Pima County residents finally have the answer they wanted and expected; verifying elections is not illegal. In an emergency meeting on Tuesday of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, that simple truth was officially recognized when Supervisor Ally Miller’s request to conduct a hand count audit of the upcoming election results was approved in a 4 – 0 vote.
Supervisor Richard Elías was absent due to the death of his father.
The move is a big step forward in the fight to ensure that election fraud is more difficult – if not impossible. It was not the last step however, as there is still a demand for a more complete audit. The language of the motion, based on existing State law, only grants a 4 percent audit of the votes cast in by precincts and a 1 percent audit of votes that were cast in the Vote by Mail batch.
To put that in perspective consider this: you have 20 percent of the vote that was cast in the election itself where nearly 80 percent of the vote cast by mail will not be audited at all. That limitation left more than a few individuals in the meeting room planning out another step rather than enjoying the victory that was granted to the citizens.
John Brakey, founder of election integrity organizations AUDIT-AZ and COVE, has already gone to work on a new proposal for the supervisors to consider. Brakey is challenging the Board to make all ballots public record. Brakey says he has seen in the past that digital copies of voter cards can be easily changed and edited to work for whoever is in a position of power during an election. Making sure that every hard ballot is accounted for rather than relying on a digital copy of it is key according to Brakey.
“Now 80 percent of the vote really could have problems because you can steal with impunity in the 80 percent because when they do the 1 percent check on the 80 percent they’re pulling batches that are meaningless,” Brakey explained after the supervisors’ vote. “Basically we’re not satisfied. We are very disappointed that they did not take the recommendation that we had a year ago from their own board,” said Brakey referring to the recommended audit process approved by Pima County Election Integrity Commission.
Another person who has their qualms with the decision is Gini Crawford, chair of Taxpayers Against Pima Bonds. Crawford says she intends to join the fight with Brakey. Still, the appointment of Karen Schutte to oversee the election for the Republican Party gave Crawford hope for a verifiable election. Prior to Schutte’s appointment and the decision to allow a hand count audit, Crawford and the rest of the volunteers against the bond were ready to “quit this election”.
“I am ready to quit. All of us volunteers, all of us have worked hard against this bond. We’re all ready for it to be an election we can verify so we can feel that we can quit this election and feel good about it,” said Crawford. “We’ve all worked hard, both sides, and we just want a fair election and we all want to feel like it was fair, and that it is over and done with and that the voter’s had their way.”
Joining the fight is candidate for District 4, Marla Closen. Closen is running against incumbent Supervisor Raymond Carroll, who has not been an advocate for verifiable elections. According to Closen, if the public loses the right to have free and fair elections, they lose their country. For Closen, the Board vote was a step in the right direction, but only the first step.
“If I make it onto the Board someday I would most assuredly support verifiable elections. That would include hand counting, checking the machines and I do also support ballots becoming a part of the public record,” said Closen. She would also advocate in her role as a supervisor up at the State Capitol to end ballot harvesting. “I wish something could be done about that too.”
Brakey is hoping to put the matter of making ballots part of the public records before the supervisors as soon as possible. While the supervisors may think they quelled the demands for transparency, the push is on for undeniably verifiable elections.
Read the Arizona Attorney General’s office (here) and the Secretary of State’s opinion (here)
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