GREGORY STENSTROM on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3WK0M4S_Qw
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DECLARATION OF GREGORY STENSTROM IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER AND PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
I, Gregory Stenstrom, hereby declare as follows under penalty of perjury: 1. The following statements are based on my personal knowledge, and if called to testify I could swear competently thereto.
2. I am at least 18 years old and of sound mind.
3. I am a citizen of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I reside at 1541 Farmers Lane, Glenn Mills, PA 19342. I am an eligible Pennsylvania voter and am registered to vote in Delaware County.
4. I voted in the November 3rd, 2020 general election.
5. The Delaware County Republican Committee appointed me as the sole GOP poll watcher for 36 precincts (1-1 through 11-6), located in Chester City, Pennsylvania, of which I was able to inspect and observe 22 precincts.
6. The Delaware County Board of Elections provided me with a certificate of appointment as a poll watcher.
7. I carried my certificate of appointment with me when I presented at the polling locations in Chester City on Election Day and presented the certificate when requested to do so.
8. I did not attempt to enter the enclosed space within any polling location, nor interfere in any way with the process of voting, nor mark or alter any official election record.
9. On November 3rd, I observed poll workers in multiple assigned Chester City polling places, that included the 1-3, 1-4, 1-6, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 11-2, and several others, provide regular ballots, rather than provisional ballots, to voters who were told they had registered tovote by mail, without making them sign in the registration book. I challenged the practice in those precincts where I observed it, and while I was present, they then stopped the practice and began providing provisional ballots.
10. On the evening of November 3rd, I went to the Delco Chester City counting center with my certified poll watcher certificate, to observe, on assignment as the sole poll watcher from the Tom Killion Campaign, as authorized and tasked to do so by Cody Bright, Mr. Killion’s campaign manager, at approximately 6pm. Mr. Bright had been informed, and he informed me in turn, that there were “a dozen national level GOP poll watchers” at the counting center observing and monitoring, but he was apparently misinformed. I checked into the building observing their COVID-19 procedures, and took the elevator from the ground floor to the 1st floor counting room, was denied entry, surrounded by first four (4) Park Police, and then an additional five (5) joined them. I presented my poll watcher certificate, and refused to leave, and was threatened with physical removal and arrest, which I humorously stated would be agreeable to me, de-escalating the situation, at which point I was informed there was a separate list for “observers,” and I had to somehow get on it. I asked if there were any GOP poll watchers in the building and was informed by Deputy Sheriff Donahue that there were two (2) inside. I asked to speak to them, and one man came out. I asked him how he got on the list and he stated he had volunteered via email and been told to go there, with no other explanation as to what he was supposed to do other than “watch,” and that he was leaving shortly. I asked him if he knew what he was supposed to be “watching” and if he could see anything at all, and he stated he had “no idea,” and “couldn’t see anything from behind the barriers.” I went back to the ground floor to figure out how to gain access and make calls.
11. While on the ground floor working on obtaining GOP assistance and authorized access, I witnessed organized chaos with rolling racks of mail-in ballots going in different directions with some going to the cafeteria, and some going to and from the main elevators, the separate garage loading dock elevators, and some to and from the back doors closest to the Delaware River, without any chain of custody. There was no apparent process integrity, or obvious way for anyone to determine the origin of any mail-in ballot, or its ingestion, or egress into the system. Some workers sat at cafeteria tables while others brought them boxes of mail-in ballots, while yet others collected and pushed the rolling racks around. Joe Masalta took videos and photos of this operation, and has also completed an affidavit….
14. I observed a counting room for ballots with counting machines. Trays of ballots came in through three doors that appeared to lead from a back office, a second back office supply room, and doors leading from an outside hallway with separate elevator access from the public elevators and the garage loading dock elevators.
15. I had no meaningful opportunity to observe any part of the count: the sorting appeared to have been done elsewhere, and the machines were too far away from the observation position to see any part of the mail-in envelopes or ballots. I observed opened ballots going out the second back office closest to the windows in red boxes after handling and sorting by volunteers, some being placed in green boxes, and ballots from the green boxes being placed in scanners by workers, similar to the scanner I had used to vote myself, but was too far away (30 feet) to be sure. I asked the sheriff where the ballots came from, and where the ones that were leaving the room went, and he said he did not know.
16. I asked Ms. Lorraine Hagan, the elections official in charge of the operations, where the ballots where coming from and how they were being processed. She responded that I was only there to observe, and that I had no right to ask any questions. I said that I wanted to observe the activity in the sequestered room, but she denied my request, stating that the law prohibited access to that room by poll observers. I responded that there was no law denying access to observers, and she then said that it was “a COVID thing.” I pointed out that I have a mask on, and so did the people visible through the door when it opened. She then informed me that she wanted to prevent us from “interfering.” I responded that I was only there to observe and not to interfere, and to make a statement if I observed something wrong. Ms. Hagan said, “I assure you that everything’s fine. There’s no fraud going on.”
