Wisconsin Election Commission Is Knee-Deep in CYA Following Feds' Alert Russia Targeted State

Nothing to see here, nothing happened, but we're beefing up
security because of vulnerabilities, say Wisconsin election pols.

Clean Wisconsin elections give way to partisans and bureaucrat's hollow assurances of 'nothing to see here' after feds alert 21 states hackers targeted their systems.

Madison, Wisconsin — In November 2016, the Wisconsin Election Commission, (WEC), Chair, Mark L. Thomsen, declared there is no need for a hand recount of the Wisconsin presidential election because Thomsen said he knew the recount would not change the electoral results.

This was an inappropriate statement for the WEC Chair to make as recounts are governed by Wisconsin statutes and are supposed to guard the liberty and suffrage interests of Wisconsin citizens and candidates in assuring clean, fair and impartial elections.

Explaining his position, Thomsen said, "It, [Trump's margin of victory over Clinton in Wisconsin], may not be 22,177 [after the requested hand recount]. But I don’t doubt that the president-elect is going to win that."

Who cares what Thomsen thinks or doubts? Thomsen's was a political position, devoid of consideration of citizens' rights and interests in the electoral processes.

The right to a recall in Wisconsin was given a new, extra-statutory standard by a host of self-serving Wisconsin pols, Donald Trump and one Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn: If there is no clear evidence that a hand recount will produce a difference result, there is no need for a hand recount.

Wrote James Rowen in reaction in November 2016:

It is disappointing that the [Election] commission with no third-party representation is signaling premature and self-serving assurance while ruling out the hand recount sought by Stein, and supported by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Worse, it reinforces the partisan cast of a state where the GOP's candidate narrowly won the state's electoral votes, and Wisconsin is run as a one-party state by an autocratic legislature in league with an imperial Governor and State Supreme Court that sacrificed its impartiality when it had a 4-3 conservative majority that has now risen to an even harder-edged 5-2 right tilt.

As noted here, Judge Bailey-Rihn, in upholding the partisan Election Commission decision, said clear and convincing evidence is needed to order a statewide hand recount over the decision of the Commission, without addressing whether voter intent remains a paramount principle underlying Wisconsin election law.

Opined John Nichols commenting on the opposition of Wisconsin pols to the requested recount:

Unfortunately, in an age of hyperpartisan spin and know-nothing media, there is a tendency to see demands for recounts as the burdensome expressions of sore losers. Sometimes they are that. But for those of us who concern ourselves with the functioning of the elections that confer authority on executives and legislators, recounts are understood as fundamental underpinnings of democracy. They only rarely overturn initial results. But even when they simply confirm those results, they give us all greater confidence in systems that can only serve their purpose if citizens see those systems as fair and functional.

The abbreviated, don't-look-too-closely recount was begun. [Wisconsin recount information, governing Wisconsin state statute, and ARTICLE III, Suffrage (voting) text in the Wisconsin Constitution are indicated and explained in updated online Wisconsin public websites, in accordance with Wisconsin's historic open-government commitment and the Wisconsin Idea.]

Feds in 2107: Russia Hacked 21 States

Now comes news in September 2017 that Wisconsin along with 20 other states were specifically targeted by Russian cyber hackers in 2016:

WEC Administrator Michael Haas has informed WEC Chair Mark Thomsen, who directed Commission staff to investigate why election officials were not notified earlier and report to the Commission at its meeting Tuesday.

'This scanning had no impact on Wisconsin’s systems or the election,' Haas said. 'Internet security provided by the state successfully protected our systems. Homeland Security specifically confirmed there was no breach or compromise of our data.'

In 2016, Haas offered public assurances that because Wisconsin's is "the most decentralized election system" in the nation, hence safe, and that cyber-tampering would require "unfettered access" to municipalities throughout the state.

Haas is wrong. To swing a close election in Wisconsin, hackers just need access to a handful of Wisconsin's 1,853 municipalities' "Internet-facing election infrastructure." Decentralization in itself does not protect the integrity of elections.

The whole point of Jill Stein's requested hand recount was to make sure the number of ballots cast for presidential candidates matched what was tabulated in the results. But the Wisconsin Elections Commission's adamant and bizarre position was a hand recount was not needed because they knew the results already.

