Lawfare against Republicans Continue
by Brent E Zepke, Esq.
On April 1, 2025, Federal Judge Amy Totenberg – appointed by President Barrack Obama – dismissed the Curling, et al v Raffensperger, et al case that was filed in 2017 for lack of standing. It was a case that had challenged the use of the Dominion voting machines used in the 2020 presidential election in multiple places from Georgia.
It seems appropriate that this lawsuit was dismissed on April Fool’s Day, because it is inconceivable that after eight years of motions, hearings, and even a trial, that it was dismissed for lack of standing. The judge had decided that the plaintiffs’ legal objections to the touchscreen ballot marking devices used in elections to count their votes were “more about policy disagreements rather than constitutional violations.”
This verbiage is – to use a well-worn phrase – a word salad, since the case alleged – and the evidence proved – that the “policy disagreements” created potential, and possibly actual, Constitutional violations.
Judge Totenberg’s personal odyssey began in 2017 when Donna Curling filed the lawsuit of Curling, et al v Brad Raffensperger, et al, Civil Action 1:17-cv-2989, in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, questioning the security of the Dominion “Image Cast” X Ballot Marking Devices (BMDs) that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger planned to use in the 2020 presidential election.
In the summer of 2020, the Curling group hired the respected, out-of-state (to ensure political independence) University of Michigan Professor Alex Halderman, who would be assisted by Auburn University’s Drew Springall, to test the security of Dominion’s BMDs. Halderman and Springall in just “twelve person weeks” were able demonstrate a simple way to breach the security and change votes from anywhere within Georgia.
On September 20, 2020, Judge Totenberg provided that there should be at least a “modicum of voting backup plan tools.”
Does anyone think this is sufficient security for a presidential election?
In the November 3, 2020, election, when Joseph Biden, Jr., was elected president, the Dominion BMDs were used in Georgia, as they also were in the 2021 Special Senatorial election that gave the Democrats the majority in the U.S. Senate.
Burying the Halderman Report
In June 2021, Professor Halderman wanted to publish his report, part of which read:
“We discovered vulnerabilities in nearly every part of the system that is exposed to potential hackers. The most critical problem we found is an arbitrary-code-execution vulnerability that can be exploited to spread malware from a county’s central election management system (EMS) to every BMD in the jurisdiction. This makes it possible to attack the BMDs at scale, over a wide area, without needing physical access to any of them.”
On July 1, 2021 – after sharing it with defendant Raffensperger’s team – Judge Totenberg held a closed hearing (meaning no press) where she “buried it,” meaning she not only prevented its being published but also prevented anyone from reading it.
The notes from the judge’s hearing indicate that she did this to prevent the “Trumpest” (her word) “to be able to use it in litigation.” In other words, a federal judge hid evidence so it could not be used in such cases as the Fanny Willis prosecution of the Trump group, or by Fox News in defense of their being sued by Dominion.
Imagine if President Trump or any member of his team had done that?
The Trial and The Conspiracy
Finally, on January 18, 2024, in a courtroom in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, senior Judge Amy Totenberg began the trial of Curling, et al v Brad Raffensperger, et al, in which the plaintiffs questioned the security of the Dominion BMDs that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had used in the 2020 presidential election and 2021 Special Senatorial election
The first witness the Curling Group called was Marie Francis Watson, head of Investigations for Elections for Georgia for the 2020 elections. Ms. Watson showed, in trial transcript pages 6-106, moves that would make a dodge ball player jealous as she sought to avoid admitting that she “buried” the irregularities investigators discovered in the 2020 election.
However, the unequivocal record shows that in just Coffee County, the doors of the voting machines were wide open and:
– were not secured with zip tees with a serial number, as security required,
– three of the six voting machines were missing the security seals,
– the Pads were not charged,
– the printers had no paper,
– and crucially, despite her denial, the videos showed access by employees of Cyber Ninja company despite their not having a contract permitting access.
This occurred in the only county the plaintiffs were permitted to investigate.
Professor Alex Halderman began his testimony by standing and walking over to the attorneys for defendant Raffensperger’s counsel, and “borrowing” his lawyer’s Bic ballpoint pen.
Professor Halderman then walked over to the Dominion voting machine that had been placed in evidence in the court room and using the borrowed Bic pen he depressed a button on the machine to change a pre-programed vote for George Washington to Benedict Arnold.
How long did this take?
Seven seconds!
This was just the beginning. The transcript indicates that Halderman conducted the most fascinating analysis, dare I say “destruction,” of the Raffensperger’s defense by testifying that Smart cards could be bought for $10 online and with a $30 USB Smart card Reader from Amazon, could be used to program voter cards that could be used over-and-over again county-wide.
Was this difficult?
Professor Halderman noted that commands to manipulate the Dominion ICX BMD could be automated by simply inserting the card; it will do the rest. Nothing was needed but public information to complete the programming.
These cards would require some expertise to program, but once the counterfeit cards are made, anyone could insert it into the machine and exploit the vulnerability. Trial transcript pages 107-224.
The damage done by the Totenberg-Raffensperger duo includes:
trying to deprive the voters of Georgia from knowing whether their votes counted;
the truth as they re-elected Raffensperger in 2022;
paying for Willis to try and falsely accuse the Trump 19;
influencing the 2024 election as Raffensperger planned to use the same machines in the 2024 elections.
Now that’s a conspiracy!
The Georgia legislature has opened a case against Raffensperger to remove him from office as Secretary of State.
After Professor Halderman demonstrated how unsecure the Dominion BMDs were, Judge Totenberg delayed until after another presidential election occurred in November 2024, before dismissing the case for lack of standing because the plaintiff’s objections are more about policy disagreements rather than constitutional issues.
Since Donna Curling filed her lawsuit in 2017, the Totenberg Odyssey included the following elections:
–2018 Midterm in Georgia
–2020 Presidential election
–2021 Special senatorial election
–2022 Midterm in Georgia
–2024 Presidential election
Does anyone believe that Curling, et al, lacked standing?
Excellent, Brent, thank you. Amazing that Trump is president despite the Dem machinery. Every time someone criticizes Trump for what he's not gotten done in these three months my jaw drops - no one else running against this Dem election fixing could have prevailed and they're unhappy because he hasn't done absolutely everything? But beyond the idiocy even some Trump voters are exhibiting, what's really scary is that TDS is now on steroids. You can see it in the TDS comments here, because they don't just insist that Trump is Hitler and must be stopped at all costs they say it in CAPS. They are okay with everything you've explained is wrong because TRUMP IS HITLER AND MUST BE STOPPED. They would rather live in a fixed election country where they have no real vote than give up their TDS.
This case is a effing disgrace! I have not seen any of this on mainstream media, including Fox. Do you think any of it will be picked up and made known to the general public?