Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk weighed in on Abe Hamadeh’s election challenge Monday. Hamadeh is challenging election anomalies in the closest statewide race in history, the Arizona Attorney General’s race which he lost to Democrat Kris Mayes by 280 votes. Musk was responding to a tweet from Hamadeh about the large numbers of people who voted on Election Day last fall whose votes were not counted, and his response generated a flood of responses.
On Monday, Hamadeh tweeted, “FYI: Your ballot was 15x more likely to be rejected if you voted on Election Day in Maricopa County. Mail-In Rejected: 1,825 Mail-In Accepted: 1,311,734 Percent rejected = .13% Election Day Rejected: 4,849 Election Day Accepted: 248,070 Percent rejected = 2%.” Republicans voted on Election Day in far greater numbers than did Democrats.
Musk responded, “Strange.” Hamadeh thanked him, “One word was all that was needed to sum up Arizona’s Election Day irregularities, ‘Strange.’ Thanks for fighting for the underdogs @elonmusk.”
Strange
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 2, 2023
Progressive attorney Marc Elias, whose firm engages in litigation around the country opposing Republican candidates who file lawsuits over election fraud, jumped in to respond to Musk. He said, “Not strange. Mr. Hamdadeh fully litigated his claims. He and his counsel made strategic litigation decisions as to which claims to advance. He lost. You can find the full case pleadings and decision on @DemocracyDocket.” He included a link to the pleadings in Hamadeh’s case on his website.
However, Jennifer Wright, who served as the Election Integrity Unit attorney under previous Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and now representing Hamadeh, disputed Elias’s assertion. She tweeted, “Apparently Marc doesn’t realize that @AbrahamHamadeh’s election contest has not been deemed “fully litigated” as it lacks a final appealable order AND a Motion for a New Trial is at issue, which will be heard on 5/16.”
In a follow-up tweet, Wright added, “And yes, claims related to provisional ballots were raised, but the provisional ballot data to support specific claims weren’t provided until 12/31, 8 days after trial. Apparently Marc just gives lip service about voter disenfranchisement. #NotSurprised.”
Hamadeh tweeted, “Marc seems concerned now! We’re actually going to court on May 16 Marc, I think you’re due in court on that day in Phoenix arguing our same issues in federal court. Everyone knows Mayes doesn’t have the most votes. Count the 8,000 uncounted ballots. Let’s see what happens!”
Since Hamadeh gained a significant number of votes from counting the undervotes from Pinal County that Hobbs failed to tell him about for days, which narrowed Mayes’ lead to just 280, he’s arguing that his team should be able to inspect the undervotes from all 15 counties.
Another tweet from Hamadeh pointed out the discrepancy between Maricopa County versus other states when it comes to rejecting mail-in ballots. “Mail-in ballots rejection rate by state Illinois = 2.6% Pennsylvania = 1.29% California = 1.23% Arizona = .13% (Maricopa County only),” he tweeted.
Hamadeh drew Musk’s attention to a disturbing tweet from the Abe Hamadeh War Room. “Hey @elonmusk, this is also strange,” he tweeted. “When you scan your driver’s license and put your SSN I don’t think it’s too much to ask that a dead man’s name shouldn’t show up.”
He referenced a tweet from his Abe Hamadeh War Room account which said, “This Maricopa County voter was told repeatedly her driver’s license was registered to ‘multiple voters.’ An official stepped, swiped an access card, a voter record for a dead Utah resident appeared. Her provisional ballot wasn’t counted. Our voter registration system is broken.”
Kari Lake entered the fray, tweeting, “It gets worse. Maricopa County cannot provide a chain of custody for a number of ballots that is TWICE my opponents margin of victory.”
The Kari Lake War Room Twitter account added, “Maricopa County sabotaged our midterm election to prevent @KariLake & @AbrahamHamadeh from fixing the problems that have been plaguing the state for decades. They chose power over the people.”
Former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward tweeted at Elias, “Leftist Tactic: start lying early to create a ‘fake truth’ to confuse the public about/make the public doubt the actual truth when it comes out…”
Political consultant Brian Anderson also said, “The margin is razor-thin, and every little discrepancy matters.”
Commenting on an article from the Arizona Daily Independent about Musk’s tweet, Hamadeh tweeted, “Fact check true. As they do with any tweet from Hamadeh, the press pounced and called his initial tweet and Musk’s response to it “disinformation.”
In April, a Cochise County judge ordered oral arguments on May 16 to consider whether to grant a retrial due to evidence that then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs withheld evidence of the Pinal County ballots that were not counted. Musk’s tweet appears to have gotten zero coverage in the mainstream media.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Abe Hamadeh” by Abe Hamadeh.
