After Mandel visit, Board of Elections responds to clergy letter against voting machines

MANSFIELD — After two months of silence, a group of local clergy received a helping hand from Josh Mandel during a recent visit. Seventy-two clergy advised the Richland County Board of Elections to pull the plug on their county’s Dominion voting machines. The Board of Elections finally responded to the clergy’s certified letter two days after the U.S. Senate Candidate’s public criticism of the controversial voting machines.

“If we are going to have fair and free elections in the future, we need to make significant change and reform,” U.S. Senate Candidate Josh Mandel said to those in attendance for a recent faith and freedom rally at Mansfield Baptist Temple.

“First we need photo I.D. in every state. A photo I.D. is used for many everyday purposes.”…”In order for John Kasich to attend the Democrat National Convention, he had to show a photo I.D. Second, we have to get rid of these Dominion voting machines. Seventy-two pastors-these are strong courageous leaders, they put their name on a letter to the Richland County Board of Elections saying ‘get rid of these Dominion voting machines.’ It has been two months that they (Board of Elections) have ignored these pastors.”….”Whenever you see a bureaucrat who is against getting an audit, they obviously have something to hide. ”

Due to recent issues regarding the transparency and machine performance, the credibility of Dominion voting machines has been in question. In their letter, the Richland County clergy noted that Dominion arranged an anti-transparency contract with DuPage County, Illinois to resist public record inquiries of its machines. In May 2020, Dominion refused access to its voting machines for a Maricopa County, Arizona forensic audit.

Last month in Pennsylvania, it was discovered Dominion voting machines were rejecting Republican ballots in Fayette County. In Luzerne County, Republican ballots were all mislabeled as Democrat ballots on Dominion electronic screens at polling locations.

Because of Dominion Voting Systems’ appearance of bias, clergy pointed out Stark County, Ohio rejected the purchase of more than fourteen-hundred new Dominion machines after local residents rallied against them.

Following the Mandel rally, Jane Zimmerman, Deputy Director of the Richland County Board of Elections, wrote Frontlines Ohio saying “The issues cited within the clergy letter had no relation to any election that was conducted here in Richland County. It would be not only irresponsible but impossible for our Board to respond to alleged irregularities of which we had no participation in.”

One of the leading clergy co-signors, Pastor Les Farley responded.

“As Mr. Mandel reminds us, Dominion has a checkered history. They (Board of Elections) are using our taxpayer dollars for a vendor that has already demonstrated will not be a good faith partner for future elections. Dominion cannot call itself a ‘neutral voting machine vendor’ when it overwhelmingly gives political donations to one party (Democrat), and the voting machine errors almost always appear to favor one political party (Democrat). Reputation counts, and having a good name is better than riches.”

As State Treasurer, Josh Mandel has a reputation for promoting government transparency. During his term, Mandel was able to launch OhioCheckbook.com in 2014, marking the first time in Ohio history when citizens could actually see every expenditure in state government. The following year, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group released a report and Mandel earned Ohio the number one transparency ranking in the country for providing online access to government spending data, climbing from 46th in the nation to number one.

Zimmerman says “At the Richland County Board of Elections we believe in the sanctity of a person’s vote and continually ensure all our elections are conducted lawfully, securely, accurately and transparently. Our voting system has many layers of security, physical, and cyber, surrounding it. The voting units we use are NOT and cannot be connected to the internet. The system is tested to rigorous standards which take into consideration the various concerns raised in the clergy letter. The Board will continue to utilize the current voting units under the strictest logic and accuracy standards.”

While the Board of Elections claims its voting machines are not connected to the internet, the Ohio Secretary of State’s office still required installation of internet security hardware. Albert Network Monitoring and Management devices recognize potentially malicious activity occurring on so-called “closed networks.” The clergy question why this hardware is even needed if it is not connected to the internet.

Pastor Les Farley commented, “The general public does not want to be told to simply trust a government agency. The public wants the government to convince the public they are telling the truth. Banks are required to have complete audits and account for every last penny. My vote does not seem “sacred” when our election board only randomly sample ballots to verify election results. Right now there is no way to know how accurately these voting machines are performing.”

“We cannot allow our satisfaction with local election outcomes cause us to be complacent. If these voting machines have indeed been manipulated, we may not like the next election outcome.”

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The Bottom Line:

Proverbs 20 says, “Food gained by fraud tastes sweet, but one ends up with a mouth full of gravel.”