Kari Lake and Mark Finchem Add Cybersecurity Experts’ Testimony About Newly Discovered ‘Artificial Control’ over the Tabulation of Ballots Using Electronic Voting Machines to their SCOTUS Appeal

Attorneys for Kari Lake and Mark Finchem filed additional pleadings last week with their Petition for Certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court, providing new evidence to their plea to the court to reconsider the lower courts’ rulings against their lawsuit to stop the use of voting machine tabulators. The new filings include a Motion to Expedite and declarations from top cybersecurity experts, who provided evidence that “overwhelmingly demonstrates” that the election results in 2020 and 2022 from Maricopa County contained “artificial control over the tabulation of ballots and the election results for the November 2020 election.” Additionally, they asserted that the county thwarted efforts to obtain the new data, which is a crime punishable by up to a year of incarceration.

The appendix to the Petitioners’ Motion to Expedite included 176 pages of new affidavits from Clay Parikh, Benjamin Cotton, and Walter Daugherity. Daugherity, who taught computer science and engineering at both the undergraduate and graduate levels for 37 years and served as a computer consultant to major firms and government agencies, including classified work, said this was his second declaration filed in the case, based on the new information from Maricopa County. That information included system log files from Maricopa County’s electronic voting tabulators in the 2020 election, and according to Parikh, “a copy of Maricopa County’s election systems database and the forensic images of the vote center tabulator memory cards used in the 2020 General Election.” 

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Kari Lake, Mark Finchem Appeal Their Case Seeking to Ban Electronic Voting Machine Tabulators to the U.S. Supreme Court, Add New Evidence Including ‘False Statements’ by Defendants

Kari Lake and Mark Finchem

Kari Lake and Mark Finchem filed a Petition for Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, appealing the dismissal of their lawsuit against Arizona officials to stop the use of electronic voting machine tabulators. The 210-page petition added new allegations stating that the defendants lied to the court and that new evidence had surfaced exposing the vulnerabilities of the machines to bad actors.

“New evidence from other litigation and public-record requests shows defendants made false statements to the district court regarding the safeguards allegedly followed to ensure the accuracy of the vote, on which the district court relied,” the petition asserted. 

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Arizona Secretary of State Blames ‘MAGA Fascist Types’ Who ‘Want Our Systems to Crumble’ for High Election Official Turnover

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) blamed “MAGA fascist types” for the high turnover rate of the state’s election officials since 2020, claiming those who support former President Donald Trump “want our systems to crumble” during an interview with KTAR News 92.3 on Wednesday.

Responding to a new report from nonpartisan nonprofit group Issue One, which revealed that 80 percent of Arizona counties have hired new chief election officials since 2020, Fontes blamed Republicans for the high turnover.

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Kari Lake Reportedly Plans Arizona Senate Bid for October as Poll Shows Her Ahead 31 Points

Former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is reportedly planning a campaign for U.S. Senate that will launch in October, with the news breaking after a poll showed her with a 31-point lead over Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb among Arizona Republicans if she should enter the race.

Lake is reportedly “staffing up” for a Senate campaign and will spend much of September conducting interviews and making hires for an October launch, according to a report from Axios. The former news anchor seemed to foreshadow the decision during her time in Ohio with Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, saying she “might have to join” Moreno and Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) in the Senate.

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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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Maricopa County GOP Censures Attorney for Requesting Sanctions Against Kari Lake

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, a Republican, is in hot water with Republicans after representing the Maricopa County Supervisors (MCBOS) twice asking for sanctions against Kari Lake over her election lawsuits. A judge derisively dismissed the second request a couple of weeks ago, prompting the Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) to censure Mitchell on June 6. 

Brian Ference, member at large with the MCRC and behind many of the group’s recent censures, told The Arizona Sun Times, “The recent censures show an unprecedented level of unity of Republicans holding their elected officials accountable. Just like with Rusty Bowers, the critical part is to take them as a call to action to door knock and inform the voters and then primary them.”

