Voter suppresion/"stealing the election" megathread

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I feel as if Narcissist-in-Chief really has a specific hatred for Oregon and Washington. He's not only sending in federal troops to the largest cities in both of those states, but he is also attacking the very ways in which they vote, as they ONLY vote by mail by default.

IIRC, his administration had a lot of run-ins with the Washington AG’s Office in 2017.  He definitely had quite a few fights with Inslee over COVID-19, a few of them quite public.  Idk about Oregon though, maybe he thinks Portland is in Washington *shrug*

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

California orders GOP to remove unofficial ballot boxes

https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-fresno-elections-california-santa-ana-be803bfe99f5eb35e17a6ee56315deb0

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) —

California’s chief elections official on Monday ordered Republicans to remove unofficial ballot drop boxes from churches, gun shops and other locations and Attorney General Xavier Becerra warned those behind the “vote tampering” could face prosecution.

Republican refused, saying they are taking advantage of California’s liberal ballot collection law that allows anyone to collect ballots from voters and deliver them to county election offices.

“As of right now, we’re going to continue our ballot harvesting program,” California Republican Party spokesman Hector Barajas said.

Lock them up!

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Oh goodie

https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1321324834727645184

Hopefully this can be appealed in a day or two and we can get a judge to stay the ruling through the election. 

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

https://twitter.com/Goss30Goss/status/1333249102356869121

Thinking Trump goes to jail is as delusional as thinking he'd resign on thousands of different occasions.

Agreed, you generally go to prison rather than jail when the sentence is more than two years incarceration.  That's where Trump is likely headed.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1334848556176379907

That makes sense.  I mean, Louis DeJoy was a top donor to notoriously partisan socialist *checks notes* Donald Trump.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

https://twitter.com/FrankLuntz/status/1336711592700825600

Well that seems like duress to me.

Its both extortion and terrorism.

Don't forget cowardice

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

https://twitter.com/jonathanoosting/status/1341424184589758465

Imagine if Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi had the balls Dana Nessel does.  The Republican Party and these disturbed lawyers would have never gotten this out of control.  These do nothing democrats need to start facing serious primary challenges, not from the AOC faction but from the do something faction.

What are you even talking about?  Like what, specifically, should Pelosi and Schumer be doing about Trump’s antics that they aren’t right now?  And this wasn’t even a remotely ballsy move.  It’s like swatting a fly, it’s not exactly a high-risk showdown.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Dana Nessel is on CNN now.  This woman needs to be made Attorney General of the United States now.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Dana Nessel is on CNN now.  This woman needs to be made Attorney General of the United States now.

What's wrong with like the one Democratic elected official willing to prosecute Republicans when they deserve it?

1) She’s not the best person for the job.  I’m just saying she shouldn’t be made US AG just b/c she made some referral for professional sanctions.

2) I like Nessel just fine, but the idea that she’s the only Democrat willing to prosecute Republicans when they deserve it is just not reality-based.  I mean, no offense or anything, but do you really believe that?  Seriously?  

3) Suggesting that it somehow took balls to refer Sidney Powell for professional sanctions is laughable to say the least.  Nessel isn’t risking anything by doing so, Sidney Powell is basically a random fringe figure at this point, and there’s no reason to think Powell would face disbarment or a suspension of her license or anything like that.  At most, maybe some sort of professional reprimand for filing frivolous lawsuits, but I doubt it.  This is like a less serious version of all the times congressional Democrats have made criminal referrals to the DOJ against Trump allies and administration officials.  

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Powell should absolutely be disbarred, and possibly fined or imprisoned.

Okay, I'll bite...  

Given that merely filing frivolous lawsuits generally isn't on its own recognized as grounds for disbarment for someone with AFAIK no prior sanctions, what other grounds are there for disbarring Powell?  Please be as specific as possible.  It's one thing to argue she deserves sanctions, but there are many sanctions besides disbarment.  You're basically talking about starting with what's normally the nuclear option.    

Imprisoned?  Again, tell me what law Powell has broken?  Forget about whether there's enough evidence for a conviction; what specific crimes punishable with incarceration do you think she's committed?  Last time I checked, it's not a crime to be a conspiracy theorist nor is it a crime to be a Trump supporter.

