Polling, Vote Flipping, Mail Ballot Rejections, Trump’s DOJ and Other Late Threats to the Midterms
Polling, Vote Flipping, Mail Ballot Rejections, Trump’s DOJ and Other Late Threats to the Midterms: ‘BradCast’ 10/22/2026
Good reason to believe bad GOP polling; Touchscreens still flipping votes after 20+ years; Mail ballots rejected in NC; Court blocks DHS/DOJ voter harassment; Corrupt SCOTUS blocks Student ID for voting in NH…
We promised months ago on The BradCast that there would be plenty of bumps in the road between then and this year’s critical midterm elections. But, as long argued, if we keep eyes on the prize, most of Donald Trump’s blatant, criminal efforts to weaponize the DOJ, DHS and other federal apparatus in hopes of stealing the elections will fail. In fact, many of those efforts are likely to result in even greater failure than he and his party might have otherwise faced. [Audio to full show here]
We are feeling many of those bumps right now. They were always to be expected. Keep your eyes on the prize. Election Day — your last chance to vote this year — is just over one week away at this point.
This is another BradCast far better listened to than read about. But here’s just a few of the items referenced in today’s program, which offers much more helpful context, background and — hopefully — useful advice for all pro-democracy Americans…
Several new surveys today and yesterday from high-quality pollsters suggest that a number of U.S. House races in very “red” districts — several of which are still rated as “Likely Republican” by the Cook Political Report, may flip to “blue”. But, more than the polling data, its the way Republicans, including Trump and his White House are responding that should make clear what a pickle they believe they are in. Look no further than Trump holding a rally last night in South Carolina and announcing one for Monday in Mississippi, of all places. That would be little different — and no less embarrassing, as Josh Marshall points out — than a Democratic President finding it necessary to campaign in Massachusetts in the final week of a national election.
I discussed this in detail at the top of Monday’s show, as first reports of votes flipping from “red” to “blue” on touchscreen voting systems in Tennessee were initially emerging. No, it is almost certainly not an attempt to hack the vote. There would be no reason for a hacker to show you the vote flips if that’s what they were doing. But, yes, it is still deeply troubling, a risk to the election results, and exactly why we cover the issue of these crappy, insecure touchscreens machines and call for hand-marked paper ballot systems year-round, not only at election time!
So, yeah, it’s happening again this year. Over the past 24 hours I’ve received countless reports from folks in TN about votes flipping in the Governor’s race on touchscreens in and around Nashville by voters trying to vote for the Democrat, Jerri Green, only to see their vote flipped to the Republican candidate, Marsha Blackburn. Back in 2008, it took our coverage of the same thing happening to Oprah Winfrey before folks started paying attention that year. And yet, it still continues. This year, perhaps the report of vote-flipping by Dolly Parton’s sister Stella Parton near Nashville will wake a few more folks up.
Unfortunately, it’s not only happening in TN. We’ve also seen similar reports over the past 24 hours out of Tarrant County (Fort Worth), Texas and in Indiana’s 4th Congressional District. See the latter on video here, in the U.S. House race between Jim Baird (R) and Tobi Beck (D).
Do everything you can to vote on a hand-marked paper ballot! But, if a touchscreen is your only option, check your votes closely on screen before printing your ballot, and check it even more closely afterward on the paper before you put it into the scanner! Do not be afraid to stop and ask for another ballot if there are any problems!
If your vote does flip on screen, try to document it on your phone’s video camera, if allowed. Either way, do report it right away to a poll worker and make an official report to your County or Town election headquarters, your Secretary of State and folks in the local media who love these stories!Arguably as troubling — perhaps even more so, because it’s not as easy to see as a vote flipping before your eyes — North Carolina’s Democratic Governor Josh Stein is warning that “last-minute changes to voting by mail” made by the Republican State Board of Elections, “are leading to thousands more absentee ballots being rejected this election — at a rejection rate twice as high as in 2022.” He calls it “infuriating” and cautions voters to vote “in person if possible,” adding: “if you’re voting by mail, make sure you seal both envelopes on your ballot. Don’t let them take away your vote.”
Please note: Many states, including NC, now use BallotTrax.net, where you can sign up to track whether your mail ballot has been received and/or counted. Sign-up is quick and easy. I use it myself for my own vote here in Los Angeles and strongly recommend the free service!
There are a number of lawsuits now flying back and forth in response to the Dept. of Justice and Dept. of Homeland Security efforts to harass, intimidate or otherwise have voters removed from the rolls if, based on incredibly flawed DHS databases and a 12-minute Artificial Intelligence enhanced process (according to one of the court cases), the DOJ/DHS believes someone to possibly be a noncitizen registered to vote. We’ve been covering the beachhead of this effort out here in California over the past two weeks, as DOJ has demanded the state remove some 20,000 “likely noncitizens” from the rolls or have their ballots segregated and not counted. That, even though a “high percentage” of those 20,000 were already found to be citizens and perfectly lawful voters.
On Wednesday, however, in one of the several related lawsuits, a federal judge ordered DOJ and DHS to knock it off, restricting their reported house-to-house harassment in nine states (California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washingtonand Wisconsin). The judge left a bit too much wiggle room, in my opinion, for the lawless, criminal thugs who run those federal agencies right now, and plenty of time for Trump to appeal on up to his corrupt U.S. Supreme Court.
Speaking of, as we were covering the above on air today, news broke that the corrupt Republican majority on SCOTUS is allowing New Hampshire — in the middle of the ongoing election! — to deny the use of Student IDs for the purpose of voting. That will, no doubt, prevent a lot of young voters from being able to participate in the state’s elections, where there are a number of important contests, including for U.S. Senate and Governor. Yes. Told you there would be bumps in the road.