Maricopa County officials announced their intent to hire former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor to lead an investigation into the printer issues that affected roughly one-third of the county’s 223 voting centers, disenfranchising voters on Election Day.
Supervisors Bill Gates and Clint Hickman advised the public of the investigation in a tweet on Friday.
According to the supervisors, Justice McGregor “will hire team of independent experts to find out why the printers that printed ballots well in the August Primary had trouble reading some ballots on Election Day last November.”
While the announcement was applauded by some election integrity experts and elected officials, skepticism remains due to the County’s denials that voters were disenfranchised and multiple versions of what went wrong, and why, offered up on social media platforms and in a court of law.
“With confidence in Arizona’s Election process waning due to the types of preventable errors that have plagued Maricopa County and others, an independent review is essential. I’ve always supported a second look into the election process and support this effort to try to repair the people’s faith in Arizona’s voting system. We cannot continue to have the damaging effects to our Democracy that we have seen over the last couple election cycles continue with a “promise” to do better,” said Cochise County Recorder David Stevens.
“I applaud Maricopa County’s decision to make a truly independent review of the 2022 general election. Nothing is more important than restoring public confidence and trust in our elections. That won’t happen by having people check their own work. Outside scrutiny is critical. Our elections must be transparent, trackable, and publicly verified,” Senator-elect Ken Bennett, who is also a former Arizona Secretary of State, told the Arizona Daily Independent.
“An independent and thorough review of all issues regarding the General Election problems in Maricopa County is a positive step for Election Integrity. Justice McGregor should be given access to all aspects of the 2022 General Election processes in Maricopa County. This should also include the full cooperation of the staff as well. This is a wise step. I look forward to her findings,” said election integrity expert Bill Beard.
“The Maricopa County situation Highlights the problems that we have with our elections and the need for both elected officials and bureaucrats to ensure that everything is done to make sure every vote is counted,” concluded Beard,” who served on Pima County’s Election Integrity Commission for over 6 years.
“When has the county ever not circled the wagons and insisted that everything was fine?” asked one skeptical county resident, who added that he was certain the supervisors had selected McGregor because they knew she would “play ball” with the County. “At the end of the day the final report will make it seem like nothing more than innocent errors took place, no blame will rest with the Supervisors, and they will claim no one’s vote was lost. I mean, how seriously can you take a press release that says they are going to investigate why printers had trouble reading ballots? Printers don’t read ballots, they print them!”
NEW: Former AZ Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor will lead independent investigation into Election Day printer issues. We look forward to her findings. Statement ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/mOhkWideou
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) January 6, 2023
Although Maricopa County claims all legal ballots were counted, data indicates that the printer problems and misinformation shared by County officials on Election Day about finding a voting center with working printers, led to legal votes being misidentified.
The votes are a factor in a case brought by Abe Hamadeh, the Republican candidate for Arizona Attorney General. Hamadeh has asked a Mohave County judge for a new trial in his election challenge, based in part on critical evidence withheld from Pinal County which attorneys believe would have led to a closer look at Maricopa County’s uncounted votes.
During the statutorily required recount in the attorney general’s race, Pinal County election officials discovered a serious error that cause hundreds of legal votes to go uncounted. The discovery and resulting remedy led to the narrowing of the split between Democrat Kris Mayes and Republican Abe Hamadeh, from 511 to only 280 votes.
Maricopa County Cites Voters’ Ability To Cast Ballots, Ignores Whether Ballots Were Counted