Tag: Maricopa County ballot audit

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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Arizona Lawmakers Hold Hearing in Pima County Analyzing 2020 Voter Fraud Allegations

Rachel Alexander

While most of the scrutiny over voter fraud in Arizona has focused on Maricopa County, less attention has been paid to Pima County, probably because it is known for being a Democratic stronghold that wouldn’t go for former President Donald Trump. But with plenty of allegations of fraud there, including an anonymous account of how 35,000 fraudulent votes were added, lawmakers are expanding their focus on Tucson. Nine Arizona legislators held a hearing there on Dec. 13, where it came out that the precincts Trump did poorly in had high Republican turnout — but the same Democrat turnout all over. 

Sen. Kelly Townsend (R-Mesa) explained why the Pima County election integrity hearing was necessary. “People ask me, ‘Why are you doing Pima when you’re not done with Maricopa, there’s a lot of work to do.’ Well, we’re all playing whack a mole with all the crazy things they’re throwing at us.” She went on, “The clock is ticking while we’re waiting for the 2022 election.” She explained how the Arizona Legislature must be finished by the end of April for the 90 days to go by until any law can be enacted, in order to be in place for the 2022 primary. “Hopefully we can get a special session instead,” referring to her calls for Gov. Doug Ducey to call one now. 

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Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer Creates PAC to Back GOP Fraud-Deniers

Rachel Alexander

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican who has been very public with his opinion that there was no voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, has formed a PAC to support Republican candidates who also believe there was no voter fraud. Called Pro-Democracy Republicans of Arizona, the only interview he appears to have given about it is to the far left Arizona Mirror. 

The Arizona Sun Times asked him why he was so opposed to investigating the 2020 election for voter fraud, and he responded, “I was consistently opposed to conspiracy theorist partisans with no election experience doing a review.” He referred The Times to a letter he wrote in August.

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Cyber Ninjas Must Turn over Records from the Maricopa County Ballot Audit, State Appeals Court Says

Rachel Alexander

The Arizona Court of Appeals rejected a request from Cyber Ninjas, the company that audited Maricopa County’s ballots, to block a public records request by the media for records from the audit. Phoenix Newspapers Inc., which owns The Arizona Republic, asked for emails and other documents in its April request, which the lower trial court granted. Cyber Ninjas appealed the decision. The appellate court rejected the cyberfirm’s argument that opening its records up for public inspection would allow opening the records of any contractor that does business with the state. 

Jack Wilenchik, Cyber Ninja’s attorney, expressed his disappointment to Capitol Media Services, “The government cannot force private contractors to produce things the government does not own. He said it’s similar to a violation of the Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure.

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On Heels of GOP Election Wins, Kari Lake Holds Massive Election Integrity Rally

Rachel Alexander

Trump-endorsed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake held a huge rally Wednesday night at Dream City Church of Glendale in the West Valley. Hundreds packed the megachurch, which was substantially filled. 

Lake began by lamenting the fact it was the one-year anniversary of “the election call heard around the world” by Fox News. She said “that was a Ducey,” referring to Gov. Doug Ducey certifying the 2020 presidential election results from Arizona. She was very blunt, “Our elections are completely corrupt.” 

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Arizona Republican Party Chair Demands Election Audits in Every County in the State

Rachel Alexander
Dr. Kelli Ward of Arizona

Based on the results of the Maricopa County ballot audit, as well as findings that have come from informal auditing of the election in Pima County, Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward wants an audit done in every county in Arizona. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is currently investigating the results of the Maricopa County audit, and has ordered the county supervisors to put a litigation hold on the election materials. Former President Donald Trump has called to decertify the results of the Pima County election or hold a new election. 

“I’ve been asking for full audits of all 15 of Arizona counties,” Ward said during a video. “Momentum for election integrity only continues to build. We the people will not back down. We will not waver.” 

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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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Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai Defends His Maricopa County Ballot Audit Findings After Media Attack

Rachel Alexander

Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, who authored the portion of the Maricopa County ballot audit addressing the signatures on the return envelopes of mail-in ballots, is furious with an article by an Arizona journalist in a left-leaning publication. Ayyadurai believes the Maricopa County Supervisors got Arizona Mirror reporter Jeremy Duda to write a “hit job” on him. He wrote a 67-page letter to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich about the article, asking them to conduct an investigation, and to allow him to hold a public meeting where he can address his concerns with the supervisors. Brnovich is currently investigating the results of the audit, and has instructed Maricopa County to freeze all 2020 election materials in a litigation hold.

Specifically, Ayyadurai wants to “Expose how the Arizona Mirror has nothing to do with ‘Independent Journalism,’ but is part of an organized network of local and decentralized media funded by Arabella Advisors, what the The New York Times and Politico term as ‘dark money’ aimed to manufacture narratives to meet partisan objectives.”

