The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for December 2, 2022
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Reuters – Republicans in one Arizona county refuse to certify election results
Democracy Docket – Arizona Secretary of State Sues Cochise County for Failing to Canvass Election Results
Democracy Docket – Cochise County, Arizona Attempts Another Hand Count
NPR – Counties in Arizona, Pennsylvania fail to certify election results by legal deadlines
National Review – Apparently, No Lawyer Wants to Defend Cochise County’s Refusal to Certify Election Results
Associated Press – 100% ballot hand-count blocked; Arizona county plowing ahead
Groups Taking Action:
Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, All Voting is Local
Today’s Script: (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
November 28th, an Arizona county board of supervisors refused to certify the November 8th election, defying the state’s deadline and inviting litigation.
Reuters reports that two of the three county supervisors refused to certify, saying they wanted to hear more from residents claiming that the county’s optical ballot vote tabulators were not properly certified before the election. Arizona’s Secretary of State’s office responded with supporting documents on the voting machines, and has now filed a lawsuit against the county to compel them to certify the election.
In the filing, the Secretary of State’s office said the County Commission was pointing to unfounded allegations about “ the testing, certification, and accreditation of electronic voting equipment” that serve to “sow further confusion and doubt about the integrity of Arizona’s election system.”
But wait, there’s more. In October, the county commission had voted to hand count the November 8th election, but the Secretary of State, and the county attorney warned against it. Then on November 7th, an Arizona judge ruled that Arizona law wouldn’t allow a hand-only count. Despite that ruling, now that the election is done, the same two county commissioners are suing their own elections director to compel her to hand count the entire vote.
Electronic tabulating of ballots has been shown to be more accurate, faster, and less costly than hand tabulation.
We have articles about the chaos in Cochise County at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.