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While Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes \u200dwas in D.C. this week smearing election integrity advocates as election \u201cdeniers,\u201d a lawsuit was filed against\u200d Maricopa County election officials by the local nonprofit civic group \u200dStrong Communities Foundation of Arizona and Eric Lovelis, a Maricopa County resident and member of \u200cthe Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

County officials \u201care fully aware of the myriad deficiencies in how they administer elections,\u00a0 yet they have consistently \u200bfailed to take effective action to rectify them,\u201d the lawsuit claims<\/a>. \u201cThe Defendants\u2019 administration of elections \u200din Maricopa County has been sloppy, shoddy, and rife with mistakes.<\/p>\n

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Filed by America First Legal<\/a>, a law firm founded<\/a> by former Trump\u2064 administration officials, the suit names all of \u200cMaricopa County\u2019s Board of Supervisors, including its chairman, Bill Gates, and Stephen Richer, the county recorder. <\/p>\n

It lays out a litany<\/a> of\u200d alleged election law violations<\/a><\/a> from\u200c recent\u200d major election cycles.\u00a0The complaint \u2062seeks injunctions and writs of mandamus ordering the county to observe election\u200c statutes properly to prevent the \u20632024\u2062 election from being \u201cmarred by the same \u2064mistakes and maladministration\u2064 as the 2020 and 2022 elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a panel discussion<\/a> put on\u2062 by\u2063 the Election Center on Tuesday, Fontes downplayed election integrity concerns to the audience of election officials and \u2062media: \u201cSome\u2064 of what\u2019s going to happen there [in the 2024 election] is what\u2062 we see every \u200bsingle cycle, the occasional human error. Unfortunately \u2063now, bad actors \u200cwith bad intent \u200bare going to blow these\u2064 things out of proportion and pretend like the sky is falling; just because somebody \u200cmoved a box from point A\u2062 to point\u200d B.\u201d<\/p>\n

The beef \u2064is more than mere shuffling of boxes, according to the lawsuit. The complaint is asking a \u200cjudge to instruct Maricopa County to \u201cdocument chain of custody\u201d for ballots that\u2063 were being \u201cstored or transported,\u201d which is\u200c a common \u2063statutory \u200brequirement when ballots are moved outside of the\u2064 public\u2019s \u200cview. <\/p>\n

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An election worker in Maricopa County \u2062 admitted<\/a> in court \u200ctestimony last May that ballots were delivered to private third-party providers\u200d to process the ballots with\u200b no chain of custody forms. This was a key point of contention in the 2022 gubernatorial contest between \u2064Republican Kari Lake and Democrat Katie Hobbs,\u200d who\u200b won by \u2063 about<\/a> 17,000 votes. <\/p>\n

The lawsuit asserts that Maricopa County election officials \u201cunlawfully failed to maintain proper chain of custody\u201d for ballots, \u200dwhich \u201cresulted\u200c in a discrepancy of over 25,000 votes, which\u2064 was larger\u200c than the\u2064 margin of victory in\u200b many 2022 statewide races, including the governor\u2019s race.\u201d <\/p>\n

During \u200bhis \u200dremarks at \u200dthe Election Center event on \u2064Tuesday, Fontes\u2063 dismissed\u2063 election integrity activists\u2019 pleas to fix issues in Arizona\u2019s election administration. He \u200btold the audience the \u200dfocus in 2024 \u200dwill be on \u201cthe real work that gets done\u201d by \u2062\u201cthe folks who are actually \u200cdriving the trucks [with voters\u2019 ballots], \u2063moving stuff around in the warehouses, and assisting voters.\u200b To me that\u2019s\u200d where 2024 is going to be focused.\u201d <\/p>\n

But according to the lawsuit, much work \u200cneeds doing. In 2022, the lawsuit contends,\u200c ballots were not properly reviewed<\/a> for signature verification, and\u2063 the vote centers were plagued by problems \u2062with ballot-on-demand printers. \u201cThese printer malfunctions\u200c included printing 19-inch ballot \u2062images on 20-inch paper, making\u200c them unreadable to tabulator machines,\u201d the lawsuit claims. \u201cAdditionally, printers\u2062 were incorrectly\u200c set to print ballots\u2062 using an ink-saving \u200c\u2018eco\u2019 function that led\u2063 to speckled or faded printing that also made\u200c ballots unreadable by tabulator machines.\u201d<\/p>\n

