Top Maricopa Election Offices Couldn’t Reconcile 15k Disparity in Outstanding Votes: Internal Email

Recently disclosed internal communications between top election officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County in the immediate aftermath of Election Day reveal that they struggled to reconcile a discrepancy of almost 16,000 in outstanding ballot totals. 

The governor’s race in Arizona was decided by a margin of just over 17,000 votes.

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Maricopa County’s Party-Specific Voter Turnout Heat Maps Raise New Election Integrity Concerns

Maricopa County, Ariz., uses in-person voter turnout data from prior elections for planning where to place vote centers for future elections, but the county also categorizes the data by political party, raising election integrity concerns that voters of different parties could possibly have different Election Day experiences based on their location. 

On Monday, a picture of a Republican in-person Election Day and early voting turnout heat map at Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) was tweeted by Kari Lake’s campaign Twitter account, linking to an UncoverDC article.

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State Rep. Sonny Borrelli Files Lawsuit Contesting Maricopa County’s Election Results

Candidates and other interested parties have started filing lawsuits contesting the election results in Arizona, particularly in Maricopa County, where 59 percent of the vote centers were plagued with ballot tabulation problems, causing long lines in heavily Republican areas forcing some voters to leave without voting. One of those lawsuits was filed on Monday by State Senator Sonny Borrelli (R-Lake Havasu), challenging the use of AI to verify signatures, which Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has stated is illegal.

Attorneys for the election integrity organization True the Vote drafted the complaint. It asserted, “Maricopa County ran 1.3 million images, on monitors, past the eyes of a few dozen of its Signature Verifiers at such a rapid clip that it was physically impossible for them to verify the Delegated Software’s adjudications about those images reliably.” True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht told The Arizona Sun Times, “Many voters in Mohave County reported concern that their votes were being diluted by events in Maricopa County. We listened, retained counsel, and got to work. This litigation seeks to uncover the source of their concerns. We look forward to seeing it tried in court.”

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Arizona Attorney General’s Office Issued Warnings Months Before the Election About Maricopa County Ballot Signature Verification

Correspondence from Arizona’s Office of the Attorney General months before the November 2022 general election warned of issues with Maricopa County’s signature verification of mail-in ballots.

The first letter came from Attorney General Mark Brnovich on April 16, 2022, and was directed to Senate President Karen Fann as an interim report of the Maricopa County November 3, 2020, general election.

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Phillip Kline Says Kari Lake’s Lawsuit Reveals ‘Serious Flaws’ in Maricopa County’s Handling of Election

Former Kansas Attorney General Phillip Kline (R) shared his thoughts on Republican Kari Lake’s lawsuit contesting the 2022 General Election, saying the allegations shed light on severe issues in Maricopa County’s handling of the election.

“Despite media claims, Lake’s lawsuit reveals serious flaws in Maricopa’s handling of mail-in ballots-violations of procedures and possibly law. If the suit is dismissed it is due to gaps in AZ law, not lack of substance,” Kline tweeted in response to a New York Times article covering Lake’s lawsuit.

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Complaints Emerge About Thousands of Newly Found Deactivated Voters Appearing on Voter Rolls Right Before Arizona Republicans Lost

Complaints are circulating that the number of voters on inactive status in Maricopa County greatly and abnormally increased between April and the general election this year. One of the Republican candidates who believed this may have influenced his race is Christian Lamar, who lost by 1,990 votes in the State House race in Phoenix-area LD 2. 

Lamar told The Arizona Sun Times, “So far, a majority of 7,400 ‘newly found’ voters in my district still have a status of deactivated or removed. Also, they are mostly party not determined (unaffiliated) and more Democrats than Republicans in ‘newly found’ voters. From mostly blue precincts too.” He asked the Maricopa County Recorder for more information about the high numbers of inactive voters and was told there are currently 29,765 in his district of 161,134 registered voters, a number he finds “strangely high” considering about 82,000 voted. 

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Arizona Elections Procedures Manual Has No Provision for Certifying Third-Party Vendor Equipment Used for Signature Verification in Maricopa County

The State of Arizona Elections Procedures Manual (EPM) for 2019 that prescribes the Secretary of State’s rules for running an election has no provision for qualifying or certifying the equipment a third-party vendor uses for ballot signature verification in Maricopa County.

