Wisconsin State Senate Votes to Sack Controversial Elections Regulator, Overrides Evers’ Tax Cut Veto

Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled state Senate on Thursday rejected Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe’s nomination to serve another four-year term, a move that normally would end the controversial regulator’s tenure in office.

But liberals are already challenging the Senate’s overwhelming vote to fire Wolfe, and the bureaucrat has defiantly said she’s not going anywhere.

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Testimony from Georgia Election Integrity Expert Continues in Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman

The fifth week of the disbarment trial of former President Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar, John Eastman, is winding down with direct and cross-examination of Garland Favorito, co-founder of Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia (VoterGA), who has extensive experience with electronic voting machines and investigating election fraud in Georgia. The State Bar of Georgia is trying to prove that Eastman gave Trump advice when he suggested that one option after the 2020 presidential election would be to have Vice President Mike Pence refuse to accept electoral slates from states suspected of election fraud or delay the certification.

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Georgia Election Fraud Expert Testifies at Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman, Casts Doubt on Biden’s Win

The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s attorney and constitutional legal scholar John Eastman continued on Tuesday, into its fifth week. Eastman’s attorney Randy Miller questioned expert witness Garland Favorito, co-founder of Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia (VoterGA), who has extensive experience with electronic voting machines and investigating election fraud in Georgia.

A former trial lawyer and evidence professor told The Arizona Sun Times that he thinks California Bar Disciplinary Judge Yvette Roland’s actions in the trial are so egregious that even the California Supreme Court — which is composed of all Democrats — may not uphold a disbarment. Instead, he thinks the court might issue a reprimand or some smaller amount of discipline. While serving on the bench, Roland donated to Democrats including California Governor Gavin Newsom.

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Berkeley Constitutional Law Professor John Yoo Testifies at Disbarment Trial of John Eastman That Vice Presidents Can Reject Electoral Slates

The disbarment trial of former President Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar, John Eastman, started its fifth week with testimony from Eastman’s star witness, Berkeley Constitutional Law professor John Yoo. The State Bar of California contends that Eastman gave Trump advice when he said one option to deal with the allegations of election fraud in disputed states was to have former Vice President Mike Pence refuse to accept the electoral slates from those states or delay their certification, but Yoo said the majority of scholarship on the issue agrees with Eastman’s position.

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9th Circuit Court of Appeals Hears Kari Lake Vote Tabulator Case

A lawsuit brought by former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake prior to the 2022 elections was heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday. Lawyers representing Lake, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D), and Maricopa County were in court at the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse in Phoenix before a panel of three judges.

Lake, alongside former Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem, brought the lawsuit on April 2022, and it was dismissed in August. By December, a district court judge had awarded $122,000 in sanctions against the attorneys for Lake and former Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem in the case, including against well known legal scholar Alan Dershowitz.

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Expert to Arizona Legislature: Kari Lake Would Have ‘Won Easily’ If Google Hadn’t Interfered in the 2022 Election

State Representative Alex Kolodin (R-Scottsdale), chair of the Arizona House Ad Hoc Committee on Oversight, Accountability, and Big Tech, held the first of a series of hearings last week investigating the impact of big tech’s election interference. The first half of the four-hour long session featured testimony by Harvard educated academic Dr. Robert Epstein, who discovered how Google influences election results. The second half consisted of testimony by First Amendment attorney James Kerwin of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, who discussed where the law is in regards to officials pressuring big tech about posts. He went over what then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ office emailed to big tech during the last election, and suggested legislation the Arizona Legislature could propose to curtail the officials. 

Kolodin said during the hearing, “It is not acceptable for the government to censor free speech simply because it acts through the private sector.” He warned that the country is in the beginning of a nascent police state … nascent totalitarian society … I go to grassroots meetings where people are afraid to speak … afraid they will be arrested.” Kolodin said some presenters who were invited to speak at the hearing dropped out due to fear. 

