Tag: mail-in ballots

Election Officials Plan Ways to Count Votes Faster in 2024

Arizona Sun Times Staff

Election officials throughout the country are allegedly planning methods for counting the votes faster in 2024 than they did in 2020, where many days of delay led to confusion, chaos, and credible widespread accusations of voter fraud.

According to Politico, several of the handful of key swing states have passed laws to implement methods for quicker counting and tabulation of the votes. Secretaries of state in those same states are also taking a more active role in overseeing the elections.

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Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Former Attorney John Eastman Concludes, Written Closing Statements Remain

Rachel Alexander

The disbarment trial of former President Donald Trump’s previous attorney and constitutional legal scholar, John Eastman, wrapped up on Friday, the 33rd day. California Bar Disciplinary Judge Yvette Roland found him “culpable” on Thursday and gave his attorneys and the State Bar of California until November 22 to submit written closing statements.

The parties presented aggravating and mitigating testimony on Thursday and Friday, which Roland will use to consider whether to fully disbar Eastman.

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Turning Point Action Executive Received Extra Maricopa County Ballots for Former Residents

Tom Pappert

Tyler Bowyer, an executive for conservative activist group Turning Point Action, revealed on Monday that he received two Maricopa County ballots for former residents of his home. He told The Arizona Sun Times the episode represented “horrible public policy” and “administration of our elections.”

Bowyer posted an image of four ballots to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday night, revealing that only two registered voters live at his address. Voters in Maricopa County, and much of Arizona, are required to use mail-in ballots for the November 7, 2023 elections.

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Elections Expert Gina Swoboda Discusses Maricopa County Officials’ Missteps in the 2022 Election

Rachel Alexander

Gina Swoboda, executive director of Phoenix-based Voter Reference Foundation (VRF) discussed election problems and what to do about them recently on the Jenny Beth Show. Jenny Beth Martin was an early leader in the Tea Party movement as co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. In this third part of a three-part series from the interview, Swoboda delved deeper into the problems that occurred during the 2022 election, many which were caused or exacerbated by election officials, and the hurdles to fixing them.

She observed that switching from precinct voting to vote centers did not increase turnout as election officials claimed it would, which they did in order to convince voters the switch would be beneficial. Republican legislators ran bills that would have made precinct voting easier, she said, like holding voting on a school holiday so the schools could be used as voting locations, but the bills were unsuccessful. 

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Arizona House Speaker’s Brother Buys Majority Interest in Runbeck Election Services

Rachel Alexander

Runbeck Election Services (RES) confirmed this week that Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma’s (R-Peoria) brother, Mihai Toma, purchased a majority stake in the company on August 18. 

RES is the private company that processes Maricopa County’s mail-in ballots.

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Cochise County Supervisor Sues Arizona Officials over 2022 Election, Requests Decertification or Other Major Remedies

Rachel Alexander

Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby, who attempted to conduct a hand count of ballots during the 2022 election and delayed the certification of election results, filed a lawsuit with another Arizonan, David Mast, against numerous Arizona officials challenging the results of the election. The lawsuit cited lawbreaking regarding signature verification on mail-in ballots, asserting that the violations resulted in “hundreds of thousands of illegal votes in all statewide results for the 2022 General Election.”

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California: 10.8 Million Mail-In Ballots ‘Disappeared’ in 2022 Election

ADN America

According to research by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), more than 10.8 million mail-in ballots “disappeared” in California’s midterm elections last year. California election officials mailed more than 22.1 million ballots to registered voters, but 10.8 million “disappeared.”

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GOP Learning to Love Mail-In Ballots, Curing, Legal Harvesting as It Seeks to Level Playing Field

Just the News

In a 180-degree turn, Republicans are adopting the Democratic strategy for winning elections in states where mail-in voting, ballot curing and ballot harvesting are legal.

Republicans have repeatedly sounded the alarm over universal mail-in voting, ballot curing, and ballot harvesting because of the heightened possibility for fraud, but as Democrats have used these methods to help their candidates win elections, the GOP is belatedly accepting that they must play the same game.

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Baltimore Post Office Discovers 2020 Mail-In Ballots

Arizona Sun Times Staff

More than two dozen Baltimore voters received their 2020 election ballots earlier this month after the U.S. Postal Service discovered a tray of undelivered mail nearly two years too late.