According to state law A.R.S. 16-452, the secretary of state is responsible for prescribing in an official instructions and procedures manual the rules to achieve and maintain the maximum degree of correctness, impartiality, uniformity and efficiency on the procedures for early voting and voting as well as producing, distributing, collecting, county, tabulating and storing ballots.

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Kari Lake Lawsuit Exposes Election Process Complexities in Maricopa County, Reliance on Third-Party Vendor

A lawsuit filed Friday by Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake contesting the results in the November 8, 2022, election in Maricopa County exposes, among other things, the complexities of the process for mail-in and drop-box ballots and the county’s reliance on a third-party vendor for essential election functions.

The 70-page complaint filed by Lake named Democratic gubernatorial opponent Katie Hobbs who is the Secretary of State of Arizona who certified the election in her favor on December 5, as well as Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer as an officer in charge of elections, Maricopa County Director of Elections for Election Day and Emergency Voting Scott Jarrett and the five members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

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Maricopa County Recorder Sought DHS Support in War on Purported Election Misinformation in Media

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who started a PAC to support anti-Trump Republican candidates, sought support from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) — including funding, intelligence, and collaboration with social media — in election officials’ often controversial efforts to combat purported election misinformation, according to a newly released internal agency report.

On Wednesday, Christina Bobb, attorney for Donald Trump for President 2024, posted a CISA report on Twitter recapping Richer’s March appearance before the DHS agency’s Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Misinformation and Disinformation Subcommittee to brief the members on combating election misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

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Ninth Circuit Court Rules in Favor of the Gateway Pundit in Injunction Against Maricopa County

News outlet the Gateway Pundit (TGP) and one of its reporters, Jordan Conradson, filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County in November for being denied a press pass. On Monday, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled in favor of Conradson and TGP’s emergency motion for an injunction.

“HUGE WIN! The 9th circuit court of appeals has ruled on the side of our First Amendment in [TGP]’s lawsuit against [Maricopa County]’s totalitarian attempts to control the narrative,” tweeted Conradson.

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Kari Lake Campaign Says Sanction Against Her Is a Message to ‘Shut Up’ and ‘Not Come to Court’

Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nominee, Kari Lake, and Secretary of State nominee Mark Finchem have been sanctioned by an Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge, John Tuchi, in a lawsuit they filed to prevent the use of electronic voting machines in the Arizona election. The Lake Campaign said this is a message to those who lose an election not to take their case to court.

“This case is not about money or gain. It was essentially a public interest lawsuit seeking electoral integrity. It is very very rare to sanction a party in public interest suits,” said the Lake Campaign in a statement shared with the Arizona Sun Times. “All in all this reads like an angry Obama appointee who wants to send a message. The message is if you lose shut up and don’t come to court. The message is not that you lost a case or acted in bad faith.”

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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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Election Integrity Network Releases Extensive List of Discrepancies Reported in Maricopa County Midterm Election, Slams Officials for ‘Misinformation’

The Election Integrity Network (EIN) has compiled a list of reports from election workers, poll watchers, and volunteer attorneys about questionable things they observed during Maricopa County’s midterm election, which experienced rampant tabulation machine and printer problems. EIN Chairman and election integrity attorney Cleta Mitchell denounced Maricopa County officials for “misinformation” regarding how bad the problems really were.

Cleta said, “Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates, Director of Elections Scott Jarrett, and County Recorder Steven Richer presided over a wholly mismanaged and disgraceful election on November 8 that has robbed countless voters of their political voices. Since the polls opened on Election Day, they have misled and misinformed the public about what really happened. But thanks to engaged citizens, we know the truth.”

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County Under a Cloud: Maricopa’s Decade-Long History of Election Issues, from 2012 to 2022

As voters, poll workers, and observers have voiced their concerns about issues they witnessed on Election Day in Maricopa County, Ariz., a review of the county’s history shows 10 years of election issues under various election officials.

Numerous issues occurred at vote centers on Election Day in Maricopa County earlier this month, from election machine problems to hours-long lines, according to widespread reports. However, election issues are not unique to the 2022 midterms in Maricopa, as some began a decade ago.

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Lawsuit Alleges the Counting of ‘Overvotes’ in Arizona Write-In Election

Arizona Attorney Tim La Sota has filed an Election Contest lawsuit against Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, alleging some votes cast in the State Senate race for Legislative District (LD) 22 were “overvoted.”

