Cochise County cannot count ballots by hand!

End of Cochise County election nonsense?

From the Democracy Docket: "WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, Oct. 18, an Arizona appellate court affirmed a lower court ruling that determined that Cochise County, Arizona could not conduct a hand count audit of all early ballots for the 2022 midterm elections. As Cochise County has indicated it would conduct future hand count audits, this ruling bars those as well. "
Read the entire article at DemocracyDocket.com

 

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AZ Secretary of State gets sued over elections manual

From Sedona Redrock News

From Sedona Redrock News October 4, 2023
VOC resident sues Secretary of State Fontes over ballots

"Village of Oak Creek resident Dwight Kadar is suing Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over a provision in Fontes’ new edition of the state elections procedures manual that permits alternate methods of ballot verification.
Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John D. Napper rejected Fontes’ motion to dismiss the suit on Sept. 1, allowing it to proceed.
Kadar is a joint plaintiff in the suit, which was filed on March 6, with two 501(c)(4) groups, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections; the latter is a Virginia-based organization. The Republican Party of Arizona joined the suit as a plaintiff on April 17. Kadar has donated more than $110,000 to the party and to Republican candidates over the last 10 years. He ran unsuccessfully for a Sedona Fire District Governing Board seat in 2018."
Read entire article at Redrocknews.com.

Commentary by Bob Karp

The plaintiffs may have a real case here (although very technical and probably specious) and it should be decided by the courts to limit any confusion during the 2024 election cycle.  However, what I find interesting is who signs on for this suit.  Included is the Arizona Republican Party, a wealthy donor, as well as some Republican affiliated 501(c)(4) groups.
Let's remember a few  things:  1)  for over 20 years about 80% of Arizona voters have voted by mail.  Voters like it and until 2020 trusted the process.  2) During that time Republicans routinely won most statewide elections and kept control of both houses of the state legislature.  3)  There were no complaints about election fraud that resulted in major changes in the outcome of contested races.  4) There has been no proof that mail-in ballots are vulnerable to tampering or forgery at a mass level.
So what changed?  Donald Trump lost the 2020 general election.  That's the only thing that changed in Arizona.  Unlike other states that made changes because of the pandemic, Arizona already had in place "no fault" voting by mail.
Now the charge from the GOP is that people don't trust the system and we have to change it.  However, whatever changes are made, and I believe none are necessary, they will not make these people happy if they lose elections again.  The idea is to create more chaos around elections and then make it even more difficult to vote - forcing everyone to vote in person on election day on paper ballots and then count them by hand.
That's certain to cause a drop in participation and increase in potential fraud resulting in a total loss in confidence in our elections.
Thank you Arizona Republicans!

AZ Secretary of State submits Elections Procedural Manual for approval

Per AZ SOS Adrian Fontes press release

Saturday, September 30, 2023
PHOENIX - In a major step to prepare local and county officials ahead of the 2024 elections, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced the submission today of an updated Elections Procedures Manual to Governor Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes for their review and approval.
Secretary Fontes said: “The Arizona Elections Procedures Manual is one of the most important documents to ensure consistent and efficient election administration across our state. Reflecting its importance to safe, secure, and accurate elections in Arizona, my office made updating the Manual a top priority—holding a series of monthly meetings with local and county elected officials to suggest changes and garner feedback.”
Read the entire press release and a link to the submitted manual on the AZ SOS website.