See disputed Georgia ballots where election workers decided a vote was for Biden, not Trump

State policy appears to allow subjective worker judgment in divining voter intent where vote is unclear.

As part of a review of hundreds of pages of election documents from Georgia's Fulton County, Just the News reviewed dozens of disputed ballots in which election workers known as "adjudicators" determined that a voter intended to vote for Democratic candidate Joe Biden instead of Republican incumbent Donald Trump.

Just the News's review of the Fulton documents revealed a system rife with subjective judgment of thousands of ballots on the part of a small number of election workers, all of it governed by a confusing patchwork of state laws that simultaneously seemed to sanction and proscribe the practice of ballot adjudication.

Votes for candidates of all types — Democratic, Republican and independent — were subject to the adjudication process. Many ballots reviewed by Just the News, meanwhile, revealed adjudication decisions regarding votes for Trump that ranged from the obvious to the uncertain.

In one ballot, for instance, a voter bubbled in a vote for Trump before drawing a big X through the choice and opting instead for Biden. In another case, a voter did the same thing and added "NOT MY CHOICE" above Trump's name, along with the voter's initials.

Those examples constitute some of the more self-evident judgment calls that adjudicators would have to make. Others were less clear.

In one, for instance, the voter scribbled in bubbles for both Trump and Biden, after which he or she appears to have appended a tiny check mark next to Biden's name with no commentary. The adjudicator awarded the ballot to Biden.

In another, a voter heavily scribbled the bubble next to Trump and then put a small checkmark in Biden's bubble. In still another, the voter messily bubbled in Biden's name but drew a larger X through the bubble beside Trump. Both ballots went to Biden.

The images highlight the difficult and in many cases purely instinctive nature of ballot adjudication, where election workers might be confronted with an obvious judgment call on one ballot and then far more uncertain decisions on many others.

Georgia code stipulates that ballots with more than the permitted number of votes should be rejected by tabulators and reviewed by adjudication teams in the manner as was done in the ballots above.

Yet Georgia law also states that ballots should be considered "spoiled" if a voter has "cast more than the permitted number of votes." A spoiled ballot "shall not be reinstated," the code states, suggesting that any ballots deemed as such should not be used.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/see-georgia-ballot-images-where-election-workers-decided-vote-was-biden

‘Facebook has officially jumped the shark’: New tool allowing users to ‘REQUEST PRAYERS’ met with mockery

Facebook has introduced a new feature allowing users to request prayers – an update that has been roundly mocked and skewered by critics, who say Facebook has far larger issues to focus on.

Users can use the tool to request mass prayers for anything from a job interview to personal health. After a user creates their post, others can click a button reading, “I prayed.” The feature began being tested in the US in December.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve seen many faith and spirituality communities using our services to connect, so we’re starting to explore new tools to support them,” a statement from a Facebook spokesperson reads.

Facebook’s ‘prayer tool’ was met with skepticism and mockery on social media, where many critics blasted the company for focusing on the new feature over numerous other issues, such as concerns over misinformation and censorship.

Religious leaders have responded in mixed fashion to the feature, according to a report from the Associated Press (AP). Some praised the new tool as an innovative way to promote faith and connect religious communities, while others dismissed it as meaningless compared to in-person gatherings, and also expressed privacy concerns.

Facebook already uses personal information from users to better target ads, though it claims “prayer posts” will not be used in these algorithms.

“Is it wise to post everything about everyone for the whole world to see?” Father Bob Stec, pastor of St. Ambrose Catholic Parish in Brunswick, Ohio, told AP. “On a good day, we would all be reflective and make wise choices. When we are under stress or distress or in a difficult moment, it’s almost too easy to reach out on Facebook to everyone.”

Bishop Paul Egensteiner, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Metropolitan New York Synod, called on Facebook to do more to battle “misinformation” posted to its platform, which he claims affects “religious communities and our efforts.”

Facebook has been under pressure from both Democrats and Republicans, with liberal pundits and lawmakers claiming the company is not doing enough to police “misinformation” related to Covid-19 and other topics, and conservatives pointing to Facebook as one of multiple social media companies that allegedly shadowban and flag conservatives pundits far more than liberal ones.

Former president Donald Trump, who saw his social media accounts purged following the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, announced a lawsuit last month targeting Facebook, Twitter, and Google over this alleged political bias.

https://www.rt.com/usa/531479-facebook-request-prayers-tool/