A computer programmer and voting rights activist named Harri Hursti bought an allegedly stolen Dominion voting machine online from eBay, reported it to Michigan authorities, and is still cooling his heels waiting for a response.
(Video Credit: CNN)
Hursti, a Finnish native living in Connecticut, bought the machine online for $1200, according to CNN. It’s still sealed in its box at his home in case a criminal investigation is forthcoming after he was advised by law enforcement over the matter.
The activist also told the Daily Mail on Sunday that he hasn’t heard from authorities on the stolen machine since Monday. He contends that if the voting machine is stolen, it would be the first in US history. Hursti points out that although there is a documented history of voting machines being left behind or not picked up following elections, there has never been one reported stolen.
Hursti asserts that it is the duty of the Michigan Secretary of State’s office to conduct an investigation into election incidents such as this one. Following that determination, it should be decided if the matter is referred to other authorities.
“That is a device which can be configured either to be a voting machine or ballot marking device,” he noted, according to Local12.
BREAKING: An Ohio man purchased a stolen Michigan voting machine online at Goodwill for $7.99 before auctioning it on eBay for $1,200. Yeah these voting machines are kept safe , aren’t they?
— Brenton ExtremeMAGA (@BrentonTroyOh) September 3, 2022
After he bought the machine and before he received it, the programmer contacted a number of states to see if they were missing a voting machine. None of them admitted that a machine was missing.
A spokesman for the Michigan State Police, Lt. Derrick Carroll, told the Detroit News last week that his office was investigating the sale of the machine. It was sold online by an Ohio Uber driver named Ean Hutchison who bought it from a Goodwill store in Cadillac, Michigan for just under $8 according to CNN.
Hutchison is the only one who bid on the machine during the online auction. According to CNN, he said it was the “Dominion Voting” label that caught his interest. He would go on to make a handsome profit by selling it to Hursti for $1200.
Hursti researches and looks for voting machines that might show up online. He heard about the sale of the Dominion machine from a friend.
😳How in the hell did a Dominion voting machine that was used in the 2020 election in Michigan end up at a Goodwill then sold on Ebay? WTH? Hope the cameras outside the store worked and the @FBI have an idea who did this. The chain of custody, too.
Video:https://t.co/ShsFY1GAaC pic.twitter.com/bcKlhktkQ7
— Diane Harris (@DhLadylaw) September 2, 2022
Hutchison promoted the sale of the machine on eBay with the description, “Dominion ImageCast X voting machine from Michigan, own a piece of history. This voting machine was one of thousands used in the 2020 US presidential election.”
The seller told CNN, “As far as I was aware, it was a completely legal sale on my end.”
According to Hursti, officials in Michigan didn’t even know the machine was missing until he contacted them. It was supposed to be under lock and key.
“It is shocking that only when we started asking, ‘Does it belong somewhere?’ Only after that, did they realize it had been stolen,” he commented.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told CNN that she could assure voters nationwide that the state’s election practices are secure, all evidence to the contrary. She attempted to deflect blame onto Trump supporters who contend that the 2020 presidential election was riddled with voter fraud.
ALERT: We are working with law enforcement to investigate allegations of an illegal attempt to sell a voter assist terminal acquired in Wexford County, MI. These terminals do not tabulate ballots, they are for voters who need help marking their ballot privately at polling places.
— Jocelyn Benson (@JocelynBenson) September 1, 2022
“Clearly, it’s raised some issues about the chain of custody and how these machines are secured,” Benson stated. “We basically have 1,600 jurisdictions. Typically, in between elections, clerks have the responsibility of securing all election equipment, and protecting it from illegal attempts to access it by unauthorized individuals.”
“There is a nationally coordinated effort to try to interfere with our elections that’s manifesting itself at the local level in incidents like these in Michigan,” she said. “What you really have is individuals who don’t seem to understand the technicalities of the elections process or election security, trying to gain access to machines to keep the misinformation alive.”
“Michigan’s elections are secure. Before every election, we test every machine for accuracy. We’ve never seen, even with this unauthorized access to machines, any actual evidence of any challenges or wrongdoing or lack of security in the process,” Benson proclaimed.
officials are investigating how the voting machine used in the 2020 presidential election was able to be sold online. Hutchinson’s eBay listing read, “Own a piece of history! This voting machine was one of thousands used in the 2020 United States presidential election and
— Annie T Oakley (@Oakley1Annie) September 3, 2022
Benson claims to be working with the police to find out how the machine went up for sale. It reportedly came from the Colfax Township in Wexford County in Michigan.
Wexford County Clerk Alaina Nyman told The Detroit News in an interview that the machine went missing prior to the state’s August 2 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
“Please know that election security in Wexford County has been, and will continue to be, my top priority,” Nyman lamely claimed.
According to The Detroit News, a special prosecutor is being appointed to investigate various state Republicans and their attempts to gain access to the state’s election technology but not Democrats.
Authorities in the state are charging that this is all part of an elaborate plan to prove former President Trump’s allegations that the 2020 election was stolen.
Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
- Super Bowl champ’s wardrobe makes pro-life statement during Chiefs’ White House visit - June 8, 2023
- FBI director Christopher Wray staves off contempt vote, allows committee to view Biden foreign national bribery doc - June 8, 2023
- Fmr. Lia Thomas teammate comes forward, says she was labeled ‘transphobic’ over locker room concerns - June 7, 2023
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