17. Shortly after this exchange with Ms. Hagan, workers – who appeared to be volunteers – started bringing in semi-opaque bins with blue folding tops that contained clear plastic bags, approximately 10” square, with each bag containing a scanner cartridge, a USB drive, and a paper tape, and they were brought to the computer tables which contained four (4) computer workstation towers on tables connected to four (4) wall mounted monitors, with one workstation tower on the floor under the tables that was not connected to a monitor, for a total of five (5) computers. A flurry of workers started disassembling the bags and separating out the USB sticks, cartridges, and paper tapes from the plastic bags, and dropping them in open carboard boxes, with two workers sticking the USB drives into the computers to start the election day counts. I immediately objected, and demanded that Mr. McBlain challenge the process, and he again retrieved Ms. Hagan to hear my objections. I asked why the returned items had not come with the sealed bags from the judges of elections, and she explained that they had been taken out of the bags at the three (3) county election “processing centers” by the Sheriffs who were collecting them for ease of transport, and I stated that that was a break in the chain of custody, to which she shrugged her shoulders. I then asked her why they were separating out the USB drives from the cartridges and paper tapes, which was destroying any forensic auditability and further corrupting chain of custody, and she said “that’s how we have always done it,” and again stated I had no right to object, interfere, and was only permitted to observe, turned on her heels and walked away. I pleaded with Mr. McBlain to intervene and at least demand that the USB drives remain with the cartridges and tapes in the plastic bags so we would not have to reassemble them during tabulation, and he did nothing.
18. It is noteworthy that dozens of “volunteer” workers constantly streamed through the counting area unaccosted, with no check of either ID’s, or names, as the certified poll watchers were, several still wearing “Voter Integrity” lanyards and badges that had been widely distributed by Democrat poll watchers throughout the day, and they walked about unrestricted, and unaccompanied without any scrutiny, many handling ballots. 19. After multiple, similarly caustic exchanges, elections officials continued to refuse access to the back rooms and a line of sight to anything meaningful, and under threat of removal I by Park Police and Sheriffs we were stuck “observing” in a small box where we could essentially see nothing, and I again conveyed to John McBlain that I wanted to pursue further legal recourse to gain meaningful access, and he left the roped off area to seek Solicitor Manly. At approximately 2:30 am he returned, and stated he had a conversation with the President of the Board of Elections, and they had agreed to allow us access to the “back office” and “locked “ballot room” at 9:30 AM the following morning. By that time, and given that any other legal recourse would have taken as long, or longer, and there was nothing meaningful to observe, I objected, but reluctantly agreed and left. I believe counting continued through the night because the count had increased, when I returned several hours later, the count on the tally screen was approximately 140,000 for Biden, and 85,000 for President Trump, and with all Republican candidates of all other races leading their opponents….
21. One comment made by Ms. Hagan led me to think that “pre”-pre-canvasing happened in the back room. The comment indicated that all ballots had been checked before going downstairs to the ground floor cafeteria for pre-canvasing, before being brought back to the 1st floor counting area, and entering the main counting room, for accuracy/sufficiency of signature, date, and barcode label, and entry in the Commonwealth SURE system. I specifically asked Ms. Hagan whether the names and signature were matched, and whether the dates and barcode label were accurate. She replied in the affirmative. I then asked whether the names were checked against the voter registration rolls, and she again answered in the affirmative, indicating that people in the back room did the checking.
22. From my vantage point, I observed approximately ten people in the back room through the door when it was opened. Ms. Hagan confirmed that no ballots went through the BlueCrest sorter (photo included herein) without first being checked for name, date, signature, and barcode. 23. I could see 4000-5000 ballots in bins on the racks next to the BlueCrest Sorter, and I asked both Ms. Hagan and Ms. Jackson in front of the group “If all of the mail in ballot envelopes are checked for completion, as you stated, then why are there multiple large bins of ballots on the racks next us between the BlueCrest sorter and ballot extractors labeled “No Name,” “No date,” and “No signature,” on the bins?” The election officials, red faced, declined to answer. At this time, several Democrat observers, including Mr. Richard Schiffer, conferred with myself and Ms. Hoopes and stated that they were now not comfortable with the ballot ingestion process, and the back room, being sequestered from all watcher’s sight, and also wanted to see the back room with us. The bins mentioned above were removed shortly after….
24. At this time, Ms. Hagan and Ms. Maryann Jackson ended the “tour” to “take a phone call” upon the arrival, and demand of Solicitor Manley Parks, and the “tour” was abruptly ended. I asked Solicitor Parks when that phone call would be done so that we could see the back rooms as promised, and he said he did not know. I asked him if he intended to grant us access as promised, and he simply turned around, and walked into the back room without further comment. Ms. Hagan, Ms. Jackson, and Solicitor Parks never returned, and we left after two (2) hours after having been denied access to the back room.
