Residents ask county for voting reports

Sanders County Commissioners met last week with a group of residents asking for reports of county voting records from the 2020 General Election.

Nancy Johnson asked the commissioners for cast vote records and a ballot review report, saying that she was "working with a group of concerned citizens to expose corruption and fraud." Johnson said the issue was not a Republic or a Democrat issue. "We believe there's fraud in every county in the U.S. This crime is being perpetrated against our great nation. It needs to be stopped," Johnson stated.

The residents were asking to review reports from the county's electronic voting machine from the 2020 election. Johnson said they wanted to know if the election process was transparent and a true representation of the people's vote.

"I feel confident in the local elections and the results," Commissioner Tony Cox told the group of about a dozen residents.

Johnson stated that residents across the country are hoping to get reports from all counties in the United States. Gunner Junge of Thompson Falls said there are multiple groups across the country investigating the 2020 election results.

County Commissioner Glen Magera stated that it was his understanding that the county attorney had the final say on releasing reports. County Attorney Naomi Leisz joined the meeting and said she didn't feel comfortable answering questions about the reports until she was able to talk to the county elections staff. "I'm not even going to pretend to be an election official," Leisz stated during the meeting. "The issue seems to be if we can gather the information and how long that will take."

Junge stated that the request wasn't an indictment against the county elections staff. "We just want to know the truth," he said.

Johnson stated that the reports requested do not contain private information about voters.

Mary Reed attended the meeting and told the commissioners that "I Would personally like to see us go back to hand count" of votes, instead of using electronic voting machines.

"Personally I have no problem releasing info unless there's something legally preventing it," Leisz added.

Leisz and the commissioners agreed to visit with county elections staff to better understand what information would be available and how it could be provided to the residents, and told Johnson they would follow up with her after that meeting.