(RightIsRight.co) – Nearly six months after the 2020 presidential election, allegations of fraud and questionable voting practices still plague many Americans. In Montana, however, one recent ballot audit revealed some surprising inconsistencies with the votes, and now the state government is getting involved.
Justice Department Advisor Audits Montana Ballots
On Wednesday, March 24, Dr. John Lott, the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and a former advisor to Trump’s Justice Department, published a paper detailing the findings of a January 4 audit of Missoula County, Montana mail-in ballot envelopes.
The volunteer team found that 4,592 of the 72,491 ballots were missing envelopes. However, the law states the ballot envelope must be present with a signature, registration information, and a postmark in order to be validated. So, this could mean that 6.33% of the County’s mail-in ballots were counted when they weren’t supposed to be.
The County’s Vote Tabulating Video Also Disappeared
To help address some of the inconsistencies, the team requested to see the county’s video recording of the November ballot count. The request was emailed on December 22, which is within the window of time where the country must keep the records according to the Washington Examiner. However, the county failed to provide the video, saying the video was gone as the request “was past the retention schedule.”
The Governor Responds
On April 1, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte (R) said he spoke with his secretary of state to address the inconsistencies. The state plans to enact new voting laws to ensure election integrity and ensure the majority of Americans use in-person polling as much as possible in the years to come.
While measures are being taken in Montana to ensure these irregularities are not repeated, how many other states will find election inconsistencies in the coming months? As investigations continue into the 2020 election and we look forward to the 2022 midterms, now is the time to ensure our voting laws are in place to protect our citizens and elections.
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