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EYEWITNESSES TO ELECTION CHAOS IN MARICOPA COUNTY. Find our full report from election workers and poll observers at www.whoscounting.us/maricopa

J. Christian Adams joins Who's Counting with Cleta Mitchell. Mr. Adams serves as President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation. Mr. Adams is also the founder of the Election Law Center, PLLC. Cleta and Christian discuss what we saw in the 2020 election, the election bills moving through Congress, and much more in this must-see episode.

Garland Favorito is the founder and leader of VoterGA.org. Garland is a career Information Technology (IT) professional with over 40 years of in-depth experience and over 17 years of volunteer research into electronic voting systems. He also serves as a volunteer Elections Director for the Constitution Party of Georgia. Garland first became alarmed nearly twenty years ago about a proposed voting machine system for Georgia after watching a demonstration. He began to warn others about what he calls “unverifiable” machine voting, where a voter does not get confirmation of his or her vote, and the system fails to protect against potential for manipulation of the systems. Garland founded VoterGA.org which advocates for transparency and accountability in all aspects of voting, Garland has significant concerns with the lack of a verifiable paper trail in machine voting and has spent years raising the alarm and educating citizens about the need for all voting systems to provide each voter with an instant record of his vote and to follow basic standards of security against Garland and Cleta discuss their frustration with the lawsuits filed in the state that documented irregularities and illegal votes that were cast and counted in the 2020 Presidential election in Georgia Listen as they discuss the more than 17K missing Fulton ballot images, and the election surveillance videos in over 100 counties, that have magically disappeared or been destroyed since voting day 2020. They dive deep into the election problems in Georgia and how citizens can and must get involved to help protect our elections.

How Local Election Integrity Volunteers in Fairfax, VA Were Right, Polite, and Persistent in Making the Case to Sever Ties with Konnech Christine Brim, Chairman of the Fairfax County, VA Election Integrity Task Force describes in this episode of Who’s Counting? with Cleta Mitchell how her group of local volunteers took action in August 2022 when they first heard of possible ties between their county’s poll worker management software, PollChief and the Chinese Communist Party. These dedicated Virginia volunteers researched for themselves information about the company that owns PollChief: Konnech Software. After confirming the validity of the allegations about Konnech’s ties to the CCP, they began providing that documentation to the Fairfax County election officials. For nearly two months, the volunteers politely – and rightly – persisted in forwarding documentation about potential data sharing with China….and continued asking, “Will Fairfax County terminate its contract with Konnech?” Then, when Eugene Yu, CEO of Konnech was arrested on October 4th on charges of identity theft of election worker data, a Pandora’s box of election integrity threats exploded in public view – and Fairfax County took immediate action – because they had been educated by their local citizen volunteers. In this episode of Who’s Counting? with Cleta Mitchell, Cleta speaks with Christine about what their local task force did, how they did it, and how they politely but accurately informed their local election administrators about why Fairfax County needed to terminate the Konnech contract. This episode confirms the vital role of the local election integrity task forces and the importance of citizen researchers and volunteers who can support local election officials if those officials will accept their help. Something that the Fairfax County election officials ultimately did. Other election officials should take heed and listen to their citizens as did Fairfax County on Konnech. To view Christine’s report on the history and details of the Konnech security breach, click here. https://fairfaxgop.org/information-for-election-officers-on-konnech-software/ This is a case study in why EIN is doing what it is doing. Building a permanent election integrity infrastructure.

