A lawsuit has been filed by an Arizona lawyer, Alex Kolodin, and an organization dedicated to enforcing election integrity laws in the case of what has become known as #Sharpiegate after his firm received over 400 complaints by Maricopa County voters, who believe that their ballot did not count.
The Kolodin Law Group and the Public Interest Legal Foundation have filed the lawsuit on behalf of Laurie Aguilera, a registered voter in Maricopa County, after the election integrity activists received approximately 400 complaints from voters.
While many believe, including the Trump campaign that the President will eventually prevail in the ballot count in Arizona, ensuring individual voters are not disenfranchised is of paramount importance to the litigants.
“Our clients deserve to have their voices heard and their votes count. This lawsuit is intended to bring into sharp focus exactly what happened to their votes and why,” Kolodin stated after the lawsuit was filed.
The Maricopa County voters’ complaint is centered around the fact that they were forced to use Sharpie brand-type markers to complete their ballots. The use of markers caused many ballots to be set aside when tabulating machines rejected them due to the bleed through of the ink.
Plaintiff Laurie Aguilera was issued a Sharpie to mark up her ballot on Election Day in Maricopa County, Arizona, despite established state procedures guiding that felt tip writing utensils not be used. Ms. Aguilera became alarmed when she noticed ink bleeding to the other side of her ballot. When instructed to feed her ballot through the counting machine, the ballot failed to be accepted and was eventually cancelled by the attending poll worker. Ms. Aguilera’s request for a replacement ballot was denied.
“These voters were denied the right to vote. Arizona election officials allegedly were part of the problem, and denial of the right to vote should not occur because of failures in the process of casting a ballot,” Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said. “We are asking that all ballots that were uncured or denied be identified and allowed to be cured.”
Earlier this year, Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes was sued by Kolodin on behalf of the Arizona Public Integrity Alliance for his decision to provide instructions to voters to cross out votes cast in error rather than requesting a new ballot. The Arizona Supreme Court sided with Kolodin forcing Fontes to remove the instruction.
Ballots with a cross out would have been rejected by tabulating machine forcing poll workers to manually process the ballots and discern the voter’s intent.
The Sharpie bleed through issue would have a similar effect.
Although Pima County officials posted a message on Facebook warning voters to not “get caught up in” the Sharpie controversy, the instructions the county sends with early ballots specifically advises voters to refrain from using Sharpie pens:
The plaintiffs seek the following from the Superior Court for the State of Arizona, Maricopa County:
–All ballots left uncured or denied due to Defendants’ supplied Sharpies be identified and allowed to be cured.
–The Court permits members of the public who were given felt tip marking devices to be present to observe the handling and adjudication of their ballots.
–A Court finding that Defendants deprived voters of their right to have their votes read and tabulated with perfect accuracy by an automatic system, or, that Defendants acted contrary to Arizona law.
RELATED ARTICLES:
#Sharpiegate Trending As Maricopa County Voters Report Cancelled Ballots
Fontes To Face Judge In Bizarre Ballot Instruction Case
Fontes Loses Ballot Instruction Case In Arizona Supreme Court
Fontes Ignores Supreme Court Ruling, Advises Voters To Cross Out Errors
“We prevailed earlier this year against Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes in our lawsuit against him for his ballot instruction, which if left unchallenged would have thrown the election into chaos, and it seems he still found a way to create chaos and confusion for voters.”
We have received hundreds of voter complaints regarding Sharpies at polling locations. Accordingly, we sent this letter to Maricopa County election officials. Let’s get some answers. Read our letter here: https://t.co/c6FSFZiNj7 pic.twitter.com/HnZ16UTTrs
— Mark Brnovich (@GeneralBrnovich) November 4, 2020
[VIEW EXECUTED VERIFIED COMPLAINT FILED IN MARICOPA COUNTY COURT HERE]