UPDATE: Both the Arizona Attorney General’s office (read here) and the Secretary of State (read here) issued informal opinions today confirming that Arizona statute does not prohibit a hand count audit. Chair Bronson has approved Supervisor Miller’s request for a Special Meeting to be held. According to Miller, she and Valadez will be in attendance and the Clerk of the Board needs one more supervisor to confirm attendance and the meeting will be held October 21st at 2:00 p.m. The meeting will only be regarding two items: 1. Hand count audit of upcoming election and 2. Approve appointee Karen Schutte to the Accuracy Certification Board for Elections.
On October 18, the Pima County Republican Party Chairman Bill Beard contacted the Pima County Supervisors’ Chair Sharon Bronson and her fellow supervisors Ray Carrol, Ally Miller, Richard Elias and Ramon Valadez with concerns about the cancellation of the Board of Supervisors’ meeting this coming Tuesday, October 20, 2015. Supervisor Miller first raised concerns about the legal issues impacted by the sudden cancellation.
In his email Beard reminded the supervisors that “one of the items on this meeting agenda was to provide the opportunity for the Pima County Board of Supervisors to complete the appointment of the members of the Accuracy Certification Board. The Logic and Accuracy Testing is required to be completed prior to ANY election conducted by Pima County.” According to Beard the accuracy certification board needs to be appointed by the Board of Supervisors. Beard noted in his email that “without the appointment of two members of opposite parties the board cannot conduct the certification.”
Beard pointed out that because of the resignation of Republican Benny White as his Party’s representative on the board, “the Accuracy Board cannot conduct it’s lawful duty and calls into question the legality of any election Pima County would conduct on November 3, 2015.”
Beard called on the supervisors to hold an Emergency Meeting in order to “fulfill it’s responsibility under the Arizona Constitution to make the appropriate appointment of Karen Schutte, my appointee to the Accuracy Certification Board as soon as possible and prior to any tabulation of votes in this election.”
Beard concluded his email, “I cannot stress to each of you the importance of the political party oversight to our entire election process. Our state constitution separates the duties and responsibilities to conduct elections among several office holders but also requires that the election is to only occur when there is adequate outside observation of every step of an election. Without adequate certification of the testing equipment (hardware and software) NO election may occur. It is your duty to make the appointments to the Accuracy Certification Board before the November 3, 2015 election.”
It is believed that the Board of Supervisors and Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry cancelled the meeting in order to avoid a vote on another agenda item brought forth by Miller who had requested informal opinions by the Arizona Secretary of State’s office and the Arizona Attorney General’s office as to the legality of a hand count audit of the ballots cast in the upcoming election.
The meeting was purportedly cancelled because Sharon Bronson (District 3), Supervisor Carroll (District 4), Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry and Deputy County Administrator John Bernal are joining officials from Sun Corridor Inc., (formerly TREO) in Washington D.C. next week to meet with members of Congress and Obama Administration officials.
Huckelberry hopes to block the possibility of holding verifiable elections, according to sources. He had made the claim that a hand count audit was illegal. Miller then asked the Secretary of State Michelle Reagan and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich to weigh-in on the legality question.
A hand count audit is a relatively simple procedure. According to the Secretary of State’s manual: the County Officer shall: (1) conduct a hand count at one or more secure facilities of at least two per cent of the precincts/polling locations in that county or two precinct/polling locations, whichever is greater; (2) conduct a manual audit of early ballots equal to one per cent of the total number of early ballots cast or 5,000 early ballots, whichever is less, and (3) in the event of a recount, conduct a hand count of at least five per cent of the precincts for the recounted race in that county. The hand count activities will take place in one or more secure facilities.
“Citizens of Pima County deserve a handcount audit as requested in a unanimous vote by the election Integrity Commission. It is incumbent upon the Board of Supervisors to ensure the electorate of Pima County is confident in the integrity of our elections given the controversy surrounding previous elections.” (Specifically as related to the 2006 RTA election which was litigated all the way to the Supreme Court) “A hand count audit as recommended in the Board of Supervisor meeting on October 6th, 2015 must be conducted to reassure the voters that supervisor’s understand and care that every citizen is confident their vote counts. It is unimaginable that any supervisor or the County administrator woud object to the handcount audit,” said Miller.
Related articles:
Bronson, Carroll Move To Thwart Verifiable Pima County Elections