Howard Fisher
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX — One of the leading proponents of allegations of election fraud in Arizona wants “vigilantes” to monitor ballot drop boxes in the next election.
R-Apache Junction Sen. Kelly Townsend complained during an informal legislative hearing Tuesday about the Senate’s failure to ban Dropbox entirely or require it to be monitored around the clock. In fact, Townsend hopes to address the issue of potential voter fraud by eliminating early voting entirely.
But as Senate Speaker Karen Huang R-Phoenix has expressed, the 90 percent of Arizonas currently voting early — including senior citizens — may have to run for office instead. The measure could not move forward amid concerns about its impact, as expressed about communicating the Line up in the sun to vote in the August primary.
Townsend said Tuesday that even if she could line up votes to outlaw the drop-boxes in Congress, or at least call for oversight, she would not be able to do so in the Aug. 2 primary. said it was too late.
“That’s unacceptable,” Townsend said.
“It’s so nice to hear about all the vigilantes wanting to camp with these drop boxes, right?” she said to the audience’s applause.
Townsend said this would send a message to the “mules” who carry the fraudulent ballots and post them in those boxes.
Among the options, she said, are “trail cameras,” which are typically used to monitor wildlife in remote areas. But that’s only part of it.
“We’re going to put people out there to watch over you,” Townsend said.
In an interview with Capitol Media Service after the hearing, Townsend defended the call.
“If you’re committing a crime, why don’t you get a license plate?” she asked.
She acknowledged that state law allows individuals to drop off not only their own ballots, but also the ballots of people living in the same household. Moderators can also handle multiple votes.
“I don’t support intimidating people sticking grandma’s ballots to boxes,” Townsend said.
Therefore, it is up to the observer to determine whether a crime has occurred.
Ms Townsend said there have been situations where individuals drive up to drop-boxes with boxes or backpacks full of ballots, and said that in certain cases it becomes apparent. He said it was unlikely that anyone would live there.
Her comments came at the end of a presentation by True the Vote organizers to a select group of lawmakers. It’s the organization that provided Trump supporter Dinesh D’Souza with the materials for his movie 2000 Mules, and despite state laws to the contrary, multiple early ballots have been sent to Dropbox, including here in Arizona. It claims massive voter fraud from depositors.
Much of what was announced Tuesday wasn’t new and was instead from the movies. It seems that.
But there is an Arizona angle to all of this.
Gadsden Elementary School District member Guillermina Fuentes was indicted last year on ballot abuse, forgery and conspiracy charges. She is scheduled to enter into a plea deal this Thursday.
However, the argument presented by True the Vote claims that early voting and drop box problems are commonplace.
Geolocation data on mobile phones, they say, show that the same people do not have names, only electronic identification data. The organization’s founder, Katherine Engelbrecht, said it could only happen because these dropboxes aren’t monitored.
Greg Phillips, also of True the Vote, dismissed questions about whether such location data would be accurate enough to reach the conclusions his organization reached.
There appeared to be unanimous support among the members of the panel for restricting or eliminating ballot boxes. But it wasn’t part of the legislative sentiment, as only her R-Phoenix, selected by Rep. Shauna Bolick, was allowed to emcee and question the presenters.
Mr. Borik said the Democrats were left out because they were uninterested in supporting electoral reforms proposed by Republicans this year. She said they were welcome to sit in the audience, though.
But the committee she chose didn’t even include Rep. Mark Finchem of R-Oro Valley, who has pursued the issue of election fraud since the 2020 election.
Finchem told Capitol Media Services that he was pleased that Bolick had finally taken the matter seriously. He was interested in a November 2020 hearing he organized at a hotel in downtown Phoenix, where Trump supporters, including Rudy Giuliani, presented what they said was evidence of their own wrongdoing. I didn’t show the
Bolick said he didn’t go to the hearing because it was his daughter’s birthday and said that wasn’t true.
Both Finchem and Borik are running for Republican secretary of state. But she denied that Tuesday’s event was meant to give her campaign any momentum ahead of the Aug. 2 primary.
“I never question the motives of my colleagues,” Finkem replied with a smile.
There were no independent polls in the race. But Finchem has raised more cash than anyone with his $940,000, according to the latest campaign finance report.
Businessman Beau Lane made $862,000, followed by Bolick with $213,000 and Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita with $123,000.
R-Prescott Valley MP Quang Nguyen, a member of the committee, said it had given it enough thought and reached some conclusions.
“The only thing I saw at this meeting was people going to jail,” he said. “Until people go to jail, things may not change.”
Townshend added that he urged the crowd to chant, “What do we want? Prosecution. When do we want it? Now.”
Bolick said information collected from True the Vote would be turned over to Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovic, who said he was investigating election fraud.
But Brnovic may have to wait.
True the Vote board member Phillips told lawmakers the information had already been turned over to the FBI. He said it’s up to federal agencies to decide what they want to share with the attorney general.
On Tuesday, Bolick reiterated her allegations that the 2020 election was “rigged.”
She has some history on this front.
In 2021, Bollik sponsored a bill allowing the Arizona legislature to overturn the results of the presidential election. Even after counting
The bill included a series of provisions to make it easier for people dissatisfied with the election to appear in court.
However, the most common opinion is that Congress retains the final authority to decide who is a state’s presidential elector, regardless of other laws. It also stipulates that legislators, by a simple majority, can revoke the formal certification of election results and replace them with their own decisions at any time until the day a new president takes office.
Bolick said on Tuesday that it was only an interim approach and that no steps had been taken.
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