**UPDATE: Beck announced on Tuesday a third flight has taken off taking the total number of Christians evacuated up to 1,200.
Original Story
“While we slept, The Nazarene Fund was busy loading planes. This was the second plane load of Afghanistan Christian refugees leaving Kabul.”
That was the update from national radio host Glenn Beck, which included a touching picture to go along with the news that scores of Afghan Christians were being led to safety.
Beck’s calls for people to get involved through the Nazarene Fund were met with an astounding response. In just 3 days, Beck’s audience had donated over $22 million to fund the evacuations of Afghan Christian refugees.
Beck staff told Faithwire that total donations have now ballooned to $28.6 million. This stunning number comes with no help from the mainstream media and, for that matter, most other media at all – a quick Google search showed scant attention.
Beck took to Instagram yesterday to explain what is happening, saying that “yesterday was one of the more frustrating days” while explaining that “we just kept spinning wheels, there’s just chaos at the airport.”
“However, we have lots of people on the tarmac now, these Christians we told you about, and more coming. We have engaged twenty 757’s minimum all lined up, ready to go. Because you donated to the Nazarene Fund, we can do this.”
“By the end of the week, we will be able to move 7,000 Christians. It’s pretty remarkable,” Beck said.
As for prayer requests, Beck explained that “We need your prayers for people in countries who get cold feet” because anyone seen helping these refugees will be putting themselves at risk of retaliation.
“There’s been amazing response from the international community. Zimbabwe said they’ll take Christians. That’s a country struggling itself. We’ve had an amazing outpouring of countries that will take Christians.”
Beck added that some of those countries they’ve worked with want to help, but are very nervous. “The spiritual warfare going on right now. Everything has been a battle. It’s a battle of good vs. evil,” Beck explained.
Watch Beck’s full statement, which he released ahead of the first pictures of Christians being evacuated.
Joe Biden supplied the Taliban terrorist organization and their Islamist accomplices with billions of dollars worth of US armaments.
Rather than destroying the equipment before leaving the country, Joe Biden decided to leave the nearly $85 billion worth of US military equipment to the Taliban.
As The Gateway Pundit reported on Sunday — Joe Biden left 300 times more guns than those passed to the Mexican cartels in Obama’s Fast and Furious program.
A more complete list was created with public information and help from other intelligence sources. The list does not include all the extra kinds of nonlethal equipment, everything from MRE’s, Medical Equipment, and even energy drinks.
The big story might be the pallets of cash the Taliban have been posting videos of pallets of weapons and stacks of $100 bills they have seized.
Earlier this week we posted a more complete list of US-supplied equipment abandoned to the Taliban by Joe Biden.
It also appears the Taliban seized way more ScanEagle drones than the government is saying they did. There is no accounting on the number of crashed units.
Direct quote from report:
“This also raises concerns about how NAVAIR justified procuring 105 ScanEagle vehicles totaling over $32 million and spare parts totaling over $52 million, and future planned procurements.”
This week, the SIGAR audit on the $174 million drone loss disappeared from its website. Here is the link that was removed.
From 2017 to 2019, the U.S. also gave Afghan forces 7,035 machine guns, 4,702 Humvees, 20,040 hand grenades, 2,520 bombs, and 1,394 grenade launchers, according to the since removed 2020 SIGAR report
The numbers keep growing.
Here is a breakdown of estimated vehicle costs:
Armored personnel carriers such as the M113A2 cost $170,000 each and recent purchases of the M577A2 post carrier cost $333,333 each.
Mine resistant vehicles ranges from $412,000 to $767,000. The total cost could range between $382 million to $711 million.
Recovery vehicles such as the ‘truck, wrecker’ cost between for the base model $168,960 and $880,674 for super strength versions.
Medium range tactical vehicles include 5-ton cargo and general transport trucks were priced at $67,139. However, the family of MTV heavy vehicleshad prices ranging from $235,500 to $724,820 each. Cargo trucks to transport airplanes cost $800,865.