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Mark Finchem Slams ‘Two Tier Justice System,’ Advocates Removing Judges After Sanctions Granted Against Him for Election Challenge

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Melissa Iyer Julian awarded sanctions on May 26 against Mark Finchem and his attorney over Finchem’s lawsuit challenging his election loss in the Arizona Secretary of State’s race to Democrat Adrian Fontes.

Finchem issued a response from his Substack. Titled “Yes, We Have a Two Tier Legal System.” In this piece, he advocated removing “judges who act outside of the law.”

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Maricopa County Report Identifies Glaring Election Errors as Lake, Finchem Challenges Continue

While Maricopa County released a report on the election failures of the 2022 elections, Arizona election lawsuits continue as 2022 GOP nominees Kari Lake and Mark Finchem file motions for reconsideration in their respective races for governor and secretary of state.

On Monday, Maricopa County released a report by former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor on the causes of the ballot printer issues that occurred at more than 70 vote centers on Election Day last year, which resulted in long lines as many voters’ ballots were unreadable by tabulator machines.

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Mark Finchem Adds New Exhibits in Election Contest, Including Expert’s Declaration That Printer Settings Were ‘Intentionally Changed’

Former Republican candidate for Arizona Secretary of State Mark Finchem, who is contesting his loss last fall to Democrat Adrian Fontes, filed a Notice of Supplemental Authority and Evidence in Support of Contestant’s Motion for Reconsideration last week. A Maricopa County judge dismissed his lawsuit in December. Finchem included 10 exhibits consisting of mostly declarations from observers, election workers, and experts, including one who believes the election printer settings in Maricopa County were deliberately modified to create misreads of the ballots. 

Exhibit K was a declaration from Bob Hughes, who has 50 years in the printing industry and 16 years printing ballots for the Maricopa County Elections Department. Last month, Hughes and a team examined the Logic & Accuracy tests that were performed immediately prior to the election, the ballots used for testing, the certification reports for each voting center, and the tabulator reports printed from the testing. He concluded, “An intentional change was made to the printers affecting the DAY OF Election ballots.”

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New ‘Late Exit’ Poll Finds Eight Percent More Arizona Voters Said They Voted for Lake over Hobbs

Rasmussen Reports and College Republicans United issued the results of a type of “late exit” poll on Friday, revealing that likely Arizona voters said they voted for former Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake over Governor Katie Hobbs 51 percent to 43 percent.

Also, the poll found these likely Arizona voters voted for Abe Hamadeh and Mark Finchem over their Democratic opponents who won those respective state races. 

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Mark Finchem Responds to Sanctions for Bringing Election Challenge over Voter Disenfranchisement in His Race

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Melissa Julian awarded sanctions last week against Mark Finchem and his attorney Tom McCauley over Finchem’s lawsuit challenging his election loss in the secretary of state’s race. Democrat Adrian Fontes, who won the race, asked the court for sanctions in December. Finchem and McCauley will be required to pay attorneys fees; the legal costs of Fontes’ and then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ office defending against the lawsuit. 

Finchem issued a statement after the ruling. “The 6-page order by Judge Julian to award lawyer reimbursement to leftist litigators who represent the Sinaloa Cartel, now the installed Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, and Katie Hobbs, the installed Governor of Arizona, is contemptible judicial overreach beyond all statutory and Rules of Civil Procedure for the Superior Courts of Arizona,” he said. “This award is designed to quash any and all dissent where elections are in question. The Maricopa County 2022 election was the most embarrassing election in American history. As a result, 70% of Americans doubt the outcome of the 2022 elections in Arizona (Rasmussen Poll).” 

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In Similar Cases to Lake’s and Finchem’s Lawsuit over Electronic Voting Machine Readers, Judges Did Not Order Sanctions Against Attorneys

The judge in Kari Lake’s election challenge lawsuit declined to award sanctions against her attorneys, although he did order her team to pay the costs of the government defendants. However, in a lawsuit Lake filed earlier this year with Mark Finchem contesting the use of electronic voting machine readers, U.S District Judge John Tuchi, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, sanctioned her attorneys. 