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Week Four of Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman Wraps Up with More Testimony About Wisconsin’s Botched 2020 Election

The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s attorney and constitutional scholar, John Eastman, concluded its fourth week on Friday, as Eastman’s team put on his case featuring their key witness, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. The Wisconsin Assembly contracted Gableman to conduct a small investigation into election fraud in the state’s 2020 election, the same issues prompted Eastman’s involvement in the election litigation in Wisconsin.

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Explosive Testimony from Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice at Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman

The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s attorney John Eastman is in its fourth week, and on Thursday the State Bar of California rested its case and Eastman’s attorney began putting on witnesses, beginning with former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. Gableman was directed by the Wisconsin Legislature to conduct a minimal investigation of the 2020 election, and he revealed numerous instances where he believed the law was broken, and had election officials referred for prosecution.

Thursday’s proceedings began with wrapping up the California bar’s case, as its attorney Duncan Carling finished his cross-examination of Eastman. He asked Eastman if the alternate slates of electors were valid, then could any private group of citizens submit slates to the vice president who would have to consider them? Eastman responded and said the difference is that in 2020, the slates were composed of electors “formally nominated by their own party,” not private people who chose themselves. He referenced a woman in Tennessee who submits her own private slate of electors regularly that gets ignored. Neither she nor her “slate” have been prosecuted or disciplined. 

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Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman Features Testimony by Progressive Michigan Secretary of State’s Spokesman

The disbarment trial of constitutional legal scholar John Eastman, who advised former President Donald Trump on challenging election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, continued on Wednesday featuring cross-examination of Eastman by the State Bar of California’s attorney Duncan Carling and testimony from Jake Rollow, who was progressive election official from Michigan.

Rollow was the communications director for the Michigan Secretary of State during the 2020 election.

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Week Four of the Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman Brings Out Reasons Judges Dismissed Election Cases

John Eastman

The fourth week of the disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s attorney John Eastman resumed on Tuesday, with State Bar of California attorney Duncan Carling continuing his cross-examination of the constitutional scholar.  The bar is trying to take away his license to practice law due to advising Trump that Vice President Mike Pence may have had the authority to reject electoral slates from states suspected of election fraud.

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Court Rules Wisconsin Elections Commission Illegally Used Voter Registration Form

The Wisconsin Elections Commission has lost a lawsuit challenging its use of an unlawful voter registration form, the latest legal problem for a controversial state elections regulator with a history of bending the law.

The lawsuit, filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) on behalf of Wisconsin taxpayer and voter Richard Braun, challenged the use of the National Mail Voter Registration Form in Wisconsin.

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Elections Expert Gina Swoboda Discusses Maricopa County Officials’ Missteps in the 2022 Election

Gina Swoboda, executive director of Phoenix-based Voter Reference Foundation (VRF) discussed election problems and what to do about them recently on the Jenny Beth Show. Jenny Beth Martin was an early leader in the Tea Party movement as co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. In this third part of a three-part series from the interview, Swoboda delved deeper into the problems that occurred during the 2022 election, many which were caused or exacerbated by election officials, and the hurdles to fixing them.

She observed that switching from precinct voting to vote centers did not increase turnout as election officials claimed it would, which they did in order to convince voters the switch would be beneficial. Republican legislators ran bills that would have made precinct voting easier, she said, like holding voting on a school holiday so the schools could be used as voting locations, but the bills were unsuccessful. 

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Election Expert Gina Swoboda Explains How the Problems Happened in Maricopa County’s 2022 Election, Condemns Officials’ ‘Gaslighting’

Gina Swoboda, executive director of Phoenix-based Voter Reference Foundation (VRF), recently discussed election problems and what can be done about them on the Jenny Beth Show. The first part of her interview in mid-August with the co-founder of Tea Party Patriots went over how VRF’s websites can be used to look through voter registrations and spot problems with the voter rolls. The second part dug into the election anomalies in the 2022 midterm election, what led to them, and how they could have been easily avoided by officials who blew off fixes.

