Arizona Attorney General Confirms No Enforcement of 1864 Abortion Law Until June

Kris Mayes

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes confirmed on Tuesday her office will not enforce the 19th century abortion law recently upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court until at least June.

Mayes said in a video posted to the attorney general’s account on X clarifying that the law is slated to go into effect on June 8. Calling the ruling “outrageous,” Mayes also confirmed she is “working on a plan to fight back” against the abortion ban.

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Elections Analysis Delivers Bad News for Arizona Republicans Following Landmark Abortion Ruling

Jaun Ciscomani and Kari Lake (composite image)

A nonpartisan elections analysis announced two rating changes on Wednesday that endanger Republicans for competitive races in the battleground state of Arizona following a ruling that imposed a near-total abortion ban.

The Arizona Supreme Court decided on April 9 that an 1864 law, which allows for abortion only when the life of the mother is at risk and makes performing or helping procure the procedure a crime, can take effect. The ruling, which has supercharged the issue of abortion in the swing state, prompted Sabato’s Crystal Ball to move the expected Senate matchup between Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake to “Leans Democratic,” as well as shifting GOP Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s reelection bid to “Toss-Up.”

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Poll by Progressive Group Claims Republicans Divided over 1864 Arizona Abortion Law

Abort the Court

A progressive polling firm released data on Tuesday that claims Republicans are divided over the decision by the Arizona Supreme Court to enact a 19th-century law that bans most abortions, including in the event of rape or incest.

Pollsters at Data for Progress asked likely U.S. voters whether they approve of the state Supreme Court’s decision to ban all abortions “with exceptions only for when the life of the mother is in danger” and with “no exceptions for pregnancy resulting from rape or incest.”

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Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers Says Squatter Bill Has ‘Teeth’ and ‘Puts the Power Back in the People’s Hands’

Wendy Rogers

State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) said squatters are a “real problem” in Arizona and explained how her bill, SB 1129, returns power to homeowners. An amended version of the legislation passed in a House vote (39-19) recently and is awaiting further action since its return to the Senate.

“Squatters in homes in Arizona is becoming a real problem,” Rogers said.

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Arizona Republicans Scramble to Counter Abortion Amendment Proposal

Arizona State House Speaker Ben Toma at a March for Life event

Republican lawmakers in Arizona are trying to fast-track ballot initiatives to counter an abortion amendment that will likely be in front of voters this fall, according to Axios.

Activists have been working to get an amendment on the ballot that would enshrine abortion as a right in the state’s constitution and in April, proponents of the measure claimed that they had enough signatures to get the proposal on the ballot in November, according to NBC News. GOP state representatives, however, are considering a series of initiatives that would protect the legislature’s ability to limit abortion and enshrine a law restricting abortion to before the first day of the 15th week of pregnancy, according to Axios.

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Kari Lake Tops $4 Million in First Fundraising Quarter of 2024

Kari Lake campaign

Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake of Arizona brought in $4.1 million in the first fundraising quarter of 2024, her campaign announced on Sunday.

Lake’s haul is roughly twice as much as she raised in 2023’s last fundraising quarter, and she now has $2.5 million in cash on hand, according to her campaign. The Republican’s opponent, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, announced on April 2 that his campaign topped $7.5 million in the first fundraising quarter with more than $9.6 million in the bank.

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Arizona Democrats Katie Hobbs, Ruben Gallego Conflicted on Whether Lawmakers Should Repeal 1864 Abortion Law

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Rep. Ruben Gallego

Two of Arizona’s most high profile Democrats have publicly disagreed about the correct course of action after the Arizona Supreme Court approved a 19th century law that effectively bans most abortions.

In a Friday appearance on The View, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs urged the Arizona State Legislature to immediately repeal the 1864 law that predates Arizona’s statehood.