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On Tuesday, I\u2062 asked Fontes about why some machines reportedly malfunctioned on Election Day 2022, among other\u2064 apparent \u2062failures. \u2063According to a lawsuit brought by 2022 gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, tabulators at roughly \u206460 percent of voting centers\u2064 in Maricopa \u2062rejected ballots on Election Day. \u2064Fontes responded by telling me \u201cthe root of your question comes from election denialism\u201d and insisting\u200b the \u201ctabulators were so sensitive and so secure that an\u2064 undetectable printing error [would be] so tiny you couldn\u2019t see it with a human eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a very secure system,\u201d\u200b he \u200badded, \u2063claiming \u201cit is a standard procedure that if the tabulators in a polling place don\u2019t count, that there is an alternative place to put those.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs also \u200ctake issue with Maricopa \u2062County\u2019s massive \u200dvoting centers, which America First Legal says are not only \u201cpoorly run,\u201d\u2064 but\u2062 are\u2063 an \u201cirrational substitute for election day precinct voting,\u201d and\u2064 are \u2064\u201csituated in a\u200c racially discriminatory \u200dway, having \u200ba disparate impact on the County\u2019s White and Native American citizens who are more likely to vote in person.\u201d <\/p>\n

In addition to \u2064maintaining chain \u200cof custody documentation when ballots are transferred,\u2062 the filing asks the Maricopa County Superior \u200cCourt\u2063 to \u2063order election officials to use \u201cdemographic data \u2062from\u2064 the 2020 and\u2062 2022\u2062 general elections to racially\u2064 balance the number of election-day Long Distance Voters,\u201d \u2064since the \u201cvast\u200c majority\u201d of these \u201celection-day voters whose residence was located more than two miles from a voting center\u201d were \u201cin\u200b census blocks that were majority White or Native American.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u2063 lawsuit \u2064contends\u200b that:<\/p>\n