“The votes must be properly tabulated, and that may result in a different eligible candidate receiving the highest number of lawful votes. Immediate judicial intervention is necessary to secure the accuracy of the results of the November 8, 2022 general election, and to ensure that candidate who received the highest number of lawful votes is declared the next State Senator from legislative district 22,” according to the lawsuit.

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Kari Lake Reassures Her Supporters That Fight in Arizona Is Not Over Yet

Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake released an update Monday telling her followers that she is not backing away from her fight for the governor’s office and election reform in the state.

“While we come together on this unifying issue of restoring honesty to our elections, rest assured, Arizona, nothing will stop me from putting everything I have into reforming elections here in Arizona and in America,” Lake said.

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Chairman of Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Bill Gates Responds to Kelly Townsend’s Legislative Subpoena, Says Requested Information Will Come ‘Promptly’

Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (BOS) Chairman Bill Gates released his response to a subpoena submitted by State Sen. Kelly Townsend (R-Mesa) Sunday, which demanded information about the 2022 General Election. Gates insisted that the subpoena was not enforceable but is still allegedly committed to providing the requested information.

“To reiterate, although the Document does not meet the legal requirements of an enforceable legislative subpoena, the Board is committed to transparency in this election. We are reviewing your requests and collecting information which we will promptly provide to you,” said Gates.

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No Financial Data Reported for Maricopa County Recorder Richer’s PAC Since October 22, Two Weeks Prior to Election

While Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer is coming under increased scrutiny for his founding and operation of a political action committee (PAC), the next required opportunity for the public’s visibility on his PAC’s activity is mid-January nearly two months after he sought to influence the November 8 general election.

According to the Arizona Secretary of State website regarding campaign finance reporting dates, filings for the post-general election period of October 23 to December 31, 2022, are not due until the earliest date of January 1 and not later than January 17, 2023.

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Kari Lake Files First Election Challenge Lawsuit, Vows More Action Ahead

Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said Wednesday that she sued Maricopa County to force it to release documents about voting irregularities in the midterms, a prelude to a larger legal challenge where she’s planning to challenge the election results.

“Every single rule was pretty much broken when it came to Election Day voting where they punish the people who chose to show up on Election Day,” Lake said on the Wednesday edition of the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “So we filed this lawsuit in court today asking the county to cough up some of the public documentation we need for our bigger lawsuit.”

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Abe Hamadeh and RNC Lawsuit Calls Out Issues Seen on Election Day

Republican Attorney General nominee Abe Hamadeh, along with the Republican National Committee, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against his Democrat opponent Kris Mayes and the counties of Arizona, alleging that errors in the 2022 General Election should prevent a winner from being named in this race.

“Arizonans demand answers and deserve transparency about the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the General Election by certain election officials. I will not stop fighting until ALL voters receive justice. See you in court,” Hamadeh tweeted when announcing the suit.

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Rejected, Spoiled Ballots at Maricopa County Vote Centers Mishandled, Election Observers Allege

As many vote centers in Maricopa County experienced issues with election equipment on Election Day 2022, many ballots were rejected by tabulators and spoiled, but not always properly, according to a report filed with the Arizona attorney general’s office.

The affidavit was compiled by Mark Sonnenklar, a roving attorney with the Republican National Committee’s Election Integrity program in Arizona, from observations he and 10 other roving attorneys made as GOP election observers at Maricopa County vote centers. The 11 observers visited a combined 115 of the 223 vote centers in Maricopa County on Election Day.

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Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward Sends Letter to Maricopa County Demanding Answers to Election Shortcomings

Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward sent a letter to Maricopa County Tuesday demanding answers to several issues and shortcomings seen on Election Day.

“Given the systemic election failures experienced by voters in Maricopa County on Election Day, it is of paramount that a full accounting of every reconciled ballot and checked-in voter be done to assure the public that every vote was properly counted,” wrote Ward.

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Arizona Freedom Caucus Demands Resignation of Maricopa County Officials Following 2022 General Election

The Arizona Freedom Caucus (AFC) blasted Maricopa County Election Officials for allegedly breaking the law during this election cycle and demanded that the officials involved resign from their positions.

“After taking an absurd and unnecessary amount of time to count ballots, we are now finding Maricopa County election officials may not merely be incompetent but may also be criminals,” said AFC Chairman, State Rep. Jack Hoffman (R-Maricopa).