Humvees – ambulance type (range from $37,943 to $142,918 with most at $96,466); cargo type, priced at $104,682. Utility Humvees were typically priced at $91,429. However, the 12,000 lb. troop transport version cost up to $329,000.
Light tactical vehicles: Fast attack combat vehicles ($69,400); and passenger motor vehicles ($65,500). All terrain 4-wheel vehicles go up to $42,273 in the military databases.
Newsmax scored a gigantic ratings win with its wall-to-wall coverage of former President Donald Trump’s Save America rally in Alabama over the weekend.
Ratings show Newsmax doubled its audience compared with Trump’s July rally in Phoenix.
”This is a huge win for Newsmax,” said Jason Villar, vice president of research and analysis. ”We had a tremendous audience performance.”
According to Nielsen data, Newsmax coverage — including the pre-rally show hosted by Shaun Kraisman — had a reach of more than 3.3 million total viewers for Saturday’s rally, while Trump’s speech averaged a whopping 1.7 million viewers per minute.
Newsmax estimates that more than 2 million tuned in to the network through streaming devices, yielding an audience over 5 million viewers.
In addition to Newsmax’s vast cable audience, it is available for free through most OTT streaming platforms and on the Newsmax smartphone app.
Newsmax also outstripped its cable news competition for the coveted 35-64 age demographic, grabbing 647,000 viewers per minute, according to Nielsen.
Fox News, which did not carry the rally, pulled just 602,000 per minute viewers in the same time period, while CNN drew 476,000 and MSNBC was way behind at 85,000.
Newsmax also led all news networks in the key Nielsen Coverage Rating, drawing a 1.42 share to Fox’s 1.04.
The Coverage Rating measures networks on an apples-to-apples basis based on viewership over the total homes the network actually penetrates.
Fox News is available in more than 20 million more homes than Newsmax. The Coverage Rating indicates that in homes that carried both networks, Newsmax ratings were about 30% higher than Fox’s.
And those figures far exceed the ratings numbers from Trump’s rallies in Phoenix, Sarasota, Florida, and Ohio earlier this summer.
Newsmax’s P2+ reach of 3.3 million was more than double Trump’s Phoenix rally with more than 1.4 million total viewers.
Newsmax’s Saturday night programming — which was carried live from York Farms in Cullman, was to highlight Trump’s backing of Rep. Mo Brooks, who is running for U.S. Senate from Alabama.
The evening climaxed with a fiery speech by Trump, who insiders say is seriously considering a run for president in 2024 and using the rallies as a way to measure his popularity and raise campaign funds.
“I warned the entire country of the disastrous consequences of a Biden presidency,” Trump told the cheering crowd of up to 50,000 supporters. ”I understood; a lot of you understood it.”
The former commander in chief said Saturday’s rally raised a record $1.2 million for his PAC.
Pelosi was ultimately able to secure yes votes from nine moderate House Democrats for the resolution which expands the social safety net in the U.S. with new federal programs
The Democratic-led House on Tuesday authorized $3.5 trillion of spending in a party-line vote, as the national debt climbs to a record $29 trillion.
The final vote was 220-212. Of the members voting, 96 lawmakers submitted proxy letters to allow them to cast their votes remotely under a system the House adopted at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Using budget reconciliation allowed Democrats to bypass the filibuster in the Senate and push through the $3.5 trillion resolution without votes from Republicans in the 50-50 Senate. Democrats adopted the same strategy to pass the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, which was the second largest stimulus bill in U.S. history.
The resolution authorizes $3.5 trillion in spending on new programs like universal pre-K, tuition free community college, support for child care, Medicaid expansion, legal status for certain categories of illegal immigrants and other provisions. The formal legislative language of the reconciliation bill has not been drafted yet.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was ultimately able to secure yes votes from nine moderate House Democrats who were hesitant to vote on a $3.5 trillion resolution before voting on the Senate-passed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
As part of the resolution authorizing the $3.5 trillion, Pelosi included a Sept. 27th deadline for a vote on the separate $1.2 trillion Senate-passed bill, which garnered support from moderates such as New Jersey Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, co-chair of the House Problem Solvers Caucus.