In retrospect, and in light of the Russia cyber-hack, does the WEC now concede Jill Stein, (and Hillary Clinton's), position that a hand recount was needed for confidence in the integrity of the 2016 electoral results?

Turns out decentralization is not such a great protection from hacking after-all, Haas now acknowledges, contradicting his 2016 position:

The Wisconsin State Journal reports today:

Meanwhile, the state is moving ahead with implementing a new election security plan by early 2018.

The challenges are particularly acute in Wisconsin, Haas said earlier Friday, where elections are not centrally run but instead handled locally by 1,853 municipal clerks. One local security breach where a key password is divulged could cause problems statewide, Haas said.

One thing the state is considering is whether to mandate that local clerks meet minimum security requirements for hardware and software they use, Haas said. 

The next Wisconsin elections will take place in the 2018 Spring Primary election in February.

Below is a reproduction of the Wisconsin Elections Commission's Sept 22, 2017 public announcement of the 2016 Russian cyber-attack.

Wisconsin Notified of Unsuccessful Russian Hacking Attempt

Date: September 22, 2017

MADISON, WI – This afternoon, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security notified the Wisconsin Elections Commission for the first time that “Russian government cyber actors” unsuccessfully targeted the state’s voter registration system in 2016.

WEC Administrator Michael Haas has informed WEC Chair Mark Thomsen, who directed Commission staff to investigate why election officials were not notified earlier and report to the Commission at its meeting Tuesday.

"This scanning had no impact on Wisconsin’s systems or the election," Haas said. "Internet security provided by the state successfully protected our systems. Homeland Security specifically confirmed there was no breach or compromise of our data."

Wisconsin is one of 21 states whose chief election officials were notified Friday by DHS officials that their systems were targeted by Russians, said Haas. DHS did not disclose which other states were notified, but said the states were free to disclose the information.

According to DHS, it appears that Internet-facing election infrastructure in Wisconsin was targeted by Russian government cyber actors. They scanned internet-connected election infrastructure likely seeking specific vulnerabilities such as access to voter registration databases, but the attempt to exploit vulnerabilities was unsuccessful.

Haas said the Commission is seeking more specific information, including when the scanning activity occurred in 2016.

The news that 21 states were targeted was first announced by DHS at a U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on June 21, 2017. Coincidentally, Haas also testified at that hearing and said in response to questions that the Elections Commission had not been notified by DHS and concluded that Wisconsin was not one of the targeted states.

Wisconsin Pols Jettison Voter Intent, Republicans Say They're "Very Pleased"

Update - The rejection of a petition to order a hand recount does not offer high hopes for the intent and liberty interests of Wisconsin voters seeing elections as a means of protecting their interests.

Jill Stein, joined by the Hillary Clinton campaign, sought a judicial order in state district court, mandating a hand recount in the Wisconsin presidential recount.

The campaigns want voter intent to guide the recount, are vigilant against election shenanigans, and call for a rigorous, precise hand recount to verify the 2016 presidential election results.

This week political appointees in the newly politicized Wisconsin Elections Commission joined the Chair who declared his personal knowledge of the recount results prior to the inception in a bizarre statement.

Chair Mark Thomsen also joined a unanimous six-member Commission, and rejected the Stein-Clinton call for a hand recount.

Neither election bureaucrats nor Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn are impressed with arguments appealing to the liberty interests of voters.

Report Mark Sommerhauser and Matthew DeFour in the Wisconsin State Journal this morning: "Clinton’s attorney, Josh Kaul, wrote in a memo to the court that a hand recount is 'preferable to a machine recount because human beings can assess voter intent in a way that machines cannot.'"

Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn, upholding the partisan Commission decision, says more evidence is needed to order a statewide hand recount over the decision of the Commission, without addressing whether voter intent remains a paramount principle underlying Wisconsin election law.

Wisconsin Republicans immediately praised the decision, saying the Republican Wisconsin Dept of Justice is "very pleased" with the ruling. Republicans want blood though.

Today, the Republican Party of Wisconsin said it will "file a federal elections complaint against both Stein and Democrat Hillary Clinton," (Stein, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel), a complaint widely viewed as a PR stunt.

