Arizona Election Official Who Fought Against Hand Counting Ballots Hired as State’s Elections Director

Lisa Marra

An Arizona election official who resigned from her former position in Cochise County over her refusal to hand count ballots in the 2022 elections is now the statewide election director after a promotion from Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.

Lisa Marra was appointed by Fontes to become the Arizona Elections Director and will oversee equipment testing, candidate filings, election night reporting and canvassing during the 2024 elections.

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Phoenix Teens Arrested After High Speed Chase as Police Warn Juveniles Increasingly Recruited for Human Smuggling

Two Phoenix teenagers were arrested in Cochise County last Thursday after police say they attempted to evade law enforcement at high speeds while smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States. Their arrests came just days after Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels warned more than 100 juveniles have been arrested after being recruited to participate in illegal human smuggling since April 2022.

The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook that the two minors arrested “were 14 and 15 years of age.” The teens allegedly refused to pull over for a routine traffic stop, and instead fled until “being stopped after tire deflation devices were employed.” Before they were forced to stop, the sheriff’s office claims the minors “reached speeds in excess of 124 miles per hour,” requiring a multi-agency response that included the Douglas Police Department and United States Border Patrol.

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Arizona Officials Share Outcry in Mass Release of Migrants

Counties in Southern Arizona have seen a sudden influx of busloads filled with processed asylum-seeking immigrants released into towns, and local officials are calling for answers.

County sheriffs began alerting the public this week to the increased number of migrant releases, which indicate a surge of immigrants seeking entry into the U.S. larger than federal facilities and local nonprofits can contain.

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DeSantis to Visit Southern Border

Republican Florida Gov. and 2024 presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis will travel to the southern border Wednesday, his office said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

DeSantis will meet with border sheriffs in Cochise County, Arizona, during the trip amid a surge in illegal immigration, according to DeSantis’ office. The trip follows the governor sending two planes of migrants to Sacramento, California, in recent days, the DCNF first reported Tuesday.

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Attorney General Kris Mayes Reverses Brnovich’s Opinion on Allowing Hand Count Audits of Elections

Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, who is embroiled in an election lawsuit from Republican Abe Hamadeh contesting his loss to her by 280 votes, reversed an opinion on May 18 from previous Attorney General Mark Brnovich stating that counties have statutory authority to conduct hand counts of ballots. The difference in opinions came down to whether counties could conduct hand counts of all the ballots in five contested races, or merely a small percentage of ballots in those five races. 

Mayes sent a letter to the original legislator who requested the opinion from Brnovich, State Sen. David Gowan (R-Sierra Vista). “This is to inform you that Ariz. Att’y Gen. Op. I22-004, dated October 28, 2022, is withdrawn and superseded by the following formal Opinion of the same number dated May 18, 2023,” she said. “Please discard the opinion dated October 28, 2022.”

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News Reports Debunked That Former Cochise County Elections Official Received Death Threat

Lisa Marra

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.

The news went national, as Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08) used Marra as a source for discussing 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.”

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Tucson Border Patrol Chief Warns Quick Cash Is Not Worth It as Human Smuggling Continues to Rise

Tucson Sector Chief Board Patrol Agent John Modlin released a warning Monday that American citizens need to be wary of being recruited by criminal organizations to smuggle illegal immigrants across the border because any promises of quick cash do not erase the real punishments smugglers face.

“Criminal organizations will exploit anyone to do their dirty work,” Modlin shared. “Recognize the traps on social media. Don’t fall victim to false promises: Smuggling is a felony.”

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Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels Speaks in Washington on Southern Border Crisis Affect in Arizona

Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels spoke at the US House Judiciary Committee’s Wednesday hearing on the southern border crisis, speaking on how his county has been affected by the ongoing issue.

“Our southern border, against all public comfort statements out of Washington D.C., is in the worst shape I have ever seen it,” Dannels said. “Communities have been neglected and abandoned, relying on our own local and state resources to address a border that is in crisis mode.”

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Protesters Block Construction of Border Wall with Shipping Containers as Biden Administration Sues Arizona

Outgoing Gov. Doug Ducey ordered gaps in the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border patched using shipping containers earlier this year, but protesters are blocking workers from finishing the project. At the same time, the Biden administration hit Arizona with a lawsuit also attempting to stop the construction. 

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who has taken on the Biden administration numerous times over its inaction on the border, vowed to defend the state in court, hinting that he would not be cowed into a settlement. “President Biden says there are more important things to talk about than the border, yet his DOJ is suing to immediately tear down our crowd control structure,” he tweeted. “Once again, we’ll see you in court.”

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Democrats’ Top Election Lawyer Litigating Nearly 50 Cases Against Republicans

The Democratic Party’s top elections attorney and his firm are litigating nearly 50 different post-election cases in 19 states to affect their results, he announced on Sunday night.

