Urgent: Volunteers needed THIS WEEKEND to help voters cure ballots for Sen. Bob Casey
Plus thanks to volunteers for earnest, valiant work at this election
Thanks to everyone who fought so hard for our democracy in Upper Gwynedd - Harris won here!
Thanks to everyone who voted and volunteered, worried and wondered, in an effort to save Americans from themselves in the Presidential race of 2024. Kamala Harris won every Voting District 1-7 in Upper Gwynedd, and won overall in Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties. [Harris is welcome to be President of Southeast Pennsylvania! :)] The Harris campaign even made strides with an unexpected victory in Lower Salford/Harleysville! Yay!
However, as all of you know, Harris/Walz sadly did not win Pennsylvania or the country as a whole.
No matter that Trump and his followers wrap themselves in the flag, it is our efforts that are truly patriotic. You demonstrated an “above and beyond” passion for this democracy that the Founding Fathers began. Your willingness to step up - which took courage, not just motivation, this time - shows through your actions how much you love your country.
I feel the sadness and dismay that we all feel. We’ve just been psychologically disenfranchised by half the country’s citizens. We have turned the corner from the happy, messy hub-bub of various perspectives that made America the greatest nation on earth, to a colder country where only one way of thinking and speaking is considered legitimate by those in power. Half of America’s citizens voluntarily - and sometimes gleefully - ushered this in. It’s a trauma.
We’ve stepped through a portal as a nation now, probably never to return to the innocence. This is a great loss. If you are grieving, as I am, I hope you will give yourself the space, gentleness and patience that all grieving people deserve.
There are many losses you may be contemplating right now. Loss of trust in your fellow citizens; increased strain, or even the end of communication with, a friend or loved one; a country that’s no longer a place to do business remarkably free of corruption; loss of freedom from fear to say whatever we think on social media; and for women, possibly the loss of freedom to control our own bodies and destinies. I list them here not to bring you down, but to give you a sense of the legitimacy of your grief if you are in doubt. These losses are real and significant. They are worth pausing over to feel fully and to talk about with a trusted person.
I will retire in 5 years. I did not envision spending my retirement years fighting fascism, and I’m sure you didn’t, either. The Dalai Lama says that it’s people’s attachments that make them unwell. I’m having trouble letting go of my attachment to that happier idea of retirement. You may be having trouble loosening your grip on your expectations of what it means to be an American, too.
We are all in this together. It’s life’s greatest challenges that ultimately make us stronger. Though no one likes to go through scary and sad times, there is a richer experience of life when getting to the other side of a struggle. That’s where we all are today, the beginning of a new struggle. Together we are strong.
Where Can I Find Election Results for this Area?
Here’s a link to a chart to see the results of all races on November 5th, and how Upper Gwynedd and Montgomery County as a whole voted. Use the pull-down menus on the left to see the results for different political races and different townships.
Urgent: Casey campaign calls for volunteers to help alert voters of the need to cure their ballots
The Casey campaign is on a knife’s edge, They are looking for volunteers to make phone calls to help alert voters of the need to cure their ballots. Bob Casey is within 0.5% from Dave McCormick, who is leading the race as of this writing. If all ballots that had a wrong or missing date, or other technical problem, are "cured” — meaning the voter visits Voter Services in Norristown to fix the issue - then Casey could win. Casey needs you to call voters from your home this weekend to alert them that their ballot can’t be counted until it’s cured.
Please see the following message from the group, Turn PA Blue with how to volunteer:
Hi, all: As promised, I'm writing to share some volunteer opportunities this weekend (and into next week) to help Senator Casey's efforts to make sure every single legal vote cast in Pennsylvania is counted before this election is decided.
The priority is to get as many volunteers as possible this weekend to help "cure" or correct previously cast ballots which would otherwise be rejected by a County Board of Elections because of human error. Cure volunteers notify the voters who cast problematic ballots so that they have an opportunity to correct a curable error and ensure their vote can be counted. This can be done remotely (by phone) or in person (knocking) in PA.
If you can go to Philly or if you can go to another place in Pennsylvania to knock doors between today, November 9 and Wednesday November 12. You will need a car since you will need to be able to get to the affected voters wherever they are w/in a set geographic area.
If you can make phone calls remotely to reach voters with problematic ballots, please sign up for one or more shifts in the coming days.
And no experience is necessary! All volunteers will be trained for the cure effort.