Ahead of the vote, a fiscal watchdog group urged Democrats to oppose the resolution, estimating that it will result in $1.75 trillion of borrowing and add to the national debt. So far in the fiscal year, the deficit is $2.54 trillion. According to Treasury data, the national debt is approaching $29 trillion.
Voter fraud concerns mounting in tight California recall election
In social media posts and news outlets, proliferating reports detail alleged mail ballot theft, undelivered ballots, compromised vote privacy.
Facing the political fight of his life and sinking polls indicating he could lose in the Sept. 14 recall election, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is now plagued by rising concerns over alleged voter fraud after the Secretary of State’s Office sent out mail ballots to 20 million voters.
Earlier in the year, the state legislature passed a measure to send out mail ballots to every registered voter whether they asked for one or not. Newsom’s opponents argue this was done as a way to protect him from losing, suggesting the only way he could win was through fraud.
Two legislators sued Newsom last year over an executive order he issued changing election procedure. The lawsuit is on appeal and expected to go to the U.S. Supreme Court. One of the plaintiffs, State Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), is running to replace Newsom.
“Legislators are as desperate as Newsom to stop the recall,” Kiley said. “The one thing they respond to is the fear of losing their jobs. They know that when the governor loses his job, it will be a whole new ball game.”
Blue check users on Twitter have been posting video and images of alleged ballot fraud.
Trump administration acting Director of National Intelligence and California resident Richard Grenell asked if Newsom sent out suspiciously designed ballots on purpose, posting a video with a resident showing how small, round windows in the ballot envelopes may reveal “Yes” votes in favor of recall, making them easy to identify and discard by pro-Newsom ballot counters.
In an article “fact-checking” Grenell, the San Francisco Chronicle claimed, “No, California recall ballot was not designed to help Gavin Newsom and cheat Larry Elder,” his Republican challenger leading in the polls.
Should Newsom lose the vote, he would be the second governor recalled in California history. The latest polls show him losing in the polls or statistically tied.
New York Times best-selling author and podcast host Adam Carolla tweeted out a video of what he described as “two women with a post office master key … caught on camera stealing what appears to be California recall election ballots at an apartment complex in Valley Village.”
“Are they just targeting ballots or stealing all mail,” Carolla wrote. “What are your thoughts?”
Just The News reached out to Newsom’s press office, which was quick to respond. While the governor’s office couldn’t comment, the spokesperson referred the questions to several people at Newsom’s campaign and the Secretary of State’s Office. The campaign did not respond to request for comment, but the Secretary of State’s Office did.
Regarding the “cases of mail stealing, we take any and all allegations of election crimes seriously,” said Jenna Dresner, spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office. “We are aware of the cases you highlighted and have referred it to the appropriate federal and local law enforcement authorities to investigate its validity and prosecute as needed.”
She referred to a statement issued by the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters in response to concerns raised about the hole punches in the envelopes.
“The design of the ballot return envelope is not new and has been used for several election cycles — and the design is a recommended accessibility practice by civic design consultants,” the registrar’s office said. “The intent and purpose of the holes are two-fold, to assist with accessibility for low vision voters to locate where to sign the envelope and to ensure no ballots were missed and left in envelopes once our office has received and processed them.”
“[V]oters have control of how they place their ballot in the envelope,” the county added, “and have multiple options for returning their ballots (mail, Ballot Drop Box, or at a Vote Center) to ensure secure and appropriate handling. Additionally, voters can track the status of their returned ballot through Ballot Trax — a free tracking application operated by the Secretary of State that will notify the voter when our office received the ballot and that it will be counted.”
Janna Haynes, Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections Office spokesperson, affirmed the position of Los Angeles County and said the holes help blind voters, even though the ballot is not printed in braille.
“The feedback that we had received from our blind community, best practices from the Civic Center of Design, was that we needed to make some obvious indication on either side of the signature line,” she said.
The other reason is to make sure no ballot goes uncounted, she said.
