The moon isn’t made of green cheese

by Margaret Gorski, Stevensville

I attended the Montana Election Integrity forum held in Hamilton on June 5. Billed as a 2.5-hour meeting, it ended up being 5 hours of ranting with graphs, charts, assumptions, and data manipulation designed to prove the 2020 election was stolen. The first presenter used an unvetted predictive model, apparently developed in Ohio, that supposedly showed voting machine anomalies in Missoula and Ravalli Counties. According to him, because he couldn’t statistically explain these anomalies that was proof of voter fraud. After showing us charts for specific races the second presenter repeated that she “knows the folks in Ravalli County and knows it’s just not possible that there were more votes for the Secretary of State than for Trump or against the Gun and Abortion Initiatives that were on the ballot in 2020.” Such was the depth and validity of data that led to their demand that the County Commissioners “throw out the machines and hand count all the ballots.” But just because you think the moon is made

of green cheese, doesn’t make it so.

I was extremely disappointed to see such enthusiasm from people who blindly jump to unverified conclusions and support drastic and costly changes to our county’s election system. In addition, I was appalled at the inappropriate criticisms leveled at our election office, especially from people who don’t even live here!

Shame on you if you believe these outsiders before you believe our own county officials. Do you know how elections are run here in Ravalli County? Have you observed the “open to the public” counting of

ballots? Have you worked as a poll worker? Do you know what is in the Montana Code that governs elections? You should become informed on how elections are funded and ask yourself if the County adequately funds the elections office to do its job?

I have voted in every election held in Ravalli County for the 32 years I have lived here. I ran for the state legislature three times. I have observed how the elections office is run and I have participated in two bi-partisan post-election audits that hand counted ballots to verify the accuracy of the machines. I can personally attest that I have observed an operation that is as professional and concerned about the safety, privacy, and security of your vote as it can be. If I have any concern about the county elections office, it is that as this county grows its budget must also grow to keep up with the job.

So, if the Montana Election Integrity Project purposefully used unverified and flawed analytical models and analyses to reach preconceived conclusions, as was apparent to me, what is their end game? What are their motivations? Republicans won every election in the county and gained a supermajority in the State Legislature. Just because they can’t accept that Trump lost, why should they try to convince the rest of us to lose faith in our election process?

Our REPUBLIC relies on us believing and accepting the results of our elections. If we don’t trust our system, we can no longer be the example for the rest of the world of how to make a democracy work. Instead of spewing hate, conspiracy theories, and false accusations and trying to burn our election system to the ground, wouldn’t it be more productive to put that energy, time, and money toward improving our current system instead? Let’s be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Our children and grandchildren’s future depends on it.