That lawsuit was filed in April and Tuchi dismissed it in August. Maricopa County asked for sanctions on the grounds that attorneys brought claims to court that were “demonstrably false,” citing “vague” allegations that machine counting can produce inaccurate results. Tuchi said the attorneys acted “recklessly” and in “bad faith.” He ordered Lake and Finchem’s lawyers to pay Maricopa County’s attorneys fees. He warned others considering similar lawsuits, “It is to penalize specific attorney conduct with the broader goal of deterring similarly baseless filings initiated by anyone, whether an attorney or not.”

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Maricopa County Judge Dismisses Mark Finchem’s Election Lawsuit, Affirms Fontes as Arizona Secretary of State-Elect

In a 13-page decision Friday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Melissa Iyer Julian dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit challenging the certified election outcome by former Republican secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem, KOLD News 13 reported.

Julian’s ruling rejected Finchem’s allegations of misconduct and election administration errors, goes on to forbid Finchem from refiling a future complaint on the same grounds. Judge Julian also and affirmed Democrat Adrian Fontes is the state’s Secretary of State-elect.

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Mark Finchem Files Lawsuit Contesting Election Results, Contends at Least 60,624 Ballots Were Not Counted in Maricopa County

Three of the Trump-endorsed candidates in Arizona who lost their races filed lawsuits contesting the election results. Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh, and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem all filed lawsuits on Friday.

Finchem’s complaint, which was filed jointly in Maricopa County Superior Court with Jeff Zink, a Republican candidate who lost his race challenging Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-07), named Gallego, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who was declared the gubernatorial winner over Lake, and incoming-Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who defeated Finchem, as defendants.

Zink was later dropped from the complaint in an amended complaint filed on Monday.

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Candidates Hopeful for Election Challenges After Certification, Since Early Lawsuits Had Less Statutory Backing

The Trump-endorsed slate of candidates in Arizona’s top races who allegedly lost their races have started pursuing legal challenges over what they believe was an election rampant with voter disenfranchisement and suppression. One of the first challenges was turned away on Tuesday as premature, a lawsuit by Attorney General candidate Abe Hamadeh and the Republican National Committee (RNC), but election law attorneys say this should not be taken as a sign that there are no valid grounds to overturn the election. 

Bob Brickman, an election and regulatory attorney in Phoenix, told The Arizona Sun Times while he “understands the strategy of suing now, since fraud really should be challengeable any time, Arizona law is clear that election challenges cannot be brought until five days after after the state has certified the results, which is scheduled for Dec. 5.” 

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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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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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Arizona Political Operatives Optimistic for Republicans as They Analyze the Slow Release of Election Results

Although there are still a few races in Arizona that have not been called yet, many analysts believe overall it’s looking like good results for MAGA candidates. The rate of return of ballots in the remaining precincts appears to be heavily favoring Republicans, since a large portion of them are from red counties and people who voted in person on election day. 

George Khalaf, managing partner of The Resolute Group and owner of the Data Orbital polling company, told The Arizona Sun Times he was “confident all statewide Republicans (outside of Masters/Finchem) will prevail.” He said, “I believe there is still a path for Masters/Finchem but that will depend a lot on how well they with the Early Ballots dropped off on Election Day. When it is all said and done, I think Kari wins by around 3 percent (close to our final poll).” 

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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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Kari Lake Gains Ground on Katie Hobbs with over 30 Percent of Votes Left to Count

The Arizona race for governor is taking a red turn Wednesday morning after a blue night Tuesday. Republican Kari Lake now sits within one percentage point of her opponent Katie Hobbs, and Lake’s campaign is confident their candidate will continue to outperform her Democrat rival, Katie Hobbs.

“We are confident that every drop moving forward will be a net positive for [Kari Lake]. It’s a marathon not a sprint,” said her campaign.

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Although Early Ballots Favored Democrats, Mark Finchem Says He Is Optimistic for Secretary of State Race Win

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – Republican Mark Finchem remained optimistic in the hours following the polls closing on Tuesday as the early returns showed the Secretary of State hopeful underperforming against his Democratic Party rival, Adrian Fontes. 