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Former State Elections Director Under Hobbs Testifies at Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman

The disbarment trial of Trump’s attorney and constitutional legal scholar John Eastman resumed this past week on Thursday and Friday, and continues next on Tuesday, September 5. On Friday, Eastman’s attorney Randy Miller cross-examined the State Bar of California’s expert witness Matthew Seligman, an election fraud denier and attorney who serves as a  fellow at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, and former Secretary of State Elections Director Bo Dul also testified.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, posted on X regarding the proceedings, “Kangaroo court proceedings in California to disbar John Eastman, one of the nation’s leading constitutional lawyers, for daring to provide legal advice on the Biden election controversy.”

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Supporters Turn Out for Former President Trump’s Appearance at Fulton County Jail for Charges Related to Questioning the Integrity of the 2020 Election

As with his other indictments, supporters turned out for former President Donald Trump as he reported to face charges by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s grand jury for questioning the integrity of the 2020 election in Georgia, where just 11,779 votes separated Trump and Joe Biden.

Hours before Trump’s scheduled appearance at the Fulton County Jail at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, hundreds of his supporters could be found on the narrow, tree-lined streets in the couple of blocks surrounding the Fulton County government and jail facilities.

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After His Arrest in Georgia Indictment, Disbarment Hearing of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman Resumes

The disbarment trial of former Donald Trump attorney and constitutional scholar John Eastman for his role advising the previous president about challenging the 2020 presidential election resumed on Thursday after almost a two-month break caused by conflicting schedules among the parties. It was scheduled to resume on Tuesday but was postponed for two days due to Eastman’s brief arrest in Georgia as one of the 18 people along with Trump who were indicted for their efforts investigating election fraud after the 2020 election.

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Cochise County Supervisor Sues Arizona Officials over 2022 Election, Requests Decertification or Other Major Remedies

Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby, who attempted to conduct a hand count of ballots during the 2022 election and delayed the certification of election results, filed a lawsuit with another Arizonan, David Mast, against numerous Arizona officials challenging the results of the election. The lawsuit cited lawbreaking regarding signature verification on mail-in ballots, asserting that the violations resulted in “hundreds of thousands of illegal votes in all statewide results for the 2022 General Election.”

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President Trump Tells Press Pool Fulton County Arrest a ‘Travesty of Justice’ and ‘Election Interference’

Following his processing at the Fulton County Jail, President Donald Trump briefly addressed the press pool and called the events of the day a “travesty of justice” and “election interference.”

Trump scheduled his appearance at the Fulton County Jail for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, responding to the 13-count indictment from District Attorney Fani Willis’ grand jury.

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Arizona State University Joins Kari Lake’s Motion to Dismiss Stephen Richer’s Defamation Complaint Against Her

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer filed a defamation lawsuit in June against Kari Lake on June 22 over her statements alleging election fraud in Maricopa County, and now ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law  First Amendment Clinic is joining Lake in her defense. The clinic co-authored a motion to dismiss with Lake’s attorneys, which was filed on August 21. 

Jennifer Wright, one of Lake’s attorneys who previously served as the Election Integrity Unit civil attorney for the Attorney General’s Office, said in a statement provided to The Arizona Sun Times, “In 2022, the legislature strengthened laws protecting the rights of citizens to speak freely on matters of public concern. Richer’s lawsuit is precisely the kind of abuse of the legal system the law was designed to stop. I have every confidence the court will agree, and dismiss the lawsuit.” 

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AFEC Warns Arizona Secretary of State ‘Snark Doesn’t Get the Job Done’ in Dispute Over Voter Rolls

The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) warned Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) it will bring a federal lawsuit against him over his alleged failure to maintain accurate voter lists in Arizona. AFEC gave the state until November 6 to rectify these issues, or else the non-profit will launch a federal lawsuit against Fontes.

In a report stating there are more registered voters than residents, or an “abnormally high” number of registered voters, in 14 of Arizona’s 15 counties, AFEC said it sent its letter to Fontes on August 8, urging him to “take his job as Secretary of State seriously” or face legal action.