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin press neglects noting the liberty interests of citizens as a check on bureaucracy and partisanship even as the foundational basis of Wisconsin democracy is disregarded in the partisan Elections Commission.

The Green Bay Press Gazette, a Republican paper in northeastern Wisconsin, misreports recount costs that will be spent by the Stein campaign as tax-payer dollars. This is factually incorrect, but representative of the USA Today-Gannett Co newspapers dominating Wisconsin media.

Wisconsin Elections Commission Under Reign of Clowns

Mark L. Thomsen, chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission,
declared the results of the Wisconsin presidential recount prior
to the recount's inception. Thomsen is the political hack Democrats
offered up for appointment to new Elections Commission.

Updated - As national political eyes cast a glance at Wisconsin, the democratic ethos in our political culture is dissipating.

With nary a beep from the moribund Democratic Party.

So, it is no surprise to read the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) (formerly the Governmental Accountability Board until its independence offended Wisconsin Republicans), decided the best way to conduct the presidential recount is to avoid ordering a rigorous and precise hand-recount in Republican-led counties, and to then offer the public prior assurance of what the recount results will be.

Wisconsin Elections Commission, (WEC), chair Mark L. Thomsen, a Democrat and doofus, declared the recount will not change the some 22,000 Trump victory margin over Clinton.

Does anyone see anything wrong with Thomsen? [Update: John Nichols has something out at The Capital Times.]

Why is the state commission chair charged with administering Wisconsin elections offering predictions and assurance on what the results of statutorily prescribed electoral recounts will be?

Because Thomsen is a political hack, who has given $10,000s to Democrats the last two years, and knows nothing about the concerns of free and fair elections activists.

Thomsen has his gig at the WEC, and his tenure will be good for his law practice so Thomsen is careful not to step on any toes with democratic niceties like the impartial administration of free and fair elections.

Republicans destroyed an independent Wisconsin elections agency last year, and Wisconsin Democrats are going along, declaring money is the currency that matters most in administering elections, and meet Mr. Mark L. Thomsen.

Top Comp Scientists, Election Attys Want Recount of Wisc, Michigan and Pennsylvania

A prominent group of computer scientists and election attorneys has met with the Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign chair and general counsel to call for a recount in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Gabriel Sherman reports in New York magazine.

The call for three swing-state recounts follows the unprecedented foreign intervention in the presidential campaign by international and Russian hackers, widely publicized before Election Day.

"A growing number of academics and activists are calling for US authorities to fully audit or recount the 2016 presidential election vote in key battleground states, in case the results could have been skewed by foreign hackers," reports Jon Swaine in The Guardian.

As noted via the Election Law site, Sherman reports:

Hillary Clinton is being urged by a group of prominent computer scientists and election lawyers to call for a recount in three swing states won by Donald Trump, New York has learned. The group, which includes voting-rights attorney John Bonifaz and J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, believes they’ve found persuasive evidence that results in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania may have been manipulated or hacked. The group is so far not speaking on the record about their findings and is focused on lobbying the Clinton team in private.

Last Thursday, the activists held a conference call with Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and campaign general counsel Marc Elias to make their case, according to a source briefed on the call. The academics presented findings showing that in Wisconsin, Clinton received 7 percent fewer votes in counties that relied on electronic-voting machines compared with counties that used optical scanners and paper ballots.

Wisconsin voting rights activists have for years eyed with suspicion the over-performance of Republicans in red and purple counties using electronic-voting machines. They want verification to promote confidence in election results, and to protect voting rights.

In Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Trump leads Clinton by 0.8%, 0.2% and 1.1%, respectively, according to data compiled by David Wasserman @Redistrict, Cook Political Report @CookPolitical.

Here's How We Beat Those Frackers

Following the carnage in Wisconsin, a friend asked, "What the hell?  What's it take to beat those fuckers?"

The question and sentiment are legion across the country.

The answer is simple, organize a bit more, (Juan Cole). That's it, with the corollary that we ought to consider supporting those involved in organizing.

Some details include extirpating the DNC pukes and replacing the lot with the like of Rep. Keith Ellison, (D-Minnesota).

With respect to whites stupid enough to vote for Donald Trump, do not a cede an inch to these bigots and assorted human garbage. As a life-long Wisconsin citizen, I know these people.

