The media is hyping up complaints by election officials that they are receiving threats for refusing to address complaints about voter disenfranchisement. Arizona Public Media reported in March that controversial former Cochise County Elections Director Lisa Marra received a death threat several weeks before the 2022 election, but an investigation by the Arizona Daily Independent found that Arizona Media incorrectly assumed it was Marra (pictured above).
The news went national, as Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08) used Marra to discuss those types of threats. Arizona Media quoted Marra telling him, “I believe that we should have some defined laws, we should have some penalties, we should have some things with teeth. It concerns me that the longer that we go on, the angrier people are getting, and at some point, there’s a tipping point.”
After submitting public records requests, Arizona Independent reporter Terri Jo Neff discovered that the threatening October 22, 2022, email was sent to Christine Roberts, the county’s chief deputy county attorney responsible for the department’s civil division and administrative matters. The affidavit from the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office for the search warrant to locate the person who sent the threat identified the victim as Roberts. It stated, “On 10-22-22, Christine Roberts (Chief Civil Deputy Cochise Attorney’s Office) received a threatening email about the upcoming elections).
Similarly, the affidavit for a search warrant from the Sierra Vista Police Department quoted the beginning of the email, “Attention Katie Hobbs, Kori Lorick, and Christine Roberts.”
The threatening email was sent to then-Secretary of State Hobbs and her top elections official, Lorick.
However, the articles have not been corrected. A March 29 article from Arizona Media is titled “Threats Against Former Cochise County Elections Director Come to Light” and discusses the threatening email.
Marra has complained frequently that she’s received threats, but Neff said public records requests to Cochise County did not produce any evidence of them. Cochise County investigators decided in late October to transfer the investigation to the Sierra Vista Police Department because the victim’s job frequently involves addressing legal matters with Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels and his staff.
The threat came from the email account [email protected], which Microsoft and law enforcement are investigating. It said, “Attention ALL Corrupt and Treasonous Government Officials…If you C*** Lickers continue to f*** with the integrity of the AZ Elections…I guarantee you, We the People will remove you from office…Additionally, if you own a home…We will find you through the Tax Assessors Website…Remember the French revolution of 1799??”
Marra resigned from her post earlier this year and accepted a position as deputy elections director for Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. In her previous position, she refused to turn over ballots for a full hand count when the board requested them. The state’s Election Procedures Manual provides, “counties may elect to audit a higher number of ballots at their discretion.”
Marra said a hand count would take 2,500 hours in total. However, at a board meeting, Sierra Vista resident Joseph Patterson testified that he knew 140 people willing to help count ballots.
Brian Steiner, who is part of a group working to stop the use of machines in elections, said it would take far less than 2,500 hours.
“However, if you split those hours by the 160 volunteers, then it would only take 15.63 hours to count all ballots,” he told The Arizona Sun Times. “With polling places opening at 6 a.m. until 7 p.m., having results by 10 p.m. that night would be easily achievable, and this could be a great test to only using hand counting of ballots in the future.”
The media has reported extensively on threats Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates received. Yvonne Wingett of The Washington Post, who has written numerous positive articles about the Maricopa County Supervisors, published an article about it last week, interviewing Gates about how he’s developed PTSD. Progressive Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts wrote an article two days later about the article, complaining about criticism Gates received on Twitter for the article.
However, many election integrity proponents like Kari Lake and former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich regularly receive death threats but get little or no media coverage. There has been little media coverage of a Tucson music teacher who threatened the life of State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff). Donald Glenn Brown sent an email from a fake account to the nationally renowned election integrity advocate who said, “Wendy Rogers is going to (expletive) die.” Brown will be sentenced on June 6. Rogers received a restraining order against a reporter last month.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Lisa Marra” by Election Official Legal Defense Network. Background Photo “Cochise County Courthouse” by John Stanton. CC BY-SA 3.0.