Marc Elias, the founder of Elias Law Group, which bills itself as “committed to helping Democrats win, citizens vote, and progressives make change,” announced that it was representing clients in 19 states, for a total of 48 cases. The cases have involved either legal defenses to challenges brought by GOP candidates regarding election issues, or efforts to change election laws in favor of Democratic candidates.

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Election Lawsuits Pile up in Arizona, as Counties, Candidates Challenge 2022 Midterms

As the 2022 midterm election is nearing certification in Arizona, lawsuits and court rulings are piling up amid continuing revelations of myriad failures in the administration of the election in Maricopa County.

After Maricopa experienced a host of problems on Election Day at many of its vote centers, one county subsequently chose not to certify its election by the Monday deadline, while another county certified “under duress,” according to two supervisors on the county board.

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Arizona Secretary of State’s Office Sues Cochise County After County Fails to Certify Election

Cochise County, Arizona, failed to certify its 2022 general election results by the state-mandated deadline, and now the Secretary of State’s office is taking action. 

The Cochise County Board of Supervisors did not vote to certify the 2022 general election results on Monday, November 28; state law requires counties to certify their election results within 20 days of an election.

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Dispute over Attorney General’s Race Could Prevent New Official from Being Named

Abe Hamadeh, the Republican Nominee for Attorney, has said he wants to see every vote cast in the Arizona 2022 General Election and filed a lawsuit against the State of Arizona to ensure that happens.

“Errors in our elections shouldn’t be treated as trivial. I want every legal voter who showed up on Election Day to have their voice heard – regardless how they voted,” Hamadeh said.

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Arizona County Refuses to Certify Election, Could Face Potential Lawsuit

The Cochise County Board of Supervisors in Arizona voted 2-1 to delay the certification of the 2022 election results Monday, which may result in a lawsuit from the state.

Arizona’s deadline for counties to certify election results is Nov. 28 and Cochise County may be sued for missing the deadline. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to have another meeting Friday and has demanded the state of Arizona prove that voter tabulation machines were certified for accuracy, local media reports.

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Kari Lake Calls Out Katie Hobbs for Saying She Would Remove Arizona’s Border Gap Barriers

In an interview on KYMA, Democrat gubernatorial nominee, Katie Hobbs, said she would remove the physical barriers placed by Gov. Doug Ducey (R) in areas unprotected by a wall. The campaign for Republican nominee Kari Lake called her out for wanting open borders.

“Any barrier is preferable to no border. [Katie Hobbs] knows this. She just doesn’t care. She is an open borders activist. Hobbs wants to make the rest of the world’s problems our own. [Kari Lake] will secure our border & protect Arizona,” tweeted the Lake campaign.

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Kari Lake Brings in Harmeet Dhillon to Run Legal Efforts in Arizona on Election Day

Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake announced Monday that her team will have experienced attorney Harmeet Dhillon lead the campaign’s legal efforts on election day.

“I will never stop fighting for free, fair, and honest elections, and I’m bringing in the big guns to help me do it,” Kari Lake said in a statement emailed to reporters. “Harmeet Dhillon is a talented, experienced, and relentless lawyer who is just as committed as I am to protecting the integrity of our election, rooting out fraud, and ensuring that every single Arizonans’ voice is fairly heard. I’m thrilled she will be leading our campaign’s legal efforts on Election Day to fight for that commitment. Next week’s election will be one that ALL Arizonans can be proud of!”

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Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey Continues to Fill Border Barrier Gaps as Migrant Encounters Soar

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced Monday that he had continued his mission to plug holes in Arizona’s border, this time in Cochise County.

“Today, we continued to follow through on our promise to add physical barriers to the border where possible. We stepped up to the plate in Cochise County. Construction on a 10.25-mile border wall gap began this morning [Monday],” Ducey said. “The unresolved border and public safety crisis caused by the Biden admin continues – in Arizona, we don’t stand idly by when our citizens need us most. Arizona isn’t afraid of a challenge. We will not back down. We will protect our state.”

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Concerns Arise That Cochise County Elections Official Skeptical of Election Fraud Is Screening Election Integrity Proponents from Working at the Polls

Arizonans applying for poll worker positions in Cochise County during this fall’s election are being asked to answer some unusual questions, including regarding their motives. Cochise County Elections Director Lisa Marra added the questions this year to the application that applicants fill out, some believe in an effort to screen out those with concerns about election fraud, which Marra speaks derisively about frequently on Twitter.

Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward tweeted in May that she heard “Election Departments around Arizona are requiring illegal ‘ideological tests’ of poll workers & that they are actively discriminating against #AmericaFirst Republican applicants.”

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Arizona County Using COVID-19 Relief Funds to Upgrade Emergency Response System

Cochise County officials have approved a plan that will repurpose COVID-19 relief funds to upgrade its emergency response system.

“Sierra Vista Fire and Medical Services and Fry Fire District proposed the Fire Station Alerting System project,” according to reports. “Plans include software installation and technology upgrades for all Cochise County fire stations and special districts to increase the overall effectiveness and efficiency of dispatch centers.”

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