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Affidavit Details Election Day Problems in Maricopa Far Wider than County Admitting

Numerous issues plagued vote centers in Arizona’s Maricopa County on Election Day 2022, from ballots rejected by tabulators to hours-long lines for voting, according to affidavits filed with the Arizona attorney general’s office.

According to an affidavit report by Mark Sonnenklar, a roving attorney with the Republican National Committee’s Election Integrity program in Arizona, he and 10 other RNC roving attorneys reported their observations and those of Republican observers at vote centers on Election Day.

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Maricopa County Voting Centers Plagued with Tabulation Errors on Election Day Affected Areas Averaging Well Over 300 Percent More Republicans Than Democrats

Voters encountered problems casting their ballots at 70 of the 223 vote centers in Maricopa County on Election Day, November 8, 2022, resulting in long lines and concerns that ballots ended up not tabulated or “misread,” and commingled with ballots that had already been tabulated. Averaged together, the problems occurred in areas where Election Day voting was more than 300 percent Republican versus Democrat. Of those 70 precincts affected, 59 were in heavily Republican-voting areas, and two were Republican-leaning but not heavily, with only nine from Democrat-leaning or solidly Democrat areas.

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Republican Maricopa County Elected Officials Brush Off MAGA Election Integrity Concerns

Amid widespread reports of Election Day irregularities suppressing Republican votes in Maricopa County, Ariz., Republican elected officials in the county have been brushing off concerns of their fellow party members with a mixture of anger and condescension.

Marred by hundreds of complaints, including malfunctioning machines and prohibitively long lines to vote, the county’s handling of the 2022 midterm elections is now under investigation by the Arizona attorney general’s election integrity unit for possible “statutory violations” of state election law.

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Kelli Ward May Not Seek Reelection as Chairman of Arizona GOP

Following the apparent losses of major races to Democrats in the state, Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward has faced calls to resign from her position, with significant backlash coming from former Republican gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson. However, Tyler Bowyer from Turning Point USA said this backlash is unnecessary because Ward will not be seeking reelection as party chair.

“Karrin has been a no-show, never helped GOP only herself, did zero after she lost & only helped Dems turnout for prop 308 to help illegals. If she was semi-involved she’d already know Ward isn’t even running,” tweeted Bowyer.

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Arizona AG Opens Inquiry into Maricopa County Election Irregularities, Possible Legal Violations

The Arizona attorney general’s office has opened an inquiry into Maricopa County’s handling of the mid-term elections, demanding a full report of well-publicized irregularities and warning there is evidence of “statutory violations.”

The letter from Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s election integrity unit marks a major escalation in the dispute over how voters were treated on Election Day in the state’s largest county, where scores of ballot tabulators had problems because of printing problems.

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A Recount Could Take Place in Arizona’s Close Gubernatorial Race, Other Races

With almost all of the ballots tabulated from Arizona’s midterm election, some races may end up so close that they trigger the state’s automatic recount provision. The governor’s race is separated by 17,200 votes, with Democrat Katie Hobbs leading Republican Kari Lake 50.3 percent to 49.7 percent. A recount is required where the difference “is less than or equal to one-half of one percent of the number of votes cast for both such candidates or on such measures or proposals.”

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Arizona Man Sentenced for Selling Fentanyl in Phoenix Homeless Camp

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell revealed that Cristian Machado, 21, has been sentenced for supplying the population of the major homeless camp in Downtown Phoenix with fentanyl and other drugs.

“Selling illegal drugs to anyone in our community is a threat to public safety. To target those who are experiencing homelessness, and particularly vulnerable, is especially cruel, and this sentence demonstrates that my office will hold those who pose a danger to others accountable,” said Mitchell.

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Arizona Moves Closer to Certifying Election Results, Braces for Possible Election Challenges by Kari Lake and Others

A staffer for Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake told The Arizona Sun Times that the candidate is preparing a lawsuit challenging the election results.  Lake said during a Monday evening interview with Fox News’ Jesse Watters that she has concerns about certifying the election. “I can’t imagine our version of Joe Biden, Katie Hobbs, would win,” Lake said. “She didn’t campaign, she hid in her basement. She is a twice-convicted racist. I can’t believe the people of Arizona would vote for her and that she would win. But if that what’s happens at the end of the day, how do you certify an election that is this botched? And she’s the one that would certify her own election where it was botched. Where the machines didn’t work in more than a third of the polling centers.”