25. Mr. McBlain, our attorney, went to court and obtained a court order providing access to the room, and texted me that the court order had been signed by Common Pleas Judge Capuzzi at 9:30 PM, and the court order required that observers receive only a five minute observation period in the sequestered room once every two hours.
28. Mr. McBlain stated that their new plan was to re-tabulate the 4500 ballots by refilling them out with a pen so that they could be read by voting machines, so we could “see everything.” I followed him out of the counting room, and continued to ask him if it was, in fact, legal under election law to cure ballots, and was unconvinced that this was the case, and thought we should challenge it, but he assured me it was “normal” procedure and got on the elevator and left. It was during this time that Leah Hoopes, who had remained behind in the counting room (see her Affidavit) observed Jim Savage, the Delaware County voting machine warehouse supervisor, walk in with about a dozen USB drives in a clear unsealed bag, and she showed me two photos she had been able to surreptitiously take (no photos or camera use was permitted anywhere in the counting rooms despite live streaming cameras throughout the room)….
30. I immediately objected and challenged the uploading of votes from the unsecured drives, and retrieved Deputy Sheriff Mike Donahue with my objection, and he went to the back room to retrieve Ms. Hagan. Ms. Hagan informed me that I could only observe the process but I could not make any comments or ask any questions while Mr. Savage was directly in front of us loading USB sticks, and the display monitors above the computers reflected that they were being updated. I responded that I was indeed observing a person plug USB sticks into the computer without any apparent chain of custody and without any oversight. No one stopped the upload, and Mr. Savage was permitted to continue this process and he was then allowed to walk out without any interference or examination by anyone. I called and texted Mr. McBlain throughout the day without success to get him back to the counting center to address the USB issue, and what was now being reported to me by other GOP observers that there appeared to be more additional paper ballots in excess of the 6000 “universe” coming into the office administration area that McBlain had assured me of, to represent us and get us into the back office and storage room as ordered by the judge. He would not return until approximately 5:30 pm….
33. At 1:30 PM, Deputy Sheriff Donahue inexplicably informed me I would now be allowed to access the locked ballot room for exactly 5 minutes, after having been denied access despite all previous efforts. We were met by Delaware County Solicitor William F. Martin, and I was joined by Democrat Observer Dr. Jonathan Brisken. On my way to the locked storage room, while passing through what was now referred to as the “back office,” I counted 21 white USPS open letter boxes on two racks, on my immediate right after entering the room, labeled “500 ballots” per box. In addition, the approximately 16 cubicles for workers in the same room each contained one box also labeled “500 ballots,” for a total of 31 boxes of 500 in that sequestered room. This is the same room that McBlain had stated had 4,500 ballots in it earlier, most of which had been presumably moved to the front of the counting room (and later cured and copied to new ballots) and was supposed to be relatively empty with the exception of “several hundred ballots being processed by workers to update the Commonwealth’s SURE system,” according to McBlain. This was a delta (difference) of approximately 16,500 ballots in just the “back office.”…
35. I also saw one shelf just to the left of the locked and secured “ballot room” with 4 sealed boxes. I lifted one box before Solicitor Martin objected that I could not touch anything, and it was heavy, and approximately 30-40 pounds. They appeared to match the description of the boxes described to me earlier by poll watcher Jim Driscoll and another observer with a first name of Paul. If those boxes contained ballots, I estimate that they were about two times the size of the 500-ballot containers, and if full, could have contained an additional 2,500 ballots per box for a total of 10,000. 36. Ms. Hagan unlocked and opened the “ballot room” and Solicitor Hagan entered first and started the timer for 5 minutes, with Sheriff Donahue following us and closing the door behind us. There were multiple racks filled with thousands of unopened mail-in ballots. We were not allowed to take any photos, so I immediately started counting. Labels on some boxes were visible, mostly with names of districts known to trend Republican, including Bethel and Brandywine. I took the following notes at the time: a. 5 boxes of 500 labeled 10-12 b. 5 boxes of 500 labeled 18-20 c. 1 box of 500 each, labeled 26-28, 50-52, and 58-60. d. The remaining boxes did not have markings visible and we were not allowed to touch them to determine their origin. e. Democratic poll watcher Dr. Jonathan Briskin also observed these boxes and confirmed the numbers of ballots, and that the total number of ballots was vastly greater than we had been led to believe earlier in the day. f. I later observed Dr. Briskin working with a fellow female poll watcher drawing a diagram and detailing what he had seen after we were returned….
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22O155/163443/20201210174832873_Appendix%20section
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