Tag: Arizona GOP bogus vote audit

Trump called Arizona Senate president to thank her ‘for pushing to prove any fraud’ in election, emails show

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Newly released emails sent to and from Arizona state senators reveal that President Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani reached out personally to urge GOP officials there to move forward with a partisan recount of the 2020 election, despite a lack of evidence of widespread fraud or other issues.

Hundreds of pages of emails related to the GOP-ordered audit underway in Maricopa County were obtained by the nonprofit legal watchdog group American Oversight through a records request under the Freedom of Information Act. The group published them Friday, along with a scathing statement that decried the audit as a “sham partisan crusade.”

In one email dated Dec. 2, Arizona state Senate President Karen Fann (R) told two constituents that she had spoken with Giuliani “at least 6 times over the past two weeks.” Continue reading.

Republicans lose patience with Arizona election audit

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PHOENIX — A growing chorus of Arizona Republicans is calling on the GOP-controlled state Senate to end an audit into Maricopa County’s 2020 election results that is increasingly relying on disproven conspiracy theories to challenge President Biden’s victory here.

The audit, ordered by a state Senate majority that has bought into former President Trump’s big lie about the results of the election he lost handily, is on hold until Monday. It has already dragged on well past the estimated time auditors said it would take to recount the county’s ballots.

But some Republicans say they hope it does not continue after embarrassing revelations that supposedly bombshell allegations by auditors who have perpetuated Trump’s lies were in fact errors made by the auditors themselves. Continue reading.

Arizona recount creates backlash in state

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Simmering tensions between Republicans over the ongoing audit of election results in Arizona’s largest county are bursting into the open.

With the audit nearing its one-month mark and the GOP-controlled state Senate driving the process in an increasingly partisan direction, some Republicans have begun more aggressively pushing back against the effort, arguing that it has only served to further undermine confidence in the county’s elections rather than restore it.

The debate over the audit reached a breaking point Monday when the GOP-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors sent a letter to Arizona’s Republican state Senate President Karen Fann demanding an end to the audit, saying that the process had made Arizona a “laughingstock.” Continue reading.

‘Mind-numbingly reckless and irresponsible’: Maricopa County sheriff blasts Arizona Senate’s audit demand

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Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone on Friday slammed the “Senate Republican Caucus’ audit of the Maricopa County votes” for “[jeopardizing] the entire mission of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office,” the Arizona Republic reports.

“The Senate Republican Caucus’ audit of the Maricopa County votes from last November’s election has no stopping point,” Penzone said in a statement. “Now, its most recent demands jeopardize the entire mission of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.”

Penzone’s criticism comes after Maricopa County failed to provide “certain routers that the state Senate sought in its original subpoenas” of 2020 election material. According to the Arizona Republic, “the county has provided all 2.1 million voter general election ballots, voter information and election equipment in response to state Senate subpoenas,” but is warning of a “significant security risk to Sheriff’s Office law enforcement data” if the routers are released. Continue reading.

Justice Department: Arizona Senate Audit, Recount May Violate Federal Law

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday expressed concerns that a controversial audit and recount of the November election in Arizona’s Maricopa County may be out of compliance with federal laws.

Pamela Karlan, the principal deputy assistant attorney general with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, wrote in a letter that federal officials see two issues with the election review ordered by the Republican-led state Senate. 

One issue is that ballots, voting systems and other election materials are no longer in the custody of election officials — a possible violation of federal law, which requires state and local election workers to store and safeguard federal voting records. Continue reading.

‘It should alarm every American’: GOP secretary of state rips her own party’s election ‘audit’ in Arizona

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On CNN Wednesday, Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, a moderate Republican, tore into the Arizona GOP’s ballot “audit” scheme in Maricopa County, and warned it would set a dangerous precedent for the integrity of elections.

“Madam Secretary, you see like flashing, you know, red warning signs and sirens here based on what’s happening in Arizona,” said anchor John Berman. “Why?”

“Well, because we’re witnessing an event that has absolutely unprecedented movement in elections,” said Wyman. “We’ve never seen a private company be able to come in and take command and control of live ballots that were used in an election, and the precedence of this is just unnerving for election officials across the country. And it should alarm every American in the country because we don’t want people to be able to just walk into a crime scene and contaminate evidence for a future trial. That’s what this is.” Continue reading.