It’s no secret that the 2022 midterm election run in Maricopa County, Arizona was a total disaster. From misconfigured printers producing the wrong ballots to long queues, list of issues Sightings across Arizona’s most populous county seem endless.
And while the state’s Democratic winners were sworn into office after the 2022 election results were ratified, Arizona’s GOP governor and attorney general candidates Kari Lake and Abraham Hamade have been held accountable in some way. have not stopped trying to fulfill Countless voters disenfranchised on Election Day. Despite media blackouts and a string of legal defeats, the two Republicans are seeking legal remedies for the myriad issues that plagued the 2022 election.
governor’s race
after getting her lawsuit Judgment was handed down in the Superior Court of Maricopa late last month, with Lake submitted Separate appeals to the Court of Appeals and the Arizona Supreme Court.the former then agreed hasten her case He will be heard before a judge on February 1st.
in her suitLake said that the tallying problems experienced by Maricopa voters on Election Day were “the result of deliberate action” and that Maricopa’s election officials, as required by Arizona law, voted nearly 300,000 votes. Allegedly, there were widespread failures to maintain a series of administrative records for
On Election Day, Maricopa Will Vote Workers about 30 percent One of the county’s vote centers began reporting that each ballot counter was rejecting voters’ ballots. This resulted in long wait times and widespread confusion among voters and election officials.The margin of victory for then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs over Lake was about 17,000 votes.
[READ: Maricopa County Made Arizona’s Elections Even More Of A Disaster Than People Realize]
During a two-day trial last month, Lake’s legal team sought to prove that ballot counters refused to accept ballots because they deliberately misconfigured printer settings that did not fit the size of the ballots. .according to greatness of americaLake’s attorney found, after a “review of random ballots,” that “48 out of 113 (42.5%) were ’19-inch ballots made on 20-inch paper’ and were rejected.” Clay Parikh, a cybersecurity expert and witness subpoenaed by the Lake campaign to investigate the vote, questioned the notion that such a scenario was accidental. .
“We have seen evidence that printers are configured via scripts. This is standard in large organizations that need to run multiple systems,” said Parikh, referring to incorrect printer configuration. When asked if it could have happened, I said no. “It just happens to be.” “It eliminates human error from coding printer instructions incorrectly.”
Separately, Maricopa County claims to comply with state law, but according to court testimony and eyewitness reports from Lake’s trial, Maricopa County claims that: Violated By “failing to implement a set of governing documents on Election Day voting.”As Federalist Staff Writer Victoria Marshall reportAn employee of the Lambeck Election Service, who served as a ballot counting vendor for Maricopa County, said he received ballots in seven truckloads of ballot boxes hours after polls closed on election night.
“Arizona law requires the county registrar to document the provenance and custody of all ballots obtained,” Marshall wrote. “According to Runbeck employee Denise Marie, Maricopa County violated state law by not counting or keeping track of the number of ballots collected from each drop-box, and by posting an unknown number of ballots. [the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center] Submit to Runbeck without a CoC document. Because of this failure, there is no record of contesting or reconciling the discrepancy between Runbeck’s initial reported number of votes (263,379) and the final tally (298,942). ”
Lake as part of her suit Asked A court vacates the 2022 gubernatorial election and requires Maricopa County to hold another election “in accordance with all applicable laws and to the exclusion of all improper votes.”
Despite numerous affidavits and testimony from witnesses and election experts, Maricopa Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson said: control Regarding allegations of intentional alteration of printer settings and an improper set of administrative documents, it said, “The court has found no clear and convincing evidence of wrongdoing.”As reported by Marshall, Thompson was denied Discussion of the latter [Maricopa County’s] A claim that such a set of control documents exists, even though they failed to produce it. ”
Attorney General’s Race
Hamade’s legal battle for electoral integrity is somewhat different from Lake’s.in his original lawsuitThe case was heard in Mojave County Superior Court last month.
” [2022] The election … was plagued with certain errors and inaccuracies in the administration of some polling place operations and in the processing and counting of some ballots,” the complaint reads. “The cumulative effect of these mistakes is significant to the Arizona Attorney General’s race…”
As with Lake’s initial legal effort, Hamade’s case was dropped by Mojave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantsen. dominate Hamade’s team failed to meet its burden of proof on his claims.
The state’s first result of Hamade’s race against Democrat Chris Mays, the latter winning by 511 votes, was an automatic recount of the contest. found Hundreds of uncounted votes in Pinal County revealed Mays’ lead to be much smaller, at 280 votes. As Hamade’s lawsuit noted, it was “out of over 2.5 million votes.”
In response, Hamade, along with the Republican National Committee, filed a motion for a new trial in Mojave County. claiming The recount “raised even more questions about the actual outcome as it identified more problems in an election already plagued by process failures,” it said.
“Furthermore, unfortunately, this information… was not available to this court at the time of the trial,” Hamade’s legal team said in a statement. We have identified significant and material discrepancies that cast
Hamade’s attorney also said several Arizona election officials, including the then secretary of state and the current state governor, said Hobbs was “knowing about these important disagreements” and intended to continue until after the first trial. withheld such information.
why it matters
The success of Lake and Hamade’s legal efforts is not only essential to ensuring safe and fair elections for Arizonans. It is also important for voters’ trust in the democratic system.According to Rasmussen Research 72% of U.S. voters released weeks after the Nov. 8 election agree that the Arizona election “failed” and state voters were denied their “sacred right to vote” on Election Day and 45% “strongly agree”.
Voters aren’t the only ones unsure of the outcome of the Arizona election. According to a post-election survey conducted by the Election Integrity Network: 84 percent Maricopa County election officials and pollster respondents who say Arizona’s election results are “totally accurate and honest” say they are “totally unsure.”
“I was in Ukraine in March, less than a week into the war, and … never felt more overwhelmed than on election day in Maricopa,” said one pollster. Said Federalist last month.
Finding out the truth about what happened in Arizona on Election Day is essential if Americans are to have free and honest elections. The failure of our institutions to provide answers to voters and demonstrate true accountability further undermines public trust in the democratic process.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He has also served as his writer for state content for the Convention of States Action, and his work has been featured in numerous media outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