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Maricopa County Admits Deleting Hundreds of Thousands of Records They Previously Archived Away from Subpoenas

Rachel Alexander

During a House Oversight Committee hearing addressing the results of the audit of the independent Maricopa County ballot audit ordered by the Arizona Senate, one of the Maricopa County Supervisors who fought the audit admitted that hundreds of thousands of election related files were deleted. Instead of producing them in response to the legislative subpoena, he said the county “archived” them.

Responding to a question from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) asking him whether it was appropriate to delete files on a server after an election, Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates said, “I would say it is appropriate to maintain files, and that is exactly what we did. We deleted — the files that have been discussed, they were archived.” 

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Rep. Andy Biggs Says During Congressional Hearing ‘We Don’t Know’ Whether Trump or Biden Won in Arizona

Rachel Alexander

The House Oversight Committee held a hearing Thursday on the results of the audit of the independent Maricopa County ballot audit ordered by the Arizona Senate. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) found the audit results troubling, leading him to question whether Joe Biden really won the election in Arizona.

At the beginning of the hearing, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08) asked Biggs who won the presidential election in Arizona. Biggs responded, “We don’t know. There are a lot of issues with this election that took place.” He said the only reason the hearing is being conducted is because the chair, Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-12), wants to see any election integrity legislation scuttled. 

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Arizona State Rep. and Secretary of State Candidate Shawnna Bolick Favors Statewide Audit, Other Measures

Rachel Alexander

The results of the Maricopa County ballot audit has many elected officials demanding accountability and action. Arizona State Rep. Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix), who is running for Arizona Secretary of State, issued a statement denouncing the fraud that the audit uncovered, and recommended conducting a statewide audit. 

Bolick said in a recent campaign update, criticizing Democratic election officials Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes, “Who is surprised that Secretary Hobbs and the former Maricopa County Recorder Fontes bent the rules last year, taking advantage of Covid to consistently undermine our election processes? It didn’t stop in 2020. They continued to obstruct the State Senate’s audit to serve justice. Then we saw how Maricopa County refused to turn over election routers despite a subpoena, but it went deeper. Throughout the audit report, it was clear that at almost every point Maricopa County was uncooperative in providing important context and information. They disrupted the audit processes by deleting logs, files, and important documents from the Election Management System.”

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Trump Calls Arizona Attorney General Brnovich ‘a Good Man’ During Rally in Georgia

Rachel Alexander

During a Save America Rally in Georgia this past weekend, former President Donald Trump referred to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich as “a good man.” Much of Trump’s speech addressed voter fraud, including the independent report that came out last week on the Maricopa County ballot audit, which is being turned over to Brnovich for investigation.

Trump said, “Hopefully the Arizona attorney general, a good man, will do far more for his state than your attorney general has done for your state because your attorney general has not done what he’s supposed to be doing. What he’s supposed to be doing is free and clear and non-corrupt elections. They’re not doing that. We must elect strong, brave America first leaders who will be true champions for the people and for free, fair and honest elections.”

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Brnovich Demands Maricopa County Freeze All Materials Related to 2020 Election

Rachel Alexander

In response to the report released last week about the Maricopa County ballot audit, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s Election Integrity Unit sent a letter to Maricopa County instructing the recorder and supervisors to preserve all records related to the 2020 election in preparation for litigation. He also sent a letter to the Arizona Senate requesting more information related to the audit. 

“The Arizona Senate’s report that was released on Friday raises some serious questions regarding the 2020 election,” Brnovich said in a statement about the letters. “Arizonans can be assured our office will conduct a thorough review of the information we receive.”

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Brnovich Demands Maricopa County Freeze All Materials Related to 2020 Election

Rachel Alexander

In response to the report released last week about the Maricopa County ballot audit, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s Election Integrity Unit sent a letter to Maricopa County instructing the recorder and supervisors to preserve all records related to the 2020 election in preparation for litigation. He also sent a letter to the Arizona Senate requesting more information related to the audit. 

“The Arizona Senate’s report that was released on Friday raises some serious questions regarding the 2020 election,” Brnovich said in a statement about the letters. “Arizonans can be assured our office will conduct a thorough review of the information we receive.”

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Maricopa County Audit Results Reveal Someone Was Caught on Video Illegally Deleting Hundreds of Thousands of Election Files the Day Before the Audit Started

Rachel Alexander

Arizona Senate Republicans issued the results of the independent ballot audit they conducted of the 2020 presidential and U.S. Senate election in Maricopa County on September 24 during a presentation, revealing findings that numerous election laws were broken and security measures breached. 

The most startling finding came from Ben Cotton, the founder of CyFIR. He said hundreds of thousands of election files — which the Maricopa County Supervisors refused to allow the auditors to examine — were deleted the day before the audit began, a violation of federal law which requires federal election records to be retained for 22 months. Although the name of the account that deleted them was not tied to a specific election worker, Cotton said there is video of the person who accessed those servers at that time. 