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Kari Lake Receives 54 Percent of Sunday Night Ballots from Maricopa County, 69 Percent from Pinal County

Election officials released updated results Sunday evening showing Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake gained ground on frontrunner Democrat Katie Hobbs in Maricopa County by 54.6 to 45.4 percent. In Pinal County, Lake bested Hobbs 69.5 percent to 30.5 percent.

In all, the votes of little more than 97,000 of the estimated 192,900 remaining ballots from Maricopa County were tabulated – meaning about 94,000 ballots remain. In Pinal County, an estimated 10,000 ballots are untabulated.

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Commentary: America’s Electoral System Is Suffering from a Credibility Crisis

Defying all predictions of a photo finish senate race, Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman won 50.3% of the vote to Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz’s 47.3%. The unexpectedly large margin helped avoid a midterm meltdown. But don’t be deceived; that margin masks major electoral system dysfunction that remains unaddressed.

If the margins had been narrower, things might have looked very different. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf last year vetoed a commonsense measure that would have modernized Pennsylvania’s Depression-era voting laws. As a result, the Commonwealth is saddled with a ponderous mail voting system bolted onto a rickety election code that forbids routine practices like voter ID and pre-processing mail ballots. Those policies secure elections and speed tabulations, but were vetoed by Wolf last year.

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Calls Emerge for Maricopa County Officials to Resign or Be Recalled After Election Problems

Activists are calling for resignations and recalls as Arizonans – along with the nation – await Maricopa County election officials’ announcements of the definitive results from Tuesday’s 2022 general election.

The state’s most populous county said that 30 percent of voting machine tabulation problems, causing lines of up to two hours in places. Maricopa County Member-at-Large Brian Ference says wants Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Bill Gates, chair of the Maricopa County Supervisors, to resign. Robert Canterbury, who unsuccessfully ran against Maricopa County Supervisor Clint Hickman in 2020, is considering starting a recall against Gates, prompting State Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward to respond, “Let me know how I can help.”

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Commentary: A Post-Election Reflection

I am an American, but I haven’t set foot in the states for years. Yes, my daily Internet access provides me with the illusion that I’m in touch with life back home and that I know how people are thinking and feeling. But I can’t really be sure at all that I’m getting the right bead on things. 

So when a great many of the American political commentators and podcasters whom I most respect predicted a “red wave” or even a “red tsunami” on Election Day, I thought: Well, I hope so. How could I demur? After all, they’re at the center of the action. I’m not. 

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Mainstream Media Outlets Project Democrat Wins in Two Arizona Races as 390,000 Ballots Remain Uncounted

Maricopa County continues to drop nightly ballot dumps, with Friday’s results adding another 74,000 votes to the total, allegedly including ballots dropped off on Election Day. Despite predictions that tonight’s dump would swing in Republicans’ favor, Democrats cling to a lead across the significant races.

“They want you to be demoralized. There’s no reason to be. Our path to victory lies in the overwhelmingly red votes that Maricopa County either hasn’t counted or has deliberately chosen not to release. Hold the line,” said the campaign of Republican Gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake.

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No Clear Winner Emerges in Gubernatorial Race as Arizona Vote-Counting Stretches into Night Three

Maricopa County released another batch of counted ballots Thursday night, which show a slight favor for Democrat gubernatorial nominee Katie Hobbs. However, the gap was not big enough for Hobbs to jet out in front of her Republican opponent, Kari Lake, whose campaign said marks the end of the trail for Hobbs.

” This Maricopa County drop is not nearly what [Katie Hobbs] needed. This ends tomorrow,” tweeted the lake campaign.

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Ric Grenell Predicts Blake Masters Will Win as Latest 75,583 Ballots Come In from Maricopa and Pima Counties

Trump-endorsed Blake Masters pulled closer to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) after the results of counting more ballots were released shortly after 6 p.m. PST the day after the midterm election. Although Kelly took the lead initially on election night, his numbers have been shrinking as the types of ballots being counted last trended toward Republicans. 

Most of the new batch of ballots was early ballots that were dropped off between Friday and the Tuesday election. There were a much larger number of ballots dropped off on election day in Maricopa County than in the 2020 election, 275,000 versus 170,000.

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Gubernatorial Hopefuls Kari Lake and Katie Hobbs Remain Neck and Neck in Night Two of Arizona Vote Counting

After the Wednesday evening ballot dump by Maricopa County election officials, the race for Arizona’s governor between Republican Kari Lake and Democrat Katie Hobbs is still too close to call. However, Kari Lake’s campaign remains confident her victory will come.