Join Cleta and Heather as they discuss why state participation in ERIC is a threat to election integrity. They sound the alarm and expose how state tax dollars, flowing to ERIC, are really being used for partisan political projects to build Democratic turnout in elections. Heather Honey, founder of Verity Vote, is an open source investigator. Utilizing her expert research skills in a new report, Heather exposes the secret connection whereby ERIC, (Electronic Registration Information Center.) a taxpayer funded entity, is a primary obstacle to cleaning America’s voter rolls. Founded and initially funded by the left ostensibly to “help” with voter roll accuracy, its real mission is to create new Democrat voters from a database of Americans who have declined to register to vote. Heather discusses how her research exposes the relationship between ERIC and the Center for Election Innovation and Research, one of the two entities funded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2020 to drive up Democrat turnout through local and state election offices in key states

“A Catastrophic Voter Suppression Tsunami on November 8 in Maricopa County, AZ” From the moment polls opened at the large voting centers in Maricopa County on November 8, 2022, until they finally closed that evening, there was nothing resembling a normal election day process in literally half of the voting centers: massive voting equipment failure, mismanagement, and misinformation from county officials….resulting in thousands, if not tens of thousands, of voters who, for myriad reasons, may well have been denied their right to vote, Gina Swoboda, President of the Voter Reference Foundation and state leader of the AZ Election Integrity Coalition, was a guest last week on RightSide, the organization’s podcast. Gina describes the system for voting in Maricopa County, the steady deterioration of election administration, management, and reliability in that County over that past several election cycles, and the gory details of what happened on November 8. The outpouring of citizen reports, narratives, and sharing / documenting of personal experiences as voters, election workers, poll observers, and volunteer attorneys reveal a day of chaos where those in charge continued to misinform and mislead the public, the voters, election workers at the polls, and the media as to what was happening. Those officials claimed that problems had been ‘fixed’ when they weren’t. They gave multiple sets of instructions that caused even more problems and that contradicted established procedures, and through it all, presided over a complete breakdown of order, lawful voting, and the protection of the sacred right to vote guaranteed to every citizen in the country – but which was far from guaranteed in Maricopa County, AZ on November 8. The Election Integrity Network has now published eyewitness reports from members of the AZ Election Integrity Coalition that Gina Swoboda has ably lead for the past year. EIN added these reports to our website at www.whoscounting.us, in order that these citizen observers’ and election workers’ voices would be heard. The problems of Maricopa County are shocking. Watch / listen to Gina Swoboda and read the stories of the people who were there. Share this episode of RightSide and send the link to he Maricopa County reports at the EIN website: www.whoscounting.us/maricopa Let’s not allow these voices and their truths to be discarded. Don’t let the ‘observer deniers’ refusal to read, listen and learn be the final word about Maricopa County’s lawsless 2022 general election. The truth is here. Amplify it. Help tell the story that Gina Swoboda shares in this podcast. Support our fellow Americans in Maricopa County who have been so mistreated by those entrusted with running their elections and who completely failed to uphold their responsibilities to protect every citizen’s right to vote. That simply didn’t happen in Maricopa County in 2022. Again. First aired on November 18, 2022 and Shared by permission from RightSide, a podcast of the Voter Reference Foundation https://www.restorationofamerica.com/first-right/

The election integrity movement has been attacked by the left wing propaganda press and even the President of the United States, and its members openly threatened and intimidated. Why? Because, as EIN Chairman Cleta Mitchell notes in this post-election podcast, with the engagement of citizen patriots, our movement has made major strides in protecting the “consent of the governed” – the foundation of our constitutional republic. In one short year, EIN has moved to protect ballots and lawful voters with: ten election integrity summits nationwide to train and provide resources to the election integrity movement; release of our downloadable Citizens Guide to Building a Permanent Infrastructure; creation of online Election Integrity Master Classes covering all aspects of election integrity; Cleta’s informative series of Who’s Counting podcasts with election integrity experts; and utilizing the “Virginia Model” to foster and host a nationwide state election integrity leaders call, more than two dozen state-based task forces and countless local task forces. These resources allow our grassroots partners and poll watchers to learn how to accurately and lawfully observe, document and report any activity in voting that does not comport with state law. With specific examples from a number of states, Cleta explains the history of left wing infiltration that led to the weakening of voter protections, and discusses specific strategies and steps EIN will be taking in the next two years to reverse bad law and promote strong protections. We will address our system’s greatest weaknesses including Vote By Mail (a methodology proven impossible for election officials to verify voter identification,) promoting laws that ensure the number of voters equals the number of ballots cast equals the number of votes counted, that the acceptance of ballots ends at 7 PM on election day, and enforcing laws that require political parity as poll observation is specifically designed so that each party watches the other. EIN will also continue to support litigation that protects voters and enforces law and any other policy and legislative fixes that provide transparency, accuracy, fairness and accountability in every corner of election law and procedure. Another goal is to ensure that statewide election integrity task forces are up and running in every state. We hope you will join us on this election integrity journey, share our resources with others, and become a partner with us and thousands of “regular folks” around the country concerned with the security and fairness of our elections.

