Maricopa County Elections Archives

Maricopa County Disputes Video Footage Revealing That Voting Tabulators Were Not Properly Tested

June 1, 2023May 31, 2023 Rachel Alexander

A video that has gone viral allegedly showing Maricopa County Elections failing to properly test voting tabulators prior to 2022’s election has prompted a defensive response from the county. The state Election Procedures Manual (EPM) requires that statutorily mandated Logic & Accuracy tests be completed after any modifications are made, such as adding new reprogrammed memory cards, which the video claims was not done. Violating the EPM is a class 2 misdemeanor.
On Tuesday, the Maricopa County Twitter account slapped the label “false claim” over a shot of the video in an unsigned tweet. “Have you seen this viral video?” the account stated. “The people sharing it are lying to you. So here we go, defusing a new election ‘bombshell’ that’s a lot like the old ‘bombshells.’”

Kari Lake’s Second Election Contest Trial Concludes, No Experts Dispute 274,000 Ballot Signatures Were ‘Verified’ at a Rate of 3 Seconds Each

May 21, 2023May 21, 2023 Rachel Alexander

Kari Lake’s second trial challenging her gubernatorial loss concluded on Friday, with Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Thompson giving no indication when he would issue his ruling.

In March, the Arizona Supreme Court reversed part of Thompson’s original decision dismissing her case, remanding the signature verification issue back to him for reconsideration. The trial has focused on the speed that signature reviewers examined signatures on mail-in ballot envelopes, which Lake’s team did not believe was physically possible.

Arizona Supreme Court Declines to Sanction Kari Lake’s Attorneys, Issues Fine

May 6, 2023May 5, 2023 Rachel Alexander

The Arizona Supreme Court declined to award significant sanctions against Kari Lake’s attorneys for contesting the election results of the gubernatorial race. Instead, on Thursday the court ordered $2,000 in sanctions against her attorneys for asserting it was an “undisputed fact” that 35,563 ballots were inserted into the ballot counting process at Runbeck Election Systems. The court declined to award attorneys fees to her opponents.

The Arizona Supreme Court said in its opinion that Lake “repeatedly” asserted in pleadings that 35,563 ballots were “added” or “injected” at Runbeck. “Not only is that allegation strongly disputed by the other parties, this Court concluded and expressly stated that the assertion was unsupported by the record, and nothing in Lake’s Motion for Leave to file a motion for reconsideration provides reason to revisit that issue.”

Maricopa County Loses First Amendment Lawsuit from The Gateway Pundit, Agrees to Pay $175,000 for Banning Reporter from Elections

April 19, 2023April 18, 2023 Rachel Alexander

Maricopa County agreed last week to pay The Gateway Pundit (TGP) and its reporter Jordan Conradson $175,000 to settle their lawsuit over refusing to provide Conradson with a press pass to cover elections. An Obama-appointed trial court judge sided with the county in November, but after an injunction from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals followed by oral arguments that revealed the three-judge panel was likely to fully reverse the lower court, the Maricopa County Supervisors voted to settle.

The controversy began in September 2022, when the county implemented a press pass regulation blocking journalists from election press conferences if they showed “conflicts of interest” and were not “free of associations that would compromise journalistic integrity or damage credibility.” The county cited Conradson’s attendance at Republican events as a conflict of interest, and told him, “[Y]ou are not a bona fide correspondent of repute in your profession.”

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer’s Founding of Partisan PAC Raises Ethical and Legal Questions of Possible Misconduct

November 24, 2022November 25, 2022 Michael Patrick Leahy

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer is coming under increasing scrutiny after the botched election in Maricopa County, leading some to question his founding and operation of the Pro-Democracy Republicans PAC, whose stated mission is “to support pro-democracy Arizona Republicans” who reject “conspiracy theorists and demagoguery” from candidates who maintain the 2020 presidential election in Arizona was stolen. In the context of the 2022 election, this is an indication of Richer’s direct opposition to GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, GOP Secretary of State nominee Mark Finchem, several state legislators and candidates for Maricopa County Supervisor.

With Most of the Election Administration Over, Maricopa County Wraps Up Ballot Tabulation

November 17, 2022November 16, 2022 Rachel Alexander

As the final remaining ballots in Maricopa County trickle in for counting, concerns are arising over the tabulation procedures. Some of the most Republican-dominant batches of ballots were not counted until the very end, sparking accusations that the order of counting was deliberately manipulated.

Maricopa County Officials’ Response to Results of Arizona Senate’s Independent 2020 Ballot Audit Leaves More Questions Than Answers

January 8, 2022January 7, 2022 Rachel Alexander

Maricopa County officials have issued a 93-page response to the findings of the independent Maricopa County ballot audit of the 2020 presidential election, which was ordered by the Arizona Senate. Presented during a meeting of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 5, the officials claimed there were fewer than 100 questionable ballots out of the 2.1 million cast.

Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward watched a portion of the meeting and expressed skepticism to The Arizona Sun Times, “The part that I’ve seen so far was a group of related good ole boys attempting to convince people that they ran a perfect election,” she said. “They want Americans to believe them over what we saw with our own eyes. Arizonans were totally justified in demanding an audit of the 2020 election — and we should actually audit everything so we can restore voter confidence that our elections have integrity.”