NOTES BETWEEN PRINTED EDITIONS
WEYMOUTH VOTING MACHINE OFF BY 12 HOURS AND 11 YEARS
Special Commentary
by Lonnie Brennan
WEYMOUTH, Mass.
Perhaps Precinct 7 in Weymouth is cursed?
The Immaculate Inspection of Ballots 90 Days After the Election
First, this summer, the Democrat town clerk and her Democrat colleagues conducted a private examination of the Precinct 7 ballots from the March 3, 2024, election (with no Republicans present) then claimed that write-in candidates on two ballots were not counted. The clerk then called for the termination of the top Republican poll worker in Precinct 7.
The Clock is Not Set?
Next, fast-forwarding to the recent Sept. 3, 2024, election, and with the Republican “suspended” from working, the Precinct 7 voting machine – apparently set by the Democrats – reported that it was off by 11 years and 12 hours. Seriously.
Let’s start with the March election.
Apparently, the Weymouth Democrat town clerk received a tip or complaint from one or more disgruntled Republicans that there was favoritism in the ballot counting for Precinct 7 (an internal dispute amongst Republicans running to be on the local Republican Town Committee).
So, several months after the March election (again, just magically beyond the 90-day recount period that triggers all kinds of election law violations on the part of the Democrats’ actions), the Democrat town clerk “broke the seals” and examined the ballots.
The town clerk reported finding two ballots with write-in candidates which were not counted, and demanded that Weymouth Mayor Robert “Bob” Hedlund fire the Precinct 7 Warden, Republican Marie Stoeckel.
Hedlund’s top lieutenants went into high gear and extended an offer Stoeckel to quietly resign from her position. Stoeckel declined and requested a hearing on the matter (including the strange examination of the ballots, written allegations against her, witnesses, etc.).
Finally, on August 19, 2024, Hedlund’s Chief of Staff Ted Langill issued a letter on the mayor’s stationary to Stoeckel informing her that there was no time to conduct “… a hearing before the Mayor or his designee pursuant to M.G.L. c. 54 § 13” before the Sept. 3, 2024 election. Langill went on to inform Stoeckel that she was “hereby suspended from your duties and responsibilities as Warden for Precinct 7.”
At the Sept. 3, 2024, election, Stoeckel voted in Precinct 17 and also served as a poll watcher at Precint 7 for a candidate, in accordance will all laws concerning poll watchers (no contact with ballots, no contact with machines, visual and audio observations only).
At the end of the night, a tape is printed from each machine. Routinely, onlookers, candidates and their team members, and members of the press take photographs of the tapes. This time, the photos put even more egg on the town of Weymouth’s election integrity face: The tape for Precinct 7 (one of three precincts in the building, and one of 19 precincts in Weymouth), revealed that the now solely Democrat-controlled machine reported that the voting day started at 7:02 PM (instead of in the morning), reported the “Poll Closed Date: January 01, 2013” with a “Poll Closed Time: 8:22 AM.”
Election Date: September 03, 2024
Poll Opened Date: December 31, 2012
Poll Opened Time: 7:02 PM
Poll Closed Date: January 01, 2023
Poll Closed Time: 8:22 AM
He Can Run, But He Can’t Hide, or, What’s in a Date?
Mayor Hedlund’s top men, Langill and his Solicitor Richard “Rick” McLeod have tag-teamed Stoeckel repeatedly, with McLeod accusing Stoeckel of trying to embarrass the mayor and the town clerk by going public about the suspension, and has called parts of Stoeckel’s writings (for example, in the Boston Broadside) as “having absolutely no relevance to the allegations against you…” Indeed, McLeod wrote that “The Failure to count even one ballot is considered a very serious offense and will not be tolerate by the Mayor or the Town Clerk.” He also claims that the town has done nothing illegal in removing her from her appointed position without a hearing, as Stoeckel has questioned. (We have removed the use of the term “illegal” in articles to describe the actions of the mayor’s office at this time and await further information/clarification.)
Stoeckel has noted that apparently the Democrat-observed-only recounting of the ballots revealed numbers off in other precincts also, and seeks those records, along with a proper hearing on the Democrat “allegations” against her. She has also requested to meet with the mayor’s chief of staff and the solicitor to understand the process of a hearing, as apparently no such hearings have taken place in the city, in recent memory, so the process appears to be undefined.
“Can you advise me of where to find procedures and protocols relevant to a hearing in accordance with MGL c.54, §13?,” Stoeckel wrote to the chief of staff and town’s solicitor (lawyer). “I have reviewed the Code of Ordinances for the Town of Weymouth, Chapters 1 through 13, and cannot identify anything that outlines hearing procedures,” which the chief of staff had cited in his suspension letter to her.
At this time, Mayor Hedlund is apparently not putting any comments on the record. Meanwhile his two top lieutenants pick at Stoeckel, accusing her (and not any other poll worker in Precinct 7) of not counting two write-in votes (which, we are told did not affect the election).
The actions cited above, along with the laughable if it wasn’t so serious Weymouth Precinct 7 voting machine irregularities of time and date – something Stoeckel said has never happened before, and did not occur on the two other precincts in the building on Sept. 3. – puts more egg on the face of the town.
On multiple occasions, in writing and via phone we have asked Mayor Hedlund and his crew to provide statements and photos if they desire. The offer still stands.