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Arizona Republican Party Joins Two Other State GOPs Filing an Amicus Curiae Brief in Kari Lake’s and Mark Finchem’s Voting Machine Tabulator Lawsuit

Attorney William Olson

The Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) submitted a joint Amicus Curiae brief on Thursday with the Georgia Republican Party and the Republican State Committee of Delaware supporting Kari Lake’s and Mark Finchem’s Petition for Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. The pair are appealing the lower courts’ decisions against their lawsuit challenging the use of electronic voting machine tabulators in elections. Under the new leadership of AZGOP Chair Gina Swoboda, who has a lengthy history in election integrity work including heading the Voter Reference Foundation, the AZGOP is heavily focused on election integrity. 

Authored by attorney William J. Olson, the brief argues that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals erred by dismissing the case claiming Lake and Finchem lacked standing. The court affirmed the trial court’s granting of the defendants’ motion to dismiss, asserting that the pair lacked standing because “speculative allegations that voting machines may be hackable are insufficient to establish an injury in fact under Article III.” The complaint emphasized that the lower courts “conflated standing with merits, twisting the standing rules to require much more — that the complaint prove facts sufficient to grant relief.” 

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Conservative Candidate Brad Miller Running Against Election Fraud Denying Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkner

Brad Miller

Republican Brad Miller, a longtime prosecutor who served as Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marines, where he still works as a prosecutor, is challenging incumbent Pinal County Attorney Republican Kent Volkmer, an election fraud denier, for the office. Miller points to a long list of problems with the office, including mishandling criminal issues and election integrity, as reasons change is needed. 

Miller, who also practices civil law, states his principles on his website, “We must protect our borders, we must stand by and support our police, and we must safeguard our way of life.” He champions the Second Amendment, “I will protect your right to own a gun!” He said he will keep “woke policies” like ESG, “anti-American indoctrination,” and “dubious sexual education” pushed by “extreme leftist ideologies” out of education. He will “stand tall and provide a voice for parents and elected officials, allowing them to make informed decisions based on unbiased information.”

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Arizona Governor Blasted by State Rep. Pingerelli, Superintendent Tom Horne After Vetoing Bill to Limit Phones in Schools

Arizona State Rep Beverly Pingerelli, Gov. Katie Hobba

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs received rebukes from State Representative Beverly Pingerelli (R-Peoria) and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne after she used her veto power to block legislation that limited the use of smartphones in classrooms.

“There is a growing body of research that clearly links the use of wireless devices like cell phones to increased negative social harms among our youth,” said Pingerelli, who chairs the House Committee on Education and introduced HB 2793 to curtail phone use in schools.

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Arizona U.S. Reps. Gosar, Biggs Call Out Biden Administration: Grand Canyon University Is Being Targeted Over Religious Views, Political Animus

Biggs and Gosar GCU

U.S. Representatives Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) are pushing back against the Biden administration’s record $37.7 million fine of Grand Canyon University (GCU), calling the Department of Education “weaponized” in its “targeted” attack of the Christian school.

The six-term congressman told The Arizona Sun Times, on Tuesday “GCU is being targeted for its religious views and for being the largest Christian university in the country. The Department of Education should recognize GCU’s lawful nonprofit status and stop the harassment.”

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Arizona Rep. Kolodin Lauds Bill Defunding Anti-Semitic University Groups Calling for Genocide ‘Across the Finish Line’

Alex Kolodin

Arizona State Representative Alexander Kolodin (R-Scottsdale) told The Arizona Sun Times that he was “gratified” Governor Katie Hobbs signed his bill, HB 2178, into law Wednesday, enabling students to defund university clubs and organizations calling for genocide.

On Thursday, Kolodin told The Sun Times, “This is something that conservative organizations like Turning Point and my good friend Austin Smith have been working on for a number of years and it is a privilege to be the one to finally get it across the finish line. And it is especially meaningful to me, as a Jew, that we could finally address the grave injustice of Jewish students being forced to fund calls for their own genocide.”