In a new report, Verity Vote founder Heather Honey utilizes her open source investigative skills to uncover an emerging vote fraud concern -- overseas ballots and their potential as a strategy for leftwing vote fraud. Analysis of overseas ballots, and leftwing social media chatter unabashedly promoting it as a new frontier for fraud, should be a great concern to election integrity advocates. In 2020, despite a significant decrease in private citizens living abroad, civilian overseas ballots increased in massive numbers. A discrepancy of 350,000 ballots exists between numbers reported by the federal government and counts by the states. Many “overseas” ballots were cast by email from … somewhere. Selected hand recounts found as many as 100 percent of these votes were for one presidential candidate only. Join Cleta and Heather as they discuss what this new information could mean for the security of our elections.

One of the most important step for concerned citizens to take to protect election integrity is to form a local task force. A local task force can become a presence in your local election office by developing relationships to get answers to all your questions BEFORE election day. Remember, eyes on every ballot.

Mollie Hemingway --Federalist Senior Editor and author of the new book Rigged reveals how big tech, a propaganda-driven liberal media, and Democrat strategy corrupted the 2020 elections. Mollie joins Cleta Mitchell to reflect on lessons learned and where the integrity of US elections is headed as they both draw on experience to identify problems and suggest solutions. Will we ever have fair elections again? Will mail-in ballots remain the Democrat's strategic plan for vote manipulation? Listen to this episode of Who’s Counting with Cleta Mitchell to find out.

The New York Times, Politico, NPR, and radically left Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island all attacked her within a week. Get to know why President Trump picked Cleta Mitchell to be a leader in the Election Integrity movement. She's a conservative rockstar and a fearless fighter. Patriots spread the word & get a copy of our Citizens Guide to Building an Election Integrity Infrastructure at whoscounting.us

The Department of Justice is supposed to be nonpartisan, dedicated solely to equal justice under law. With the unprecedented raid this week of former President Trump’s home and office at Mar-a-Lago by the FBI, authorized by Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, we are witnessing the complete abandonment of any pretense of neutrality by the DOJ and FBI. Both have become enforcers of the Democrats’ political agenda of demonizing President Trump AND his supporters. This began years ago within certain sections of the DOJ. J. Christian Adams, President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation –and a former DOJ attorney, describes the control of DOJ’s Voting Section by partisan leftwing activists, going back many years. This episode does not discuss or mention the 2020 election but YouTube nonetheless removed/censored the episode on the false grounds that it spread ‘disinformation’ about the 2020 election. It doesn’t. But it does describe how leftist control of the DOJ’s voting section means that the leftist Democrats have their partisan thumbs on the voting laws scale. Now, it is clear the entire Department of Justice and the FBI have been taken over by leftist, partisan Democrats. The cancer that started in the Voting Section has spread. Please listen to J. Christian Adams describe the control the radical left has long had over the voting laws in America. Join the Election Integrity Network's fight to reclaim our elections from the partisans who trample the Constitution, violate the rights of citizens simply because of differing political views, and save America. The FBI has become the muscle for the Democratic Party. AG Garland and FBI Director Wray must be removed from office. As citizens, we must organize and mobilize to reclaim our elections from the leftists who have infiltrated the election system nationwide. Only through honest elections can voters reassert their collective voices to fight the radical leftists who appear intent on destroying our Constitutional Republic. Listen and learn – and then sign up at our website: www.whoscounting.us, to become a citizen observer and protector of the election process in your local area.

