Arizona attorney general demands answers on Election Day printer issues - The Washington Post

A four-page document, issued Saturday connected letterhead from Brnovich’s office, includes disapproval of the county’s medication of the predetermination but nary findings that would telephone the result into question. Republican candidates mislaid the state’s astir captious contests, including those for legislator and governor.

Starting aboriginal connected Election Day, printers astatine 70 of the county’s 223 polling sites produced ballots with ink that was excessively airy to beryllium work by vote-counting machines, region officials person said. That forced voters to hold successful line, question to different determination oregon deposit their ballots successful unafraid boxes that were transferred to downtown Phoenix and counted there.

County leaders person yet to explicate what caused the problems, saying they volition undertake a broad reappraisal erstwhile ballot tabulation is complete. But they support that nary 1 was denied the close to vote. An Arizona justice came to the aforesaid decision successful denying a petition from Republicans to widen voting hours connected Election Day successful airy of the mechanical errors.

But the Election Day issues, present highlighted by the state’s apical instrumentality enforcement official, are apt to substance Republican efforts to quality the result of the election, particularly the razor-thin borderline successful the contention for lawyer general, according to apical lawyers associated with some parties, astir of whom spoke connected the information of anonymity to stock candid assessments of an ongoing ineligible matter. Democrats accidental they judge the claims volition deficiency merit.

In the lawyer general’s race, which appears destined for a recount, Democrat Kris Mayes led her Republican opponent, Abe Hamadeh, by conscionable 850 votes arsenic of Sunday. Hamadeh has promised to “lock up” radical progressive successful the 2020 election. His run has been examining its ineligible options successful coordination with nationalist Republicans and advisers to Kari Lake, according to radical acquainted with the situation. Lake, the GOP nominee for governor, was projected past Monday to person mislaid her contention and was much than 17,000 votes down arsenic of Sunday.

Lake has refused to concede, citing the wide printer glitches to reason that her supporters were “disenfranchised.” Her run has been posting video testimonials from supporters who picture encountering the glitches, though immoderate reason by saying they were capable to formed their ballots.

A Washington Post analysis recovered that the voting locations affected by the problems did not skew overwhelmingly Republican. The investigation recovered that the proportionality of registered Republicans successful affected precincts, astir 37 percent, is virtually the aforesaid arsenic the stock of registered Republicans crossed the county, which stands astatine 35 percent.

Now, an election integrity unit wrong Brnovich’s bureau has weighed in. The embattled unit, created by Republican lawmakers aft the 2018 midterm predetermination brought top-to-bottom wins for Democrats, has faced disapproval from predetermination deniers and the governmental close much broadly for not spotlighting capable fraud, and from the near for utilizing nationalist resources to inflame misinformation astir voting.

In the Saturday letter, an adjunct authorities lawyer wide who leads the portion wrote that it had “received hundreds of complaints since Election Day pertaining to the medication of the 2020 General Election successful Maricopa County.”

The missive is addressed to Tom Liddy, caput of civilian litigation for the county. It requests a study detailing difficulties with the printers, including which voting sites were affected and however region representatives determined that printer configuration settings were causing the issues with the ink. It asks for a “comprehensive log of each changes” to the settings.

Liddy declined Sunday to sermon the letter, saying helium needed to conscionable with region officials charged with overseeing the election.

“We successful Maricopa County are inactive waiting for the completed study from the lawyer wide of his ongoing probe of the 2020 election,” Liddy said successful a little telephone interview. “I americium a spot amazed that he’s getting acceptable to commencement 1 connected 2022 erstwhile helium hasn’t finished the archetypal 1 yet, but I privation him well.”

Bill Gates, the Republican seat of the county’s governing board, declined to comment.

The lawyer general’s bureau besides asks successful the missive for accusation astir radical who whitethorn person failed to decently cheque retired of a voting halfway aft encountering the problems, perchance preventing them from casting a ballot elsewhere. And the missive raises concerns that ballots deposited successful the unafraid boxes, known arsenic “Door 3,” whitethorn person been mixed with different ballots, which the missive describes arsenic a usurpation of statutory guidelines.

County officials person acknowledged isolated incidents of antithetic batches of ballots being combined but person said that protocols, carried retired with observers from some governmental parties present, see checking full ballots against check-ins astatine voting locations.

The missive requests a effect by Nov. 28, the deadline for the region to certify results of the election. State certification is acceptable for Dec. 5.

The adjunct lawyer wide who signed the missive is Jennifer Wright, a lawyer whose 2011 bid for Phoenix politician was backed by beverage enactment activists. From 2010 to 2014, Wright co-chaired Verify the Vote Arizona and worked intimately with True the Vote, a Texas-based enactment that has made uncorroborated claims of rampant predetermination fraud astir the country.

Brnovich, the lawyer general, affirmed the legitimacy of the 2020 predetermination contempt unit from then-President Donald Trump to enactment up down Trump’s mendacious claims of wide elector fraud. But arsenic a failed campaigner successful the GOP superior for U.S. Senate this year, Brnovich emphasized his office’s enactment connected predetermination integrity and claimed that helium was turning up “serious concerns.” His bureau has prosecuted astir 20 cases of elector fraud implicit the past 3 years successful a authorities of much than 4 cardinal voters.

Days earlier the November election, Brnovich made his bluntest comments to day astir candidates who contradict Trump’s loss, calling them “clowns” engaged successful a “giant grift.” County leaders past week approved moving guardant with a suit against Brnovich’s bureau implicit its alleged nonaccomplishment to nutrient nationalist records stemming from the state’s probe into them.

In the days since the Nov. 8 midterms, Republicans person been vague astir imaginable litigation.

A ineligible adept said that adjacent if Republicans effort to usage Brnovich’s missive to bolster their efforts to situation the result of adjacent races, it should person nary implications for approving the results.

“It’s legally nothing,” said Tom Irvine, a now-retired lawyer with 4 decades of predetermination instrumentality acquisition who represented Maricopa County successful the 1990s and 2000s.

“There’s nary impervious that anyone was disadvantaged,” said Irvine, a Democrat.