Time article on the behind-the-scenes activity all 2020 to "fortify" elections in the face of a pandemic -- and the piece becomes controversial

 

polling place where I worked March 3

 Time Magazine has published a controversial article “The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign that Saved to 2020 Election.”

Much of the article examines the work of organizer and labor operative Mike Podhozer to lead the effort to keep the entire electoral process under a kind of supervision.   It had started perhaps with a 2019 dinner in Mark Zuckerberg’s home.

There were enormous Zoom meetings with many operatives throughout 2020, mainly to deal with the challenges that the pandemic could present with normal voting in person legally. Obviously, Trump did not want to see any changes that would lead to increases in turnout for black or other minority voters (outside of his own base). A major problem was that poll work is often done by elderly workers, who arguably could not work safely on Nov. 3 (I talked to Fairfax County about this and was told that persons over 70 need not work).  By and large, states are free to change their rules on how voting works, as long as legislatures have authorized election administrators to do so.

Other problems included the poll watchers.  Republican poll watchers claimed that the were kept away, and poll workers claim they were harassed by watchers not wearing masks.

A particular threat was that in swing states, officials might be “bullied” into letting Republican-controlled electors choose the electors and override voters  (all part of “stop the steal”).

Tim Pool had a run-in with Twitter, not allowing a major tweet to be retweeted or linked, as he stated the facts about the article. Cassandra Fairbanks was suspended for a day on Twitter for posting a particular story about alleged fraudulent delivery of ballots in Michigan, after the story had been ruled false.  Her claim (however questionable) is on Gateway Pundit (link, if you want to see it) and can be read online on Telegram.  (She is also on Gab, which is down now.)   Timcast IRL examines the matter with Jack Posobiec in this video. 

But it is correct to say that a “cabal” did “fortify” the election so that unusual maneuvers by Trump, leading to the insurrection, could not change the result.