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Arizona Attorney General Brnovich Threatens Maricopa County Supervisors with Loss of Funding If They Refuse to Comply with Election Subpoena

Rachel Alexander

Following an investigation of the Maricopa County Supervisors refusing to comply with an election audit from the Arizona Senate, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich determined that the supervisors violated the law and intends to tell the Arizona Treasurer to withhold their state-shared funds if they don’t comply. Senate Republicans are winding down an independent audit they ordered into the 2020 election investigating the results of Joe Biden defeating Donald Trump in the presidential race and Mark Kelly defeating Martha McSally in the U.S. Senate race. The supervisors have fought the audit for months.

“We are notifying the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors that it must fully comply with the Senate’s subpoena as required by the law,” said Brnovich. “Our courts have spoken. The rule of law must be followed.” Brnovich said the supervisors’ “only response was that the Arizona Senate is not currently in session, so MCBOS could not be held in contempt.” The county could lose more than $700 million a year, over a quarter of its $2.7 million budget. 

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Report on Arizona’s Maricopa County Ballots in 2020 Election Delayed, Auditors Have COVID, Report

Arizona Sun Times Staff

The report of ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election in Arizona’s Maricopa County has been delayed because the chief executive and two other employees of the audit team reportedly have COVID-19 and are “quite sick.”

A draft report of the findings was expected to be delivered Monday to Republicans in the state Senate, who hired the Florida-based firm Cyber Ninjas to conduct the audit.

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Independents Surge, Equal Number of Democrats in Arizona

Rachel Alexander

New quarterly voter registration numbers from the Arizona Secretary of State’s office reveal that independents now tie Democrats with 32 percent of voters each, behind Republicans who make up almost 35 percent. Democrats only gained 539 new voters this past quarter, whereas Republicans gained 3,093 and independents gained almost 90 percent of the 28,042 new voters. 

The 2020 presidential election in Arizona may be what caused the recent defection from Democrats according to one longtime Arizona political consultant. Paul Bentz, senior vice president of research and strategy for HighGround Consultants, theorized, “While you can vote in other races, you can’t vote for the president without being of the party. We saw a pretty significant shift to Republicans, a significant uptick in Republican registration, for people who either wanted to vote for Trump or vote against Trump.” Arizona is one of 31 states where residents must choose a party in order to vote in the primary. 

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Arizona Legislator Wendy Rogers Launches Petition to Decertify Election Results Due to Ballot Audit

Rachel Alexander

Arizona Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-Prescott) launched a petition recently demanding the decertification of the 2020 election results in Arizona, based on preliminary results from the ballot audit in Maricopa County ordered by the Arizona state senate. The audit is looking at both the presidential race and the U.S. senate race, where Democrat Mark Kelly defeated incumbent Republican Martha McSally by a small margin. According to a tweet Friday evening from Rogers, the petition was at 36,302 signatures despite server issues forcing the site offline periodically. She is aiming for one million signatures.

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Twitter Bans Official Arizona Audit Account and Other Audit Accounts

Rachel Alexander

Twitter permanently suspended the account of the official account of the Arizona Legislature’s audit of Maricopa County ballots, along with several other audit accounts on Tuesday. The official account, @ArizonaAudit, is offline, with a message stating it is suspended, as is a second account that appears affiliated with the audit, @AuditWarRoom. 

Four more accounts associated with audits taking place in Wisconsin, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia were suspended, along with some accounts that were fundraising for the audit. One was run by One America News Network’s Christina Bobb. Voices & Votes raised $150,000 for the audit. Bobb tweeted, “They are blocking the release of audit information on Twitter.”

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Maricopa County to Replace Its Voting Machines, Says Audit Compromised Them

Corinne Murdock

Maricopa County intends to replace all of its election machines, due to concerns that the audit compromised the equipment. The county’s Dominion Democracy Suite 5.5B voting system was turned over to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann (R-Prescott) and Senate Majority Leader Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) through subpoena earlier this year. The Senate contracted with a private company, Cyber Ninjas, to conduct the audit.

Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel confirmed on Monday the county’s intent to replace their entire fleet of voting machines in a reply letter to Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.

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Arizona Attorney General Brnovich Leads Challenge at SCOTUS Related to Hobbs

Rachel Alexander
Mark Brnovich

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed an amicus curiae brief Monday in the U.S. Supreme Court with 22 states signing on, demanding the court overrule a decision by the Sixth Circuit allowing state officials to surrender in lawsuits challenging state laws they don’t want to defend.  The move comes as Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is refusing to appeal adverse decisions striking down Arizona’s elections laws.

The brief relates to Kentucky v. EMW Women’s Surgical Center, where Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear failed to appeal a court decision striking down a Kentucky law banning dismemberment abortions during the second trimester of pregnancy. Kentucky’s Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron is trying to intervene in order to defend the law.

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