As reported in the Miami Independent article, The Sun Sentinel Refuses To Publish Candidate's Answers To Their Own Questionnaire - Miami Independent September 17, 2024, the Miami Independent obtained a copy of the Sun Sentinel's questionnaire and Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections candidate, Jeff Buongiorno's answers which they refused to publish. We have to ask, why would the Sun Sentinel sensor a candidate's comments and honest opinions? Again, we see a supposedly unbiased media outlet sensoring free speech and then endorsing the other candidate, i.e. telling voters how to vote. This is not journalism. Readers would have known those were the beliefs or opinions of the candidate and could decide for themselves if he was correct or not. And the Sun Sentinel could have even done their own fact checking; instead they chose to silence him.
In response to their excuses for not publishing candidate Buongiorno's answers, I did what journalists are supposed to do and did some research. Here is some of what I found.
It is true, according to the Secretary of State's own website, that VR Systems is not certified, nor does it appear to be reviewed by any state agency. While the SOS website states election officials are to "carefully review and access (non-voting systems) utility, accuracy, security & integration into the election process", public record requests of Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Link's office regarding their review of VR Systems have so far produced no response after three weeks. (see update below) Wendy Link even admitted that VR Systems is not certified in a live interview conducted between the Sun Sentinel, herself and Jeff Buongiourno, according to Buongiorno, which has also gone unpublished.
Regarding public trust in elections being at new lows, this is more or less common knowledge, and while the Sun Sentinel blames this on Trump, there has been much in the headlines about questionable election practices, if you follow non-mainstream media sources.
This was an article published just prior to the 2020 election. Confidence in Accuracy of U.S. Election Matches Record Low. This was prior to Donald Trump contesting results or discussing the evidence of fraud seen in the 2020 election. Confidence in elections has only eroded since then. There's also this doozy from last year, published by Rasmussen Reports: One in Five Mail in Voters Admit They Cheated in 2020 Election.
Likewise, it doesn't sound like this was Trump's fault and this report would appear to legitimize Boungiorno's concerns about voting by mail.
Regarding claims about evidence of election malfeasance made by Boungiorno, you can find some of the information in this video, summarizing anomolies & evidence of malfeasance in the 2020 election: Election Enigma and others in one of its sources: US 2020 Election Fraud at a Glance, including Defend Florida's results of their canvassing and postcard mailing efforts. Defend Florida, a well known statewide election integrity group, actually reported that 31% of the postcards sent to voters who voted by mail, according to the state's data, came back as phantom voters, or 1,454 of the 4,743 voters canvassed.
In addition to this information, one of the most experienced Supervisors of Elections in Florida, 28 year veteran, now retired, Ion Sancho wrote the a letter in 2020 warning other SOEs about the vulnerabilities and security issues with the current voting system: Microsoft Word - ION SANCHO LETTER TO SOEs RE WIRELESS MODEMS.docx
In it he warns of the risks inherint in using the wireless modems which are now widely known to be in the tabulators used in Florida elections. "NIST warns that using cellular modems, or connecting a county’s central tabulator to WiFi (the internet) can allow remote hackers to gain access to an entire voting system, inject malware, change election results, or create chaos through denial of service attacks. Firewalls do not offer complete protection. They can be breached." His warning highlights the importance of a Supervisor of Elections having a strong background in technology and cyber security.
On top of this, Jeff Buongiorno has filed a federal lawsuit against Florida & federal officials over the possibility of non-citizens voting in Florida. Coincidentally, last week deputy Secretary of State Brad McVay sent a letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services associate director Tammy Mackley requesting data from federal immigration officials regarding the citizenship status of individuals on Florida's voter rolls. He also stated federal law requires them to provide information on non-citizens, and suggested the state could file suit if it isn’t provided within 14 days, appearing to validate Boungiourno's complaint.
Another legal action has been taken against Florida officials over the misconduct of elections. United Sovereign Americans, a national volunteer organization, has filed federal complaints against nine states, including Florida. The Florida case cites finding over 560,000 likely ineligible voters on the official rolls who cast over 100,000 votes in the 2022 General Election. They also cite over 145,000 votes without voters, according to the offical voter history files.
It appears the Sun Sentinel was extremely short sited, if not biased, in not publishing Buongiorno's answers to the very questions they posed. Too often today, the media resorts to peddling their opinion over facts or information they don't agree with. Much like the biased and apparently pre-arranged one-side conditions set by ABC in the recent Presidential debate, could this be considered election interference?
A response was received to the public records request (PRR) issued to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office just after this article went to press. The answers, if you can call them that, were vague and for the most part only cited federal Codes. Below is the initial public records request followed by answers to each question.
You previously stated there were no documents related to this request:
I wish to PRR information related to the specific operations performed by election systems vendor VR Systems and security measures taken by VR Systems and the PBC SOE office with regards to interfacing between the two. Please provide a list of specific tasks performed by VR Systems as well as how they interface with other PBC or State election systems and databases.
I did not request an existing document, I requested information on security measures taken and a list of specific tasks performed by PBC SOE vendor VR Systems and information on how they interface with PBC and State of Florida election systems and databases. I find it surprising that if a thorough review was conducted of VR Systems, as is required by Florida statute, that there would not be documentation covering this information. If there is not an existing document, please have your technology department provide the information.
Thank you in advance,
Specific operations performed by election systems vendor VR Systems
Software support and maintenance.
and security measures taken by VR Systems and the PBC SOE office with regards to interfacing between the two.
§ 282.318, 6 U.S.C. §§ 131 et seq., 6 CFR part 29
Please provide a list of specific tasks performed by VR Systems as well as how they interface with other PBC or State election systems and databases.
We cannot speak on behalf of other PBCs or the State. The rest is § 282.318, 6 U.S.C. §§ 131 et seq., 6 CFR part 29.
If there is not an existing document, please have your technology department provide the information.
§ 282.318, 6 U.S.C. §§ 131 et seq., 6 CFR part 29.
September 23, 2024, 11:28am by Staff
Once again, we see a lack of transparency and efforts to keep information from the people by our elected officials.