EIN Chairman Cleta Mitchell: Citizens must take ACTION NOW to Save Our Elections – Join our Campaign for Action for Election Integrity In this first anniversary episode of our Who’s Counting? with Cleta Mitchell podcast, Cleta recounts the building of the Election Integrity Infrastructure across America in 2021 and 2022. But MOST importantly, Cleta summons everyone to TAKE ACTION NOW to help save our elections: Sign up to be a Poll Worker or Poll Watcher in YOUR state! Visit www.WhosCounting.US and click on our pop up “Uncle Sam” to volunteer as a poll worker or poll watcher. There are links to both the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee websites for signing up to engage in the elections. Nothing is more important this fall than YOUR involvement in observing and assisting in making sure the elections are conducted according to the law! Cleta describes in this episode the many resources that EIN has produced over the past year that are available to YOU to help protect the elections in YOUR local area. EIN hosted eight statewide training summits this year, and there are now seventeen statewide election integrity coalitions meeting online weekly, with more coming soon. Watch for more information on our website as we build out the state-by-state information. THIS IS THE CRITICAL MOMENT TO SIGN UP, BECOME ENGAGED, BE A POLL WORKER OR WATCHER! Visit the EIN website: www.whoscounting.us to sign up! Under our “Resources” tab on www.WhosCounting.US, you can download the Citizen Guide to Building an Election Integrity Infrastructure and also watch our short “Election Integrity Master Class” videos which cover all the topics in the Guide. It is all free to you and we want you to watch, read, use, and share. In this Podcast, Cleta notes that the government only derives “its just powers” through the consent of the governed. We give and withdraw our consent through elections. WE as the American voters have the power to make elections more secure and transparent, and we must continue to fearlessly band together to make that happen. And it all starts with WATCHING! OBSERVING! WORKING! So sign up….get trained….get assigned to watch the voting process in your local area. America is counting on YOU!

Heather Honey lives in rural Pennsylvania, with corn in her backyard and election integrity on her mind. With a background in corporate investigations, open-source research and supply chain auditing, she was the perfect professional to personally discover election irregularities in her state and track them down through records requests, “outside the box” applications of technologies and forensic analysis. Heather’s work led her to create Verity Voting, an organization dedicated to election transparency, matching the numbers of ballots with the number of citizens voting, and many other critical aspects of keeping lawful votes secure and accurately recorded while identifying discrepancies and breaches of election statutes. In her interview with Cleta which is nothing short of stunning, Heather lays out in full detail significant problems with voter v. ballots counts, Pennyslvania’s Secretary of State blatantly blocking election integrity efforts while issuing political guidance that ignores law, and how Heather and her Verity Voting colleague have used brilliant and unique ways to quantify discrepancies and counter being blocked from access to public records by election officials. In addition to its great work in Pennsylvania, Verity Voting has worked on chain of custody other process and counting irregularities in Arizona, with a new report about to be issued on problems in Michigan. Don’t miss this insightful, blockbuster interview with Cleta Mitchell and Heather Honey.

Learn how an engaged citizen can protect election integrity at their local level. Download the Citizens Guide to Building an Election Integrity Infrastructure at whoscounting.us