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President of Arizona Free Enterprise Club Threatens Lawsuit Against Secretary of State Over Voter Rolls With More Registered Voters Than Adults

Attorneys for Scot Mussi, the president of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, sent Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes a letter earlier this month threatening litigation if Fontes did not clean up the state’s voter rolls. Attorneys Jason Torchinsky and Dallin Holt of Holtzman Vogel said they “determined that at least four counties have more registered voters than adult citizens over the age of 18.” Apache County had the highest, with 117.4 percent, and Maricopa County was close to 100 percent with 97.8 percent.

The attorneys warned, “This letter provides statutory notice that Scot Mussi, acting as a registered Arizona voter with a substantial interest in secure elections, will bring a lawsuit against you and, if appropriate, against the counties named in this letter, if you fail to take specific actions to correct these violations of Section 8 within the 90-day timeframe specified in federal law.” In anticipation of the litigation, the letter asked Fontes and the 14 counties to “take steps to preserve documents.” 

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Latest Round of Legal Filings in Abe Hamadeh’s Election Challenge Pick Apart Arizona AG Kris Mayes’ 280-Vote Lead

Abe Hamadeh is forging ahead, challenging his 280-vote loss to Democrat Kris Mayes in the attorney general’s race, the closest statewide race in Arizona’s history. He is in the midst of challenging the trial court’s refusal to grant him a new trial after discovering that then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs withheld evidence from him prior to his trial regarding undervotes, votes that were not counted that resulted in narrowing Mayes’ lead. On Wednesday, he filed a reply to Mayes’ objections simultaneously with two amicus curiae briefs in support; one from Arizona legislative leadership and one from the America First Legal Foundation.

Hamadeh’s reply brief, primarily authored by Jennifer Wright, who previously served as the Attorney General’s Election Integrity Unit civil attorney, pointed out various contradictions in Mayes’ response. Mayes claimed that Hamadeh was “both too fast and too slow in attempting to obtain relief in this Court,” the brief stated. On the one hand, Mayes claimed that Hamadeh was causing “unreasonable delay,” yet she still asked for a regular appeals process, not a speedy one. 

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Arizona Could Be the Next State to Indict Trump, Others

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by grand juries in Washington, D.C. and Georgia over his efforts to challenge election fraud after the 2020 election, and an indictment in Arizona may be next.

As concerns spread that Arizona could soon indict Trump, Arizona Republican Party Chair Jeff DeWit denounced recent news that Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs urged Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes to charge Trump.

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Hamadeh Vows He ‘Won’t Stop Fighting’ as Top Arizona Republicans, America First Legal Rally Behind Election Challenge

Leading Republicans in the Arizona Legislature, alongside America First Legal (AFL), lodged amicus briefs on Wednesday, throwing their support behind Abraham Hamadeh’s petition to the Arizona Supreme Court for a retrial of his 2022 election contest. Hamadeh is petitioning for a fresh trial citing newly surfaced evidence, purportedly dubious rulings from the presiding Mohave County judge, and an effort to stave off protracted legal disputes over his election that could last well into 2024.

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma filed an amicus brief in support of Hamadeh on the same day AFL filed its own. Hamadeh, whose race against Attorney General Kris Mayes was the closest in Arizona history with only 280 votes now stand between the candidates, celebrated the development.

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AG Kris Mayes Asks Arizona Supreme Court to Reject New Abraham Hamadeh Trial

An attorney representing Attorney General Kris Mayes has asked the Arizona Supreme Court to refuse Abe Hamadeh’s request for a new trial for his election lawsuit contesting his purported loss, and asked the court to force Hamadeh to pay Mayes’ legal fees.

Lawyers for Mayes claimed argued that Hamadeh’s team could have worked to expedite his legal cases, has not asked the current judge for a final decision, and once acceded it did not have enough evidence to overthrow the election.

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Emails Reveal Katie Hobbs While Secretary of State Pressured Twitter and Facebook to Censor Her GOP Opponents

Newly released emails reveal that Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, while serving as secretary of state overseeing elections, had her staff pressure social media companies to censor posts by her Republican opponents under the guise of “misinformation.” Her targets included the Arizona Republican Party and former conservative powerhouse legislator Kelly Townsend.