We believe have a straightforward path to win in Pennsylvania. If you can spare the time this weekend, we need your help and we want you to bring your friends! Please feel free to forward this note to anyone you know who might want to lend a hand to the effort.
Tuesday's election results were devastating. Let's channel despair into action and send Senator Casey back to the Senate for a fourth term.
Thank you,
Turn PA Blue Team
Commissioner Neil Makhija says Russians attempted 600,000 times to enter computers at Montgomery County Voter Services
My husband, Ken, works in cybersecurity for the MTA in New York City. So he knows that what Makhija is saying sounds shocking, but it’s not. Russians “ping” computers hundreds of times throughout the day, every day, at all our government agencies. Simple firewalls keep out these intrusions. The Russians are hoping that one day the firewall fails, or the IT person didn’t configure something right, so that they can enter the system and see how government operates from inside its computer systems. Luckily, most government computer operations have two firewalls as a failsafe. So there is nothing unusual going on here. This isn’t even particularly newsworthy. I wish the journalist had mentioned it. I thought you’d want to know, if you don’t have a subscription to The Reporter, what’s being said in public about Voter Services.
Local News The Reporter
Montgomery County IT security thwarts foreign cyberattack attempts, election board chairman says
Makhija: Montco. received ‘over 1 million attempts of intrusion to our county network, 600,000 came from Russia and Bulgaria
By Rachel Ravina | rravina@thereporteronline.com | The Reporter
PUBLISHED: November 6, 2024 at 5:52 PM EST
NORRISTOWN — Montgomery County’s information and technology solutions department thwarted attempts of cyberattacks from other countries during the 2024 general election, Montgomery County Election Board Chairman Neil Makhija said on Wednesday.
“Our IT department … had set up the security infrastructure to keep us safe from cyberattacks, and it was the case that we received over 1 million attempts of intrusion to our county network, and 600,000 came from Russia and [Bulgaria], and we successfully protected our IT systems from those attacks thanks to our IT and our security team,” Makhija said during a Wednesday morning press conference.
Makhija, who also serves as vice chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, added that “thankfully we have a firewall that is successful, and we have no reason to believe that the IT system was intruded upon.”
The focus on cybersecurity during elections comes nearly two weeks after a “fake” video circulating on social media in late October “purporting to show Bucks County mail-in ballots being opened and destroyed,” the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. A federal investigation revealed the video was “manufactured and amplified” by Russia. The incident was reported by multiple media outlets.
Bucks County election officials issued a bipartisan statement denouncing “this type of behavior [that] is meant to sow division and distrust in our election systems” and “unequivocally condemns this purposeful spreading of dangerous disinformation.”
“This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans, as detailed in prior ODNI election updates. In the lead up to election day and in the weeks and months after, the IC expects Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans,” federal officials said in an Oct. 25 statement.Montgomery County election officials stressed confidence in security measures taken throughout the 2024 general election, which resulted in a more than 81 percent voter turnout, according to unofficial figures released as of Wednesday morning.
“So we’ll have to do a continued assessment of what was attempted and what we can continue to do as a county to make sure that our system is safe, but for the voter’s sake, there’s no reason to believe that that interfered with the results with the tabulation of election,” Makhija said.
Finally, some good news - The Reporter
North Wales Scout honored for shade tree survey
Troop could help tackle other areas of town
By Dan Sokil | dsokil@thereporteronline.com | The Reporter
PUBLISHED: November 8, 2024 at 9:43 AM EST
NORTH WALES — A local Boy Scout has earned a high honor for a big project.
North Wales borough council honored Scout Isaac Rosen of Troop 84 during their Oct. 22 meeting
“For the outstanding work accomplished in Ward 1 of the borough: Isaac created a shade tree inventory and facilitated education by delivering pamphlets explaining the benefits of shade trees to complete his Eagle Scout project,” reads the certificate Rosen received from council.
In September the scout presented his plans to that group, saying he and fellow scouts from the town’s Troop 84 hoped to document all shade trees within the southern third of town, in an inventory of any tree within ten feet of a road that requires a permit to trim, remove or plant.
The inventory would be shared with town officials, and other scouts could follow with similar surveys tackling the borough's other two wards, he said at the time, building on prior projects between the troop and town like park cleanups held in spring. During the town's Oct. 22 meeting, the scout received the proclamation along with a round of thanks from council, and borough Manager Christine Hart said Rosen "did a great job" with the inventory, while sharing info about the town's shade tree commission and their upcoming plans and activities.