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\u2026during \u2062the 2022 election, hundreds, and possibly thousands, of voters appeared at voting centers and were \u2062told that they \u200bwere no longer registered to vote \u2063in Maricopa County, even though they had not moved away, had not knowingly requested that their \u200bregistration\u2063 be\u200d canceled or transferred, had not consented \u200dto the cancellation\u2064 of their registration, and had never\u2062 been informed\u200b of the\u200d cancellation of their registration.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
As a result, the plaintiffs continue, they had to cast provisional ballots, \u200dwhich they claim Maricopa \u200bCounty \u200belection officials \u201cnever \u200bcounted.\u201d The \u201cnumber of voters \u200bdisenfranchised during the\u200b 2022 general election by\u200d the Defendants\u2019 unlawful \u2064cancellations was larger than the margin of \u2064victory in some races,\u201d the filing says.<\/p>\n
When I asked him Tuesday about the problems \u200din the 2022 election,\u2063 Fontes responded that\u2063 he would act \u201cwhen\u200d I \u2064see evidence of misdeeds, when I see \u2063evidence of problems,\u201d but insisted \u201cthere hasn\u2019t been any evidence.\u201d\u2063 <\/p>\n
But Fontes has certainly seen a lengthy list of complaints, such as another lawsuit<\/a> filed days ago \u2064against\u2063 him by Arizona\u200c Senate President Warren \u200bPetersen and state House Speaker \u200bBen Toma. They allege the state\u2019s Election Procedures Manual is in \u201cconflict with election laws.\u201d The\u2064 Republican National Committee likewise \u200dfiled a lawsuit over the \u200cmanual on Friday.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit by \u200bAmerica First\u200c Legal contends\u200c that, instead of addressing well-documented failures to follow statutes on chain of custody and proper verification of absentee-ballot signatures,\u2063 Maricopa County election officials \u2062have\u200c instead \u201cstubbornly dug their heels in. Rather than fix their past mistakes,\u2063 they try to fight, silence, or\u2062 shame anyone questioning their maladministration.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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What concerns regarding the chain of \u200dcustody for ballots are raised in the lawsuit, and what\u200d documentation is requested to\u2062 address these concerns<\/h2>\n
Formal Article Title: Lawsuit Filed Against Maricopa County Election Officials Alleges Election Law Violations<\/p>\n
Introduction<\/p>\n
In a recent development,\u2063 a lawsuit has been filed against Maricopa County election officials by the Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, a local nonprofit civic group, and Eric Lovelis, a resident of Maricopa County and member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The lawsuit, filed\u2064 by America First Legal, a law firm founded by former Trump administration officials, alleges \u2064various election law violations and seeks to demand proper administration of elections to\u2063 ensure the integrity of\u200c future elections.<\/p>\n
Claims \u2064of Election Law Violations<\/p>\n
According to the lawsuit, the county officials have been aware of the deficiencies in their election administration but have consistently failed to take effective action to rectify them. The\u2062 complaint alleges that the county’s \u2062administration of elections has\u200b been sloppy, shoddy, and rife with mistakes. The lawsuit points out alleged violations from\u2062 recent major election cycles and seeks injunctions and writs of mandamus to ensure that the 2024 election is not marred by the same mistakes and maladministration\u200b as previous\u2063 elections.<\/p>\n
Key Defendants in the Lawsuit<\/p>\n
The lawsuit names all of Maricopa County’s\u200c Board of \u2064Supervisors, including its chairman Bill Gates and the county recorder Stephen Richer, as defendants. As the lawsuit progresses, it will seek to hold these officials accountable for the \u200balleged\u200d violations and \u200cdemand proper adherence to \u2064election statutes.<\/p>\n
Chain of\u200c Custody\u2063 Documentation<\/p>\n
One of\u2064 the significant concerns raised in the lawsuit is the lack of proper documentation regarding the chain of custody for ballots. The complaint requests a judge to instruct Maricopa County to document the \u200cchain of custody for ballots that are stored or transported, as required by statutory requirements when\u2063 ballots are moved outside of the public’s view.<\/p>\n
Previous Instances of Violations<\/p>\n
The lawsuit cites instances of \u2062alleged violations from previous elections in Maricopa County. It highlights the admission of an election worker\u200c in court testimony that ballots were delivered to private third-party providers\u200c without\u200c proper chain of custody forms. This issue was a significant point of contention in the 2022 gubernatorial contest between Republican Kari Lake and Democrat Katie Hobbs. The lawsuit claims\u200b that Maricopa County’s failure to maintain proper chain of custody resulted in a discrepancy of over 25,000 votes, which exceeded the margin of victory in several statewide races.<\/p>\n
Dismissing Election Integrity Concerns<\/p>\n
Despite the mounting concerns and allegations outlined in the lawsuit, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has\u200d dismissed election\u2064 integrity worries. In a recent \u2063panel discussion, Fontes downplayed these concerns, labeling them as \u200celection denialism and \u200battributing them to occasional human errors. However, the lawsuit argues that there are significant issues that need to be addressed, citing problems with signature verification \u200band malfunctions of ballot-on-demand printers.<\/p>\n
Racial Impact and \u2063Election-Day Precinct Voting<\/p>\n
The \u2063lawsuit \u2062also \u200braises concerns about Maricopa County’s voting centers, which it deems poorly run and an irrational \u2062substitute for precinct voting on election day. Furthermore,\u200b the plaintiffs argue that the placement of these voting centers has a disparate impact on the county’s \u200cwhite and Native American citizens. In light of this, they request the court to order election officials to use demographic data from previous elections to racially balance the number of\u2064 election-day Long Distance Voters, ensuring fair access<\/a> to voting centers.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/p>\n
The\u200b lawsuit against Maricopa County\u2063 election officials highlights significant allegations of election law violations \u2063and seeks proper administration of elections to prevent future maladministration. It remains \u200cto be seen how the court will \u200brespond to these claims and whether the lawsuit will prompt significant reforms in Maricopa County’s election processes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, in D.C., criticized election integrity advocates as “deniers.” Meanwhile, a lawsuit was filed by Strong Communities Foundation and Eric Lovelis, a Maricopa County resident and Choctaw Nation member, against Maricopa County election officials<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2833,"featured_media":2172615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Adrian_Fontes_52614504069-e1707430054258.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2172614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Adrian_Fontes_52614504069-e1707430054258.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2833"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2172614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2172615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2172614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2172614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2172614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}