The Baltimore City Board of Elections is working to figure out why the ballots were delivered late. President Biden won the heavily-Democrat city by a landslide – about eight votes to every ballot cast for then-President Trump.

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Arizona State Sen. Mesnard Speaks About Onsite Tabulation for Mail-In Voting Bill

Neil Jones

Arizona State Senator J.D. Mesnard (R-Chandler) spoke with The Arizona Sun Times about the effect SB 1632 – a newly-signed bill he sponsored – may have on the perception of mail-in voting. The measure aims to provide onsite tabulation for early ballots.

“I think the issues, the oppositions, the concerns surrounding mail-in ballots are wide and vast and that this [law] may help mitigate some of it, but those issues are much more fundamental.

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Voter Reference Foundation’s Gina Swoboda: Clean Elections Depend on Clean Voter Rolls

Julie Carr

Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed Gina Swoboda, the executive director of the Phoenix-based Voter Reference Foundation. The foundation, founded by Doug Truax, posts the voter rolls from the states, with the goal of having the rolls from all 50 states posted–consistent with the 1993 Motor Voter law.

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John Fredericks Interviews Former President Donald Trump

Julie Carr

Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks show, host Fredericks welcomed President Donald Trump to the show to weigh in on Dr. Oz, David Perdue, and the disaster of Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp.

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Kari Lake Joins Arizona GOP’s Lawsuit Against Secretary of State Hobbs to Stop Unmonitored Ballot Drop Boxes and Include Signature Verification Procedures

Rachel Alexander

Kari Lake may not be elected to office yet, but she is following through already on her vows to protect election integrity. The leading Arizona gubernatorial candidate filed an amicus curiae brief with the Arizona Supreme Court in the case Arizona Republican Party v. Hobbs, which asks the court to compel Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, to include signature verification procedures in the election procedures manual and remove the language she added authorizing the setup of unmonitored ballot drop boxes. Additionally, it challenges “no-excuse” early ballots as violating the Arizona Constitution. 

Lake said in a statement, “Voters have made it very clear that they are demanding nothing less than completely secure elections and we’re going to give it to them come hell or high water.” She said a forensic investigation earlier this year along with a canvass of absentee voters, which uncovered tens of thousands of irregularities with ballots cast in the 2020 general election, compelled her to enter the lawsuit.

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Arizona Democrats Advocate Mail-In Voting as Mail Crimes Soar Nationwide

Peter D'Abrosca

In an attempt to justify universal mail-in voting, Arizona Democrats Thursday downplayed the ongoing issue with mail theft and crimes against mail carriers that are soaring nationwide. 

“Note, these ‘drop boxes’ do not have 24-hour video surveillance and the world continues to turn,” Arizona’s House Democrats said on Twitter. 

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Arizona GOP Sues Arizona Secretary of State Hobbs to Stop Unmonitored Ballot Drop Boxes, Include Signature Verification Procedures, and Even Challenges Mail-In Voting

Rachel Alexander

The Arizona Republican Party, along with its secretary Yvonne Cahill, has filed a lawsuit against Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs over more actions she has taken that appear to be making it easier to commit voter fraud. The AZGOP’s Application for Issuance of Writ Under Exercise of Original Jurisdiction asks the court to compel Hobbs to include signature verification procedures in the election procedures manual and remove the language she added authorizing the set up of unmonitored ballot drop boxes, and challenges “no-excuse” early ballots as violating the Arizona Constitution. 

AZGOP Chair Kelli Ward, who has been out on the forefront combating election fraud since the 2020 presidential election, told The Arizona Sun Times, “We want to make sure that our elections are secure so we can restore voter confidence and strengthen our representative republic.”

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Judge Rules Absentee Ballot Drop Boxes Illegal in Wisconsin, Regulators Must Retract Guidance

Arizona Sun Times Staff
People at a voting location, voting early at polls

A Wisconsin judge has ruled that the absentee ballot drop boxes widely deployed during the 2020 election are not allowed under state law, a decision that could dramatically impact voting ahead of the swing state’s midterm elections.

Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren ordered on Thursday the Wisconsin Elections Commission to retract its instructions to election officials on how to use drop boxes. Bohren declared that the WEC had overstepped its authority in issuing the guidance in the first place.