Grenell pushed back against California media outlets downplaying fraud concerns. “The California media have collectively dismissed concerns about the LA County ballots,” he tweeted. “The fact is there are holes in the envelope that when the ballot is folded a certain way can expose those who voted to Recall Gavin. This is fact.”
In another tweet, he wrote: “The fact that it’s ‘only LA County’ is a ridiculous pushback. LA County is the largest in the state. It’s also a ridiculous argument to say ‘we always have these holes in the envelopes.’ Why do the holes only expose the YES votes?”
Police probe ballots found in car
Meanwhile, authorities are investigating 300 unopened mail-in ballots found in a car parked outside of a convenience store in Torrance, Calif., along with a loaded gun and narcotics.
Torrance Police Department Sgt. Mark Ponegalek told local media that a suspect has been taken into custody and released on his own recognizance.
“The election ballots, they were un-tampered with, unopened, a little over 300 of them found, primarily from addresses in Lawndale,” Ponegalek said. “There were some from Compton. We’re still trying to figure out where all these belonged to at this time, so we’re working with the Los Angeles election office as well as the U.S. Postal Inspector.”
The Los Angeles County Registrar’s office confirmed the ballots were mailed to voters for the Newsom recall election, and that they were resending them. “There’s nothing to indicate this was focused on the election,” the registrar’s office told KABC.
Torrance police, however, have yet to determine a motive. “A lot of people, including us, want to know how did these ballots get in that subject’s car, and what was the intent of those ballots being in that subject’s vehicle,” Ponegalek said.
Concerns about mail fraud were raised after the 2020 election by the Election Integrity Project California (EIPCa), a nonpartisan group, which “works to ensure every lawfully cast vote” in the state is “accurately counted,” according to its website.
EIPCa purchased VoteCal voter registration and voting history files and after auditing them raised concerns about California’s election system. The nonprofit published a list of questionable mail ballots sent out during the 2020 general election to deceased Californians and those no longer living in California. It also learned that 13 California counties have more registered voters than eligible citizens.
EIPCa sent a letter to the Secretary of State’s Office last year raising concerns about the number of registered voters compared to the number who voted in the 2020 election. It found that California had 1.8 million more registered voters than eligible citizens in the last election, and that nearly 124,000 more votes were counted in California’s 2020 general election than voters recorded as voting in the election.
According to EIPCa’s review, Los Angeles County has 206,728 registrants who have not voted or updated their registrations since November 2008 who are listed as “active” voters and could receive mail ballots in the mail.
The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the Biden administration must reinstate President Trump’s “Remain-in-Mexico” policy.
QUICK FACTS:
The Court voted 6-3 to reject Biden’s plea to block the reinstatement of the program, which requires immigrants seeking asylum at the southern border to wait in Mexico while their applications are pending, according to Axios.
The Court’s three liberal justices—Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer—dissented.
The Biden admin attempted to block a Texas-based judge’s ruling requiring the government to revive Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, notes the Los Angeles Daily News.
A federal judge in Texas had previously ordered that the program be reinstated last week. Both he and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused the administration’s request to put the ruling on hold, according to The Fresno Bee.
WHAT THE ORDER SAID:
The application for a stay presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied. The applicants have failed to show a likelihood of success on the claim that the memorandum rescinding the Migrant Protection Protocols was not arbitrary and capricious. See Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of Univ. of Cal., 591 U. S. _ (2020) (slip op., at 9- 12, 17-26). Our order denying the Government’s request for a stay of the District Court injunction should not be read as affecting the construction of that injunction by the Court of Appeals. Justice Breyer, Justice Sotomayor, and Justice Kagan would grant the application.
BACKGROUND:
Arrests of migrants caught crossing the U.S. southern border have reached 20-year highs in recent months, a development that Republicans blame on Biden’s reversal of MPP and other Trump immigration policies, notes Reuters.
The COVID-19 rules and regulations that TK-12 schools must follow often feel like a warped and ever-changing version of the childhood game: Simon Says. “Simon says to get a vaccine. Simon says to wear a mask. Simon says to wash your hands while singing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song. Simon says to stand apart. Simon says you can stand together if you are wearing a mask. Now, take off your mask. Wait! Put your mask back on because Simon did not say to take off your mask.”