The AZGOP responded in a tweet, “EXPOSED: @GovernorHobbs has relentlessly censored major entities, including the Arizona Republican Party. Shocked? We’re not. It’s time for transparency and accountability. This goes beyond politics—it’s a matter of principle.”

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Sens. Grassley and Johnson Say Defense Agency and Georgia Tech May have Targeted RNC, DNC Networks

U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) said an email was uncovered recently that exposed a U.S. Defense agency project aimed at targeting Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee networks.

At the core of the concerning discovery are some serious questions, including whether the Pentagon’s research arm was involved in driving false claims that Russians working for then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hacked into the DNC email server in 2016.

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RNC, Republican Party of Wisconsin Seek to Intervene in Leftist-Led Lawsuit on Illegal Absentee Ballot Drop Boxes

The Republican National Committee and Republican Party of Wisconsin have filed a motion to intervene in Priorities USA v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, an election lawsuit filed in the Badger State by attorney Marc Elias, known as the fixer for the Democratic Party and its politicians.

The original suit, filed in Dane County Circuit Court by the Elias Law Group in July, demands Wisconsin voters be once again allowed to return absentee ballots in drop boxes.

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Accusations of Fraud and Illegal Activity Pile Up Regarding Arizona’s Elections

Kari Lake and Abe Hamadeh continue to contest their election losses in the 2022 election for governor and attorney general respectively, producing ongoing new evidence of irregularities and possible wrongdoing in the election. Much of the evidence has taken months to come out, including evidence related to the problematic 2020 presidential election, due to stonewalling by Maricopa County and other government agencies at turning it over. Maricopa County mostly ignored four repeat requests for data and equipment regarding the 2020 election from Jennifer Wright, the Election Integrity Unit civil attorney for the Attorney General’s Office, who resigned at the end of 2022 and now represents Hamadeh in his election contest. 

Much of the evidence appears to show violations of the state’s Election Procedures Manual, which are Class 2 misdemeanors. While not all of the alleged violations can be described as fraud, many of them can be characterized as alleged criminal activity. Here is a look back at some of the most serious complaints regarding alleged wrongdoing during Arizona’s 2020 and 2022 elections. 

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Abe Hamadeh Asks Arizona Supreme Court for New Trial, Says Previous Trial Revealed Enough Uncounted Votes to Possibly Change Election

Abe Hamadeh filed a Petition for Special Action with the Arizona Supreme Court on Friday asking the court to consider providing him with a new trial in his election lawsuit contesting losing the attorney general’s race. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee F. Jantzen denied Abe Hamadeh’s request for a new trial in July, despite the fact Hamadeh discovered that then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs withheld evidence of undervotes in Pinal County, which led to Kris Mayes’ lead shrinking to only 280 votes over Hamadeh, making it the closest statewide race in Arizona history. Hamadeh believes up to 76,339 “undervotes” statewide were not counted in the election.

Hamadeh said in a statement provided to The Arizona Sun Times, “I stand by my commitment to keep fighting for the people of Arizona and protect their sacred right to vote. As a veteran, I took an oath to serve our country overseas, and I will continue to serve Arizona and our country. The evidence cannot be ignored — there are thousands of uncounted ballots. Although we have faced unusual roadblocks at the trial court, we are confident we will have our day in court to present the evidence and ensure that the will of the people is honored.”

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Arizona AG Kris Mayes and Other Democratic AGs File Amicus Brief Supporting Government’s Ability to Pressure Social Media Companies

Congress and First Amendment supporters have condemned the Twitter Files recently after it came out that government agencies colluded with social media companies to censor information on controversial topics that went against the government’s position. A federal judge in July barred the federal government from communicating with social media companies after two Republican attorneys general sued, but now some Democratic attorneys general, including Arizona’s Kris Mayes, are joining the lawsuit in support of the government.

