TH REPUBLIC BRIEF - Liza Carlisle - JAN 9, 2023
Ever since the moment Katie Hobbs was declared the winner in the Arizona Midterm election gubernatorial race, Kari Lake has been in court fighting for transparency in the many issues surrounding the days of voting in Arizona.
As Democrat officials continue to call the accusations of fraud “baseless” and attempt to throw the blame on Republicans for questioning the situations in Arizona, Lake is steadfastly pursuing all claims of shady voting in the election that is not over yet for her.
Maricopa County is the site of the printer debacle, where printer malfunctions caused voters to be turned away and sent miles to alternate locations to vote.
As 12 News reports, the issue led to voters having to wait in long lines and some were asked to place their ballots in a special box so that they could be transported and tabulated at another voting center. County officials have said that the printers were tested on November 7 and displayed no apparent problems. But the following day, some election workers noticed tabulators were experiencing problems reading ballots printed by the BOD printers.
On Election Day, county officials tried assuring voters that they could still submit a ballot if they waited for tabulation machines to start working or went to another voting center.
Now Maricopa County has just announced a former Arizona Supreme Court chief justice will lead the charge in a new investigation regarding those printing issues on election day. The County stated that former Supreme Court chief justice Ruth McGregor will investigate dozens of polling sites where printing issues occurred. Along with McGregor, experts will be hired to examine the printers and the ballot-reading procedures, We Love Trump reports.
Fox 10 News had more details to add:
Maricopa County says a former Arizona Supreme Court chief justice will lead an investigation into printer issues that caused problems for some voters on Election Day.
County officials say Ruth McGregor will lead an independent investigation after about 20% of polling sites experienced issues with tabulation machines during the midterm election last year. “When things don’t work, we find out why. Today we are announcing an important step in our efforts to get to the bottom of the printer issues that affected some Vote Centers on Election Day last November,” Board Chairman Bill Gates and Vice Chairman Clint Hickman wrote.
McGregor will hire experts to examine the printers and the ballot-reading process.
McGregor was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1998 by Republican Gov. Jane Hull and served until 2009, the last four years as Chief Justice. She previously supervised a 2019 inquiry into issues around locks on state prison cell doors.
Trending Politics covered the story too:
According to JustTheNews, officials in Maricopa County have launched an “independent” investigation into significant issues reported with election center printers during the 2022 midterm elections. The County Board of Supervisors made the announcement in a statement released on Twitter.
In the statement, the two chairs declared that they are committed to finding out what occurred, and more importantly, why it occurred. In the statement, they announced that former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor has been appointed to lead the investigation.
“Justice McGregor will hire a team of independent experts to find out why the printers that read ballots well in the August Primary had trouble reading some ballots while using the same settings in the November General. Our voters deserve nothing less. Maricopa County appreciates Justice McGregor’s willingness to serve in this role. We look forward to her findings.”
Lake has argued that the equipment issues in Maricopa county disenfranchised voters and were grounds for challenging her declared loss Hobbs. a Maricopa County Superior Court judge dismissed Lake’s election challenge last month.
Maricopa County put out a statement saying, “The board of Supervisors has always been committed to continuous improvement. When things don’t work out, we find out why. today we are announcing an important step in our effort to get to the bottom of the printer issues that affected some Vote Centers on ?election Day last November. former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor has agreeed to lead the independent investigation we promised. Justice McGregor has experience leading inquiries of this nature….” “Our voters deserve nothing less. We look forward to he [McGregor’s] findings.”
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who will serve as a member of the task force, released the following statement, “I share the governor’s commitment to election integrity and look forward to working with her office to ensure this bipartisan Task Force is set up for success. It is important for both our executive offices to work in tandem with one another, the state legislature, and county and local officials that administer elections. Voter confidence is paramount.”
It is interesting to note that as officials acknowledge the printer problems and issues with voting, rulings currently are that the votes should stand as valid.