EXCLUSIVE - Citizen Asks for Election Report Detailed in Investigation Findings; Monmouth County Can't Produce It
A pattern is emerging in NJ - a blame game between election vendors and local officials when things go wrong, with no accountability or change. Want to change that? Start asking for the receipts.
During the autumn of 2022, Monmouth County, NJ had an election where many things went wrong and a losing candidate was declared winner of a local race. Did the voting system vendor, Elections Systems & Software (ES&S,) or the Clerk of Elections find the mistake? No, a concerned citizen did. A subsequent examination by the accountable parties confirmed suspicions. A consequential miscount had occurred and an independent investigation was convened.
After the findings of the investigation were released in September 2023, the concerned citizen former councilman Jim Bean, requested a copy of the critical election report detailed in the Investigative Findings of attorney Peter C. Harvey of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler LLP. The response he received (screenshot below) was anything but reassuring. In fact, this revelation along with statements and comments made by election officials, ES&S, and the independent investigator elicit more questions about the facts presented in the findings.
NJ, where is the missing Media Status Report?!
How It Started
On the Monday before Thanksgiving 2022, Jim Bean submitted an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request to Monmouth County. He had no idea that his email would kick off a chain of inquiries and research into election systems and vote counting processes which continues to this day.
“Bean, a former Belmar councilman, was interested in seeing the number of walk-in, early, absentee, and provisional voters who participated in November’s election. When he compared the numbers received from the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office, to how many each candidate certifiably received, something was awry.”
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Questions directed at county election officials triggered a county investigation, an admission of the double counting and led to court-ordered vote recounts. In one case, a certified election result was overturned several weeks after the wrong candidate had assumed office as a member of the local school board.
“Election Systems and Software (ES&S), Monmouth County’s voting machine vendor, has acknowledged an error in their vote tabulation system that caused irregularities that were not discovered until an unrelated issue caused the Board of Elections to launch an internal investigation, according to an election official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The company called the issue an “isolated incident occurred due to a human procedural error. An audit of the system yielded this information.”
In the six voting districts, fail-safes in the tabulation software failed and some results were counted twice, possibly a result of work by the vendor that was completed incorrectly.”
““There are reports in the system which document these types of actions, and duplication of results can be detected during reporting and canvas procedures. The USB Status Load Report identifies any USB flash media that have been loaded more than once.,” Granger said. “Additionally, pollbook data cross-referenced with the ballots cast also shows issues with the number of ballots cast.”
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The NJ Office of the Attorney General (NJOAG) also commissioned an independent investigation to find out what went wrong and make recommendations about safeguarding election results accuracy in the future.
“In a statement, Platkin said a full investigation is warranted to “encourage and preserve public trust in our elections, including recommendations for reforms to benefit the conduct of contests statewide.”
The state has retained former New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey and his law firm — Patterson, Belknap, Webb, and Tyler — to lead the probe into the irregularities, which have attracted some national attention. Harvey, a former federal prosecutor, and the firm have agreed to be retained on a pro bono basis.”
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Investigative Findings Released, But No Proof Provided
Nine months after the 2022 General Election, NJOAG announced the release of results from the independent investigation findings and policy recommendations in early September 2023. Monmouth County maintains that election vendor, ES&S, updated the Electionware software which allowed the miscounting to occur. And among the recommendations are echoes of January 2023 calls from county election officers for the state to require additional election procedural checklists and reporting standards.
Based on this explanation and his experience as an IT professional, Jim Bean found himself wondering why 'the receipts' - reports documenting the double vote data capture - weren't publicly disclosed.
Jim Bean letter to the editor September 21, 2023 -The Coast Star
"I want integrity in our elections and this report didn't help...Only in N.J. can a certified election be proven inaccurate, the software vendor takes the blame while admitting that they can’t reproduce the issue, and the follow-up state A.G. report reassures us that our elections are secure but doesn't include the paperwork proof they admit exists."
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Full Circle
Jim Bean and Monmouth County residents deserve answers and WANJ is committed to helping them get them. However, the impact of this situation goes far beyond just one county in our State. ES&S, the Omaha, Nebraska-based end to end election systems vendor commands the largest share of the U.S. voting equipment market.
During the same election cycle of 2022, we reported on the case of the Mercer County election where every single machine failed to work on Election Day. That incident culminated in a similar outcome - a game of “he said, she said” between voting system vendor, Dominion, and the County Clerk where there was ultimately no accountability or justice for the voters impacted. In fact, WANJ has shared voter submissions from many counties with similar stories for the last few years. We are ALL affected.
You have the power to force change by asking questions and not stopping until you get answers.
Start now:
Monmouth County Clerk of Elections: clerkofelections@co.monmouth.nj.us
New Jersey Office of the Attorney General: https://www.njoag.gov/contact/