Bannon Says He Would Have Fauci and FBI Director Wray Decapitated
Indicted Trump superfan Steve Bannon said today that if it were up to him, he would have FBI Director Christopher Wray and Anthony Fauci decapitated, and their heads put on pikes at the White House as a warning to others.
Steve Bannon calls for Dr. Fauci and FBI Director Wray to be beheaded "as a warning to federal bureaucrats"@youtube prohibits "inciting others to commit violent acts against individuals"
https://t.co/OECKxxQSzX pic.twitter.com/zBHimpUZT5
— Madeline Peltz (@peltzmadeline) November 5, 2020
STEVE BANNON (HOST): That’s the second term. Second term kicks off with firing Wray, firing Fauci.
Now I actually want to go a step farther but I realize the president is a kind-hearted man and a good man. I’d actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England, I’d put the heads on pikes, right, I’d put them at the two corners of the White House as a warning to federal bureaucrats. You either get with the program or you’re gone — time to stop playing games. blow it all up, put Ric Grenell today as the interim head of the FBI, that’ll light some, that’ll light ’em up, right.
JACK MAXEY (CO-HOST): You know what Steve, just yesterday there was the anniversary of the hanging of two Tories in Philadelphia, these were Quaker businessmen who had cohabitated if you will with the British while they were occupying Philadelphia. These people were hung. This is what we used to do to traitors.
BANNON: That’s how you won the revolution. No one wants to talk about it. The revolution wasn’t some sort of garden party, right? It was not. It was a civil war. It was a civil war.
He seems nice. I haven’t seen someone lobby for a pardon this hard since Roger Stone.
You might remember what I wrote ten days ago. Once I crop out my overly optimistic view of Joe Biden’s likely victory, the remaining part that I am letting you view now seems remarkably prescient!
Step One is dealing with the claims of fraud. The most immediate issue: Trump has not conceded the election [inaccurate prediction excised]. Fox News and fever-swamp right-wing sites have come out with what they claim is clear evidence of fraud. CNN and the rest of Big Media purports to debunk these claims, and independent observers can see that while there are one or two possibly suspicious episodes, they are not nearly enough to have swung the election. No matter. Trump and his diehards spend weeks claiming that an investigation needs to be opened . . . .
. . . .
The Kurt Schlichters and Dan Bonginos of the world continue to mold themselves as the Only True Trump Fans, and their vitriol towards NeverTrumpers, which previously seemed to have no room to intensify, becomes alarmingly over-the-top. References to NeverTrumpers being literal traitors who ought to be lined up against the wall and shot become shockingly commonplace.
Lined up against the wall, beheaded and heads put on spikes; potato, potahto. You’re not going to question my Nostradamusitude by quibbling about the mode of the supposed traitors’ execution, are you?
P.S. Bannon’s site was removed from YouTube and Twitter due to this incitement of violence. Meanwhile, yes, they allow a lot of other incitement. Cue cries to end Section 230; blah blah, this is really boring, you know that?
I’m going to start calling the GOP “TSP” — The Stupid Party.
Patterico (115b1f) — 11/5/2020 @ 6:55 pmWasn’t Bannon fired by Trump and all kinds of other people for calling Don Jr. a traitor for meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya as reported by Michael Wolff in his book? Rhetorical question: Yes, he was. So, Steve, what should have been done with Don Jr.?
nk (1d9030) — 11/5/2020 @ 6:56 pmHow Kathy Griffin of him.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/5/2020 @ 6:58 pmThe scary thing is that I don’t think Bannon is stupid. At all.
He knows how to manipulate stupid people though.
Dave (1bb933) — 11/5/2020 @ 7:11 pmIf I were Bannon, advocating for the execution of political losers is the last thing I would be doing.
“Hoist with his own petard” is supposed to be metaphorical in this day and age, and here is dumba** Steve Bannon tempting fate.
Leviticus (322af0) — 11/5/2020 @ 7:43 pmJoe Biden might not have the stomach to oblige him, but Kamala Harris probably would.
Leviticus (322af0) — 11/5/2020 @ 7:45 pmBreitbart would bitch-slap him about now.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/5/2020 @ 8:37 pmI’m going to start calling the GOP “TSP” — The Stupid Party.