Now, pretend that Simon is Governor Newsom and that the latest command is not part of a game, but a new public health order, announced at a press conference on August 11, 2021 to take effect the next day on August 12, 2021.
Under the new public health order, California has become the first state to require proof of a COVID-19 vaccination from ALL public and private school employees – think teachers, custodians, principals, etc. – serving students from transitional kindergarten through Grade 12. Beginning October 15, 2021, those who are not vaccinated must submit to weekly COVID testing. (Note: the order does not apply to home schools, child care, or higher education.)
The California Department of Public Health’s new order uses peer pressure, discomfort, and convenience, to essentially coerce private and public-school employees into getting vaccinated. For instance:
Peer pressure comes into play through the mask, a visible marker of one’s vaccination status, which should be protected under HIPAA. All TK-12 employee must wear a mask when indoors with children, but when indoors with adults, masks are only required for the unvaccinated. Sure, a vaccinated individual could opt to wear a mask, but in meetings, most do not. With numerous meetings – especially meetings about the ever-changing COVID requirements – it becomes very apparent who is vaccinated and who is not.
Discomfort refers to the actual COVID test for the unvaccinated. I have personally had to submit to several nasal swab and saliva tests, and both were awkward and uncomfortable. The saliva test may seem like the better option, but it is not. The individual has to repeatedly spit – perhaps 10 to 20 times – and fill a small vile with saliva. The first time I took the saliva test, the technician handed the vile back to me and told me to produce more saliva because I had “too many bubbles.” Gross. And embarrassing. I was literally spit shamed.
Finally, convenience eventually runs people down. How many weekly COVID tests can a person take before finally trading the swab or vile for the prick of a needle?
The rationale behind the public health order is partially due to the Delta variant. While I can see the reasoning here, I do not like that the California Department of Public Health is essentially forcing public and private school workers to get vaccinated. I am not against vaccines. In fact, I am thankful that my loved ones and I will not be crippled by polio or die from measles. Vaccines are nothing new to schools, and a variety of vaccinations are required before students start transitional or traditional kindergarten.
In fact, I even made the decision to get the COVID vaccine, which may be surprising given my position in this article. I chose the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because it is not an mRNA vaccine and only requires a single dose. I will say, however, that a big part of my decision to get vaccinated was due to reasons such as: my position in a public school district; the desire to continue to work with students amidst ever-changing regulations; the majority of staff who are vaccinated; and the fact that I contracted COVID and unknowingly exposed my staff to the virus. No one asked me to get vaccinated, but I felt a very strong and unspoken pressure to get vaccinated.
And I am picky about what I put into my body. Very picky. Sometimes I wonder about individuals who tell me that they will not put the vaccine into their body, but they regularly fill their bodies with sugary foods, trans fats, hard alcohol, prepackaged junk food, fast food, sugary sodas, diet sodas filled with artificial everything, and the list goes on and on. Then there’s me, with my salmon, nuts, vegetables, yoga, running, weights, and people often asking me about my health routine. To me, it sends a bit of a mixed message when a person clearly isn’t concerned about heart disease, diabetes, or a myriad of other health issues, but is firm in their resolve about not being COVID vaccinated. Then again, it goes both ways. I see vaccinated individuals who are very committed to COVID-related health items, but not diseases that they are far more likely to die from given their family history and/or lifestyle choices.
But that’s me being judgmental, which is not good. What is good? Choice. The COVID-19 vaccines are new and were developed under unprecedented time constraints and without long-term testing. Plus, 99% of those who contract COVID survive, and some people experience side effects from the various vaccines.
At the end of the day, there should be a choice: get the COVID vaccine or do not get it. It is deeply concerning to me that the freedom to choose is being eroded for our TK-12 school employees by the California Department of Public Health.
“Simon Says” get a vaccine, and if you do not obey, life will be made increasingly uncomfortable. It is not a game, and it is certainly not fun.