Says Bernie this morning, "When my presidential campaign came to an end, I pledged to my supporters that the political revolution would continue. And now, more than ever, that must happen. We are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. When we stand together and don’t let demagogues divide us up by race, gender or national origin, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. We must go forward, not backward," (NYT).

 Listen to voices such as Michael Moore, and John Pavolovitz.

And, ala spring and summer 2016, if assorted fools admonish we should all unify around Trump for the good of America, the same fools who have not apologized for their rally-around-Hillary-over-Sanders nonsense, ignore these asses and organize some more for progressives.

Progressives Lose to Scared White Supremacists

Bernie Sanders and Adam Dahl in Janesville, Wisconsin in
Spring 2016, fighting the fights that need fighting

Updated - Campaign 2016 is white people being afraid and hateful, and it's an old American story.

On the up side, never have progressives forces been so well-organized and close to an electoral victory.

We're one step away from a smashing victory, if as a whole we get a little more organized, a little more open to appeals of liberty, a little more involved in politics; we're this close.

Fight for inches, prepare for victory.

Organize. Listen to those who warn grassroots organization is lacking.

Notes Alex Emmons: "Donald Trump shocked everyone but his own supporters Tuesday as his racist, xenophobic, authoritarian, climate-science-denying, misogynistic, 'grab-them-by-the-pussy' candidacy somehow carried him to victory," (The Intercept).

This is what happens when you turn away from injustice.

Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nevada to Decide

Long night. Scratch Iowa.

We win with Michigan and New Hampshire.

See http://www.270towin.com/maps/bW03R

VoteCastr Real-Time Exit Poll Data Is Now Up

Update: Live exit-polling data from voters to which only campaign and network elites used to be privy is now up and streaming.

See VoteCastr, Slate Magazine and Vice News.

Through a partnership with the data firm VoteCastr and Slate, VICE News and Slate are providing live updates on which voters are turning out, which are staying home, and where the candidates stand in the key swing states.

Voting Is Your Right, No Matter What Racists and Republicans Say

If you see voter obstruction, help your fellow voters

Wisconsin Republicans creating a hostile and obstructive voting regime at Wisconsin's 3,500 polling places is a scheme the GOP hopes bears fruit on Election Day. It's not just poll observes who want to obstruct your vote, it's poll workers.

After-all, Republicans seek to turn every lever of state and municipal government into de facto sub-units of Republican government. So, screening poll workers for hostility to voting rights and in the process taking over the voting place are naturals for voting-averse Republicans.

Antagonistic-to-voters polling workers are pervasive, but compiling reports of their misconduct is difficult for non-profits. (It takes a major social-scientific investigation to quantify the phenomenon of voter obstruction.)

Instead we see warnings about election observers and voter obstruction laws omitting the misconduct of municipal and contract election officials stationed at the point of voting and working, (unlawfully), to suppress the vote.

All of this is carried out under the rubric of voter fraud, a lie, and hostility to civil liberties, a disgrace.

Concludes a New York Times editorial in September: "The scary thing is how many Americans have bought into this charade [about voter fraud]. It shouldn’t be surprising that the Republican Party’s standard-bearer, Donald Trump, has elevated the lie about voting fraud and 'rigged elections' to a centerpiece of his campaign."

It shouldn't be surprising. Alex Wagner has a compelling report out about the dangers Donald Trump poses to voting.

The rotten fruit of the now Trumped-up danger of voter fraud is right at your local polling place, abetted by observers, polling workers and municipal bureaucrats.

Stay vigilant, especially if you are brown or black.

Hillary Is Sealing off Trump's Paths to 270

Hillary Clinton will win, but do not relax

Update: North Carolina's population has been assaulted like no other by the Repulbican Party. The people are fighting back and propelling Hillary Clinton to a likely victory over Trump. See Cohn, NYT.
---
Hillary Clinton has taken out ad buys in Wisconsin and other blue states, hence this must mean Clinton is losing ground fast, goes the wisdom of the moment.

It's not wisdom, and such meaning as this line possesses is false or misleading.

Buying ads in northern blue states is common sense because Hillary's goal is to reach 270 electoral votes and block Donald Trump's paths to 270.

Assume a melt-down unprecedented in modern American presidential politics that sees Trump winning Ohio, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Florida on Election Night.