Because of Bannon? He’s as done as Harold Stassen.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/5/2020 @ 8:38 pmThe Kurt Schlichters and Dan Bonginos of the world continue to mold themselves as the Only True Trump Fans
I hope they hole up in The Eagle’s Nest. Really, isn’t that going to be like calling yourself a Fascist in 1947 Italy?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/5/2020 @ 8:39 pmSteve Bannon tempting fate.
I like to mix metaphors, so how about “keelhauled with his own petard”? Oh, wait, that’s a thing not a metaphor.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/5/2020 @ 8:41 pmCue cries to end Section 230
Without section 230, Patterico’s ban hammer would be far more active.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/5/2020 @ 8:44 pmSort of, with one difference that might be relevant. You see, Mussolini was executed; his body was driven to a public square in Milan where it was dumped on the ground; the people spat on his body and kicked it; and then he was hung upside down from the roof of a gas station.
Trump is receiving slightly different treatment: narrowly losing an election, and roping his marks into believing he was defrauded out of winning.
I know it may not seem like much, but that slight difference could make all the difference to the way his candidacy could be received in the future.
Patterico (115b1f) — 11/5/2020 @ 8:47 pmLOL. Without section 230, there are no comments, period.
I’m not joking. The day they repeal it is the day comments close here for good. And I am far from alone.
Patterico (115b1f) — 11/5/2020 @ 8:48 pmI mean, I have really enjoyed all the lawsuits I have been a defendant in so far, but the thrill is starting to fade.
Patterico (115b1f) — 11/5/2020 @ 8:49 pmSome years back, a relative of mine who’s a lawyer said the problem with his job was that he was always trying to solve a problem for someone by making problems for someone else.
Later he became a prosecutor, so he’s only making problems for bad people. And then his son become a cop, to bring him the bad people he can make problems for.
Radegunda (20775b) — 11/5/2020 @ 9:23 pm“The revolution is always legal in the first person as in OUR party. It is only illegal in the third person as in THEIR revolution”….Ben Franklin in the movie 1776
Knickerbocker Slobberknocker (27d313) — 11/5/2020 @ 9:25 pmIf you close the comments section I’ll sue!
;P
Dave (1bb933) — 11/5/2020 @ 9:34 pmOr maybe you could just put everyone in permanent moderation (like I have somehow found myself, for reasons unknown to me).
nate (1f1d55) — 11/5/2020 @ 9:55 pmTSP sounds about right. Actually, that is a bit too generous of a description for them at this time, given
HCI (92ea66) — 11/5/2020 @ 10:29 pmhow many of them are peddling conspiracies from wackoland of how DJT’s reelection was stolen from him. As far as Section 230 is concerned, sycophancy to the Orange Man is the one constancy in all the nonsensical, absurd arguments for repealing it. That’s been painfully obvious.
@15 I like the way you put that, Radegunda. Thanks for commenting here.
norcal (a5428a) — 11/5/2020 @ 11:27 pmTo take this hyper-literally is just dumb never-Trump BS that nobody would ever take seriously if we are referring to anybody other than the Trumpers. Its the equivalent of claiming Barack Obama was threatening to actually shoot Republicans when he said “if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun”.
That said, if the NeverTrumpers and other assorted leftists want to be hyper-literal, they should actually read what Bannon said- he was only threatening to behead these guys after he invented a time machine and traveled back in time.. That is literally what he said – the beheadings happen after he goes back to Tudor England. If you want to take him moronically hyper literally, then you gotta actually take him literally. You can’t say “well he really meant the one sentence but he didn’t really mean the immediately prior sentence.”
Frankly, if Brannon invents a time machine, I’m not so worried about him beheading these guys. There would be more important things to worry about. See every Tv show and movie about time travel … ever.
(Full disclosure: I didn’t vote for Trump, I voted Biden)
Al S (de3182) — 11/5/2020 @ 11:41 pmthat nobody would ever take seriously if we are referring to anybody other than the Trumpers
“Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”
That’s a big “if” there, partner.
norcal (a5428a) — 11/5/2020 @ 11:47 pm@19 — Thanks, norcal. My life would be much duller if I didn’t hang around here.
Radegunda (20775b) — 11/5/2020 @ 11:58 pm@20
“if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun” is common idiom for coming to a contest better armed than your opponent. And the conservatives who acted all outraged by it went on to cheer Melania’s “If you hit him, he’ll hit back ten times as hard.”
It’s rather different to maintain that civil servants doing their jobs in good faith, telling the truth as best they can determine it, in the public interest, should be treated like literal traitors.
In Trump-world, getting with the program means being willing to lie to the public or subvert the rule of law or endanger life and health if Trump wants it.