Arizona’s Trump-endorsed slate of candidates appeared to be losing at first, with State Representative Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley) trailing former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes in the Secretary of State’s race 41.8 percent to 58.2 percent. By midnight, 69 percent of precincts were tabulated.

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Ahead in the Polls, Kari Lake Tests New Theme: Don’t Let America Become California

Ahead in the polls and garnering national attention, Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake is teasing a new message that could catch on for conservatives in 2024: California is the evil empire for freedom-loving Americans.

“We’re not interested in those liberal, leftist California-style policies in Arizona,” Lake said on Friday during an interview on the “Just the News, No Noise” television show.

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New Poll Shows Races Tightening in Arizona, Blake Masters Says ‘Mark Kelly’s Campaign Is Floundering’

With the Arizona General Election only a week away, OH Predictive Insights (OHPI) released its final Arizona Public Opinion Pulse (AZPOP) poll showing nearly every race neck in neck. The race for Senate has become especially close, and Republican nominee Blake Masters said it is because Arizonans realize what’s at stake.

“Despite massive financial backing from the wealthy special interests who control him, Mark Kelly’s campaign is floundering because Arizonans know Mark Kelly is the one responsible for surging inflation, surging crime, and surging gas prices. They also know that Mark Kelly is the single Senator most responsible for our open border disaster. This election is a referendum on border security and Mark Kelly’s betrayal of every Arizona family,” Masters said in a statement emailed to the Arizona Sun Times. “A vote for Kelly is a vote for open borders. A vote for me is a vote for secure borders and safe communities. That’s what is at stake in this election.”

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Twitter Suspends Mark Finchem’s Account Three Days After Elon Musk’s Takeover, Eight Days Before the Election – UPDATED

Just three days after tech mogul Elon Musk acquired Twitter, promising to bring free speech to the platform, the social media giant suspended Arizona secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem. The election is eight days away, and the Trump-endorsed state representative is running on a platform of combating voter fraud – a contentious topic that raises hackles on the Right and Left.

Finchem received a notice from Twitter Monday afternoon telling him, “We’ve temporarily limited some of your account features.” It went on to say, “We have determined this account violated the Twitter Rules. Specifically for:” However, there was no reason specified.

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Kari Lake Thanks Liz Cheney for Being Her ‘Biggest Fundraiser Yet’

Following the release of a $500,000 TV ad Friday from Liz Cheney’s Political Action Committee (PAC) urging Arizona voters to stay away from Republican nominees Kari Lake and Mark Finchem, Lake said her campaign received a huge boost in donations. Lake thanked Cheney for contributing to the campaign.

“Thank you [Cheney] for your generous in-kind contribution to my campaign. Your recent television ad urging Arizonans not to vote for me is doing just the opposite,” Lake said in a letter to Cheney. “Our campaign donations are skyrocketing and our website nearly crashed from traffic as people rushed to learn more about my plan to put Arizona first and join our historic political movement.”

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Liz Cheney Drops $500,000 on Ads Targeting Kari Lake and Mark Finchem

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), who was defeated for reelection in the 2022 Republican primary after opposing and voting to impeach President Donald Trump, is buying ad time in Arizona opposing two popular Trump-endorsed candidates. Her PAC, The Great Task, purchased $500,000 in air time to run an ad critical of Trump-endorsed Kari Lake, who is running for governor, and Trump-endorsed State Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley), who is running for secretary of state.

During the ad, which features a clip from a speech Cheney gave at ASU sponsored by the McCain Institute earlier this month, Cheney stated, “I don’t know that I have ever voted for a Democrat. But if I lived in Arizona, I absolutely would.” She claimed that Lake and Finchem “will only honor the results of an election if they agree with it.”

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Arizona Candidates on the Right Get Together for Massive ‘Big Tent’ Rally

Patriots of Arizona put on a rally Monday night at Dream City Church in Phoenix featuring a long list of candidates running for office, from local school board candidates to Kari Lake for governor. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed several of them, and most of his picks are leading in the polls. Emceed by pundit Kevin Jackson, the theme of the evening was how Republicans are set to sweep Arizona on Nov. 8. 

