I am not kidding, this was a BIG day!  It started out slowly, with lots of testimony about Absentee Envelope and Ballot counts, voided ballots, duplicate ballots, etc.

Then two of the witnesses were No Shows—Dustin Ainsworth and Nancy White, so the Challenge team then called Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh as a witness.  Barry was amazing in his repetition of the phrases, “I’m not sure”, “Not that I recall”, and “It’s possible but I don’t recall that specifically”.

But the FIRST big thing happened right before lunch.  Challenge attorney Starr Kelso asked KC Prosecutor Barry McHugh if he was aware that KC Elections Manager Deedie Beard’s computer had been “cleared”, as ordered by County Clerk Dan English?  (more…)

Mayor Bloem

[Author’s Note:  While I said yesterday in my Newletter that I would hold my opinion about the trial until it was over, I’ve decided to report back each day with some of the events that went on in the courtroom.  I will still (try to) keep my outright opinions to the end.]

The second day of the Election Challenge trail was surprising.  I was amazed at how much the Chief Elections Officer of our county does NOT know!

But first, let me set the stage for you: The trial is being held in Courtroom # 9 on the first floor of the newer County courthouse building.  This is a larger courtroom but it’s unusual because the seating pews (like the hard wooden ones in church) are not evenly divided between the different sides of the room.  As you enter the big double doors, the left hand side of the room has a narrow section of pews.  This is where the City and County officials and supporters seem to congregate.  It’s kind of odd to see them all squished in there, way too close to each other.  (more…)