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Verity Vote Issues Report on Numerous Chain-of-Custody Problems by Maricopa County During 2022 Election

Maricopa County failed to maintain chain-of-custody records for hundreds of thousands of early ballots dropped off at third-party contractor Runbeck Election Services, and a new report is out analyzing the extent of the illegal behavior, which is a class 2 misdemeanor. Election integrity organization Verity Vote issued its analysis last week.

The report observed that then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs admonished Cochise County prior to the 2022 election about deviating from the state’s Election Procedures Manual. Yet “just one month later, Hobbs chose to disregard Maricopa County’s admitted deviations from the EPM and violations of law as she oversaw and certified her own election.” Verity Vote asserted that documents “long withheld” were finally produced revealing the lack of chain of custody, and “Maricopa officials misled the court about the process and the records.”

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DOJ, Attorney General Kris Mayes Investigating Arizona’s Alternate Slate of Presidential Electors from 2020

Politically motivated prosecutors have begun charging the slates of alternate electors from the 2020 presidential election with crimes, and are now investigating Arizona’s alternate electors. Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes campaigned on a platform promising to investigate the alternate 22 Republican electors. No one has been ever charged with a crime for participating in an alternate electoral slate until now, even though there have been alternate electoral slates presented throughout history. 

Mayes said during an interview in February, “There has to be a deterrent to this happening again. We can’t have this occurring again in Arizona — or in the country.”

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New Republican Voter Registrations Continue to Outpace Democrats by over Three Times as Much in Maricopa County

Recent voter registration numbers from the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office show an increasing number of voters in Maricopa County registering as Republican rather than Democrat. Between last fall’s election and April, Republican voter registration in the county increased by 9,905 to 851,047. Democratic voter registration increased by only 2,791, less than a third as much. Republicans maintained their registration advantage at 34.39 percent, while Democrats dipped below 30 percent to 29.69 percent.

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Obama-Appointed Judge Awards $122,200 in Sanctions Against Kari Lake’s Attorneys for Lawsuit over Voting Machine Tabulators

U.S. District Court Judge John Tuchi, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, awarded sanctions in December against Kari Lake’s and Mark Finchem’s attorneys over their lawsuit against electronic voting machine tabulators in December. In his July 14 order, he emphasized that the sanctions are to be used “only in the most egregious situations” and as a “deterrent” to others who might be considering similar lawsuits.
Lake addressed the sanctions during an interview Wednesday on The Colonel of Truth. “I sued to get rid of the machines in Arizona about a year before the election,” she said. “No, actually, I’m sorry. About six months. An Obama judge threw the case out, tried to sanction our attorneys. We took it to the 9th Circuit. They’re sanctioning our attorneys. I tried to prevent the disaster of voting machines with this lawsuit BEFORE the election. We get to the election, the machines break down & they’re saying ‘you shouldn’t have bought it.’”

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Judge Denies Abe Hamadeh’s Request for a New Trial, Says Only ‘Six Votes’ Would Have Been Different

Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee F. Jantzen denied Abe Hamadeh’s request for a new trial in his election contest over the attorney general’s race on Friday, issuing his opinion with the reasoning on Monday. He said “the evidence showed that only about six votes difference would have been found after reviewing the numerous undercounted ballots.”

Hamadeh issued a statement shortly afterwards, “The court’s ruling is an invitation to an appeal, and we will do just that.” He added in a tweet, “I have every confidence that the (Arizona) Supreme Court is not going to let this precedent stand. It would be a terrible precedent in terms of the legal community to have the government be able to withhold evidence & get away with it.”

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Judge Denies Abe Hamadeh’s Request for a New Trial Despite 280-vote Difference

Almost two months after hearing oral arguments to determine whether Abe Hamadeh should be awarded a new trial in his election contest, Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee F. Jantzen denied the request on Friday. Hamadeh’s legal team had requested the retrial based on discovering evidence that was withheld from them during the first trial; “undervotes” discovered in Pinal County that were erroneously not counted. The new votes shrunk Kris Mayes’ lead to only 280 votes. It is the closest statewide race in Arizona history. 