I'm genuinely curious what your rationale is for saying Powell should be imprisoned b/c from where I stand, if she were imprisoned for what she's done thus far then she'd be a political prisoner and it'd effectively signal the death of the rule of law in this country.  Frankly, it'd be the sort of thing you'd see in the imaginary left-wing totalitarian dystopia that Trump cultists have convinced themselves noted radical extremist Joe Biden is going to create.

That said, if you're just venting then fair enough  But if you're serious...yikes!

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Powell should absolutely be disbarred, and possibly fined or imprisoned.

Okay, I'll bite...  

Given that merely filing frivolous lawsuits generally isn't on its own recognized as grounds for disbarment for someone with AFAIK no prior sanctions, what other grounds are there for disbarring Powell?  Please be as specific as possible.  It's one thing to argue she deserves sanctions, but there are many sanctions besides disbarment.  You're basically talking about starting with what's normally the nuclear option.    

Imprisoned?  Again, tell me what law Powell has broken?  Forget about whether there's enough evidence for a conviction; what specific crimes punishable with incarceration do you think she's committed?  Last time I checked, it's not a crime to be a conspiracy theorist nor is it a crime to be a Trump supporter.

I'm genuinely curious what your rationale is for saying Powell should be imprisoned b/c from where I stand, if she were imprisoned for what she's done thus far then she'd be a political prisoner and it'd effectively signal the death of the rule of law in this country.  Frankly, it'd be the sort of thing you'd see in the imaginary left-wing totalitarian dystopia that Trump cultists have convinced themselves noted radical extremist Joe Biden is going to create.

That said, if you're just venting then fair enough  But if you're serious...yikes!

IANAL, and I can't speak for anyone else, but,

Giving False Evidence

No matter how minor the fabricated evidence is, presenting or preparing false evidence is an automatic felony. Escaping prison time will be almost near to impossible if you are found guilty. Prison time will range from 16 months to three years. Additionally, the judge has the discretion to consider probation or a fine.

Sidney Powell’s ‘Kraken’ Lawsuit Included Altered Exhibit of Georgia’s Certification of Dominion Voting Machines

When former Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell filed her much-hyped “Kraken” lawsuit seeking to decertify Georgia’s presidential election results, the conspiracy theory-laden, error-riddled complaint quickly became the object of mockery online. A majority of legal observers criticized the filing for containing a multitude of typos, sloppy formatting, and a dozen references to the late Hugo Chavez, but the lawsuit also included an altered exhibit of significance: a document from Georgia’s Secretary of State Office regarding the certification of Dominion Voting Systems’ voting machines.

The complaint also attached a copy of the supposedly undated certificate, stating, “See attached hereto Exh. 5, copy Certification for Dominion Voting Systems from Secretary of State,” though the certificate was actually filed as “Exhibit 6” on the court’s docket.

If the Dominion certification page included in Powell’s exhibit appears oddly shaped, as though the bottom quarter of the page were chopped off, that’s because it was. Viewing the full document, which still appears on the Secretary’s website, It’s easy to see why that bottom quarter of the document would have been problematic to Powell’s claims, as it reads, in part: “I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of my office, at the Capitol, in the City of Atlanta, this 9th day of August, in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Nineteen […].”

That's just one example I happened to remember and could easily find evidence for.  Given the insane claims she has made in so many courts, I have little doubt an in-depth review would find she falsified enough evidence to put her away for life.

Powell should absolutely be disbarred, and possibly fined or imprisoned.

Okay, I'll bite...  

Given that merely filing frivolous lawsuits generally isn't on its own recognized as grounds for disbarment for someone with AFAIK no prior sanctions, what other grounds are there for disbarring Powell?  Please be as specific as possible.  It's one thing to argue she deserves sanctions, but there are many sanctions besides disbarment.  You're basically talking about starting with what's normally the nuclear option.    

Imprisoned?  Again, tell me what law Powell has broken?  Forget about whether there's enough evidence for a conviction; what specific crimes punishable with incarceration do you think she's committed?  Last time I checked, it's not a crime to be a conspiracy theorist nor is it a crime to be a Trump supporter.