Jackson opened the event telling the crowd of several hundred and 27 organizations, some which had booths outside the event, “I’m Kevin Jackson and my pronouns are FJB.” The president of Patriots of Arizona, Bonnie, thanked the church for hosting the event, noting that “Other churches have not opened their doors.

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Arizona’s Down-Ticket Races Highly Competitive, New Poll Shows

Further down the ballot, Arizona voters should expect some highly-competitive statewide races, a new poll shows.

While the incumbent treasurer appears to be in a position to win her re-election bid, the races for secretary of state, attorney general, and superintendent of public instruction are tighter, according to OH Predictive Insights’ (OHPI) latest Arizona Public Opinion Pulse (AZPOP) poll. In the latter three races, no candidate leads by more than three points, making them statistically tied because of the poll’s 3.77% margin of error.

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Kari Lake Campaign Calls Liz Cheney ‘Confused’: ‘Auditions for CNN Contributors Are Being Held in Washington, Not Arizona’

The Campaign of Arizona’s gubernatorial Republican nominee, Kari Lake, blasted Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who spoke on the Arizona State University (ASU) Campus Wednesday, telling Arizonans to vote against candidates like Lake.

“Liz Cheney is confused. Auditions for CNN contributors are being held in Washington, not in Arizona. No one here cares what she has to say,” said Lake’s Communications Director, Ross Trumble, to the Arizona Sun Times.

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Accusations Fly Between Finchem, Fontes During Arizona Secretary of State Debate Focused on Voter Fraud

Trump-endorsed State Representative Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley) faced off against Democratic former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes in a debate Thursday evening hosted by Clean Elections on KAET PBS. Most of the lively exchange focused on the candidates’ stark differences regarding voter fraud, with Fontes more dismissive and Finchem stating election integrity is a priority. 

Finchem said in his opening statement that he is running due to what’s happened to the office under the current officeholder, Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is running for governor. He said he wants to “restore honor, integrity, and security” to the position. “It’s not up to the secretary of state to make the law, they enforce the law that’s already laid down.” In addition to other controversies, Hobbs has been involved in a high-profile legal dispute with Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich for making changes to the state’s Election Procedures Manual that Brnovich asserts are outside of her authority.

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Trump-Endorsed Mark Finchem Leads Adrian Fontes by over Six Points in Arizona Secretary of State Race: Poll

A new poll from The Trafalgar Group shows Trump-endorsed State Representative Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley), who is running for Arizona secretary of state, more than six points ahead of his opponent, Democratic former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes. Conducted between September 14 and 17, the survey of 1,080 likely voters by the Republican-aligned pollster found that 47.5 percent chose Finchem and 41.1 percent chose Fontes.

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Blake Masters Campaign Celebrates Momentum in ‘Dead Heat’ Race Following New Poll Results

A new poll from the Trafalgar Group shows Trumped-endorsed Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters making momentum against his opponent, incumbent Mark Kelly (D-AZ).

“This race is a dead heat despite Mark Kelly spending $60 million to paint himself as some type of moderate, when he’s been nothing more than a rubber stamp for Joe Biden’s failed agenda. Blake Masters is gaining momentum every day as voters learn about Kelly’s extreme voting record and reject him,” said Blake Masters’s press contact Zachery Henry to the Arizona Sun Times.

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Kari Lake and Mark Finchem Appeal Judge’s Decision to Dismiss Their Electronic Voting Machines Lawsuit

Although the deadline for printing ballots for Arizona’s midterm election on Nov. 8 has passed, ending the time for litigation regarding items that must appear on the ballot, one lawsuit regarding the election continues to wind its way through the courts. After their lawsuit requesting the halting of electronic voting machines in the election was thrown out by an Obama-appointed trial court judge, U.S. District Judge John Tuchi, the attorneys for Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Trump-endorsed State Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley), who is running for Arizona Secretary of State, filed a notice of appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Tuchi stated in his order dismissing the case that “speculative allegations that voting machines may be hackable are insufficient to establish an injury in fact,” it was too close to the election to file, and the lawsuit should have been filed in state court, not federal court. 