One of the lefty publications in Washington, POLITICO, published an attempted hit piece attacking Cleta Mitchell this week for her presentation at the Arizona Election Integrity Summit in March 2022 – during which Cleta talked about how the left intends to manipulate the 2022 elections using our tax dollars. Because POLITICO falsified its description of the presentation, we are publishing the entire audio so you can learn what the Biden Administration is doing with your money. In March 2021, Biden issued Executive Order 14091, which requires all 600 federal government agencies to develop a “voter registration plan” using federal dollars to target what the left calls the “New American Majority” (their words, not ours): young people, people of color, unmarried women, and low- income people. The Executive Order targets those who are most vulnerable in our society, who come to the federal government agencies for assistance and benefits, and then uses their vulnerability for the Democrats’ political purposes. A major part of the plan is to provide tax dollars to left wing groups to “educate” voters…not all voters, though. Just the ones who comprise what the left calls the New American Majority. And none of the agencies are coughing up their plans, despite demands under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for copies of the agency plans. Mollie Hemingway wrote in June 2022 about the secrecy of the Biden Executive Order and the White House plans. Yes, Biden Is Hiding His Plan To Rig The 2022 Midterm Elections (thefederalist.com). The Biden Administration is using our tax dollars to churn out Democrat votes in November 2022. Listen to the entire audio presentation and help us fight back to stop this misappropriation by Democrats of our tax dollars for their political purposes.

The Left’s Deliberate Plan for Election Confusion with Ranked Choice Voting. The Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow, Hans von Spakovsky, is an attorney and nationally renowned expert in election law and procedures. In this episode, Cleta and Hans expose an emerging threat to election integrity – ranked choice voting. Complex, disorienting and arguably unconstitutional, it is destabilizing to our electoral process, unfair to our voters, and must be stopped. RCV’s targets are conservative districts and its victims are its voters. In Alaska’s first round congressional primary (June), Sarah Palin came in first and Democrat Mary Peltola, fourth. In round two (August) 60% of voters voted Republican yet Peltola won. In New York's recent mayoral race, 140K legitimate ballots were deliberately discarded during the RCV process. Alaskans were hoodwinked into thinking it was a good idea; now they know better. It is on the ballot in Nevada this November, and being pushed by the left in other states in an effort to end a voter's right to specifically choose the candidate of their choice. A report on ranked choice voting by Hans and J. Christian Adams of the Public Interest Legal Foundation can be found here. https://www.heritage.org/election-integrity/report/ranked-choice-voting-bad-choice

In October 2021, Cleta sat down with Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist and discussed her amazing book released in May 2021 about the 2020 election, Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections It is worth watching and listening again to Mollie, to realize how completely accurate she was in describing how America’s powerful elites destabilized and compromised both the 2020 election process and its results. And now we know that it wasn’t just Big Tech and Big Media - it turns out that the federal government itself was engaged in the suppression of information vital to guaranteeing an informed electorate, as Twitter, Facebook, and Google suppressed (at government requests) important news and facts about everything from the pandemic to the Biden family’s international business dealings. How has the media’s move from bias to outright propaganda allowed the left to ignore or manipulate election laws with impunity, to the point where the majority of voters have little or no confidence in election outcomes? Where is the intersection between leftwing media companies and skewed election results? How do we stop private entities from interfering in election offices to achieve partisan results? How widespread is the left’s reach into compromising elections? We revisit 2020 with Mollie in light of the facts we now know as 2022 comes to an end. And we are reminded by this episode of the Who’s Counting? podcast that Mollie Hemingway is perhaps the most insightful, thoughtful, and prescient public intellectual of our time.

When the left gets nervous, it unleashes baseless attacks on good people through its cheerleaders in the media. In recent years, the anti-election integrity left has done its best to water down election protections and is now ramping up its rhetoric with not-so-subtle threats against election integrity advocates and poll observers. “Do not be dismayed!” notes EIN Chairman Cleta Mitchell. Her advice? Be “right and polite,” never lose your temper when observing voting in your local precincts, and never raise your voice – even under the most trying of circumstances. “Observe, report and document” is the role of the election observer, and strictly following these “eyes and ears only” guidelines is the recipe for success. For over a year, EIN has focused on educating citizens of any party interested in protecting all ballots, with the goal of empowering election observers with information, resources and confidence necessary to become involved in the election process. Patriots and conservatives are engaged at greater levels than ever, and the left – with its goal of further destabilizing elections – doesn’t like it, and are metaphorically banging their spoons on their highchairs in protest. Cleta walks through the current meritless threats from the media, the pre-emptive negative coverage election observers are receiving, and specific instances where “eyes on every ballot” have made an enormous difference for election integrity. Citizens not only have the right to engage in the election process; they have an obligation to do so. “Peaceful. Lawful. Honest.” This is the formula for ensuring that every day citizens (not leftist elites) can engage in election integrity without fear but with great success.

