Ruth Hammons submits:
LEGAL DOGFIGHT BEGINS AFTER AZ GOP FOUND 4,849 DISCARDED BALLOTS
The November election in Arizona is still mired in controversy, with Republican candidates Abe Hamadeh and Kari Lake launching new legal tactics to challenge the results. This follows the rejection of their election challenge by Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steven Conn shortly before Christmas.
The case has revealed additional evidence of voting irregularities in Pinal County, which even Arizona’s new Democrat Secretary of State Kris Mayes admits is concerning.
The two Republican candidates are now asking for a “Motion for New Trial” after this shocking reveal. At the heart of their argument is the call to count all ballots accurately—and correctly—so that everyone’s vote can be heard and respected. They argue that if they’re allowed to inspect and count these provisional ballots, then they will win their case against Mayes, potentially leading either to her resignation or removal from office.
The lawsuit filed last month by Hamadeh and Lake has raised serious questions about how elections are conducted in Arizona and elsewhere. It has called attention to issues such as voter suppression, which disproportionately affects communities of color and other marginalized groups, who may not feel comfortable going out to cast their votes in person due to fear-based tactics used by certain political parties.
Provisional ballots, which have been around since 2002 when Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), are given out by poll workers when there is some question about a voter’s eligibility or if someone shows up at one precinct but actually needs to vote in another one nearby. These paper ballots are an important tool to ensure that valid votes are not discarded.
In Maricopa County, more than 4,800 provisional ballots were not counted during the November election due mostly to errors made while filling out paperwork or entering information into computers incorrectly during early voting periods prior Nov 3rd .
This is a crisis facing our democracy today, and it is possible that many more valid votes could be going uncounted across Arizona. Something must be done to ensure that all voices are heard and counted in our electoral process.
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