Missoula County Needs a Full Forensic Audit of November 2020 Election
Missoula County Elections made national headlines earlier this year after a review of ballot signature envelopes from the 2020 General Election conducted in January found that 4,592 out of all 72,491 mail-in ballots—6.33% of the ballots cast in Missoula County in the 2020 General election—did not have matching signature envelopes, a state election law requirement, making it illegal to count those votes.
When asked by Attorney Quentin Rhoades, a lawyer for the counting group, what accounted for the discrepancies, Missoula County Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman reportedly, “appeared extremely nervous and had no explanation,” according to a RealClear Investigations report filed by investigative reporter John R. Lott Jr.
Rep. Brad R. Tschida (HD 97) helped the ballot signature envelope review group gain the access they needed to conduct the review in October of 2020. Tschida sent a letter to Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen detailing his concerns about the review findings and calling for additional access to ballots for counting and inspection. Tschida also asked for information related to ballot inventory and printing quantities. Elections Administrator Seaman purchased a Balotar Ballot Printing machine in 2016.
Letter from Rep. Brad R. Tschida (HD 97) to Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen requesting additional access for further count/review. Includes results of ballot review showing 4,592 ballots missing required ballot signature envelopes.
A "fact-check" from Seaman regarding the discrepancies discovered by the ballot signature envelope review team does not clearly refute the review findings. In emails to Missoula County Tyranny, Seaman eschewed the idea of taking seriously the findings of the citizen review panel (overseen by his own elections team) by inviting the review team to sue the county saying, "we would welcome them to substantiate their claim with a legal challenge to the election."
Despite being baffled when confronted with the ballot signature envelope discrepancy, Seaman's fact-check about the discrepancies amounted to ad-hominem attacks on Missoulians concerned about election integrity. He accuses them of "intent to mislead voters." Seaman could have taken the data from the reviewers and done another count if he cared about election integrity. Instead, he spuriously declared the numbers incorrect.
An affidavit submitted by one of the ballot envelope counters detailing 28 ballot signature envelopes signed with the same distinctive signature from the same address, Hillside Manor.
Missoula County Tyranny asked Seaman why the numbers were incorrect. In response to our question, "When officials told the review group that their count was ”incorrect,” what was the process officials used to determine that the reviewers count was incorrect?" Seaman shared, "We compared the number from their single hand-count[1] of affirmation envelopes that did not include a process to double-check[1] or process to confirm their results[???] to the number generated by our process[2]."
[1] According to Tschida's letter to the Secretary of State, two people were at each table to count the ballot signature envelopes. Missoula County Election administrators oversaw and even shared tabulation sheets (scanned PDF) to count votes. These tally sheets are used during the course of conducting elections. 19 volunteers came to count ballots.
[???] Did you mean triple-check?
[2] "the number generated by our process" means the results of the election.
Simplifying: We compared the number from their single hand-count of affirmation envelopes that did not include a process to double-check or process to confirm their results to the number generated by our process.
Missoula County Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman and his team provided the ballot signature envelope reviewers with ballot tabulation sheets to record tallies. 64 sheets have been scanned and made available to the public. Ballot tabulation sheets include adding machine receipts with totals.
So, Seaman has declared the numbers incorrect simply because they do not match the original count from the election. That doesn't sound like "concern for election integrity." If the review process was so truly flawed that the results could not be trusted, Missoula County Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman has not demonstrated it.
As Missoula County Elections Administrator, Bradley Seaman has been hostile to the actions of the citizens of Missoula County to seek the truth regarding the glaring discrepancies found in the review of ballot signature envelopes his own team oversaw.
Ask yourself, "Why?"
A legal challenge should be brought against the Missoula County Elections Administrator by the Montana Legislature.
The citizens of Missoula County and the other affected counties of the State of Montana, who all have an interest in transparent elections that are run fairly and produce a governing body we have all consented to, demand the Montana State Legislature take legal action and exercise their constitutional authority to conduct a full forensic audit of the Missoula County 2020 General Election to restore the integrity of elections in Missoula County and the State of Montana.