Trumpists have taken the legitimate concern about career bureaucrats undermining an administration and twisted it into the notion that the civil service is there to serve Dear Leader at all costs.
Bannon’s words will hit home with some rabid Trumpists who believe that loyalty to Trump is what defines true American patriotism.
Radegunda (20775b) — 11/6/2020 @ 12:14 amPatterico, that is obvisously hyperbole. What I do not believe is hyperbole though is where in the conversation Steveo discusses with Brian Kennedy of the Claremont Institute how states can decide their own electors to elect Trump: here
And here he is discussing if that doesn’t work on Jan 3 when the new congress is seated, since Secretarys of the states have not or did not certify the election results(see the below clip with Greitens), a Contingent election will be formed. Here is a link to the legal reference of Wikipedia explaining that.
THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS!!! He is discussing in this clip the conditions that Pelosi could become President!
The real question is, is Steve Bannon dangerous? Or is this just some guy saying whatever Trump supporters want to hear so he can launch his news network? Being he has a connection to the President who has declared himself the winner before all the votes have been counted, I think we need to pay very close attention to Steve Bannon. This is the literal path to civil war if he can bring these events to fruition. To be clear I support following the law when it comes to vote counting. If the the law states that a democrat and a republican have to be present to count a vote then that should be occuring. But to take it to a Contingent congress, that where problems happens. Under those circumstances who knows what would happen.
Also here is Eric Greitens, the former Governor of Missouri who resigned in a scandel, saying that only the state legisators can set the rules for elections, not judges or elections boards. He thinks that the Supreme Court will step in and have to decide: here
And here is Phil Kline the former Attorney General of Kansas discussing possible illegal vote counting tactics: here
People, I implore everyone to pay attention and stay involved right now. These are very dangerous times. And above all: Pray for America like you never prayed before.
PS: by my clips above you can see that Steve is still on YouTube.
ah-non-ee-mouse (690acb) — 11/6/2020 @ 3:57 amPPS: if YouTube does remove the channel for the future this show can be found on AmericasVoice.NEWS. He references NewsMax several times so I think it could be found there as well. Right now I believe we all need to be watching this to know what Trump is planning and/or doing.
Also here is link in the video above where Arizona voters are claiming that sharpies cannot be used to vote on scan tron type equipment:
This is FALSE! Not only are sharpies ok to use, they are preferred.
ah-non-ee-mouse (690acb) — 11/6/2020 @ 4:00 amHere is a link to Maricops county’s recorder office addressing FAQ’s, go to Elections tab question 12 and read the answer
@23 So your position is: Idioms for me but not for thee! Got it. Double standard noted.
Al S (de3182) — 11/6/2020 @ 4:22 amIs that something president Obama told his audience?
Hoi Polloi (66077a) — 11/6/2020 @ 4:26 amBannon wants to hang Fauci and Lindsay Graham indicates that legislatures could overturn votes in states Biden has won. Graham said: “Everything should be on the table.”
When you hear quotes like that from them, you should know that a dictatorship is not out of the question. Scary times. Scary people.
noel (9fead1) — 11/6/2020 @ 5:31 amFour more years of this and I sincerely doubt that American democracy would survive. If Trump is not defeated, this new autocratic mentality would be validated and grow in strength.
noel (9fead1) — 11/6/2020 @ 5:36 amDidn’t Biden recommend that homeowners shoot people through their door?
Hoi Polloi (66077a) — 11/6/2020 @ 5:40 amif my comment gets approved here is a better link explaining the process from
ah-non-ee-mouse (d11852) — 11/6/2020 @ 5:41 amfoxnews
Who refused to allow early processing of votes in Pennsylvania?
noel (9fead1) — 11/6/2020 @ 5:45 amI’m wondering why the hyper-literalists aren’t taking the threat of Bannon crating a time machine and going back to Tudor England more seriously. Don’t you people realize! We’re not talking about the death of two bureaucrats. This could be so much more serious. Not just the elimination from existence of a few people, Back To The Future style. We could be talking about eliminating the entirety of the human race! Like in Star Trek (TOS), The City on the Edge of Forever!!!
I’ve been a Patterico reader for I don’t know how long – 15 years now? So I am fully confident that when he wakes up and reads my comment, he’ll put his palm to his face and say to himself “egads, Al S is right! Threatening to literally put two bureaucrat heads on a pike is NOTHING compared to threatening to literally create a time machine that would potentially endanger all of human existence.” And then, realizing that, he will update this post to warn people about the REAL threat. As I say, I’m confident that Patterico will do this.