In this scenario Trump's path forward to 270 goes through Wisconsin and Michigan. Trump's path is blocked in Illinois and Minnesota. By the way, Scott Walker is not going to propel Trump to victory in Wisconsin.

Failing to win Wisconsin and Michigan, then Trump must seek another path and win Nevada and New Mexico, or Colorado, if Trump is to reach 270 electoral votes. The west coast and Hawaii are no-go for Trump.

So increased Democratic Party attention in Nevada, New Mexico or Colorado is also not a sign of impending Clinton collapse. It's another obstruction blocking Trump's path to 270.

As is flipping a red state like Arizona.

Nate Silver's 538.com still shows Clinton blocking Trump in the blue firewall states.

This electoral situation does not suggest complacency; anything but.

It means Clinton will win; or if most put forth a tiny bit of effort then Clinton will win in a landslide.

Writes David Leonhardt today in the NYT: "... through all of the campaign’s ups and downs, Clinton has never trailed, whether you look at state polling or national polling averages. Most of the poll fluctuations stem from people’s waxing and waning enthusiasm about responding to polls, based on the news surrounding their preferred candidate."

So breathe deeply. And do what you can do between now and Tuesday."

Breathe deeply and add to Clinton's immense advantage in the state ground games by doing something.

Then on Election Night, open a bottle of your favorite beverage and know you helped defeat this cretin. For your emotional health, check out VoteCastr on Election Day and watch the live, slow-motion defeat of this fascist lunatic.

In the meantime, go to Hillary's site and do or give something. For an anxiety-blocking bit of news, know the early voting in Florida looks great for Hillary's defeat of Trump. Without Florida, Trump has no path forward to 270.

And if you note the dearth of news assuring a Clinton victory, know this is simply because no one wants to add to people becoming complacent.

On Election Day, Watch Electoral Reality Live on VoteCastr

Check in with VoteCastr, and Slate Magazine and lay off
the hard stuff for Election Day data, results, and
predictions live, minute-by-minute.

Upending a paternalistic, anti-democratic and foolish tradition of the media elite

For the first time on Election Day, see live the exit polling data to which only campaign and network elites are privy, and which the American people are denied access.

Not anymore denied access

Check in with VoteCastr, and Slate Magazine and lay off the hard stuff for Election Day data, results, predictions and projected outcomes live, minute-by-minute.

Do the American people have a right to available Exit Poll information, intelligent analysis and supposition regarding the future of our democracy on Election Day?

Of course.

VoteCastr says, yes:

For the first time in the modern political era, Americans will see what the network executives and campaign insiders have seen all along: the game as it unfolds.

VoteCastr believes that providing information and analysis coming out of key battleground states to the American public throughout Election Day will connect the electorate to voting in a new and very powerful way.

On Election Day, VoteCastr’s data collection teams will fan out across the battleground states streaming data through our mobile app. That constant stream will be checked against our proprietary precinct, county, and statewide database models to generate minute-by-minute projected outcomes.

This data stream will form the backbone of a live day-long broadcast out of Brooklyn, New York starting when the first poll opens in Florida and ending when the last poll closes in Nevada. 

"[A] group of data scientists, journalists and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs is seeking to upend that reporting tradition, providing detailed projections of who is winning at any given time on Election Day in key swing states, and updating the information in real time from dawn to dusk," (Corasanitti, NYT). See also Turner at Slate Magazine.

Can't wait.

Trump Will Hit Hillary on Nicaraguan Contras, Human Rights Violations, and Wars

Political curve balls will be flying off the lectern at the great debate as the blank slate to many that is Donald Trump offers a human rights-based critique of Hillary Clinton, (Mal Contends).

That Trump is a fascist is not of the moment in the theater.

The political world won't know what to make of human rights from Trump, nor for that matter will the American people.

Human rights are no concern to Trump of course. Nor are American minorities.

Trump will assure us dangers lurk, and he is the guy who will protect our families at home and abroad from the dark-skinned dragons.

Still, Trump will strike out tonight and Hillary will be acclaimed the victor.

No politician ever went broke by overestimating the militaristic fervor of the American people, and militarism has never cost Hillary Clinton and this won't change for the foreseeable future.