Monday’s unemployment numbers show blue states are the leaders in the nation’s unemployment.
Several commentators have already noted that Monday’s State Employment and Unemployment release from the federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that eight states had unemployment rates above 7 percent:
– Nevada – 7.7 percent
– California – 7.7 percent
– New Mexico – 7.7 percent
– New York – 7.7 percent
– Connecticut – 7.3 percent
– Hawaii – 7.3 percent
– New Jersey – 7.3 percent
– Illinois – 7.1 percent
These unemployment rates are much higher than the nation’s overall unemployment rate of 5.4 percent reported earlier this month.
Each state is “deep blue,” with Democratic Party governors and legislatures. None of them are among the 25 states which ended the federal government’s overly generous extended unemployment benefits program in June or early July.
A review of the performance of these eight states since February 2020, the last month before the pandemic lockdowns began, indicates that they have hurt the overall US economy far more than seen in the awful unemployment rates above.
Three other states – Massachusetts, Michigan, and Pennsylvania – deserve to be included in the list of economic dishonorables. All have experienced deep-blue governance during the pandemic, and their results are about as awful as the eight already-identified states.
All eleven states are far behind the rest of the nation in reaching their pre-pandemic employment levels, as seen below:
While the rest of the US is less than 2 percent away from getting back to February 2020’s peak employment levels, the eleven states experiencing the worst blue-state pandemic governance, at 6.8 percent, are collectively 3-1/2 times worse off.
Put another way, if the eleven laggard states were performing as well as the rest of the country, the nationwide employment deficit compared to the pre-pandemic peak would be fewer than 3 million jobs instead of the 5.7 million jobs seen above.
In other words, 2.7 million more Americans are out of work because 11 states have failed to allow their citizens the level of economic and personal freedom generally seen in most (but unfortunately not all) of the rest of the US.
20 Million Mail-in Ballots Raise Fraud Fears
Voter fraud concerns mounting in tight California recall election
In social media posts and news outlets, proliferating reports detail alleged mail ballot theft, undelivered ballots, compromised vote privacy.
Facing the political fight of his life and sinking polls indicating he could lose in the Sept. 14 recall election, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is now plagued by rising concerns over alleged voter fraud after the Secretary of State’s Office sent out mail ballots to 20 million voters.
Earlier in the year, the state legislature passed a measure to send out mail ballots to every registered voter whether they asked for one or not. Newsom’s opponents argue this was done as a way to protect him from losing, suggesting the only way he could win was through fraud.
Two legislators sued Newsom last year over an executive order he issued changing election procedure. The lawsuit is on appeal and expected to go to the U.S. Supreme Court. One of the plaintiffs, State Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), is running to replace Newsom.
“Legislators are as desperate as Newsom to stop the recall,” Kiley said. “The one thing they respond to is the fear of losing their jobs. They know that when the governor loses his job, it will be a whole new ball game.”
Blue check users on Twitter have been posting video and images of alleged ballot fraud.
Trump administration acting Director of National Intelligence and California resident Richard Grenell asked if Newsom sent out suspiciously designed ballots on purpose, posting a video with a resident showing how small, round windows in the ballot envelopes may reveal “Yes” votes in favor of recall, making them easy to identify and discard by pro-Newsom ballot counters.
In an article “fact-checking” Grenell, the San Francisco Chronicle claimed, “No, California recall ballot was not designed to help Gavin Newsom and cheat Larry Elder,” his Republican challenger leading in the polls.
Should Newsom lose the vote, he would be the second governor recalled in California history. The latest polls show him losing in the polls or statistically tied.
New York Times best-selling author and podcast host Adam Carolla tweeted out a video of what he described as “two women with a post office master key … caught on camera stealing what appears to be California recall election ballots at an apartment complex in Valley Village.”
“Are they just targeting ballots or stealing all mail,” Carolla wrote. “What are your thoughts?”
Just The News reached out to Newsom’s press office, which was quick to respond. While the governor’s office couldn’t comment, the spokesperson referred the questions to several people at Newsom’s campaign and the Secretary of State’s Office. The campaign did not respond to request for comment, but the Secretary of State’s Office did.