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Election Integrity Investigator Releases New Information About Likely Manipulation of Maricopa County’s Voting Machine Tabulators in the 2020 and 2022 Elections

Ben Cotton, an IT expert proficient in forensics and digital systems analysis, issued a declaration last month about flaws with Maricopa County’s voting machine tabulators. It was included in Kari Lake’s and Mark Finchem’s latest pleadings in their complaint challenging the use of voting machine tabulators in elections. One of those findings was that unauthorized executable programs were installed on the machines at least three times during the 2020 election, which could be used to alter election results without detection.

Cotton, whose firm CyFIR was hired by the Arizona Senate in 2021 to audit the 2020 election, summarized his findings, “It is clear, based on my findings, that unauthorized programs, databases, configuration settings and actions were present on the voting systems in Maricopa County for the elections in both 2020 and 2022.”

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Kari Lake Looks to Arizona Legislature to Create Abortion Exceptions, Endorses ‘Baby Bonus’ Tax Breaks for Families

Kari Lake

U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake on Thursday released a video detailing her full position on abortion in the wake of the Arizona Supreme Court decision to enact a 19th century law that imposes a near-total abortion ban in the state.

Lake announced she opposes the ruling on Tuesday and was joined in her opposition by former President Donald Trump on Wednesday. Both Trump and Lake have suggested Governor Katie Hobbs and the Arizona State Legislature should immediately approve legislation to change the state’s abortion laws.

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Trump Joins Kari Lake in Opposition to Arizona Abortion Ruling, Suggests ‘It Will Be Straightened Out’ by ‘Will of the People’

Donald Trump Arizona Supreme Court

Former President Donald Trump joined Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake in opposition to the recent ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court that upheld a 19th century abortion law.

In a moment captured by C-SPAN, the former president told reporters on Wednesday that Arizona’s 1864 abortion law is too strict, and that any changes to the state’s abortion policy will represent the “will of the people.”

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Commentary: Lawfare Is a Threat to Democracy

America witnessed the woke’s most recent lawfare attack on Republicans a few days ago. California State Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland formally recommended that attorney John Eastman lose his law license. His license has already been placed on involuntary active status. What was this constitutional scholar’s crime? Interpreting the constitution.

The 2020 elections experienced a bewildering array of election irregularities. These concerns caused state legislators from four of the seven contested states to send letters to Vice President Mike Pence asking him to return their electors back to the states for reconsideration. John Eastman advised Mike Pence that as president of the Senate, he had the constitutional authority to allow the four states to reconsider their electoral slates. In fact, many Democrat opinions from the early 2000s supported Dr. Eastman’s position.

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Kari Lake Declares Opposition to Arizona Supreme Court Abortion Ruling, Urges Legislature Create ‘Common Sense Solution’

Kari Lake Abortion

Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake on Tuesday declared her opposition to the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling that maintains a 19th century abortion law.

Lake confirmed she is opposed to the Tuesday decision by the Arizona Supreme Court to uphold the 1864 abortion law that predates Arizona’s statehood. The ruling effectively bans elective abortions in the state, limiting them to extreme instances when the life of a mother is threatened by the pregnancy.

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Arizona Supreme Court Upholds Arizona’s 1864 Law Banning Almost All Abortions

Abortion Supporters

The Arizona Supreme Court issued a 4-2 ruling Tuesday upholding Arizona’s 1864 territorial ban on all abortion unless necessary to save the mother’s life, A.R.S. 13-3603. After the Arizona Legislature passed a law in 2022 banning abortions after 15 weeks except to save the mother’s life, A.R.S. 36-2322, Planned Parenthood challenged the older law, which was revived after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

Planned Parenthood alleged that the two laws were in conflict, so the earlier law must be struck down. After a split between the lower courts, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the law, finding that the two statutes were harmonious. The court relied upon legislative language accompanying the newer law, which said it did not supersede the earlier law. Both laws penalize the provider of the abortion, not the mother.