Al S (de3182) — 11/6/2020 @ 5:52 amBiden will win the popular vote by five million or so. Then he wins the electoral college. But…. they think it’s ok to subvert that result and say so right on television. Can you imagine this in any other time?
What Trump has done.
noel (9fead1) — 11/6/2020 @ 5:52 am“and independent observers can see that while there are one or two possibly suspicious episodes, they are not nearly enough to have swung the election.”
Yes, Biden underperforming Hillary’s lead in all major cities except suddenly going up 5 standard deviations without any change in down-ballot in turnout in Philly, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Atlanta at 2AM after voting results showed clear preference for Trump is ‘possibly suspicious’.
You’ve got a razor-sharp descriptive sense there, really gets the essence of the situation.
Bannon's Gut (f2a044) — 11/6/2020 @ 5:53 amDidn’t Biden recommend that homeowners shoot people through their door?
No.
nk (1d9030) — 11/6/2020 @ 5:55 amis that something president Obama told his audience?
No.
nk (1d9030) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:01 amYes.
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/02/28/biden-advises-shooting-shotgun-through-door
Also:
Hoi Polloi (66077a) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:03 amYes
https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/obama-we-bring-a-gun/
Hoi Polloi (66077a) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:05 amNoel, state law in Pennsylvania does not allow early processing of returned absentees.
aphrael (fe0ea8) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:06 amOnly if the shooter hits ’em in the leg.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:09 amThat’s right, apparel. I believe the Republican legislature was asked to allow ballots to be processed before Election Day and they didn’t take action.
noel (9fead1) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:10 amSorry, Hoi Polloi, I only knew about the “advice to Jill” quote and I thought the “Field and Stream” one was a garbling of it.
nk (1d9030) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:10 amHeh! Obama stole that from Rahm Emanuel. I knew Emanuel had said it to his staff.
nk (1d9030) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:13 amIt’s over:
The Empire Strikes Back
Trump loses.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:16 amSteve Bannon is a corrupt, lying, clown who promotes a ethno-nationalist agenda in the US and other countries. His baseless attacks on Fauci and Wray are vile. His over heated rhetoric about them should be condemned and used as further reason not to things he says seriously in the future. The fact that he said them should embarrass President Trump and anyone else that used to associate with Bannon.
But they weren’t true threats and YouTube shouldn’t have taken them down. They have the right to host, or not, whatever they want on their platform. I just disagree with their decision here on how to use their property.
Time123 (d1bf33) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:22 amYeah, but your girl Nikki is getting dragged by the douchebro caucus over her “eulogy”. I think we all miss out if there’s no sitar-stirred dance-off 4 years from now.
urbanleftbehind (ab2a96) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:33 amThen he wins the electoral college. But…. they think it’s ok to subvert that result and say so right on television. Can you imagine this in any other time?
2016
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:40 amCool conspiracy theory. Got any actual evidence?
Time123 (ca85c9) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:42 amI’m not joking. The day they repeal it is the day comments close here for good. And I am far from alone.
I have always understood that. The moment you become responsible for my speech is the day I need to find my own damn soapbox.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:51 am#48 — Commenting on the extremely repulsive poster name’s throry:
In Atlanta, the late votes are coming from Clayton county, not Fulton county (which is home to most of Atlanta). Clayton is majority black, and heavily democratic. In other words, there is nothing surprising about the vote there…
I think the Atl theory is based on this tweet, which is linked to Instapundit.
https://twitter.com/DavidShafer/status/1324064059214495749
If so, that’s day old news from a guy who had his Chatham county (Savannah) claim thrown out of court.
Appalled (1a17de) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:52 amSee every Tv show and movie about time travel … ever.
Niven’s Law: If it is possible to change the past through time travel, time travel is never invented. Eventually.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/6/2020 @ 6:54 amBiden was underperforming in the Election Day vote, which was counted first in those states, because a disproportionate number of his supporters voted by mail. Everyone knew this would happen. In OH, where mail and early votes were the first reported, the exact opposite happened and it was Trump who came back from a huge (and surprising, if you didn’t realize what was going on) initial deficit.
Dave (1bb933) — 11/6/2020 @ 7:01 amTo be fair, I would want a serious (but quick) investigation of any falsifiable claim to tampering in these counts. I don’t expect any, but there’s a need for due diligence.
