Bennetts Still Besmirching Carbon County

By Denise Rivette

An edited version of this article was originally published in the Carbon County News in February 2023

Lisa Bennett, self-described “Concerned Citizen” and frequent guest on a far-right webcast with a worldwide following of just over one thousand, along with her husband, Albert “Chip” Bennett, have levelled new allegations against Carbon County and its employees. These allegations are based on the Bennetts’ interpretations of selected bits of video recorded on election night, November 8, 2022. The video was obtained via an Open Records Act request. The Bennetts continue to speculate publicly that there is mass corruption in Carbon County and urge people to contact the Attorney General to file complaints. Unfortunately for the public, they have effectively silenced the County and its employees by filing a lawsuit against and initiating a local law enforcement investigation into Carbon County.

When asked how much the Bennetts’ approach to “fixing the broken system” has cost Carbon County taxpayers so far, the County was unable to provide the exact amount or an estimate without expending valuable time and effort tallying totals from the Commissioners’ office, Election Administration, and County Attorney’s and Sheriff’s offices.

On February 15, the Bennetts posted a new video to their Rumble account. In it, Lisa sits in front of a Glacier National Park backdrop that only a non-Montanan could mistake for the Beartooth Pass. She spends just under 45 minutes rehashing her accusations against Carbon County. She provides questions and conjectures regarding the activities of the County Election Administrator, Clerk, and Commissioners as well as new “questions” about the Sheriff’s possible complicity. No credible proof or evidence is provided. In addition, she attempts to tie her local accusations into a greater state-level conspiracy involving Montana’s previous Commissioner of Political Practices (COPP), Jeff Mangan, a Democrat with bi-partisan accolades. As of January 19, the new COPP is Chris Gallus, who, as of February21, continues to be Lisa Bennett’s attorney of record.

During her video diatribe, Lisa stops awkwardly every so often to allow time for video and audio “proof” that does not materialize. Her “proof” that her 280+ challenges to citizens’ rights to vote were not investigated: “Not a single one is actually done, is handled, or investigated to the point where they agree that these people should no longer be on our voter rolls. They are all disregarded.” Prior to Lisa’s lawsuit, Crystal Roascio, Carbon County Elections Administrator, was asked if she investigated the challenges. She stated that she had personally investigated each challenge individually and found each challenge provided insufficient evidence to move an elector off the rolls. Carbon County regularly cleans its voter rolls using methods approved by the Secretary of State including investigating all challenges it receives to voters’ eligibility.

Lisa goes on to state that she was informed by a Sheriff’s Deputy that she could face felony charges for filing false claims; for instance, claiming a live voter is dead. In the video, she seems genuinely surprised by the fact that attempting to take away another citizen’s rights by filing a signed and notarized document presenting a falsehood as truth is illegal. While plying the legal system to address actions taken by Carbon County, she decries having those same laws justly applied to her own activities.

The allegations being made against Carbon County by the Bennetts are refuted in the only public statement the County is expected to make until after Lisa Bennett’s lawsuit is settled and the law enforcement investigation is concluded. It states in part:

“Carbon County officials and employees did not shred ballots as alleged in that video. The shredding undertaken by the Carbon County Elections Administrator which is depicted in the circulated video is the shredding of ballot copies received via email from Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (“UOCAVA”) voters, undertaken after the UOCAVA votes were transposed onto ballots, in order to protect the disclosure of voter identity.

“Regarding all other allegations contained in the circulated video, Carbon County officials and employees acted as required by law in order to ensure a fair and open election process, even in the face of disruptive and abusive behavior from those now circulating the video.”

Throughout the Bennetts’ latest video there is a website address on screen: gopmontana.com. That website offers two pages labeled “Who We Are” and “What We Believe”. Both are placeholders devoid of useful content.

On the Bennett’s Rumble page, they have called on their viewers to “Call the Montana Attorney Generals (sic) office and file a complaint about election fraud in Carbon County, MT”. If every Bennett Rumble follower heeds their call to action, the Attorney General’s office will be inundated with eleven official complaints.