Did you read the news from Cali Lake War Roomprobably would have sighed and moved on.
But this is a mainstream Arizona Capitol Times report, picked up by the non-profit news organization Votebeat.
The reporter is former Arizona Republican Jenn Fifield, well-respected for her in-depth coverage of the state’s electoral system.
of Her drawing of the Pinal County election it’s not pretty. Imagine the Hindenburg crashing into the Titanic.
At a time when everyone is misled by conspiracy theories and the belief that artificial intelligence will wipe out civilization, it’s so crazy and full of conspiracies that it manages to hold our attention.
What the heck happened in Pinal County?
Pinal County’s primary election was a disaster
The story begins after another catastrophe: the 2022 Pinal County primary. In this election, election officials mismanaged logistics so much that he overlooked the detail of supplying more than 20 constituencies with enough ballots on Election Day.
That’s a quarter of the place.
A long line formed. voters got tired of waitingVotebeat reporter Rachel Leingang at the time reported that one overseer went to a polling station and begged him not to leave.
Little did Pinal County officials know, but things were about to get worse.
Maricopa County:Election Day printer problems have nothing to do with fraud
Fast forward to the 2022 Pinal County General Election.
Aware of the August 2022 catastrophe, county officials appointed Republican Virginia Ross, who had been the county’s registrar for nearly a decade, as election administrator. They ordered her to intensify her operation.
She wasn’t cheap. As Fifield reported:
“The county paid her a lot — more than $40,000 a month leading up to the election — more than five times what directors have paid in the last two elections. If the supervisor votes yes (approves the result), she will receive a $25,000 bonus.”
Supervisor paid fixer but confused
And what did Pinal County supervisors get for their premium pay?
Bedlam.
Except when they signed off on the election and realized it had failed by mistake and incompetence, their election officials were long gone, retired, and left in the middle of nowhere in East Texas. I lived somewhere in muddy water.
Only Kali Lake made something this ridiculous.
Still, please feel free to submit this story as non-fiction.
Fifield further reports:
- “Internal evidence” indicated that “Ross botched the count by excluding hundreds of votes from the original result, enough to nearly overturn the outcome of the statewide race.”
- The new tally nearly overthrew the Attorney General’s race.
- Several out-of-state election experts weighed in on the matter and were shocked that Pinal officials “didn’t hit the brakes too soon.”
- Jennifer Morrell, founder of election consulting firm, said: Elections — to understand what happened.
Arizona Needs Answers Immediately
The story is astonishing and raises new questions about the integrity of elections in the state.
Stronger oversight is needed to restore confidence in Arizona’s electoral system.
Finally, if you’re looking for answers in East Texas, Virginia Ross did not respond to requests for comment, does not have a valid phone number or email, and has been contacted for an interview, according to county officials. Fifield reports that it cannot be obtained.
As they say in Texas, this mystery is “hotter than Billy Goat in Pepper Patch.”
Phil Boas is an editorial columnist for the Republic of Arizona.send him an e-mail phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.