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U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva to Reportedly Remain in Arizona for Cancer Treatment, Expanding GOP Majority in House

Rep. Raul Grijalva

Arizona U.S. Representative Raúl Grijalva will reportedly remain in Arizona while he receives treatment following his recent cancer diagnosis.

Grijalva disclosed that he had cancer on April 2, revealing the discovery was made after he sought treatment for a persistent cough. The congressman did not reveal any medical details about his diagnosis, including the type of cancer and stage, but acknowledged that it “has been difficult to process.”

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Arizona Representative John Gillette Calls Prosecution of Elderly Cattle Rancher a ‘Travesty of Justice’

Arizona State Rep John Gillette, George Alan Kelly

Arizona State Representative John Gillette (R-Kingman) called the prosecution of an American cattle rancher accused of killing an illegal alien for trespassing on his property a ‘travesty of justice.’

Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly is on trial for reportedly shooting and killing an illegal alien from Mexico who trespassed on his property located near the border.

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Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs Appoints Former Task Force Member to Citizens Clean Elections Commission

Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission member Christina Estes-Werther

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs announced her appointment of Christina Estes-Werther to the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission on Friday, confirming the former member of her Elections Task Force will be the first new member of the commission since 2017.

Hobbs confirmed the appointment in a press release, with her office noting Estes-Werther “served as deputy general counsel for Governor Jan Brewer, state elections director under Secretary of State Ken Bennett, and as a member of the Bipartisan Elections Task Force established by Governor Hobbs in 2023.”

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Kari Lake and Mark Finchem File New Brief with U.S. Supreme Court in Voting Machine Tabulator Case After Defendants Fail to Respond

Kari Lake Mark Finchem

Kari Lake and Mark Finchem filed a Supplemental Brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, adding support for their Petition for Writ of Certiorari and Motion to Expedite asking the court to hear an appeal of the dismissal of their lawsuit to stop the use of electronic voting machine tabulators in elections. The defendant Arizona officials failed to file a response to the pair’s petition, boosting the chances SCOTUS might accept the case and implying they did not object to the statements in the petition. 

The new brief added more allegations of false representations by Maricopa County officials. It said the courts relied on their false representations when they dismissed and affirmed their case, sanctioning the pair’s lawyers. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the plaintiffs’ injuries were “too speculative” for Article III, which requires showing of an injury. The brief said the court based this determination “in part on false representations that Maricopa County performed required preelection logic and accuracy (‘L&A’) testing and used certified and approved voting system software.” The court “expressly relied on false representations that Maricopa’s elections were protected from manipulation.”

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Middle School Libraries Feature LGBTQ, Gender Ideology Books as Legislation to Allow Arizona Parents to Challenge ‘Inappropriate’ Selections Stalls

Mohave Middle School SUSD

As legislators continue discussing ways to address questionable content in school libraries, books promoting LBGTQ and gender ideology are readily available to children as young as 11 years old in a Scottsdale Unified School District middle school.

“Mohave Middle School offers 11-year-olds a book that encourages irreversible medical transition,” and that the book targets “pre-teens” and “promotes the idea that a girl can change into a boy,” Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity said in a Twitter (X) post on Tuesday.

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Arizona House Committee Warns AG Kris Mayes Against Using Tax Dollars to ‘Influence Water Policy’ and ‘Harass’ Farmers

Kris Mayes Arizona

Two Republicans in the Arizona State House announced its investigation of Attorney General Kris Mayes over using her office to advance her political career with her recent legal threat against farmers over water use.

State Representatives Austin Smith (R-Surprise) and Jacqueline Parker (R-Mesa) on Wednesday sent a letter to Mayes which they say includes requests for “public records related to recent unfounded attacks she has made on the agricultural industry, her threats to file a public nuisance lawsuit against Arizona’s farmers and using town hall events to make campaign speeches.”