I also wonder why, in an age where we have cameras everywhere and endless space for recordings, that poll watchers have to see things with the Mark One eyeball from 20 feet away. Why not in another room entirely, out from underfoot, but with a really good camera view. Especially of the signature comparison stage, which is where the real worry is.
So many things in our society change with warp speed into the future, but our election process seems stuck in the 20th century, if not the 19th.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/6/2020 @ 7:06 amIn OH, where mail and early votes were the first reported, the exact opposite happened and it was Trump who came back from a huge (and surprising, if you didn’t realize what was going on) initial deficit.
Similarly in AZ, which is why they were ripsh1t about the early call. I think the postmortems will find that Trump’s opposition to mail votes cost him the election since getting people to fill out the ballot at home is an easier task than getting them to some polling station.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/6/2020 @ 7:09 amI also hope that everyone sees just what a fracking nightmare mail voting is, spread out over a month and dependent on the Post Awful, and a real effort is put into electronic methods of same-day voting.
The people who make it possible to withdraw from your Arkansas bank from your phone, in rural Finland, are capable of building a verifiable polling system based on RealID. Whether you vote from your phone, or computer or the teller machine at some bank, it can be made to work with the vote and the voter ID separately validated. This is not a hard problem.
If made easy enough, there is no good reason to allow a long voting period, and many reasons not to. And for godsakes the problems of tabulating paper ballots and comparing handwritten signatures for 150 million voters should be apparent enough by now.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/6/2020 @ 7:17 am4. Dave (1bb933) — 11/5/2020 @ 7:11 pm
Does that include Rudolph Giuliani? (Giuliani brought him in for help in understanding the China material on Hunter Biden;s laptop)
You know one thing? Stephen Bannon is probably stupid, after all.
Sammy Finkelman (125d6f) — 11/6/2020 @ 8:14 amBannon was not talking about a time machne.
He said:
By “go back” he means go back what the monarch did in those times. Not transport Wray and Fauci there and then have Henry VIII or Elizabeth I execute them – he never mentions that.
For treason he says. The Unites States constitution says what is and, therefore, what is not, treason. And there is still trial by jury and judges.
Sammy Finkelman (125d6f) — 11/6/2020 @ 8:23 amOn a tip yesterday that an armed group was going to attack the convention center in Pittsburg, where votes a being counted, Philadelphia police quickly responded and intercepted a Hummer with a QAnon hat decal on the rear window. Inside were two men. Both had guns, and a third gun was found in the Hummer, however the types of guns was not reported. Both were arrested on firearms charges, for now.
https://6abc.com/7689932/
Can you imagine? If these madmen had been able to carry out their murderous mission, bursting into the convention center and shooting poll workers, it would have been seen as worse than any church or school shooting to date.
Also yesterday, Trump gave a 17-minute speech in the briefing room that was his most deranged yet. He claimed there was a vast conspiracy against him, that the election was being stolen, attacked institutions, called into question the integrity of the electoral system, made accusations of fraud, threatened litigation, demanded an end to counting ballots in states where he was ahead but a continuation of counting ballots where he was behind, and so on ad nauseam. It was so bad that networks stopped broadcasting. CNN did air it in its entirety once, but refused to show it again, not even in clips.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/us/politics/trump-presidency.html
It was un-presidential, un-American, anti-democracy, Trump at his worse. One would think Big Media would be airing this speech repeatedly to show viewers how deranged and dangerously desperate the president has become, but network and cable news won’t show it, out of fear that Trump’s rabid cult base will believe the falsehoods.
Few state or former Republican officials condemned the lunacy. Romney offered a milquetoast response, saying something about process. But Graham, Cruz and Haley (!) appeared to agree with Trump’s delusions. Philadelphia is a cesspool of corruption, what he was trying to say is that only legal votes should be counted, blah blah blah. They have their eyes on 2024, thinking that if they defend Trump’s cryptic comments they will be able to claim his cultish following. Perhaps they hope Trump will pass on the baton to one of them in the next election, but that’s not going to happen. Trump plans to run again or to endorse one of his children.
What Graham is talking about is to have governors and state legislatures delegitimize the popular vote and appoint electors themselves. That’s not going to happen either, because the American people won’t stand for election theft. It’s the Republican’s last chance desperation strategy, and it may not even be Constitutional.
This is your GOP (Gratuitously Obsequies Party) become the COT (Cult of Trump.)
