A Maricopa County poll observer said both ballot tabulators at her voting center were inoperable when the site opened on Election Day and one was still not working when she finished her shift in the early afternoon.
Janelle Weaver discussed her experience at a Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday. Maricopa County admitted 70 of the 223 polling locations had ballot printing and tabulator issues that led to hours-long lines. However, a lawsuit filed by Republican candidate Kari Lake claims the number is 114, more than half of the sites.
“From the start, both tabulators were not working,” Weaver said concerning the location she monitored on Election Day. “I was told by the workers that the second machine wasn’t working the night before during a test run, but the first one had [run] perfectly until the morning.”
BOMBSHELL: Poll Observer Testifies that a machine was NOT working the night before the election during a test-run & was STILL USED the next day pic.twitter.com/GTzWB3vvfp
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 28, 2022
Weaver said one tabulator began functioning more than an hour after the location was opened, but could only process one in five ballots. By 8:30 a.m., just 26 percent of the ballots cast had been processed, she said.
Poll workers told voters they could put their ballots in a separate box to be counted in a downtown Phoenix facility or they could “spoil” their ballot and try to vote at another location.
Hours-long lines were created at multiple polling sites. Lake’s campaign believes it was large-scale voter suppression since Republicans outvoted Democrats three to one on Election Day.
In a letter from the Arizona Attorney General to the Maricopa board, it was highlighted that reports of ballots that were tabulated at local polling places were being mixed with those that were not.
The county voted to certify the election anyway on Monday.
Another poll worker, Mike Peterson, said on Monday there were 675 people in line waiting to vote when his location closed. Those voters could have stayed in line and voted, but he said most of them left and were “disenfranchised.”
Maricopa Poll Worker CONFIRMS: Poll Workers WERE NOT trained properly, voters were 100% disenfranchised.
“Every single one of us who’s a poll worker right now is making fun of you” pic.twitter.com/HjXrWM50Bx
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 28, 2022
Democrat Katie Hobbs, the current Secretary of State and now Governor-elect, issued a threat to the Mohave County Board of Supervisors that if they did not certify the election results before Monday’s deadline they would be personally prosecuted.
That is according to emails and documents reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Arizona State Elections Director Kori Lorick, who is Hobbs’ top deputy, wrote letters and emails to members of the board warning of criminal charges should they refuse to certify the results in time.
“The Secretary of State did contact our County and cited A.R.S. Section 16-1010 as a statute that could be used to prosecute [the board] if they did not certify the election,” said Matt Smith, the Mohave County attorney.
The statute is an Arizona felony statute pertaining to election officials who “fail to perform their duties” under the law; as a Class 6 felony, upon conviction, it could result in up to two years’ imprisonment.
“Our office will take all legal action necessary to ensure that Arizona’s voters have their votes counted, including referring the individual supervisors who vote not to certify for criminal enforcement under A.R.S. 16-1010,” Lorick wrote in an email to the board obtained by the DCNF.
Hobbs, mind you, has neither resigned as secretary of state nor recused herself from election oversight and certification.
One of the members of the Mohave County Board, Ron Gould, said he found out earlier that day he has no choice but to certify the election or he’d be arrested and charged with a felony.
🚨 Breaking 🚨
"I found out today that I have no choice but to vote "Aye" or I will be arrested and charged with a felony."
Ron Gould of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors was told he would be arrested if he did not certify the election.
Mohave was certified under duress. pic.twitter.com/Urt0aWIiyM
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) November 29, 2022
Hobbs’ office has also filed a lawsuit against Cochise County who she said had a “statutory duty” to certify the results of the election by Nov. 28. Prior to the election, the same board voted for a full hand count audit of the ballots amid concerns about the accuracy and security of tabulation machines. Hobbs threatened a lawsuit if that was done as well.
