{"id":477472,"date":"2021-05-06T09:40:53","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T13:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=477472"},"modified":"2021-05-06T09:53:51","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T13:53:51","slug":"doj-raises-concerns-about-maricopa-county-election-audit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-raises-concerns-about-maricopa-county-election-audit\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: DOJ Says Ballots Could Be Tampered With During Audit"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdoj-raises-concerns-about-maricopa-county-election-audit%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=477472&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The U.S. Department of Justice on May 5 raised concerns about the ongoing 2020 election <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-audit\">audit<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-maricopa\">Maricopa<\/a> County, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-arizona\">Arizona<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter (<a href=\"https:\/\/assets.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20698904\/doj-letter-to-fann-5-5-21.pdf\">pdf<\/a>) to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-doj\">DOJ<\/a> Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General\u00a0Pamela Karlan cited news reports to inquire about the custody of the ballots currently under review by a group of private contractors.\u00a0Karlan also complained that a portion of the audit work that involves canvassing the addresses on the ballots may amount to \u201cvoter intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first issue relates to a number of reports suggesting that the ballots, elections systems, and election materials that are the subject of the Maricopa County audit are no longer under the ultimate control of state and local elections officials, are not being adequately safeguarded by contractors at an insecure facility, and are at risk of being lost, stolen, altered, compromised, or destroyed,\u201d Karlan wrote, citing a pair of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/news\/investigations\/cbs_5_investigates\/security-lapses-plague-arizona-senates-election-audit-at-state-fairgrounds\/article_b499aee8-a3ed-11eb-8f94-bfc2918c6cc9.html\">news articles<\/a> as the source for her allegations.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/news\/investigations\/cbs_5_investigates\/security-lapses-plague-arizona-senates-election-audit-at-state-fairgrounds\/article_b499aee8-a3ed-11eb-8f94-bfc2918c6cc9.html\">One of the articles<\/a> Karlan cited, alleged that there were security lapses in the audit process. The only evidence the article offered for the claim are the opinions of a local Democrat politician and a security expert, both of whom formed their opinions based on a video prepared by a local news channel. The <a href=\"https:\/\/tucson.com\/news\/local\/arizona-senate-issues-subpoena-demanding-access-to-2-million-plus-ballots-cast\/article_a426fc7b-60d8-5837-b244-17e5c2b2ddb4.html\">second<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azmirror.com\/2021\/02\/26\/judge-sides-with-senate-says-maricopa-must-turn-over-election-materials-for-audit\/\">third<\/a> articles Karlan cited were published in January and February, before the venue and the contractors for the audit were selected.<\/p>\n<p>Karlan also raised concerns about a plan by one of the audit contractors, Cyber Ninjas, to verify the validity of certain voter registrations with questionable addresses by dispatching people to verify whether the voter lived at the address on the registrations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis description of the proposed work of the audit raises concerns regarding potential intimidation of voters. The Department enforces a number of federal statutes that prohibit intimidation of persons for voting or attempting to vote,\u201d Karlan wrote, citing a section of the\u00a0Voting Rights Act which prohibits voter intimidation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPast experience with similar investigative efforts around the country has raised concerns that they can be directed at minority voters, which potentially can implicate the anti-intimidation prohibitions of the Voting Rights Act,\u201d Karlan added. \u201cSuch investigative efforts can have a significant intimidating effect on qualified voters that can deter them from seeking to vote in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fann\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who opposes the audit, wrote on Twitter that she\u2019s \u201cglad to finally see an enforcement agency ready to protect Arizona voters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the heels of my letter highlighting security shortfalls at the \u2018audit\u2019 and potential for voter intimidation, DOJ is raising those same concerns, including that ballots aren\u2019t properly safeguarded,\u201d Hobbs said.<\/p>\n<p>Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers, a Republican, issued\u00a0on Twitter late on May 5 what appeared to be a warning in response to the DOJ letter. \u201c\u2018Justice\u2019 Department \u2013 you need to stay in your lane. Do not touch Arizona ballots or machines unless you want to spend time in an Arizona prison,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The Brennan Center for Justice think tank and two other groups <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/groups-ask-doj-to-send-monitors-to-watch-arizona-election-audit_3797318.html\">asked the DOJ last week<\/a> to send monitors to observe the audit, relaying concerns that auditors were violating federal law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpecifically, we believe that the senate and its agents, including Cyber Ninjas, are 1) violating their duty under federal law to retain and preserve ballots cast in a federal election, which are and have been in danger of being stolen, defaced, or irretrievably damaged, and 2) preparing to engage in conduct which will constitute unlawful voter intimidation in violation of the Voting Rights Act and other federal laws,\u201d Wendy Weiser, Elizabeth Howard, and Hannah Klain from the center at the New York University School of Law said.<\/p>\n<p>But former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, a Republican tapped by Fann as the audit\u2019s liaison,\u00a0told The Epoch Times that the letter\u2019s fundamental assertions were \u201ccompletely unfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will be sending a rebuttal letter I guess for lack of a better word to the same people they sent it to. We welcome DOJ or anyone else to come see what\u2019s really happening,\u00a0because the ballots are secure, and there\u2019s no risks or any of the things that claim there are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The audit is taking place at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.<\/p>\n<p><em>Mimi Nguyen Ly and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Department of Justice on May 5 raised concerns about the ongoing 2020 election audit in Maricopa County, Arizona. In a letter (pdf) to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2277433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-477472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477472","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2277433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}