We had a long day in court on Monday October 9th to go over 10 motions -–motions to compel on both sides as well as motions for summary judgement and also a motion to remove the counterclaim against us. Note that the counterclaim would make it such that no one from SC Safe Elections (explicitly or implicitly) could ever ask for a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request again for the 2020 election.
Does that sound reasonable to you?
We had about 10 people from our side there-- friends, volunteers, etc. which really helped (after all this suit is for all the people of South Carolina) and they all agreed it was eye-opening. The judge seemed professional, fair, logical and very reasonable. Our lawyers did a great job of stating our case and the facts and we believe we were able to get all of our talking points aired.
The next step is to go to trial, God willing, if the judge allows us to move forward. We believe we will prevail and go to trial as the facts are on our side. We just need to be able to present them in court. Each side has 30 days to provide proposed orders to the judge which we will review and then decide on these motions. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.
On a positive note, there was a big win in Nevada County, CA where the judge ruled that the county must hand over CVRs and granted court costs to the plaintiffs.
See this article: https://www.sierrathread.com/thread/judge-orders-nevada-county-to-pay-over-85000-after-county-illegally-withheld-election-records. We were able to get this info on the record at the hearing as well. 😊
In the meantime, trials are expensive. We have generated thousands of documents in the process and countless hours of legal fees. We currently have spent well over $70K and it is likely we will need to raise at least $10-$15K more to get us through the trial.
We urgently ask you to donate so that we can bring this home for the citizens of South Carolina. Our ballots are currently being counted in secret and the majority of likely voters don’t trust the current system. Gaining access to the CVRs which show HOW THE COUNT HAPPENED over time will help mitigate that.
Shockingly, one of the defense attorneys actually stated that he thought the way to solve all this was for the legislators to revise the FOIA law to make all voter reports inaccessible to the public!!!!! This is what we are up against. An agency that doesn’t value transparency or accountability to the public.
Ultimately, we prefer hand-marked, hand-counted, paper ballots counted at the precinct level and videotaped for full transparency. We continue to fight for this as well and have passed resolutions to this effect that are being ignored at the state level. See this related post.
We the people are in the majority so we need to let our voices be heard.
We really need your help! Please donate today to help us finish the race to increased transparency, accountability, and accuracy in our election in SC.
Donate here: Givesendgo.com/SCFOIA
Thanks to your ongoing support and prayers; we have made it this far and we are excited to bring a victory home for you.
God Bless,
The SCSE Team