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Arizona GOP Chair Gina Swoboda Secures Favorable Court Ruling Allowing Election Integrity Group to Review Voter Rolls

Gina Swoboda Courtroom

Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Chairwoman Gina Swoboda secured a favorable court ruling for her election integrity group, the Voter Reference Foundation (VRF), and will gain access to New Mexico voter roll data.

U.S. District Court Judge James Browning in New Mexico made a ruling on Friday in the case brought against that state by the VRF that was largely favorable to Swoboda’s group, with reports indicating VRF was given permission to post voter rolls online and was given access to voter information previously withheld by the New Mexico Secretary of State.

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Maricopa County Elections Official Stephen Richer Wants to Use AI in Arizona Elections

Stephen Richer

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer wants a private contractor to use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to optimize his office, according to an online advertisement seeking contractors.

The web listing, made on behalf of the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, reveals Richer “is seeking a contractor to provide a solution to improve processes around document identification, data extraction, and comparing handwritten signature images with on-file signature images by way of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).”

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Judge Orders Opening of Court Records of Arizona U.S. Senate Candidate Ruben Gallego’s Divorce Case

Rep. Ruben Gallego

An Arizona judge ordered the divorce case between Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego to be partially unsealed, ruling the decision to permanently make the proceedings private was improper, the conservative media outlet behind the legal action to reveal the divorce records reported Friday.

The Washington Free Beacon reported that Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John Napper ruled last Tuesday that the decision to seal the records in the 2017 divorce case of Ruben Gallego, the likely Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, was improper.

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Scottsdale Parents Uncover Assignments, Classroom Materials Pushing Gender Ideology on Arizona’s Children

High School students

Scottsdale parents have uncovered gender ideology propaganda used in the Scottsdale Unified School District.

Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity, a grassroots organization calling for transparency in education, has a “Parent Discoveries” page on its website, where it posts examples of gender ideology content parents have found in schools in the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD).

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Phoenix Homicides Down as Police Report Success Targeting ‘Most Violent’ and ‘Repeat Offenders’

Phoenix Police Department

Homicides in Phoenix declined in 2023, with law enforcement crediting the success of their new policy to target repeat and violent offenders.

Phoenix saw 198 criminal homicides in 2023, and police received reports of 54,472 violent and property crimes in total. The number of homicides marked an 11 percent decrease from 2022, when the city reported 223 homicides.

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State Senator Anthony Kern Holds Press Conference Blasting AZ AG Kris Mayes’ Convening a Grand Jury Against Him and Other Alternate Electors

Arizona State Sen Anthony Kern

State Senator Anthony Kern (R-Glendale) held a press conference on March 24 denouncing Attorney General Kris Mayes convening a grand jury to indict Arizona’s alternate slate of electors for Donald Trump from 2020. Reports circulated earlier in March that Mayes issued grand jury subpoenas to people connected to Trump’s attempt to find fraud in the 2020 election.

Kern, who is running for Congress in Arizona’s Congressional District 8 to replace outgoing Representative Debbie Lesko amidst a competitive field of primary candidates, began, “What’s so wrong about standing up for the rule of law and our Arizona constitutional principles, and when did that become a crime?”

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Hobbs: New Federal Funding to Prevent Street Releases Will Be Enough for Now

Katie Hobbs

Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs addressed possible concerns about lower than requested funding in the spending deal signed by President Joe Biden last week.

Hobbs, as well as Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, welcomed the news of $650 million being allocated toward the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Shelter and Services Program, The Center Square reported. However, the trio first asked for $752 million to go toward the fund, as it ends up being distributed.

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Arizona State Sen. Jake Hoffman Declares Candidacy for RNC National Committeeman

Jake Hoffman

Arizona State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) on Thursday announced his candidacy to become a Republican National Committee (RNC) National Committeeman for Arizona, pledging to be a “fearless advocate” for the interests of Arizona Republicans if selected for the party position.

“Today I am proud to announce my candidacy for RNC National Committeeman for Arizona,” wrote Hoffman in a post to the social media platform X. He declared that Americans “feel abandoned, taken advantage of, and stabbed in the back,” as well as “discarded by the political class in both parties.