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 11/6/2020 @ 9:17 amLooks like Brannon will need new lawyers.
https://lawandcrime.com/awkward/steve-bannons-lawyers-are-running-for-the-hills-after-clients-insane-call-for-dr-faucis-head/
Time123 (9f42ee) — 11/6/2020 @ 10:19 amBannon’s view of how bureaucrats need to “get with the program” matches up with what my sister (a Republican) told me about Trump’s heavy hand on the FDA and the CDC. It goes beyond preventing bureaucrats from implementing their own political agenda, into dictating what the agencies may say on actual scientific matters and public health. Sister said it was unprecedented in her experience.
It’s fine to make the case that unaccountable bureaucrats should not overrule the officials elected by the people. But there are reasons why people who actually know things about science or medicine or law are chosen to apply their knowledge and judgment to problems outside the competency of most elected officials — and reasons to be concerned when they are silenced and punished by a president who greatly overestimates his native genius on all things and who sees no higher purpose than glorifying his own ego.
Radegunda (20775b) — 11/6/2020 @ 10:46 amI expect Trump to run again. The sad thing is, given Tuesday, he might win in 2024.
aphrael (4c4719) — 11/6/2020 @ 11:26 amSo Bannon’s lawyers are bailing. Poor Steve Bannon, said no one.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 11/6/2020 @ 11:38 am@62 I doubt Trump will have the physical stamina to run in 2024. He will be older than Biden is right now, and Trump doesn’t exactly take care of himself. I would bet that he’s 260 pounds or more, and it ain’t muscle, Shirley. He gets little sleep and eats junky food. I’m more concerned about Uday.
norcal (a5428a) — 11/6/2020 @ 1:43 pmI await our esteemed host’s condemnation of the lovely Jennifer Rubin for tweeting:
They “have a list”? Is this a form of threat?
And how ’bout the equally lovely Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who tweeted:
I wonder: are they going to send us all to ‘re-education camps,’ or just go straight for the bullet to the back of the head?
The Dana in Kentucky (45337e) — 11/6/2020 @ 2:30 pmMr M wrote:
In backward, rural Kentucky, when I went to vote, in both the primary and general elections, the clerk scanned the code on the back of my driver’s license, and it isn’t even “RealID” compliant. That was their confirmation that I was a registered voter, and assured that I could only vote once. I was handed a very clear ballot, to fill in the ovals, which was then read by an optical scanner; the paper ballot was retained in case needed for a recount.
There were only five races on the ballot, so it could be a bit less clear during other election years.
The Dana in Kentucky (45337e) — 11/6/2020 @ 3:10 pm> The people who make it possible to withdraw from your Arkansas bank from your phone, in rural Finland, are capable of building a verifiable polling system based on RealID
Once the vote is submitted to the system, how do you guarantee that it isn’t changed, without in some way tying it back to the identity of the voter?
This is the fundamental problem with online election security.
The system that makes it possible to withdraw money via my phone depends on linking my identity to the transaction *at every step of the way*, and the integrity of the operation depends on it.
Furthermore, if my transaction is changed, I can verify it by logging in to my account. But if my vote is changed, how do I verify it? If I can log into an account and check, then my vote isn’t secret.
aphrael (4c4719) — 11/6/2020 @ 11:27 pmIt seems like a system using public-key encryption could work.
When you register to vote, you would be assigned a public key, which is encoded in your Voter ID card, and a private key, which is stored in the election authority database (indexed by the public key), but NOT your identity.
When you vote, your ballot is encrypted with the public key in your card, which is also attached to the ballot.
To count your vote, the election authority uses the public key to look up the private key in its secure database, and then uses the private key to decrypt your ballot.
This system is somewhat insecure, since anyone who can access your public key could impersonate you (assuming no other authentication, like biometric ID, was used to gate access to voting machines).
But it can be made more secure by encrypting your public key on the Voter ID card in such a way that only the voting machine can access it (when it encrypts your ballot).
Nothing would preclude maintaining a parallel paper record as a backup and audit trail, as is done in many electronic voting systems already.
Nowhere in the system would a correspondence between your identity and your voting keys be maintained. To “deregister” (for instance if you moved to a different voting jurisdiction, or died, etc) your public key would be used to look up and remove your private key from the central database.
I’m pretty confident that smarter people who are specialists could come up with a very robust system.
Dave (1bb933) — 11/7/2020 @ 12:29 am