Officials in Arizona’s largest county have accused a prominent Republican lawmaker of sowing doubts about safe alternatives for voters who encounter a malfunctioning ballot-counting machine on Election Day.
Maricopa County is report The polling glitch came Sunday, a day before the November election results were to be certified and a week after the state’s Republican Attorney General sought answers to widespread voting machine glitches on Election Day. Some Republican politicians and pundits were quick to capitalize on these issues to push misinformation and misinformation.
The county said in its report that a “root cause analysis” of printer problems that caused some ballot counting machines to fail to accept ballots on Election Day was still underway, but all printers “They had updated firmware, installed with uniform settings, and were using the same,” he said. Settings used in previous elections. ”
The report said voters were instructed to put their ballots in a secure ballot box (called the “door 3” option) if the counters couldn’t read it, which has been the county’s “for decades.” It is customary,” he said. However, “many prominent and influential figures have instructed voters not to leave their ballots at Door 3,” even though it is a “legal, safe and reliable” option to vote.
“As a result, some voters refused to take advantage of this viable voting option,” the report said.
and letter accompanying the reportTom Liddy, a Republican and Maricopa County Civil Affairs Commissioner, said eight other counties “had no polling machines at all” and instead had ballots transported to centralized polling stations, making elections more difficult. said it relies on a secure box. Locations are tallied for each election.
“The limited use of Door 3 ballot boxes for some voters in Maricopa County cannot be unconstitutional, but ballot box use, which is mandatory for all voters in more than half of the state’s counties, is unconstitutional. does not violate,” Liddy wrote. Reply to Attorney General’s Office.
At the time of the breakdown, election officials urged voters at polling stations where machines malfunctioned to exercise other options, such as placing their ballots in a secure box to be counted at a later date or going to another location to vote. bottom.
Former President Donald Trump’s endorsed Republican nominee for governor of Arizona, Kari Lake, and state GOP chairman Kerry Ward, among others, were prominent Twitter users who took to the platform to question the election process in the wake of the scandal. I was one of the users. Lake, who lost to Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, attacked Maricopa County officials over both Election Day technical problems and protracted ballot counting.
Maricopa County admitted last week that Bill Gates, the chairman of the county oversight board, was moved to an undisclosed location for safety after social media threats related to the midterm elections. County Sheriff Paul Penzone told reporters that he advised Gates and his family to evacuate to safety overnight because of the intimidation.
Penzone, a Democrat, called on political leaders to take more responsibility.
“There are a lot of candidates out there who say things they shouldn’t say, including those who didn’t get the results they were hoping for politically,” he said. I want you to speak up,” he said. It’s not OK against our opponents as much as they are against us. ”
