Arizona Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright has written a letter to Thomas Liddy, Civil Division Chief of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office demanding answers to a host of questions about the disastrous administration of the 2022 election.
Ms. Wright’s letter lists a host of problems that we think call for a “do over” election in Arizona, especially given that the alleged winner of the election for Governor was Democrat Katie Hobbs, the current Secretary of State, and the party responsible for the near-complete breakdown of the balloting in Republican-heavy Maricopa County.
You can read some firsthand accounts of the mess as reported by attorneys monitoring the election through this link.
These complaints go beyond pure speculation, wrote Ms. Wright, and include first-hand witness accounts that raise concerns regarding Maricopa’s lawful compliance with Arizona election law. Furthermore, statements made by both Chairman Gates and Recorder Richer, along with information Maricopa County released through official modes of communication appear to confirm potential statutory violations of title 16.
Among the egregious violation of Arizona election law reported in the media and on social media Ms. Wright cited three that standout to us as clear justification to rerun the election:
Election Day Ballot-on-Demand Printer Configuration Settings: According to Maricopa County, at least 60 voting locations had issues related to some ballot-on-demand (BOD) printers having printer configuration settings that were non-uniform, which appeared to have resulted in ballots that were unable to be read by on-site ballot tabulators. Based on sworn complaints submitted by election workers employed by Maricopa County, the BOD printers were tested on Monday, November 7 without any apparent problems. Many of those election workers report that despite the successful testing the night before, the tabulators began experiencing problems reading ballots printed by the BOD printers within the first thirty minutes of voting on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. The implication of this well-documented problem is that configuration settings were changed or corrupted between testing and the polls opening.
Election Day “Check-out” Procedures: Following widespread reports of problems at voting locations on Election Day, Chairman Gates publicly stated that voters who had already checked in to e-Pollbook, but were having difficulties voting could “check out” of that voting location, and would be able to nonetheless vote in another voting location. Based on sworn complaints received by the Unit, not only have poll workers reported that they were not trained and/or not provided with information on how to execute “check out” procedures, but many voters have reported the second voting location required the voter to cast a provisional ballot as the e-Pollbooks maintained the voter had cast a ballot in the original voting location. In fact, Arizona law specifically prohibits provisional ballots to be counted when a voter has signed multiple pollbooks. See A.R.S. 16-584(D) (If the voter's name is not signed on the roster and if there is no indication that the voter voted an early ballot, the provisional ballot envelope shall be opened and the ballot shall be counted. If there is information showing the person did vote, the provisional ballot shall remain unopened and shall not be counted.) (emphasis added). The implication of this is that some otherwise legal ballots were disqualified, and some voters may have (intentionally or unintentionally) voted twice.
Ballots Deposited in Door 3 and Statutorily Required Election Board Close Out Duties: Due to the widespread problems in non-uniform printer configuration settings, many voters were unable to tabulate their ballots on Election Day using on-site tabulators. Instead, voters were instructed to deposit their ballot in “Door 3.” According to statements by Chairman Gates, Recorder Richer, and Maricopa County official communications, “Door 3” ballots were transported to Maricopa County Tabulation and Center to be tabulated by the HiPro 821 or Cannon G1130 tabulators at central count.
Maricopa County appears to have failed to adhere to the statutory guidelines in segregating, counting, tabulating, tallying, and transporting the “Door 3” ballots. In fact, Maricopa County has admitted that. in some voting locations, “Door 3” non-tabulated ballots were commingled with tabulated ballots at the voting location. Further, we have received a sworn complaint from an election observer indicating that more than 1700 “Door 3” non-tabulated ballots from one voting location were placed in black duffle bags that were intended to be used for tabulated ballots.
Pursuant to Arizona law, Maricopa County was required to complete “reconciliation of ballots cast against check ins” at the voting locations before leaving the voting location, not at central count. See A.R.S. §§ 16-564(A), -602(A), -607(A), -608(A),(B), -614, -615(A),(B), and -616; see also 2019 Elections Procedures Manual, Ch. 9 (VIII). The implication of this is that ballots were intentionally removed from precincts where there was bipartisan oversight to the central counting location where counted and uncounted ballots were comingled and where Democrat Katie Hobbs was roaming the floor supervising her Democrat staff counting the ballots for her own election.
Ample justification exists for a new election to be called based on the precedent of the similarly disastrous 2018 North Carolina 9th Congressional District election. In moving to order a new election, state election board chairman Bob Cordle cited “the corruption, the absolute mess with the absentee ballots.”
The same corruption and absolute mess justification could and should be applied to the 2022 Arizona election as well, the question is, will anyone be able to get it into a forum capable of ordering the new election?
Arizona Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright letter
Thomas Liddy Civil Division Chief of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office
Democrat Katie Hobbs
Secretary of State
Mariciopa County voting
Arizona election law
ballot tabulators
provisional ballots
Door 3 ballots
comingled ballots
printer configuration settings