“Good. Now that we’ve gotten out of that way, [Maricopa County] can start counting the voters who dropped their ballots off on Election Day. They will break heavily in our direction. We remain confident about the trajectory of this race,” tweeted Lake’s campaign in response to the new votes.

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State Sen. Sonny Borrelli: Over 21,000 Ballots in Five-Percent Sample Appear Illegally Cast in Maricopa County’s 2020 Election

State Sen. and Majority Whip Sonny Borrelli (R-Havasu City) announced on Friday during a presentation that he has discovered at least 21,202 ballots were likely illegally cast during the 2020 election in Maricopa County. A group of concerned citizens he has been working with examined five percent of the voter registration records from Maricopa County residents who voted, and discovered that 1,298 ballots were cast by dead voters, 17,822 were mismatched ballots, along with thousands of other statutory discrepancies.

Borrelli said the findings, which “are just the tip of the iceberg,” and include many “class two misdemeanors,” will be presented to the new legislature next session. He declared, “This is even more of a reason for Prop. 309 to pass, despite the county recorder saying no.” Borrelli was referring to the comprehensive election integrity measure on the ballot this fall, Arizonans for Voter ID, and taking a dig at Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is looking into whether Richer allegedly used government resources to oppose Prop. 309. Richer started his own PAC for GOP election fraud deniers.

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Judge Rejects Progressive Groups Request for Restraining Order to Shut Down Ballot Drop Box Observers

Voters concerned about ballot harvesting are organizing volunteer shifts observing ballot drop boxes, but some progressive organizations have filed lawsuits attempting to stop them. An organization called Protecting Democracy Project filed a lawsuit this week against the organizers as well as some of the volunteer observers on behalf of the League of Women Voters (LWV). The Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans (AARA) and Voto Latino (VL) also filed a lawsuit.

The LWV lawsuit names Lions of Liberty, which is organizing ballot drop box watching in Yavapai County, its affiliate Yavapai Preparedness Team, Clean Elections USA, which is organizing nationwide efforts, and several individuals and John Does. The AARA and VL lawsuit named similar defendants. The latter lawsuit included a photo of some “Doe Defendants,” revealing three people dressed in normal clothing sitting on lawn chairs. 

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Arizona Voters Reporting Numerous Election Discrepancies Such as Unrequested Ballots on New Election Integrity App VotifyNow

Concerned voters are ramping up efforts to combat voter fraud, and one innovative election integrity company has created an app to report and share suspicious incidents. VotifyNow is a downloadable app that compiles nationwide reports from observers, such as voters in Arizona complaining about receiving unrequested ballots in the mail. On election day, the app will provide users with information about what incidents are being reported in their localities. 

VotifyNow founder Johnny Vieira told The Arizona Sun Times, “Our mission is to restore confidence in elections. We spent the last 16 months developing VotifyNow using very smart code and algorithms to help voters accurately report suspicious incidents with the touch of just a couple buttons. We put this much time into our platform to help users avoid false flags and give them confidence knowing anything they report will be vetted thoroughly before ever being shared with others, unlike other groups and media out there.“

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Maricopa County Approves New Program to Give Small Businesses a Larger Share of Its Business

Maricopa County announced Monday that the Board of Supervisors approved a new Small Business Advocacy Program (SBAP), which aims to provide these local enterprises with a larger share of county business.

“The program is about making sure that small and local businesses are being given a chance to sell goods and services to the county. The county buys everything from baby diapers to xenon light bulbs, we buy dentists and landscapers, plumbers and engineers – you name it – we probably buy it. It is a Board priority to support small and local businesses, when it makes sense, for purchases that are under $100,000 and not covered under an existing contract,” said the Maricopa County Office of Procurement (MCOP) in an email to the Arizona Sun Times.

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RNC and Arizona GOP Sue Maricopa County over Unfulfilled Public Records Request

Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel announced a lawsuit against Maricopa County Tuesday for failing to comply with public records requests (PRR) relating to poll worker staffing.

“After several weeks of negotiations, Maricopa County left us no choice but to sue because Arizonans who want to be poll workers shouldn’t be shut out of the process. With midterms just 35 days away, Arizonans deserve basic transparency about how their elections will be conducted,” said McDaniel and Ward. “This legal offensive is the latest step in Republicans’ ongoing efforts to promote free, fair, and transparent elections in Arizona.”

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