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Arizona Narrowly Avoids Mass Migrant Street Releases with Federal Funding

Illegal Immigrants

Some Arizona leaders are breathing a sigh of relief as the federal government passed funding that will presumably go toward transporting migrants out of border communities or caring for them while there.

There was widespread concern about daily mass migrant street releases starting in April, as federal funding for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Shelter and Services Program was set to expire on April 1, The Center Square previously reported.

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Arizona Attorney General Reportedly Subpoenas Former Trump Opposition Researcher Whose Attorney Exposed Fani Willis Affair

Kris Mayes

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes reportedly issued a subpoena to Mike Roman, the opposition researcher who worked former for President Donald Trump and was criminally charged in the Georgia election case against the former president.

Cable news outlet CNN reported Wednesday that Roman is “being subpoenaed by prosecutors” in the “state-level probe” into the former president’s contest of the 2020 election results launched by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.

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Arizona Election Officials Report 2,000 Vote Discrepancy in Recent Primary, Predict Delays in November

People in Line to Vote

Maricopa County executive director Zach Schira claimed on Tuesday that recent changes to the state’s elections as a result of a “landmark” election integrity bill that enjoyed overwhelming support in the Arizona Legislature.

Schira told The Arizona Republic that complying with a provision in HB 2785 which requires election workers to count the number of early ballots at each polling location required an average of 30 to 45 minutes at polling locations across the state for the March 19 presidential preference election.

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Scottsdale Parents Group Launch ‘American Pride’ Project in Response to Woke Literature in Public School Libraries

School Library

Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity member Jill Dunican was interviewed on The Conservative Circus w/ James T. Harris podcast on Thursday, where she spoke about the organization’s American Pride Library initiative to donate “wholesome” and “patriotic” books to 29 schools in Arizona’s Scottsdale Unified School District.

Scottsdale Unites For Educational Integrity is a group of parents, teachers, administrators, and community members within the Scottsdale Unified School District who advocate for parental rights in education, curriculum transparency, and academic achievement. Jill Dunican is part of the organization’s parent-led launch of The American Pride Library project, which seeks to counter left-leaning ideologies by offering pro-American and age-appropriate books to its district libraries.

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Arizona State University Paid Ibram Kendi $35,000 for 60-Minute Speech

Ibram Kendi

Boston University Professor Ibram Kendi took in $35,000 for a 60-minute speech, according to a recently released contract.

Arizona State University sent the contract to The College Fix on March 20 in response to a public records request filed in October 2023. The university never responded to a November 2023 message asking for an update nor provided any other updates up until last week.

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ASU Students Earn College Credit for Helping Illegal Immigrants at Charity Accused of Aiding Border Crossings

University of Arizona faculty volunteers at Casa Alitas

Students at Arizona State University (ASU) have the ability to enroll in a program that allows them to provide support services to illegal immigrants serviced by a Catholic Charities organization in exchange for school credit.

A university website reveals that any student enrolled in an ASU Health Sciences program and some students from the ASU School of Social Work are eligible to “provide aid to migrants looking for a better life” at Casa Alitas in what the university calls the MILAGRO Collaborative.

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Parent Takes Legal Action to Preserve English as the Primary Language in Arizona Classrooms

Creighton Elementary School District

A Phoenix-area parent filed a lawsuit against Creighton Elementary School District on March 19, 2024, for using a dual language program, accusing the district of violating a law that requires students learning English to be taught in English-only classrooms throughout the school day. The lawsuit was part of a broader effort to uphold English as the primary language used in Arizona classrooms.

According to the lawsuit, parent Patricia Pellett, whose “son is a student currently studying at Scottsdale High School,” is suing Creighton Elementary School District for allegedly violating Proposition 203, which Arizona voters approved “by margin of over 60 [percent]” in 2000. The lawsuit states that the “purpose of Proposition 203 was that children should no longer be taught in bilingual or dual language classes, where they are taught part of the day in Spanish. Instead, the purpose of Proposition 203 was that children should be taught the entire school day in English, so that they would quickly become proficient in English.”

