New information reveals that the Election Administrator in Shelby County, TN, manipulated the bids for a new voting system to favor Election Systems & Software (ES&S). The administrator, Linda Phillips, increased competitors' bids by millions of dollars. She also increased the bids for hand-marked paper ballot (HMPB) voting systems by millions of dollars to make ballot-marking device touchscreens (BMDs) look more competitive by comparison.
The Election Commission thought they were looking at the actual bid numbers presented by 3 vendors (ES&S, Hart InterCivic, and Dominion Voting Systems), but they actually only saw Phillips' manipulated numbers.
For example, the HMPB voting system bid presented by Hart InterCivic was actually bid by Hart at $ 2.6 million but Linda Phillips' numbers increased Hart's bid to $5.3 million (an increase of $2.7 million). Phillips presented only her higher bid numbers to the Election Commission, which never saw the actual bids. This is just one example of Phillips' manipulations. Based on Phillips' misrepresentation of the bid numbers, the Election Commission recommended contracting with ES&S to serve as the voting equipment vendor for Shelby County. The vote to fund the new ES&S BMD voting system happens today, September 28, at 3 pm Central time, at County Commission meeting. The County Commission is the body that funds the voting system after receiving the recommendation from the Election Commission. The Election Commissioners and the County Commissioners are, so far, unaware of the bid manipulation by Linda Phillips, except for Election Commissioner Bennie Smith who uncovered the manipulated numbers.
Shelby Co Elections Administrator Linda Phillips manipulation of the bidding process to advantage ES&S in multiple ways. Link to Bennie Smith Summary on the 3 bids: https://bit.ly/2FXNbWd
ES&S has gained a reputation for misrepresentation, price gouging and more. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has been investigating the voting machine industry. On May 6, 2020 Senator Wyden on Free Speech for People stated that ES&S “...uses every slimy trick in the book to get states to buy what Alyssa (Milano) is warning about: Overpriced, insecure voting machines. The company was investigated by prosecutors in 2009 for using bribes to get a $50 million contract with New York City. The company has a well-established record of flying state election officials to nice places, lots of wining and dining. American constitutional rights as this group knows should not depend on a group of well-connected corporations like ES&S.” https://youtu.be/IPmp9D_X108?t=432
Over the past four years, we at AUDIT Elections USA have been involved in election integrity and accountability issues throughout the country and have found a pattern. Now we, along with other election specialists, are seeking a congressional investigation into abuses by voting machine vendors. Link to https://bit.ly/AUDIT-USA_Request-Congressional-Investigation .
Furthermore, Stacey Abrams’ organization, Fair Fight, has chronicled examples of behavior to which our letter refers in a document that have posted at the following website and link: https://bit.ly/3kSY3TU
See link to an article on “Philly’s new voting-machine contract in jeopardy because vendor failed to disclose use of lobbyists, campaign contributions”; August 14, 2019 - “ES&S will be liable for a $2.9 million fine, Pratt wrote in his letter to the board, adding that it has agreed to pay the fine if the contract proceeds.” https://bit.ly/2FZyylf
Contrary to what Ms. Phillips and other members of the SCEC assert, paper ballots are more secure, more economical, more voter-friendly, and with fewer and shorter lines at the polls. Purchasing BMDs is a prescription for disaster built on misleading information.
AUDIT USA other letters to Shelby County Board of Commissioners, Citizens, and Media:
· of June 1, 2020 that predicted these findings of bid-manipulation: https://bit.ly/3dJzeGY
· of April 9th about the BMD scam: https://bit.ly/2JVyr8C
Here are the links to the 3 actual bids to Shelby Co Elections RFP 20-008-09 Jan 23, 2020, made into a PDF:
1) ES&S Shelby Elections RFP 20-008-09 Jan 23, 2020: https://bit.ly/2YLDEXu
2) Hart InterCivic to Shelby Elections RFP 20-008-09 Jan 21, 2020 P 1 of 2: https://bit.ly/3hG9DBb
3A) Dominion to Shelby Elections RFP 20-008-09 Jan 23, 2020 P 1 of 2: https://bit.ly/30X71Zs
3B) Dominion Complete Quote to Shelby Elections RFP 20-008-09 Jan 23, 2020 P 2 of 2: https://bit.ly/30X71Zs
John Brakey Director Americans United for Democracy Integrity and Transparency - AUDIT-ELECTIONS-USA
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Our main site: http://www.auditelectionsusa.org/
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Link to report on how to make Elections Transparent, Trackable and Publicly Verified: Protecting Elections & Ballot Images: https://bit.ly/History_of_AUDIT_USA