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Kari Lake and Mark Finchem Denounce Maricopa County Supervisor’s Motion for Sanctions over Election Integrity Lawsuit

Trump-endorsed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed a lawsuit along with Trump-endorsed State Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley), who is running for Arizona Secretary of State, in April to block the use of electronic voting machines to count ballots in the 2022 election. The Maricopa County Supervisors responded last week with a motion requesting sanctions against the pair and their attorneys, which include former Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz, asserting that the suit was “frivolous.” 

Finchem tweeted, “The threatened action by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, is nothing more than the attempted weaponization of the judicial process against the political process. If they can’t stand up to scrutiny for elections, that’s their problem — not our problem. Elections must be secure and trustworthy, Maricopa County has demonstrated neither is the case in the last election. “

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Republicans Rumble in Final Forum for Arizona Sec State and Treasurer

The grassroots organization America Pack put on its last Republican primary debate Friday night, featuring the candidates for Arizona Secretary of State followed by the candidates for Arizona State Treasurer. During the first debate, Secretary of State candidate and current State Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale) took an aggressive stance toward her opponents, and her fellow Republicans responded in kind. 

During the second debate, State Representative Jeff Weninger (R-Chandler) went after the sitting treasurer, Kimberly Yee, who responded back just as feistily.

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Gosar, Biggs and Finchem Respond to Lawsuit from ‘Random Members of the Public’ Trying to Remove Them from Ballot for ‘Insurrection’

An organization calling itself “Free Speech for People” filed lawsuits against three prominent Arizona Republican officials, asserting that they are unqualified to hold office due to their connections to the Jan. 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol. The lawsuits aim to stop Rep. Paul Gosar (R-04-Ariz.) and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-03-Ariz.) from running for reelection, and State Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley) from running for Arizona Secretary of State, claiming the three engaged in “insurrection” which is prohibited by the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Jack Wilenchik, the attorney for Finchem, told The Arizona Sun Times, “The lawsuit is long on publicity but short on law. No convictions or congressional authority for suit.” He told Capitol Media, “We don’t allow random members of the public to accuse politicians of a crime and remove them from office.” He explained how it would open the floodgates for anyone to try and remove any elected official they disagreed with, from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton.

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Grassroots ‘America Pack’ Recommends 36 Bills in the Arizona Legislature This Session

America Pack, a grassroots movement “built to empower citizens to hold elected officials accountable, advocate for honest elections, support law enforcement, and fight for freedom and liberty,” has issued a list of its most important bills this session in the Arizona Legislature. The topics primarily address election integrity, education, and COVID-19. They must be scheduled to be heard in a committee by Feb. 18, or they will die.

Election Integrity – House Government and Elections Committee

HB 2023, sponsored by State Representative Mark Finchem (R-Mesa) with several co-sponsors, requires digital images of ballots to be posted publicly online after elections.

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Arizona State Lawmaker Introduces Resolution to Decertify 2020 Election in Three Counties

Arizona Republican State Rep. Mark Finchem introduced a bill Monday calling to decertify the 2020 election in three counties.

“In the case of Maricopa, Pima and Yuma Counties, the fact that there is evidence showing illegal acts occurred, whether by intent or omission does not matter, the margin of error exceeds the margin of victory,” said Finchem, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump for Arizona Secretary of State.

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Arizona Lawmakers Hold Hearing in Pima County Analyzing 2020 Voter Fraud Allegations

Nine Arizona legislators held a hearing Monday in the Democratic stronghold of Pima County and Tucson over persistent rumors of election irregularities, including one anonymous allegation that 35,000 fraudulent votes were added to the final tally.

State Sen. Kelly Townsend (R-Mesa) explained why the Pima County election integrity hearing was necessary.