Regarding the “cases of mail stealing, we take any and all allegations of election crimes seriously,” said Jenna Dresner, spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office. “We are aware of the cases you highlighted and have referred it to the appropriate federal and local law enforcement authorities to investigate its validity and prosecute as needed.”
She referred to a statement issued by the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters in response to concerns raised about the hole punches in the envelopes.
“The design of the ballot return envelope is not new and has been used for several election cycles — and the design is a recommended accessibility practice by civic design consultants,” the registrar’s office said. “The intent and purpose of the holes are two-fold, to assist with accessibility for low vision voters to locate where to sign the envelope and to ensure no ballots were missed and left in envelopes once our office has received and processed them.”
“[V]oters have control of how they place their ballot in the envelope,” the county added, “and have multiple options for returning their ballots (mail, Ballot Drop Box, or at a Vote Center) to ensure secure and appropriate handling. Additionally, voters can track the status of their returned ballot through Ballot Trax — a free tracking application operated by the Secretary of State that will notify the voter when our office received the ballot and that it will be counted.”
Janna Haynes, Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections Office spokesperson, affirmed the position of Los Angeles County and said the holes help blind voters, even though the ballot is not printed in braille.
“The feedback that we had received from our blind community, best practices from the Civic Center of Design, was that we needed to make some obvious indication on either side of the signature line,” she said.
The other reason is to make sure no ballot goes uncounted, she said.
Grenell pushed back against California media outlets downplaying fraud concerns. “The California media have collectively dismissed concerns about the LA County ballots,” he tweeted. “The fact is there are holes in the envelope that when the ballot is folded a certain way can expose those who voted to Recall Gavin. This is fact.”
In another tweet, he wrote: “The fact that it’s ‘only LA County’ is a ridiculous pushback. LA County is the largest in the state. It’s also a ridiculous argument to say ‘we always have these holes in the envelopes.’ Why do the holes only expose the YES votes?”
Police probe ballots found in car
Meanwhile, authorities are investigating 300 unopened mail-in ballots found in a car parked outside of a convenience store in Torrance, Calif., along with a loaded gun and narcotics.
Torrance Police Department Sgt. Mark Ponegalek told local media that a suspect has been taken into custody and released on his own recognizance.
“The election ballots, they were un-tampered with, unopened, a little over 300 of them found, primarily from addresses in Lawndale,” Ponegalek said. “There were some from Compton. We’re still trying to figure out where all these belonged to at this time, so we’re working with the Los Angeles election office as well as the U.S. Postal Inspector.”
The Los Angeles County Registrar’s office confirmed the ballots were mailed to voters for the Newsom recall election, and that they were resending them. “There’s nothing to indicate this was focused on the election,” the registrar’s office told KABC.
Torrance police, however, have yet to determine a motive. “A lot of people, including us, want to know how did these ballots get in that subject’s car, and what was the intent of those ballots being in that subject’s vehicle,” Ponegalek said.
Concerns about mail fraud were raised after the 2020 election by the Election Integrity Project California (EIPCa), a nonpartisan group, which “works to ensure every lawfully cast vote” in the state is “accurately counted,” according to its website.
EIPCa purchased VoteCal voter registration and voting history files and after auditing them raised concerns about California’s election system. The nonprofit published a list of questionable mail ballots sent out during the 2020 general election to deceased Californians and those no longer living in California. It also learned that 13 California counties have more registered voters than eligible citizens.
EIPCa sent a letter to the Secretary of State’s Office last year raising concerns about the number of registered voters compared to the number who voted in the 2020 election. It found that California had 1.8 million more registered voters than eligible citizens in the last election, and that nearly 124,000 more votes were counted in California’s 2020 general election than voters recorded as voting in the election.
According to EIPCa’s review, Los Angeles County has 206,728 registrants who have not voted or updated their registrations since November 2008 who are listed as “active” voters and could receive mail ballots in the mail.