What I Witnessed on the Arizona Auditing Floor – The Ballots Are Scanned, Tested and Documented – The Process is Well Organized and VERY Secure

On Saturday The Gateway Pundit correspondent Jordan Conradson observed the forensic audit of the Maricopa County election ballots on the floor of Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Jordan wrote this article after his six hours on the coliseum floor on Saturday.

On Saturday, May 1st, I volunteered to observe the Maricopa County Audit process at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona. Upon arrival, I checked in with the police at the entrance, who confirmed my name was on the list and directed me to the coliseum entrance. When I entered the building, I went through more check-in procedures, received my name badge, and locked all of my belongings in a locker with a security code. I was only allowed a red pen and a piece of paper on me while observing.

I was told that this was the most secure and transparent process in history. This rang true as I witnessed the measures are taking to ensure integrity and confidence in the forensic audit system.

The first thing I noticed was the videographer, who documents and records everything (ex. any issue with ballots upon opening box). I observed teams of three “counters” checking each ballot on a rotating table and adding a timestamp to each tally sheet. I saw that the counting of votes was in good hands and was being performed with speed, accuracy, and honor. It was a smooth process.

After a box of ballots was counted, the ballot box chain of custody is then updated.

Then the ballot is taken to a forensic scanning station to test the weight, texture, ballot watermarks, and vote bubbles. These tests are used to authenticate the ballot. Each ballot is photographed; a forensic scan is taken, ballots are numbered and issues are recorded on the paper examination log. After this process is completed, the chain of custody is updated again and the box is sealed with the tape color of the team who counted. Everything that happens in this room is recorded and documented – Everything! This process may have more checks and balances than our current executive branch or any branch of government!

As an observer, we wore orange shirts to separate us, and we were given very clear and specific instructions. The floor used tape to create lanes for observers to walk in, and we were not to go near the counting tables, nor speak to the counters. We could only speak to other supervisors to report our concerns and other observers. My job was to provide oversight and report anything that I felt compromised the security of the process. I saw nothing that concerned me, and I believe this process is very secure. Another observer, who observed the previous audit, told me that this was much more organized.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/05/tgp-exclusive-witnessed-arizona-auditing-floor-ballots-scanned-tested-documented-process-organized-secure/

"Enough Looting My People": Peru's Marxist Presidential Frontrunner Pledges To Seize Offshore Company Profits

US corporations are facing an increasingly tough run over the next few years: on one hand all their domestic profits are about to be taxed at much higher rates thanks to Bidenomics, on the other, they are facing an increasingly hostile socialist regime internationally, that seeks to confiscate most if not all of their offshore profits.

Case in point, Peru, whose presidential front-runner, Marxist Pedro Castillo who favorably quotes Lenin and Castro, said he’ll do what leftists everywhere do, and intends to redistribute wealth - because socialism - by reviewing contracts with transnational companies in a move to increase onshore wealth.

In a debate with Keiko Fujimori ahead of the June 6 runoff, Castillo said multinationals should expect to leave 70% of their profits in Peru. Which is just a little bit more than what leftist president Joe Biden proposes they leave in the US.

“Enough of looting my people,” the 51-year-old school teacher said in his hometown region, Cajamarca.

As part of his populist package, Bloomberg reports that Castillo will also seek to raise investment in education to 10% of gross domestic product. He also proposed lowering the pension age to 60 and cutting lawmakers’ wages by half, although it was unclear where he would find the money to fund the early retirement - probably just more wealth confiscation (he said he would decline compensation as president).

Meanwhile, as Peru braces for the joys of socialism, Peruvian assets have fallen as the presidential election approaches with the sol touching record lows this week.

Despite a modest drop in Castillo's lead - he has of 44% the vote versus 34% for Fujimori, daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori according to a poll released Friday by Datum - he will almost certainly be the next president especially since Fujimori had been confined to campaigning in Lima because she is the subject of a criminal investigation. A full 11% of voters remain undecided, and 11% plan to cast blank or invalidated ballots, the survey found.

As the WSJ notes, Castillo’s thinking is frighteningly similar to that of the late Hugo Chávez, who ruled Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013. Chavismo strangled Venezuela’s democratic institutions, sent human capital fleeing, destroyed the economy, and generated widespread poverty. Venezuela was once one of the most advanced countries in the region. Today Venezuelans live primitively, often without running water, electricity or basic medical supplies.

And in a few weeks, the miracle of socialism will strike its next target.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/enough-looting-my-people-perus-marxist-presidential-frontrunner-pledges-seize-offshore

Biden Prepares For Stealth Food Stamp Increase Of Up To 20% Without Congressional Approval

The Biden administration is planning to use an obscure US Department of Agriculture instrument to lay the groundwork for a long-term increase in food aid for tens of millions of Americans.

The instrument, known as the 'market basket,' is a shopping list used to determine food stamp benefits, and which can be adjusted without risking an impasse in Congress from Republican lawmakers, according to Bloomberg.

A review of the so-called Thrifty Food Plan, ordered by Biden two days after he took office, could trigger an automatic increase in benefits as soon as Oct. 1, a day after expiration of a temporary 15% boost in food stamp payments that Biden included in his $1.9 trillion Covid-relief package.

James Ziliak, director of the Center for Poverty Research at the University of Kentucky, said the re-evaluation “could result in an upward adjustment of 20% or more in the benefits.” That would amount to roughly a $136-a-month increase in the maximum benefit for a family of four, which was $680 before the temporary pandemic-related increase. -Bloomberg

"This is really meaningful," according to Harvard professor Jason Furman, who was chairman of former President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. "It’s one of the bigger things government can do for poverty without Congress."

According to Furman, the Obama administration didn't adjust the market basket because Republicans then controlled both houses of Congress.

"We made a pragmatic decision that it not only could be overridden by a Republican Congress, but they could put something worse in its place. So we decided not to poke the bear," he said.

The decision follows a years-long campaign by anti-hunger advocates, after the basket hasn't been adjusted for six decades aside from inflation. According to the report, "The move is emblematic of a broad commitment to anti-poverty programs across the Biden administration … In April, the Agriculture Department extended a universal free school lunch program tied to pandemic relief through the entire 2021-22 school year."

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/biden-prepares-stealth-food-stamp-increase-20-without-congressional-approval

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