Report: Maricopa County’s machine issues more widespread than authorities announced

by Laura Ramirez

Photo: Alamy

A bombshell report by attorney Mark Sonnenklar revealed that Maricopa County’s machine issues on Election Day were more widespread than initially reported by county authorities. The new development comes as voters across Arizona have cast doubt on the integrity of the state’s midterm elections.

According to the Daily Caller, 11 attorneys tasked with observing the election process in Arizona as part of the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) Election Integrity program visited almost 52 percent of Maricopa County’s voting centers, as reported by Sonnenklar’s memo obtained by the outlet.

The memo revealed that 72 of the 115 voting centers visited, roughly 60 percent, witnessed “material problems with the tabulators not being able to tabulate ballots,” which resulted in “substantial voter suppression.”

Furthermore, Sonnenklar indicates that the findings “directly contradict the statements of County election officials that (1) printer/tabulator issues were limited to only 70 of the 223 vote centers, (2) the printer/tabulator problems were resolved as of 3:00 p.m., and (3) the printer/tabulator issues were insignificant in the entire scheme of the election.”

For reference, the Daily Caller adds that Maricopa County’s official Twitter account claimed that issues with printers affected roughly 17,000 ballots across 70 of the county’s 223 voting centers. The tabulators were reportedly not able to read ballots that did not have dark enough timing marks, the outlet noted.

Sonnenklar adds that the “strong consensus regarding why the tabulators would not read certain ballots was that those ballots, in particular the barcodes on the side of the paper, were not printing dark enough for the tabulators to read them.”

Moreover, the 11 attorneys also witnessed voters having to wait in significantly long lines at 59 of the 115 centers, the memo claims. Sonnenklar adds that “it is certainly safe to assume that many voters refused to wait in such lines, left the vote center, and did not return to vote later.”

The long lines led to “substantial voter suppression,” negatively affecting Republican candidates on Election Day, the memo adds.

“[B]ecause Republican voters significantly outnumbered Democrat voters in the County on election day, such voter suppression would necessarily impact the vote tallies for Republican candidates much more than the vote tallies for Democrat candidates,” Sonnenklar claims.

Sonnenklar’s report comes as Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is starting to take action, prompting Maricopa County’s chief civil division attorney Thomas Liddy to send a report on how the county handled the tabulator and printer problems, per RSBN.

Brnovich’s letter to Wright states:

“These complaints go beyond pure speculation, but include first-hand witness accounts that raise concerns regarding Maricopa’s lawful compliance with Arizona election law. Furthermore, statements made by both Chairman Gates and Recorder Richer, along with information Maricopa County released through official modes of communication appear to confirm potential statutory violations of title 16.”

Amid the chaos in Maricopa County, Republican gubernatorial candidate Katie Lake is fighting to combat the county’s incompetence during the election and reassuring her supporters that they “will not let them get away with disenfranchising our Vote,” according to RSBN.

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