From Hurricane Ian to Illegal Ballot Harvesting Schemes to Ensuring Citizen Access to the Election Process, Cord Byrd Is Bullish on Florida’s Election System. A lawyer and former state legislator, Secretary of State Cord Byrd was appointed in May 2022 by Governor Ron DeSantis to serve as Florida’s Secretary of State. Since May, Secretary Byrd has traveled to each of Florida’s 67 counties, meeting with every county Supervisor of Elections and inspecting every county election office. In this Episode of Who’s Counting? with Cleta Mitchell, Cleta talks with Secretary Byrd about Florida’s system of election administration: an appointed Secretary of State, with 67 separately elected county Supervisors of Elections (SOEs), and how they work together to operate one of the best election systems in America. As a legislator, Secretary Byrd helped shepherd Governor DeSantis’s recent election reform bills through the 2022 legislative session, notably creating a guarantee of ‘reasonable access’ of citizens to the voting process (“no pizza boxes in the windows of Florida’s election offices!”) to the creation of the first in the nation Office of Election Crimes and Security, as a Division of the Secretary of State’s office. Already, the new bureau has referred several matters to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, including an illegal ballot harvesting scheme recently uncovered by a local citizens election integrity task force in Orange County (Orlando). Secretary Byrd has been a volunteer poll watcher and election day attorney, was part of the army of attorneys during the 2000 presidential recount and authored the Florida law that all Florida voters mark a paper ballot that is retained to verify and confirm voting machine tabulations. Secretary Byrd personifies the excellence in executive appointments by Gov. DeSantis (America’s Governor!) that people so admire. Bullish on Florida’s election system, Secretary Byrd offers in this episode a bird’s eye view into how elections ought to be run: peaceful, lawful and honest.

Heritage Foundation Election Law Scorecard Tracks Homeruns and Strikeouts for Every State Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Hans von Spakosvky talks with Cleta about the current state of Heritage’s Election Integrity Scorecard, a comprehensive index of state election laws – and the progress (or failure to advance) by the states since the scorecard was first released in December 2021. Hans and his team based their analyses of the states’ laws on numerous aspects including voter ID, absentee ballot verification, voter roll maintenance, bans of private funding of election offices, whether a state protects legislative authority over election laws, and whether the election code is protected from legal attacks by the vast leftwing legal assault machine, and many other components. As legislatures change election laws, for good or for ill, the Scorecard is regularly updated. https://www.heritage.org/electionscorecard/ According to the Scorecard, Tennessee and Georgia have the best laws on their books, with Hawaii and Nevada the worst. How does your state rate? But never forget: a state can have a great election code, but there is NO election integrity if the laws are not followed or enforced. This Election Integrity Scorecard is an important tool for helping citizens assess the election statutes in their states – and to help guide legislative changes where there are shortfalls. Individual citizens’ engagement is essential for ensuring elections are conducted in a manner consistent with the law. The more we all know, the better we are able to hold both legislators and election officials accountable for ensuring that the basic framework for integrity is established by statutes….and then followed at election time.

This is the most important lesson! Becoming a Poll Watcher comes with additional expectations as part of the election system. Be quiet and pay attention. Don't let distractions get in the way of performing your duties. Always be respectful and professional. Learn about the Do's and Don'ts for being a Poll Watcher in this video. Remember, don't leave early & document any irregularities you see without causing a disturbance. You are there to protect all votes for all voters!

