While some politicians, voters, and groups suggest the problems in Maricopa County were the result of intentional sabotage, one organization committed to promoting election integrity is focusing instead how gross negligence on the part of county officials led to avoidable problems which need to be thoroughly investigated to ensure they do not occur again.
“Maricopa County dropped the ball. They botched the election, and there is simply no way for politicians to gaslight their way out of it,” the Arizona Free Enterprise Club said in a recent statement. “Rather than taking accountability for their failures, they have rubbed their incompetence in the faces of frustrated voters, smugly downplaying their failure and patting themselves on the back, asserting that they made a ‘remarkable effort.’”
There is currently a pending election investigation underway at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, as well as two election challenge lawsuits and a State Senate subpoena related to how and why 70 of Maricopa County’s 223 voting centers had printer problems that provided Election Day voters with ballots that could not be read by on-site tabulators due to inadequate timing marks.
The question of what, if anything, can be done about Maricopa County’s Election Day problems will be the focus of courtroom and legislative arguments leading up to the Dec. 5 statewide canvass, if not beyond.
Hamadeh, RNC File Suit Over Election Mismanagement In Arizona
“We understand that awaiting legal remedies is frustrating, but that is the only mechanism in place under state law and the constitution for contesting election results or to challenge the illegal activities that occurred on election day,” the AFEC statement notes.
On Election Day, Maricopa County officials redirected attention from the tabulating problems by recommending impacted voters simply put their untabulated ballots into Door 3 of the tabulator. This would require the ballot to be tabulated later at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center.
But as AFEC pointed out, the Door 3 option had its own problems, as election observers at two voting centers reported some untabulated Door 3 ballots were mixed with ballots that were already tabulated. This “mixing” required a special reconciliation process, according to Maricopa County Board Chairman Bill Gates, whose advice about the printer problem on Election Day morning led to another problem.
The printer problem also reportedly caused some Maricopa County voters to give up and leave without casting their ballot. And it likely prevented a few hundred voters from having their lawful ballots counted after they left their original voting center -per Gates advice- to vote at another location.
In many instances, the voter arrived at the second voting center where they were told they could only complete a provisional ballot because the county’s database showed the voter had previously been checked in. To election workers, this meant the voter had already been given a ballot that was presumed to have been tabulated and thus their provisional ballot cast at the second location cannot be counted.
The unreliable ballot count and apparent exclusion of some Election Day voters’ ballots will also play a significant role in the upcoming recount process mandated under Arizona election laws.
Three state races will be subject to a recount once all 15 counties complete their canvass. One of those races is for Arizona Attorney General, with the two candidates roughly 500 votes apart.
Counting Of Arizona Votes Complete, Three Automatic Recounts Required
“The outcome in these close races will likely hinge on what is uncovered and discovered through litigation. And with it, hopefully some remedy will be provided for the disenfranchised voters on election day,” AFEC noted.
In the meantime, the AFEC statement reminds voters and Maricopa County officials that the printer – tabulator fiasco was completely preventable with proper training and testing. Instead, Maricopa County voters were disenfranchised and the county’s handling of a major election once again came under ridicule while election officials like Gates and County Recorder Stephen Richer spent time “hosting press conferences and trolling people” on social media.
AFEC is also raising awareness to the apparent conflict of interest in actions by Richer, who oversees voter registration and early balloting, in the creation of a political action committee to campaign against candidates running in elections he oversees.
Richer’s PAC Finance Report Renews Questions About Conflict And Funding
Together with the Election Day tabulation issues, AFEC points out that Maricopa County’s “catastrophic failure” has only solidified a lack of trust in the election system.
“All eyes were on this election. Everyone knew it would be contentious, that key races would be close, and that record levels of Republican voters would show up to vote in-person on election day,” AFEC noted. “Given this, one would think election officials would go above and beyond to ensure every minute detail was ironed out so that the election process was beyond reproach.”
MORE ON MARICOPA COUNTY ELECTION WOES:
AZ AG Demands Answers From Maricopa County Regarding Election Day Voting Failures