I'm genuinely curious what your rationale is for saying Powell should be imprisoned b/c from where I stand, if she were imprisoned for what she's done thus far then she'd be a political prisoner and it'd effectively signal the death of the rule of law in this country.  Frankly, it'd be the sort of thing you'd see in the imaginary left-wing totalitarian dystopia that Trump cultists have convinced themselves noted radical extremist Joe Biden is going to create.

That said, if you're just venting then fair enough  But if you're serious...yikes!

The best case would be based on perjury or submitting falsified evidence.

While I'll admit that I'd forgotten about the "changing dates" incident when I made my post (and it's certainly something Powell may well face professional sanctions for), I maintain that there's not - strictly from what I've read - enough here to meet the standard of proof for a criminal conviction.  You'd have to prove beyond reasonable doubt (among other things) that this was intentional and not merely A) the result of incompetence or B) done by Powell herself or on her clear instruction as opposed to say, someone who drafted the motion going off the reservation or misinterpreting instructions.    

That said, keep in mind that my post was also in response to someone randomly saying Powell should be thrown in prison without providing any context or rationale (and who still hasn't done so, I should add).    

Now, if we're talking professional sanctions, I've never commented on whether Powell should or shouldn't face them, I'm merely arguing that Powell is unlikely to be disbarred for filing frivolous lawsuits (and I say this as someone who is actually a lawyer).  I'm not defending Powell's conduct; I'm merely making a prediction.  

At the end of the day, folks are generally loath to disbar lawyers absent criminal indictment or even criminal conviction (and even then, Michael Avenatti is currently on involuntary inactive status and hasn't been disbarred yet, although he probably will be eventually).  Absent a conviction or at least a criminal indictment for evidence tampering, Powell probably won't be disbarred over those allegations and even the Democrats know this because no one has made any noise about going after on those grounds.  There's a reason for that and it isn't that they're too wimpy to play hardball or whatever.  

I also don't think there's a perjury case to be made against her with this stuff (Giuliani OTOH...) because you'd have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Powell doesn't really believe the nonsense she's been peddling.  That's why I said being a conspiracy theorist isn't a crime.  Maybe she really believes this stuff and is just zealously representing her client; maybe not.  Good lucky proving she doesn't believe the election was rigged.

Now, to play devil's advocate, if you were to hypothetically argue for serious sanctions against Powell (and L. Lin Wood's), your best bet would probably be to argue that she's not only been filing frivolous lawsuits, but worse yet demonstrated gross incompetence that call into question her fitness to practice law.  I mean, how many basic mistakes have her filings been riddled with?  How can we be sure Powell won't cause clients injury - regardless of her intentions - simply because she doesn't seem to know what she's doing  We've seen spelling and formatting errors, cases filed in the wrong court, people attached as plaintiffs without being asked who turned out to want nothing to do with the cases, etc.  

That's really where her greatest vulnerability is re: professional sanctions imo.  Again though, when I say disbarment is unlikely, I'm not talking about what I want to happen, but what I predict will happen based on the reluctance of the profession to disbar folks unless there's clearly no way around it.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

While I'll admit that I'd forgotten about the "changing dates" incident when I made my post (and it's certainly something Powell may well face professional sanctions for), I maintain that there's not - strictly from what I've read - enough here to meet the standard of proof for a criminal conviction.  You'd have to prove beyond reasonable doubt (among other things) that this was intentional and not merely A) the result of incompetence or B) done by Powell herself or on her clear instruction as opposed to say, someone who drafted the motion going off the reservation or misinterpreting instructions.    

Both Powell and Lin Wood have certainly left a substantial paper trail of total incompetence (Is filing a document with the court with "plenty of perjury" incompetence or an admission of guilt?). 

At some point, they gotta go.  Would you let an electrician who keep burning down houses with his incompetence keep his license?

And as I said, incompetence would probably be your best bet if arguing for professional sanctions against Powell and/or Wood.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

It's clear that Lin Wood's role is to make Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell look sane by comparison.

I maintain that Lin Wood is simply a Democrat trying to cash-in on the Trump cult gravy train.