War Breaks out in…Arizona
It’s all out war right now in Arizona, specifically Maricopa County, where Republicans have been presiding over an audit shitshow of the 2.1 million ballots from the 2020 election. We’ve talked about the sham that was cooked up by the Arizona State Senate, where they decided that it would be a really good idea to pander to Trump by pretending to count ballots and look for Chinese bamboo in the paper. The Arizona secretary of state has opposed the audit from the beginning, and now the Maricopa Board of Elections has weighed in with an open letter to the senate demanding that the audit be halted immediately. The letter was sent after Karen Fann, president of the senate, accused the board on Twitter of deleting the entire data base from the 2020 election, which, of course, is completely false.
Jack Sellers, the chairman of the elections board, both in public statements and in the letter ripped Fann, senate Republicans, and especially the “auditor”, Cyber Ninjas, for their incompetence. He also has refused to answer any more questions and demands. Here’s a quote from Sellers in that regard:
Jack Sellers, chair of Maricopa county board of supervisors, ends meeting by saying he is not responding to any more requests from state senate on Arizona audit. "Finish your report and be ready to defend it in a court of law," he says.
— Sam Levine (@srl) May 17, 2021
I had the opportunity to read the letter today and it’s a long, but fantastic read. Once choice paragraph I reproduce here:
“Next, let’s consider the County’s two separate forensic audits conducted in February of this year. You suggest that the Dominion proprietary password would have been necessary to conduct those audits. You are correct: it was. The forensic audit firms that the County hired, Pro V & V and SLI Compliance, are both accredited by the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission as voting system testing laboratories. Because of that accredited status, signifying that these firms are specialists who have expertise with voting systems and understand how to audit them, Dominion Voting Systems provides Pro V & V and SLI Compliance with the necessary passwords to audit their machines.
Your chosen “auditors,” the Cyber Ninjas, are certainly many things. But “accredited by the EAC” is not one of them. Regardless, we cannot give you a password that we do not possess any more than we can give you the formula for Coca Cola. We do not have it; we have no legal right to acquire it; and so, we cannot give it to you.”
So Republicans are eating their own. Sellers and the Maricopa County Elections Board see the handwriting on the wall. They KNOW there was no material fraud in the election and KNOW that Arizona Republicans are walking straight off The Big Lie cliff in subservience to Trump. They KNOW that this shitshow will most certainly make all Republicans look like idiots, and they’re trying stop it before that happens.
I believe the Dems should take a different strategy. They should demand that the “audit” be completed, then demand that the results be made public and laid down next to the original count and the two recounts. Only then could everyone see what a sham this whole thing was and will show the Republicans for the morons that they really are.
‘Rantings of a petulant child’ is good. Not likely to calm down the Senate but good.
1I agree, especially your last paragraph. After all, the taxes of the citizens of Arizona paid for it, so they own it and should see it in all it’s gory glory.
That’s not to say it would do any good for their voting habits.
2I live in the little town of Niebla, at the mouth of the Valdivia River in southern Chile. Across the bay is a chip processing plant that exports to East Asia including China, to make paper. Right now there is a chip carrier at the facility, and another parked across the bay. That chip processing plant uses forest waste to make its chips, and the forests around here are chock full of quila, a local bamboo. So, if those idiots find any bamboo in the paper, there is a good chance that its Chilean bamboo, not Chinese bamboo. If a dead Hugo Chavez can corrupt voting machines, what’s stopping a dead Augusto Pinochet from faking thousands of votes? Oh, the conspiracy theory writes itself!
3Hard to believe there are really people who imagined the Fraudit would be run honestly and properly. For Myself, I believe if I were there I could sell a half dozen bridges at least. And maybe if lucky, carving rights for the former guy on Mt Rushmore.
4The sound bite on Twitter from AZ GOPpers is “HONEST election officials wouldn’t protest an open audit” with many slight variations. Some of them may even believe it. How they can believe that *any* “audit” in which ballots are under the physical control of one party is believable…I dunno. I’m sure that if the Dems had run off with a truckload of ballots they’d be screaming their heads off about that.
5Saw a video on CBS news this morning showing the “ninjas” at round tables looking at ballots rapidly spinning by on clipboards. WTF does that exercise do? Others with secret flashlights peering into dark boxes as they waved ballots past the lights. Who do they think they’re kidding? Surprised I didn’t see ninjas with maggot hats.
6If their final report shows any evidence of voting fraud or errors, you know it’s junk science.
I do like the attitude from what appears to be a rational Republican: “Finish your report and be ready to defend it in a court of law.”
Should it come to a court process, discovery processes will be epic, beginning with “how much did this effort cost?” and “who paid for it?” There already are a number of “unusual” practices which have leaked into the public domain — I can only imagine what can be found with a thorough analysis of evidence and diligent depositions of participants.
I’m not an attorney — can statements made in the course of a court process be pursued for defamation? If so, Dominion, the two other audit corporations, the prior election official and the county commission probably ought to start asking law firms to compete to represent the various parties.
7I’m still at a total loss why they would be looking for bamboo in the paper to prove counterfeit ballots were brought in from China. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just import them from some garage in Tonopah?
8Halster @8, if the ballots were “imported” from Tonopah, NV, they should be suspect. Tonopah is home to one of the most corrupt judges in NV history, and lordy there have been some crackpots in our judiciary. Incidentally, yes, they’re conservative/Republicon judges.
If I were an Arizona resident and taxpayer, paying for that shitshow fraudit (good one, H/T montag @4) the question would not be imaginary watermarks and bamboo fibers, but why are these ninja poops not examining the bar codes on the ballots?
Michael Huelshoff @3, please if you would share with us how it appears to you that America the supposed land of democracy hadn’t been able to hold an honest presidential election since 2000, finally does so in 2020 and that election is the one that is being challenged. Simply, do we look as stupid as we deserve?
9I am inspired. The story about feeding the ballots to chickens had to have started as a troll, but those dopes bought it.
This is my challenge: Devise a test for fraudulent ballots that the CyberNinjas will then have to investigate. Here is my first attempt:
Pour a teaspoonful of hot sauce (Texas Pete will do) on the corner of the ballot. Lick it off. The combination of saliva and capsaicin will leave a hole in the fraudulent ballots.
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