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Arizona Attorney General Brnovich Prosecuting Felon Who Voted From Jail

A state grand jury has indicted a 46-year-old felon for illegally voting while in jail. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced that Manuel Aguirre of Sahuarita was indicted on one count of false registration and one count of illegal voting, both felonies. He voted during the 2020 election from the Pima County Jail. 

Aguirre falsely stated on his voter registration form that he had no felonies or that his rights had been restored. He has five felony convictions, including vehicular theft, criminal trespassing and weapons misconduct. 

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Citing Precincts with Ballot Return Rate Greater Than 100 Percent, Donald Trump Calls to Decertify Pima County’s 2020 Election or Hold a New One

Former President Donald Trump issued a statement on October 15 denouncing the results of an investigation of mail-in ballots in Pima County’s 2020 election, calling for either the results for president to be decertified with Trump declared the winner or hold a new election. He said the election was “Rigged and Stolen,” citing “staggering anomalies and fictitious votes” that “stuffed the ballot box” with more ballots than were sent out in some precincts. Arizona Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley), who is running for Arizona Secretary of State, echoed Trump’s claims, saying there are “34,000 or 35,000 fictitious voters” in Pima County.

Trump said the analysis was done from publicly available election data, and showed that mail-in ballots returned in Pima County during the election initially showed him up 3 points over other Republicans, with Joe Biden underperforming other Democrats by 3 points. Then the mail-in ballots started returning at an abnormally high rate, over 87%, and Trump suddenly started performing worse and Biden better. However, “they overplayed their hand, and got caught. Two precincts in Pima had over 100 percent turnout for mail-in ballots — which is impossible — and 40 precincts had over 97% returned.”

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Former President Trump Calls In to Bannon-Headlined ‘Take Back Virginia’ Rally

Steve Bannon headlined a get-out-the-vote rally for the MAGA base in Henrico on Wednesday evening, where speakers included Senator Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) and Arizona State House Representative Mark Finchem, who is using 2020 election audits in that state in his campaign for Arizona Secretary of State. But the biggest reaction from the crowd came when former President Donald Trump called in for about five minutes.

“Glenn Youngkin is a great gentleman,” Trump said. “You have a chance to get one of the most successful businessmen in the country, and he did it in a quiet professional way, in Glenn Youngkin. I hope — he and others by the way — but I hope Glenn gets in there  and he’ll straighten out Virginia, and he’ll lower taxes, all of the things that we want a governor to do, and I really believe that Virginia is very, very, winnable.”

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Arizona State Rep. Turns State Ballot Integrity Project into National Opportunity

Mark Finchem, the State Representative from Arizona who has also received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump in a bid to become that State’s Secretary of State in 2022, has effectively taken his Arizona Ballot Integrity Project (BIP) national as of this past Wednesday when he and approximately 30 others from around the country gathered at the suburban Dallas offices of international authentication leader, Authentix, to create a process for introducing a highly counterfeit-resistant paper ballot. 

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Arizona Democratic Legislator Responds to Defamation Lawsuit Filed by Gosar, Finchem and Kern over January 6 Remarks

Rep. Charlene Fernandez (D-Yuma) responded to a defamation lawsuit filed against her by three Arizona Republican leaders by asking the court to dismiss it. U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04), Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley) and former Rep. Anthony Kern (R-Phoenix) filed the lawsuit against her due to a letter she sent on February 12 to the FBI and Department of Justice along with the rest of the Democrats in the Arizona Legislature asking the agencies to investigate the men about their role on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol protest. The three were at the Capitol that day but did not participate in the unauthorized entry of the building or aggressive behavior. 

Finchem told National File that “it’s been horrible” dealing with the accusations. “They’ve destroyed my character in the public eye. They’ve destroyed my reputation, and all of it is a big lie.”

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Five Voting-Related Ballot Proposals Seek to Make Arizona 2022 Ballot

Five ballot proposals addressing voting may be on this fall’s ballot if their sponsors collect enough signatures. Three of them, known as referendums, seek to stop legislation from becoming law, requiring 118,823 signatures each. The other ballot initiatives need 237,645 signatures each. Even if all the signatures are collected, a successful legal challenge could keep them off the ballot.

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