Bohren called the WEC’s guidance a “major policy decision that alter[s] how our absentee ballot process operates,” that was significant enough that it should have required approval by the Legislature.

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Reps. Gosar and Biggs Discuss Voter Fraud at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2021

Rachel Alexander

At Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2021 conference in Phoenix, election integrity is one of the most important topics, in part due to the high-profile ballot audit in the Maricopa County 2020 presidential election. One of the main panels at the conference focused on this, featuring Rep. Paul Gosar (R-04-Ariz.), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-05-Ariz.), and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-01-Texas). 

The main topic of the panel was how to prevent election fraud in the future. All three panelists urged everyone to get involved and make a difference, whether by poll watching, putting pressure on elected officials, or looking for fraud. Biggs advised, “Be loud and proud. Do it with a smile on your face, they hate that.” 

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Amidst Concerns of Election Irregularities, Commonwealth Court Recount Begins in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

Amidst public concerns of electoral irregularities in Pennsylvania, a recount will decide the outcome of the Commonwealth Court contest between Republican Drew Crompton and Democrat Lori A. Dumas.

Based on unofficial returns published by the Pennsylvania Department of State, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Dumas now leads Superior Court Judge Crompton by 16,804 votes out of more than 2.5 million votes cast for either of the two. That’s a margin of about a third of one percent, within the 0.5 percent difference that prompts a recount under Pennsylvania’s Act 97 of 2004. 

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Citing Precincts with Ballot Return Rate Greater Than 100 Percent, Donald Trump Calls to Decertify Pima County’s 2020 Election or Hold a New One

Rachel Alexander

Former President Donald Trump issued a statement on October 15 denouncing the results of an investigation of mail-in ballots in Pima County’s 2020 election, calling for either the results for president to be decertified with Trump declared the winner or hold a new election. He said the election was “Rigged and Stolen,” citing “staggering anomalies and fictitious votes” that “stuffed the ballot box” with more ballots than were sent out in some precincts. Arizona Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley), who is running for Arizona Secretary of State, echoed Trump’s claims, saying there are “34,000 or 35,000 fictitious voters” in Pima County.

Trump said the analysis was done from publicly available election data, and showed that mail-in ballots returned in Pima County during the election initially showed him up 3 points over other Republicans, with Joe Biden underperforming other Democrats by 3 points. Then the mail-in ballots started returning at an abnormally high rate, over 87%, and Trump suddenly started performing worse and Biden better. However, “they overplayed their hand, and got caught. Two precincts in Pima had over 100 percent turnout for mail-in ballots — which is impossible — and 40 precincts had over 97% returned.”

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Report: ‘Unknown’ Ballots in Georgia, Pennsylvania Surpass Biden’s Margin of Victory There

Arizona Sun Times Staff

Georgia and Pennsylvania, two of the most closely contested states in last year’s presidential election, both logged a high number of unaccounted-for mail-in ballots, according to new reports from an election watchdog group.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation determined this week that Pennsylvania had 15,175 undeliverable mail-in ballots and 425,606 “unknown” or unaccounted-for ballots. Another 34,171 mail-in ballots were rejected by election officials, it said.

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Lawsuit to Inspect Fulton County Mail-In Ballots Amended to Include New Evidence Hand Recount Audit ‘Was Riddled with Massive Errors and Provable Fraud’

Laura Baigert

Petitioners in a lawsuit to inspect Fulton County mail-in absentee ballots from the November 3, 2020, election have added new claims and provided new evidence that the hand recount audit was riddled wth massive errors and provable fraud.

VoterGA, organizers of the lawsuit, made the stunning announcement on Tuesday that revealed “a whopping 60%” error rate in Fulton County’s hand count audit held on November 14 and 15, 2020.

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Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano Initiates Forensic Investigation of 2020 Election

Arizona Sun Times Staff
Doug Mastriano

The Pennsylvania state senator who led a hearing on election fraud in Gettysburg, PA, last November, has initiated a “full forensic investigation” into 2020 election results in several counties.

Republican State Sen. Doug Mastriano said in a statement that as chair of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, that he has issued letters to several counties representing “different geographical regions of Pennsylvania and differing political makeups,” requesting “information and materials needed to conduct a forensic investigation of the 2020 General Election and the 2021 Primary.”

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