Wright’s Commitment To Election Integrity Is As Strong As Her Discernment

hamadeh and wright
Abe Hamadeh and Jen Wright

While Democrats sit back with tubs of popcorn, a handful of outside agitators and ill-informed activists are attacking the bona fides of the lawyer Abe Hamadeh is relying on to have every vote count in his election challenge.

And why is Jennifer Wright being attacked? Apparently, the Twitter trolls question whether she is conservative enough despite her vast experience in election law. Or her past jobs working for Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Verify the Vote Arizona, not to mention her early association with True The Vote.

The attacks also ignore Wright’s strong public support of Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, a touchstone for Arizona Conservatives. And her prior volunteer legal work for the Arizona Republican Party and her candidacy for Phoenix mayor as a Tea Party candidate in 2011.

Yet Wright has been accused by a small but apparently organized group who contend she refused to review evidence of criminal election fraud while working for Brnovich. Some also accuse her of approving lenient plea deals in election-related prosecutions.

The only problem is that Wright’s position at the attorney general’s office was limited to civil matters. Interjecting herself into the activities of the criminal division would have been an ethical violation.

Others have put forth accusations against Wright for “withholding evidence” of election misconduct with no specification as to what evidence she allegedly withheld or from whom she withheld it.

There is also allegations, often from Twitter accounts with only a handful of followers, that Wright’s past work on election integrity issues has been “insincere.”

It hit a nerve, and Wright recently decided to defend her professional reputation and personal honor.

“Suggesting I have been faking my commitment to election integrity efforts for more than a decade is actually just laughable,” Wright stated. “Those who have met me know my heart. And given how I started speaking on these issues statewide back in 2011, I have met a lot of Arizonans.”

Wright has been surprised by the vague public accusations, especially from fellow Conservatives with whom Wright believed she was engaging with in legitimate debate.

“United we’ll stand. Divided we fall,” she tweeted in response to some of the attacks. But Wright added that ultimately she does not seek approval of man, only the approval of God.

“He certainly knows my heart. Ultimately I answer to Him,” Wright noted. “What concerns me is the divisiveness that is ensuing.”

It is also distracting from Hamadeh’s efforts to put forth additional evidence to Judge Lee Jantzen of the Mohave County Superior Court in the challenge to Kris Mayes’ declared victory by only 280 votes.

Jantzen presided over a trial last December which ended with the judge dismissing the challenge in part for a lack of evidence. Wright was added to Hamadeh’s legal team shortly after a motion for new trial was filed in early January.

Arizonans Must Now Wait For Mohave Judge To Rule On Hamadeh New Trial Motion

One of Wright’s achievements since being retained has been the discovery of many high-propensity Republican voters who were disenfranchised when trying to vote on Election Day in the 2022 General Election. A high-propensity voter is one who was active in the last two election cycles.

A large number of high-propensity voters were forced across Arizona to cast provisional ballots in 2022, most of which were rejected. It is an issue Arizona GOP Chair Jeff DeWit is drawing attention to as well.

“In some cases, these voters were strangely registered in a county other than their county of residence without their knowledge or intent,” he noted in an opinion published by AZ Free News.

DeWit called it “imperative” that any uncounted provisional ballot be tabulated if a voter’s registration was improperly cancelled. It is a position supported by the Republican National Committee.

But no matter what happens in Hamadeh’s case, Wright hopes people will be discerning about why someone would want to attack a Conservative attorney with experience in elections matters.

“Notice who is sowing discord & who is uniting,” she tweeted. “Ask why many relatively new to election integrity are attacking veterans like me?”

Wright followed that comment with another, citing the importance of Conservatives working together.

“Going into 2024, we need a united front of election integrity advocates ensuring the free and fair administration of the presidential election,” she tweeted, referencing several Bible verses. “Seek out those building consensus and working towards productive pursuits. We cannot save our Republic if we are engaged in petty disputes.”

Jantzen is expected to rule soon on whether a new trial will be conducted.

The connections Wright has made over the years within Conservative circles could explain an effort by someone on Mayes’ staff to publicly impugn Wright’s reputation.

In early January, a member of Mayes’ administration provided false information about Wright to an Arizona Republic reporter. The result was an article stating Mayes had “ousted” and “removed” Wright from her position as head of the attorney general’s election integrity unit.

The Arizona Republic later updated the article with a “corrections & clarifications” note confirming Wright actually submitted her resignation effective Dec. 31, two days before Mayes was even sworn in.

In addition, a Mayes’ spokesperson had to admit there was never any direct communication with Wright about the fact her services were not desired. And the spokesperson admitted Wright’s office was cleaned out before Mayes’ staffers arrived.

It was an attack from the left that Wright took in stride. But the recent attacks are coming from people she believed shared her political goals.

“Red-herrings are used by pied pipers to attract a following through false promises and lead good people to their own demise,” Wright warned. “Be wary of pied pipers selling salacious stories meant to distract you from real, tangible, credible issues.”

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