PHOENIX—The chairman of a state Senate committee is requesting that Maricopa County officials produce a series of lists of documents and records related to the just-completed general election.
And Senate government committee chairman Kelly Townshend wants them by Monday morning.
Some of the information she wants to turn over to the Senate has already been addressed by either county registrar Stephen Richer or her Republican, county oversight board chair Bill Gates. This includes a list of Vote Centers that have had trouble receiving votes by their counters and the “exact reason for the problem”.
County officials said some field-produced ballots (necessary because voters could go to any polling place) weren’t dark enough due to problems with some printers and were not tabulated. It states that the scanner was unable to read and align the marks. .
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Townshend, an Apache Junction Republican, also wants to know the names of voters who checked into vote centers on Election Day, withdrew their early ballots, but whose ballots have since been voided. She is requesting similar information for people who checked in at her second polling place after having problems with their ballots at her first polling place.
She believes the county is required by law to do everything from matching the number of ballots cast against the number of people checking in to following rules to maintain an uninterrupted chain of custody of ballots. I would like to certify that I followed the steps in
And I would like to know the details of how and by whom the printer was set up.
All this happens as Townsend prepares to leave Congress at the end of the year. She lost the primary to R-Flagstaff Senator Wendy Rogers, whom she had to face after the Independent Re-election Commission placed them in the same district.
Parliament will not resume until January 9th.
But Townsend told Capitol Media Service that her commission could still meet to review what the county produces.
“There are a lot of questions I asked,” Townsend said. “They told me to make a public records request and get in line.”
She said that wasn’t an acceptable answer, especially after asking for information after the August primary, filing a request for public records, and finally receiving a $300 bill from the county.
“So I took the subpoena route,” she said.
Townsend also said the information she seeks is “time sensitive.”
The state is set to “investigate” the election results on December 5th. Under state law, you have five days to file an appeal.
However, for the challenge to succeed, proof of either ‘bad votes’ or ‘wrong counts’ declaring the wrong person the winner is required.
One challenge has already been raised by Republican Attorney General candidate Abe Hamade. His lawyers say there were enough mistakes to make up for the 510-vote lead tallied by Democrat Chris Mays.
But whatever is discovered by Townshend and her commission could provide the bait for losing Republican governor hopeful Kari Lake.
In the final tally, Lake trailed Democrat Katie Hobbs by 17,116 votes. But Lake has refused to concede, and allies like Republican Rep. Paul Gosser are calling for a “redo” of the election, which does not appear to be a legal option.
It’s unclear if the county will meet Townsend’s deadline.
County spokesman Jason Berry said the oversight board clerk didn’t formally receive the subpoena until 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, with Thanksgiving on Thursday and the county opening on Friday. “But we do our best,” Berry said.
There is no doubt that legislative subpoenas are legal and enforceable.
Arizona Senate Speaker Karen Huang, R-Prescott, summoned access to various election records and voting equipment after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. and asked a judge to determine whether the subpoena was legally valid.
The case was eventually settled with the overseer acknowledging the authority of the Senate.
Ms Townsend said the information she seeks is critical to Congress’ role in crafting new election laws.
“We have to assess what happened,” she said. “I don’t know how to propose a law if we don’t know what happened.”
Townsend said the issue “completely undermines the trust that remains.”
“Now we are the laughing stock of the whole country,” she said. “Just because I’m not here[with the new Congress]doesn’t mean I’m not obligated to ask questions now.”
Townsend isn’t the only one seeking immediate answers from officials in the state’s largest county.
Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovic also resigned at the end of the year, submitting his own list of questions and asking county officials until Monday for answers.
Howard Fischer is a veteran journalist who has been reporting since 1970 and has covered state politics and legislatures since 1982. azcapmedia@gmail.com.
