On Tuesday, March 4, 2025, the Williamson Nation Republican Get together held its conference on the Franklin Marriott, positioned within the coronary heart of Williamson County, Tennessee.
On the occasion, “bona fide” Republicans (those that voted within the final three out of 4 Republican primaries) voted for the way forward for their social gathering’s native management, with the 2 sides within the contest — Elevate and the Williamson County Republicans — every providing a slate of eight candidates.
The ultimate outcomes of the vote had been dedicated in (added to) Bitcoin block 886,370 utilizing Easy Proof’s Immutable Proof service, an automatic service that employs the OpenTimestamps protocol to assist defend public information.
Why Easy Proof?
Easy Proof preserves the integrity of paperwork by committing digital variations of stated paperwork within the arbitrary information discipline (the OP_RETURN perform) of a bitcoin transaction. In doing so, the paperwork are irrevocably dedicated to a block on the Bitcoin blockchain, which is immutable.
This know-how has confirmed to be wonderful for preserving election information, because it helps to forestall tampering with election outcomes as soon as a vote rely is finalized.
Easy Proof put itself on the map when it helped safe the vote tallies for 2023’s Presidential election in Guatemala, the story of which is printed within the brief documentary “Immutable Democracy.”
The corporate additionally helped to protect the integrity of election leads to Screven County, Georgia this previous November.
It was truly this story from Screven County that caught the eye of Steve Giraud, a Republican voter based mostly in Williamson County who needed to see integrity of the vote tally for the Williamson County Republican management election upheld.
So, he and a good friend with whom he hosts Bitcoin meetups, Dave Birnbaum (additionally a contributor to Bitcoin Journal), reached out to the Easy Proof to make use of its companies.
“Steve, the person who contacted Simple Proof, described himself as a ‘concerned citizen,’” Easy Proof founder and CEO Rafael (Rafa) Cordon instructed Bitcoin Journal.
Cordon went on to clarify that Easy Proof is politically neutral and that it does not more than present a technological service.
“We’re not working directly for any political organization or electoral authority, just a person who wants to protect voting documents,” stated Cordon.
Carlos Toriello, Election Lead at Easy Proof, reiterated Cordon’s level that Easy Proof doesn’t work on behalf of political teams and solely works to protect the integrity of key election paperwork.
“They can use our service to know that the information that they rely upon has been preserved,” Toriello instructed Bitcoin Journal.
Pre-Convention Stress
After I spoke with Giraud the day earlier than the vote, he appeared visibly nervous about potential interference in the course of the night time of the vote and/or authorized motion being taken to problem the legitimacy of the election outcomes after the very fact.
Giraud, who’s affiliated with the Williamson County Residents, a gaggle of “grassroots conservatives” that believes in small authorities, low taxes and decreased regulation, defined that the Republican sect to which he belongs has been deeply at odds with the Williamson County Conservatives, who he described as much less ideologically-driven “establishment Republicans.”
On the conference, bona fide Republicans would vote for a complete of eight social gathering leaders, chosen from the eight placed on the poll by Elevate, the Republican group with which Giraud is affiliated, and eight placed on the poll by the Williamson County Conservatives.
Within the weeks main as much as the conference, experiences acknowledged that the Williamson County Republicans ran a misinformation marketing campaign during which they claimed that Elevate was making an attempt to suppress the vote as a result of the Williamson County Republican Get together (WCRP), made up of a majority of representatives from Elevate, mandated in-person voting on the conference, although this mandate comes from Tennessee’s Republican social gathering bylaws.
Based on Giraud, the Williamson County Conservatives additionally claimed that the WCRP modified the venue final minute as a method to scale back voter turnout from supporters of Williamson County Conservatives.
Giraud argued that this wasn’t the case, although.
“Given the turnout we were expecting, we were getting very close to exceeding the maximum capacity or occupancy rate for the original venue, the Franklin Factory Liberty Hall,” he defined.
“So, someone at the Contest and Credentialing Committee (CCC) (which is a separate entity from the WCRP) said he had to change venue, which could disadvantage some voters. Now, the WCRP will have volunteers at the Factory with signs that say ‘Venue changed, go to the Marriott,’” he added.
“But we’re very concerned that if the opposition loses, they will threaten lawsuits because of what the CCC did.”
What’s extra, the Williamson County Conservatives bombarded Williamson county residents with mailers, texts and robo-calls, partially funded by former Democrats.
Giraud stated that the Williamson County Conservatives “carpet bombed 16,000 bona fide Republicans in Williamson County with mailers — every 5,000 of which went out costing about $4,000.”
A report claimed that the Williamson County Conservatives spent $50,000 on this marketing campaign and that the messaging was “emotionally-charged and aggressive,” resulting in Williamson County Conservatives and Elevate each levying and responding to accusations made by the opposing group.
The Vote Counting Course of
Easy Proof doesn’t assure the validity of the vote tallies it helps to protect with the Bitcoin blockchain, so it’s as much as the native election board to make sure the legitimacy of the voting course of.
Giraud defined that solely bona fide voters can be allowed into the voting space the night time of the conference. He added that the voting space can be “secured by deputy sheriffs” and that every one voters are given a wristband that they should take away as soon as they vote in order that they can not vote twice.
All voting is finished on what Giraud referred to as “bubble cards,” on which voters use a Sharpie pen to fill of their selection eight candidates from the 16 on the poll (the Elevate candidates on one facet of the poll and the Williamson Nation Conservatives candidates on the opposite).
4 volunteer observers — two from Elevate and two from the Williamson County Conservatives — monitor the vote.
Throughout the vote, Giraud would act as a “Judge for Spoiled Ballots,” permitting him to pay attention to any ballots on which somebody wrote outdoors of the bubbles or different irregularities that might nullify a vote.
Ballots are fed by a machine (part of the voting course of that Giraud famous that he doesn’t essentially like — “I’m skeptical of anything that involves a machine when it comes to a ballot marking device,” he stated.)
The machines then produce the ultimate vote tally for the night time, although, the outcomes may very well be hand counted on the request of both Elevate or the Williamson County Conservatives.
The Voting Results
The Elevate candidates gained all eight social gathering management seats.
The victory didn’t go uncontested, although.
After the machines produced the outcomes, the Williamson Nation Conservatives requested a handbook recount, which the Tennessee State Election Fee carried out, in keeping with Giraud. The recount resulted in Elevate successful by a really barely wider margin than was initially reported. (Easy Proof timestamped each the preliminary outcomes and the outcomes from the handbook recount, linked within the first part of this piece, to the Bitcoin blockchain.)
“With the manual hand recount, we gained one vote,” stated Giraud.
Giraud additionally reported that his anxieties round potential voting interference the night time of the conference had been allayed, as the method went easily, apart from a minor, surprising incidence.
“There were so many elderly people here that they opened the doors up for early voting,” he stated.
By the top of the night time, Giraud wasn’t simply relieved, although, he was optimistic about what had transpired that night and in addition hopeful that Easy Proof’s know-how shall be employed on a bigger scale.
“I just introduced what I did to the soon-to-be-former Chair of the Williamson County Republican Committee, who is stepping down as of tonight,” stated Giraud.
“He was very excited that we were doing this. I hope that he will help us take this further, not just in the county, but in outlying counties as well as up to the state at some point. That’s my goal for the state of Tennessee: increase transparency,” he added.
“I would hope even the other side would approach Carlos (Toriello) and Rafa (Cordon) and want to use this for documentation as well as future elections to hold us accountable and to force truth and accountability. That’s my goal as a concerned citizen.”