A self-described “political nerd” at a young age, native Louisianan Kyle Ardoin recognized public service was a role for people of integrity who respect the rule of law. As Louisiana’s Secretary of State, Secretary Ardoin has been ahead of the curve on critical issues that impact election integrity for all the state’s voters. In 2020, and despite several lawsuits filed by leftwing groups, Ardoin led the state to adopt a bipartisan emergency election plan to accommodate Covid fears by temporarily (not permanently!) expanding existing absentee voting statues rather than opening up the Pandora’s Box of mass mailing of absentee ballots – what the leftist organizations were demanding in court. The litigation was not successful – but the emergency plan proposed by Secretary Ardoin was. The approach developed by Secretary Ardoin resulted in the state’s massive voter turnout in the 2020 General Election, with the majority of votes cast in person. Secretary Ardoin has been particularly attentive to concerns raised by citizens in Louisiana on a range of issues regarding voting and elections and is unafraid to take on entrenched interests on behalf of the people. Secretary Ardoin has also been a national leader in raising concerns about ERIC (Electronic Registration Information Center) and the failure of the organization to protect the confidentiality of the State’s data, which ultimately resulted in his suspending Louisiana’s further participation in ERIC. The Secretary outlines significant red flags he has discovered regarding ERIC, especially the security of its data and ERIC’s refusal to share information about the organization’s operations with him and other member states, whose taxpayers pay for their state’s participation in ERIC. Secretary Ardoin discusses with Cleta many of the issues facing Secretaries of State - and voters - in this coming election season, including the nationwide paper shortage that can impact voting, his new registration system for “MSP’s” (Managed Service Providers) who provide IT services for local government agencies, and voting machine vulnerabilities. Secretary Ardoin is a national leader among state election officials and has been fearless in raising questions and seeking solutions to help restore the confidence of Louisiana citizens in their state’s elections.

This interview is part of EIN’s “After and Before" Series. After 2020 and 2022, and Before 2024: Who's Counting? with Cleta Mitchell Podcasts discussing state-by-state experiences in 2022 from the Election Integrity Network’s citizen leaders: The bad…but also the good – and the positive difference an election integrity infrastructure made and is making in state after state. Whatever do purple pens and knitting patterns have to do with election integrity efforts? Cleta’s guest Elizabeth Butler, leader of the Broward County, Florida, Election Integrity Task Force describes a few notable red flags she has discovered both as an election integrity activist in Virginia, and now in Florida. Elizabeth has a background in engineering and management, that she believes has trained her to identify patterns and knit them together to reveal persistent problems – a key skill in her work as an election integrity leader. Elizabeth started her election integrity work in Virginia in 2015 as a volunteer poll observer, then formed the Richmond, VA election integrity task force in 2021 and became a key leader in Virginia’s Fair Elections Coalition, before moving to Broward County, Florida in 2022. Because of her unique perspective as an election integrity leader in two states, Elizabeth has become one of the most knowledgeable leaders in the country on election processes. Having been involved in election integrity operations in two states with two very different sets of laws and procedures, Elizabeth has learned – and taught others – key principles required to protect the integrity of the election systems, regardless of location. With a particular knowledge about election processes, ballot harvesting and the problems of verifying identity of voters who vote by mail, Elizabeth has not just made a difference in her county in a short period of time, but has lent her expertise to the statewide Florida Fair Elections Coalition originally launched by Election Integrity Network. Elizabeth has also served as an instructor at several of EIN’s statewide Election Integrity Summits. Elizabeth describes noticing a stack of vote by mail ballots in Broward County marked with the same purple pen and indicating the same political choices – and blank boxes – which clearly raised questions of the authenticity of the ballots. Elizabeth and Cleta discuss the challenges of keeping such ballots from being included in the count, and some specific and strategic ways to identify and solve problems in the election system. Elizabeth Butler is making a real difference in helping her fellow citizens develop expertise in election procedures, and the confidence to speak up and point out the issues that plague every election system – and to help restore integrity in the election process. Elizabeth is a role model for citizen involvement in the election process. Be encouraged! And be engaged!