Kansas election security forum blends campaign appeals, concerns about voting misconduct – Kansas Reflector

OLATHE — Republican secretary of state candidate Mike Brown joined an election integrity dialogue Monday centered on conspiracy theories of voting misconduct in Kansas and different states that probably disadvantaged President Donald Trump of a second time period and threatened the nation’s future.

“This room is crammed with individuals as a result of there may be doubt about our elections. When there are doubts about elections it’s corrosive to our democracy, to our republic, to our lifestyle,” Brown stated throughout the occasion coordinated by the Conservatives for Election Integrity political motion committee.

Brown pledged to ban poll drop containers used to make it extra handy for Kansans to vote. He challenged the choice by Secretary of State Scott Schwab, the state’s high election official since 2019, to defer prosecution of alleged election fraud to the workplace of Lawyer Normal Derek Schmidt.

“We’re going to examine and prosecute election crimes in our state. I promise you we won’t again down,” he stated.

Brown’s marketing campaign got here underneath scrutiny for voting as a member of the Johnson County Fee to simply accept an $850,000 grant from the Middle for Tech and Civic Life to assist finance the county’s 2020 election operations. At the moment, Brown known as the money a “good shock.”

Nonetheless, because the GOP candidate for secretary of state, Brown has denounced Fb government Mark Zuckerberg’s donation of $350 million for election grants to native authorities throughout the nation, together with Johnson County, throughout the election cycle dominated by COVID-19. Brown didn’t point out the coverage battle throughout his pitch to lots of of individuals assembled at an Olathe lodge ballroom to achieve perception into conspiracy claims that failed to achieve traction within the nation’s courts however remained the main target of individuals annoyed by Trump’s loss in 2020.

The occasion was moderated by Lara Logan, a correspondent for CBS Information from 2002 to 2018. She was employed by the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group in 2019 earlier than becoming a member of Fox Information’ streaming service in 2020. She created controversy on social media for embracing Trump’s voter fraud claims and drew consideration by evaluating presidential medical adviser Anthony Fauci to Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.

At varied occasions throughout the panel dialogue, individuals lurched away from election points. Brown, for instance, shifted from an outline of election system contracts to some extent about why the Kansas GOP had no room for “milquetoast, Republican-in-name-only, awful Republicans.”

Becoming a member of Brown for the panel dialogue had been Kansas state Sens. Mike Thompson and Mark Steffen, Republicans who’ve raised alarms about voter fraud in Kansas.

Logan requested the panelists whether or not Republicans additionally cheated when it got here to thwarting the desire of voters. Members of the group shouted “sure,” however solely Thompson responded to her query. He stated he didn’t care who was breaking the regulation, as a result of all of it needed to be stopped.

Thompson, a retired tv climate forecaster, stated adoption of ample election regulation was tough within the Legislature regardless of two-third GOP majorities within the Home and Senate.

“There’s lots of people who’re timid,” Thompson stated.

Steffen, who repeatedly endorsed Brown’s candidacy for secretary of state, stated Kansas’ voting course of had been overwhelmed by laptop expertise to an extent it was inconceivable to know whether or not corrupt people, firms or nations had been altering votes or outcomes.

“Who is aware of what’s happening?” he stated. “It is a basic scenario the place simplicity wins. The factor that appalls me in our Kansas state authorities, and the federal authorities and each state, is the cash we blow on expertise, on computer systems. We have to put money into the individuals. I’d a lot somewhat pay anyone $50,000 a 12 months to have a pencil and a Huge Chief pocket book and tally votes.”

Steffen additionally stated the U.S. Supreme Courtroom failed Individuals in supply of fundamental constitutional questions on elections — in addition to abortion — in a method some dad and mom failed their kids.

“They’re a bunch of egg heads who get picked to be U.S. Supreme Courtroom justices who aren’t real-world sensible,” the senator stated. “They didn’t have the cojones to take a (Trump election) case that modifications the course of our nation.”

Thad Snider, a Johnson County resident who has claimed election fraud in Johnson County, stated lazy information reporters refused to write down in regards to the reality of election misconduct. He advised these flawed reporters may as nicely work for Pravda, the Russian information operation. He stated Johnson County’s acceptance of Zuckerberg grants was a grave mistake.

He stated 10% of ballots solid must be audited to get a greater sense of the system’s general accuracy. As well as, maybe 7,000 votes had been improperly counted in a current Johnson County election as a result of the chain of custody of ballots wasn’t documented. He alleged there was trafficking in ballots and video monitoring of poll drop containers was a joke.

Snider additionally declared help for state Sen. Dennis Pyle, a Hiawatha resident who renounced the GOP to run for governor as an impartial. Pyle was within the viewers. His thought is to shake up the November race between Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and Schmidt, the Republican lawyer common.

Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden, who launched an investigation of potential election crimes in Johnson County, stated he turned suspicious when registration of Democrats surged between 2016 and 2020 in Johnson County. He additionally accused Kelly of constructing a “horrible” take care of the ACLU to funnel details about alternatives to vote by state businesses to people.

“That tells me corruption runs to the highest,” Hayden stated. “Every thing I’m taking a look at is simply not smelling proper. We’re going to proceed to take a look at this. I would like nothing greater than to place handcuffs on individuals who did this.”

He stated deputies in Johnson County can be assigned election duties to “tighten” oversight and safety of the vote. He added: “We’ll repair this.”

In separate video appearances on the occasion, Republican candidates for secretary of state in Colorado and Arizona spoke about election challenges.

Mark Finchem, an Arizona Home member endorsed within the secretary of state’s contest by Trump, stated there was ample proof of election misconduct in Arizona for the state Senate to problem subpoenas. He has been aligned with the militia group Oath Keepers.

He’s a part of a federal lawsuit searching for an injunction in opposition to use of machines to tabulate votes in Arizona within the upcoming election because of the potential of hacking.

“Which means we’d go to paper ballots and hand counting,” Finchem stated.

Mesa County Courtroom Clerk Tina Peters, who faces a 13-count indictment in Colorado associated to alleged tampering with election tools and official misconduct, stated Individuals prepared to struggle for election integrity needed to stand as much as highly effective authorities forces. She is a Republican candidate for Colorado secretary of state.

Peters, who in contrast Secretary of State Jena Griswold to a Nazi secret police operative, stated the authorized effort that ensnared her was pushed by the kind of individuals who needed america “to fail.”

“We’re up in opposition to an enormous machine,” Peters stated. “That is about globalist takeover.”