Jantzen said in the short ruling that he will be issuing his full reasoning behind the decision on Monday by noon, stating that it was a “close call in a close contest.” Hamadeh responded in a statement, “[W]e believe the situation is very simple: the contest was not as close as it stands now. If all legal votes are counted, I win this race for attorney general.”

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Report Finds 8,241-Vote Discrepancy in Arizona’s 2022 Election Between Number of Individuals Who Voted and Ballots Counted

A report from the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) found that there may be an 8,241-vote discrepancy between those who cast votes in Maricopa County’s 2022 election and the number of ballots that were counted. This is “about 29.4 times” the difference between the contested attorney general’s race, the report stated, which Democrat Kris Mayes won by 280 votes.

On Friday, Mohave County Judge Lee F. Jantzen denied Abe Hamadeh’s request for a new hearing in his election challenge.

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Maricopa County Stonewalls Numerous Public Records Requests Submitted by Election Integrity Researcher

Melissa White, who has been investigating election anomalies in the Maricopa County 2022 election with a team of researchers, submitted around 35 public records requests to Maricopa County since the election asking for documents, but has received very little back. Many of the responses from the county said there were “no responsive records.” She has encountered similar stonewalling from the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office (AZSOS). 

Frustrated, White finally began working with the Arizona Ombudsman (AO) to assist her with the requests. She told the AO, “There is a reason people are bringing lawsuits against them and it is unacceptable to withhold public records from we the people. I have repeatedly had to show them their own employees’ public media statements claiming they had records yet when I submitted a PRR they told me no responsive records exist and when questioned they claim they do not have to answer questions.” 

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Commentary: GOP Split on How to Handle Absentee Votes

“I can’t begin to understand what ballot harvesting is,” Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the former Republican House Speaker, said in an interview in the wake of a 2018 political upset in Orange County, California. Democrats had swept the congressional seats in one of California’s few Republican strongholds, largely due to a well-executed strategy of harvesting, or the collection and submission of ballots by someone other than the voter.    

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Former Arizona Election Attorney Starts Process to Sue Kris Mayes for Defamation, Demands $2 Million

Jennifer Wright, who served as the Election Integrity Unit (EIU) civil attorney under Attorney General Mark Brnovich, started the process this past week to sue current Attorney General Kris Mayes for defamation by filing a Notice of Claim. Someone from Mayes’ office told the media that Wright was fired or forced to resign, but Wright has produced evidence showing she resigned voluntarily. It is common when a new administration from a different political party takes over an office to fire high-level appointees from the previous administration.

“Over the past few years, I’ve become jaded by people in positions of power abusing that power for partisan gain & further subjugation of the American people,” Wright tweeted. “On 1/5/23 I was shocked when an outright lie was propagated by Arizona’s Chief Legal Officer, @krismayes, about me.”

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Former Arizona Election Integrity Unit Attorney Jennifer Wright Blasts Fontes’ New Draft of State Election Procedures

Democratic Arizona Secretary of State (AZSOS) Adrian Fontes started sending proposed draft revisions of parts of the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM) to county recorders around the state.

Jennifer Wright, who served as the Election Integrity Unit civil attorney under former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, where she was extensively involved in reviewing then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ proposed changes to the EPM, said she believes several of the first round of proposed changes would violate the law.

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Judge Grants Injunction Against Censorship of ‘Conservative’ Election Information, Which Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer Participated In

A U.S. District Court judge granted an injunction Tuesday stopping the Biden administration from working with social media companies to censor information about elections, COVID-19, Hunter Biden’s laptop, and other “conservative” speech. Similarly, in 2022, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer worked with Biden’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, to “manipulate elections,” Trump attorney Christina Bobb tweeted last December. The Biden administration immediately filed a notice of appeal.

In his 155-page opinion, Judge Terry Doughty observed that the censorship was directed at conservatives. “It is quite telling that each example or category of suppressed speech was conservative in nature,” he said. “This targeted suppression of conservative ideas is a perfect example of viewpoint discrimination of political speech. American citizens have the right to engage in free debate about the significant issues affecting the country.”

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