overturn the craziness going on in the USA. So much secrecy and corporate skullduggery.

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laura oshea's avatar

If in fact the election was tampered with imagine how wonderful it will be to see all those scumbags put in jail.

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Susan E. Wigget's avatar

I think voting by hand should be required in every state. In Oregon we have elections by mail only--you fill out ovals with a pen. When I lived in other states, you voted in pwrson & either used a pen or a little pin that poked out the ovals (hence the "hanging chads") in the news for the 2000 election.

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Linda Palmer's avatar

Our elections are not secure. I believe fully in what you are doing. Prove it and take this before the courts and the American people. Thankyou for your due diligence

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Max Kern's avatar

Perhaps you should look into and verify the link you found concerning Michael Walker, who approved changes for the EAC, and that he may be the same Michael Walker who works at Pro V&V. This will be important for you credibility. If not, you have to edit your text asap! Take care and stay curious!

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Dissent in Bloom's avatar

I can probably tone up the verbiage for clarity, but that’s exactly why I left it open and had explicitly stated I can’t say for certain without the data that I can't access.

But the fact that the EAC is not providing any accessible information about who these government officials signing off on changes are? That’s the issue.

The same goes for Pro V&V. The election certifiers that live in secrecy. I actually had to pay for / subscribe to a historical government archive that uses census data just to find Wendy Owens 😂 because she's also a ghost online.

I did submit an FOIA for information about the people signing off on these ECOs but those take time, and there's no guarantee I'll get an answer.

But also, I shouldn't even need to do that… I want to know why are the people signing off on changes to our election machine ghosts?

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Max Kern's avatar

Thanks for the clarification — that makes sense, and I see your point more clearly now. You're right: the real issue is that something as critical as voting system oversight shouldn’t rely on FOIA requests and guesswork. The lack of public accountability around who signs off on these changes is, in itself, alarming. Appreciate your work — looking forward to your follow-up once the FOIA comes through (or doesn’t)."

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WinstonSmithLondonOceania's avatar

I can't help but wonder if "Wendy Owens" is a pseudonym?

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Find Joy N. Humanity's avatar

It’s my firm belief that voting machines and the entire vote counting/reporting pipeline need to be rigorously pentested on a regular and frequent schedule by multiple 3rd party independent organizations. Every issue found during testing would need to be fixed before an election. And nothing at all could be changed between the "pentester approved" version and the election itself.

I’d love to see a “bug bounty” too, to encourage any engineer out there to try to find cracks in the system and report them.

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Carol Taylor Boyd's avatar

During his very public falling out with the orange blight, Musk did say without him, the orange blight wouldn't be president, the Republicans would have lost the House and the Senate would be split 51 to 49. I think that we should take Musk's word for it. Afterall, he did spend 290 millions on our 2024 elections!

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Jaime Ramirez's avatar

An underreported assertion by Musk in his word war with Trump. These details lend credibility to the statement. I wonder which 2 Senate seats Musk stole for the GOP, & which House seats rightfully belong to Democrats, as well as how many votes in how many states were manipulated in Trump's favor to cinch the election for him.

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Teach84's avatar

Maybe he can be offered a deal if he agrees to testify. We have to do something! We can’t let them destroy our system of voting! We cannot have these Republican crooks ruining our country for the rest of time!

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Carol Taylor Boyd's avatar

Agree

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