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College Republican Accused of ‘Bigotry’ for Asking University of Arizona Student Gov Candidate About ‘F*** ICE’Post

Jasmine Tafolla

It is “bigotry” to ask a student candidate why she posted “F*** ICE” on her Instagram account, according to one campus leader.

Current University of Arizona student body president Alyssa Sanchez told College Republicans President Ricky Guthridge it was inappropriate for him to question a vice presidential candidate about her immigration views. ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Federal Budget Includes Money for Groups Accused of Aiding Illegal Immigrants in Arizona

Catholic Community Services

The new federal budget signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday includes funding to continue providing shelter to illegal immigrants in Arizona, even as many were reducing operations or preparing to close after Republicans defeated a controversial immigration and foreign aid bill.

Lawmakers approved a $1.2 trillion budget to avoid a government shutdown despite opposition in the U.S. House, where the funding bill proposed by Speaker Mike Johnson received the support of 101 Republicans. A total of 112 Republicans and 22 Democrats voted against the spending bill in the House.

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Kari Lake and Mark Finchem Add Cybersecurity Experts’ Testimony About Newly Discovered ‘Artificial Control’ over the Tabulation of Ballots Using Electronic Voting Machines to their SCOTUS Appeal

Attorneys for Kari Lake and Mark Finchem filed additional pleadings last week with their Petition for Certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court, providing new evidence to their plea to the court to reconsider the lower courts’ rulings against their lawsuit to stop the use of voting machine tabulators. The new filings include a Motion to Expedite and declarations from top cybersecurity experts, who provided evidence that “overwhelmingly demonstrates” that the election results in 2020 and 2022 from Maricopa County contained “artificial control over the tabulation of ballots and the election results for the November 2020 election.” Additionally, they asserted that the county thwarted efforts to obtain the new data, which is a crime punishable by up to a year of incarceration.

The appendix to the Petitioners’ Motion to Expedite included 176 pages of new affidavits from Clay Parikh, Benjamin Cotton, and Walter Daugherity. Daugherity, who taught computer science and engineering at both the undergraduate and graduate levels for 37 years and served as a computer consultant to major firms and government agencies, including classified work, said this was his second declaration filed in the case, based on the new information from Maricopa County. That information included system log files from Maricopa County’s electronic voting tabulators in the 2020 election, and according to Parikh, “a copy of Maricopa County’s election systems database and the forensic images of the vote center tabulator memory cards used in the 2020 General Election.” 

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State Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli and State Senator Wendy Rogers Announce Felony Cybersecurity Breaches of Arizona’s Electronic Voting Systems

Sonny Borelli

State Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli (R-Lake Havasu) and State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) held a press conference on Wednesday revealing that a cybersecurity expert discovered that voting machine software used in Maricopa County’s elections in 2020 and 2022 was compromised. Borrelli said “there is probable cause” of a crime, and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell has been notified.

Borrelli said, “A few days ago I received documentation and a sworn declaration by a cybersecurity expert that examined the data from the 2020 and 2022 elections, where it has been determined that the data and the equipment had been altered. The Election Assistance Commission never approved this altered software. In Maricopa County’s previous representation that the election software is EAC certified, including to the Arizona Senate, [that was] false [testimony].”

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Third Arizona Educator in Maricopa County Arrested for Sex Offenses Against Students

Alyssa Todd

An educator in Buckeye was arrested on Wednesday was arrested for having an illegal sexual relationship with a minor student, marking the third arrest of a former Maricopa County teacher for sexual offenses against students.

The Buckeye Police Department (BPD) confirmed the arrest Alyssa Todd, who was employed as a coach and teacher at the Odyssey Institute for Advanced and International Studies (OIAIS) High School when police claim she sexually abused a 15-year-old male student.

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