As was easily predicted, both Biden and Trump supporters received the results of the Arizona Senate’s audit of the Maricopa County 2020 general election as confirmation of their beliefs. Those who think Trump won, remain convinced that the election was stolen from him, Biden supporters still think it was a waste of time, effort, and money.
In the business world, audits are a way of life. People in charge are expected to account for every penny. The only time there is a problem is when the personnel in charge have been misbehaving. Accounting for votes should not be any different than accounting for pennies. The Maricopa BOS could have accepted the audit and taken the position that if any problems were found, they would be the first to support corrective action. Instead, they took a belligerent position and fought the audit every step of the way. Now we know that the suspicions raised by their opposition were well founded, because they had plenty to hide.
One of the two major calls for action by those who are dissatisfied with the results of the audit is that the election be decertified, but that is not likely to happen. We spent 9 months wrangling over this and we still do not have convincing evidence, and spending another 9 months is not likely to deliver different results.
The other call to action demanded is to convene a special session of the legislature to deal with this issue, but that is also not likely to happen. It appears that the governor has no intention of calling a special session and the supporters of such action at the legislature do not have the votes to force it. Perhaps more important, if such a session were to take place, it is doomed to failure because of the current composition of our legislature. The Democrats have proven beyond any doubt that they will not vote for any meaningful election reform. On the Republican side, more than one legislator has indicated opposition. Unless ALL Republicans vote for it in both chambers, any such legislation will fail. This would be a tremendous waste of time and resources that could be better used in other ways.
So, should we fold our tent and go home with our tails between our legs? Not at all. Even though we are limited on what can be done immediately, there is still a lot that can be done both short term and long term.
One positive result of the audit is that it has exposed the level of corruption in the Maricopa Board of Supervisors. Whether that corruption is the result of incompetence of malice, the fact is that it exists, and it should be addressed.
As concerned citizens, our short-term activity should be to contact the members of the Maricopa BOS and request that in the future they begin obeying the provisions of the law and the elections procedures manual. Even more important, we should contact our Attorney General’s office and request that these provisions be enforced, and legal action be taken when the BOS fails to comply. Actually, some legal action is already warranted because of past BOS violations. Here is a partial list of topics to address:
- Signature verifications
- Voter rolls updates
- Handling of duplicate ballots
- Ballot chain of custody
- Voter eligibility
- User names and passwords
Regarding long-term activity, the first action to take is to encourage our state legislators to introduce and enact legislation to improve our ability to have fair and open elections. However, during the next (2022) session, we will suffer the same malady that we suffer today, namely having only one vote Republican majority in each chamber. Under that scenario we are likely to encounter the same challenge trying to get 100% support from all Republicans.
Another long-term goal should be to be a player in the redistricting process. We should make sure we reverse the shameless, Democrat-favoring gerrymandering that took place in 2011.
Finally, we should work hard to elect true conservatives to both the legislature and the boards of supervisors.
For those who wish to take positive actions now, here is a list of emails and phone numbers for the Maricopa BOS and the AZ Attorney General’s office.
Maricopa BOS:
Jack Sellers jack.sellers@maricopa.gov 602-506-1776
Bill Gates bill.gates@maricopa.gov 602-506-7562
Clint Hickman clint.hickman@maricopa.gov 602-506-7642
Steve Gallardo steve.gallardo@maricopa.gov 602-506-7092
AZ AG:
Email can only be done by going to https://www.azag.gov/contact-us
Phone numbers;
Phoenix 602-542-5763
Tucson 520-628-6504
Prescott 928-778-1265