Democrats have spent the better part of four years blathering on about election security.
Despite “Russia!” and other false narratives meant to portray the party’s elite as the champions of democracy, not even a brazen burglary and theft at a voting machine warehouse in the Democratic stronghold of Philadelphia concerned Democrats there.
In fact, after a computer and a number of USB drives were recently taken from the facility, election officials responded by attempting to be secretive and then leaving the place vulnerable to more tampering, according to reports.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday that at the warehouse in the East Falls neighborhood of the city, someone broke in and stole a laptop computer belonging to a voting machine vendor.
The memory drives were also taken, but city officials interviewed by the outlet were quick to assure everyone that the targeted theft of a warehouse which stores voting machines was of little consequence.
That was after they were apparently compelled into commenting at all.
The party of unsecured mail-in ballots did not want to talk about it.
The warehouse is stocked with millions of dollars worth of new and supposedly secure voting machines.
An employee for Lisa Deeley, who oversees elections as a city commissioner, assured the outlet the upcoming election is secure.
“We are confident … that this incident will not in any way compromise the integrity of the election,” the employee told The Inquirer.
Deeley, for what it’s worth, is a Democrat, and she worked for years for longtime Philly Democrat Alan Butkovitz, who is a former longtime state House representative who spent 12 years as Philadelphia’s city controller.
If this news, and these people’s political affiliations make you worry, you’re not alone.
The Inquirer reported:
“But behind the scenes, [the Democratic officials] fretted about how President Donald Trump and his allies might use the news to cast doubt on the integrity of the city’s elections in light of false claims and conspiracy theories he cited during Tuesday’s presidential debate.”
The Democrats in charge of the city’s election security had reportedly committed to sweeping the burglary and theft under the rug.
Mayor Jim Kenney’s office released a statement only after the outlet informed them it would run the story with or without comment.
“Since being informed of the incident, I have immediately committed to making necessary police resources available to investigate this incident and find the perpetrators. I have also committed to the city commissioners additional resources to provide enhanced security at the warehouse going forward,” Kenney said in a statement.
“This matter should not deter Philadelphians from voting, nor from having confidence in the security of this election,” he added.
How did the mayor’s commitment to “enhanced security” go?
Another local reporter, curious about the reported theft at the voting machine warehouse, walked right in and found the facility unguarded.
WHYY-FM reporter Max Marin reported that when he showed up to investigate, “the warehouse where the machines are stored revealed lax security measures.”
“This reporter was able to walk into the building and roam around unattended for several minutes before being asked to leave. He strolled past hundreds of voting machines, various boxes, and other unidentified equipment without seeing other people,” he added.
Marin tweeted a video of his visit to the Philly voting machine warehouse, in which he strolled right in:
A laptop and USB devices were stolen sometime this week from the Philadelphia’s elections storage warehouse.
I went over this morning to check out the security situation. I was able to walk right into the voting machine storage unit, alone, for several minutes. pic.twitter.com/N0SpMMKP6T
— Max M. Marin (@MaxMMarin) October 1, 2020
“A laptop and USB devices were stolen sometime this week from the Philadelphia’s elections storage warehouse,” Marin wrote.
“I went over this morning to check out the security situation. I was able to walk right into the voting machine storage unit, alone, for several minutes.”
Video shows what appears to be hundreds of voting machines unguarded.
Marin reported that only after he was finally asked to leave, a security officer began guarding the door.
No person should be able to stroll into a warehouse storing $30 million worth of voting machines.
That is especially true 29 days before an election in which Democrats have vowed nothing is off the table, and doubts about the integrity of the election continue to mount.
The last thing Americans need is more doubts with regard to voting integrity.
But how many more warehouses like this are there in other cities?
What became of the USB drives and the computer?
Sadly, all we have are questions.
And there are sure to be more questions than answers in the weeks ahead.
Neither The Inquirer nor Marin reported any mysterious Russians at the warehouse.
The only thing consistent with both reports was an apparent disregard for the security of voting machines in a city run by Democrats in a swing state narrowly won by President Donald Trump in 2016.
No comments: