- WASHINGTOON EXAMINER - Paul Bedard - APR 6, 2022 -
The election was stolen. That’s not the question. The question is, what can we do about it?
A blockbuster review of Maricopa County’s mismanaged 2020 election by Arizona’s attorney general is raising new questions about the final vote in a state former President Donald Trump was expected to win but lost to Joe Biden by 10,457 ballots.
“We have reached the conclusion that the 2020 election in Maricopa County revealed serious vulnerabilities that must be addressed and raises questions about the 2020 election in Arizona,” said an “interim report” issued today by Attorney General Mark Brnovich.
The 12-page report, reviewed by Secrets, did not condemn the county’s handling of the election outright but raised enough questions about voter identification, ballot handling, and counting to prompt Brnovich to call for a vast tightening of the rules.
It also revealed that he is readying criminal and civil fraud charges against some individuals the attorney general’s Election Integrity Unit has probed.
“The EIU’s review has uncovered instances of election fraud by individuals who have been or will be prosecuted for various election crimes,” said the report on its first page. The investigation is ongoing.
The report followed an Arizona Senate probe into the election and ballots in the state’s most populated county. In his follow-up review, Brnovich found serious irregularities with how signatures were verified and ballots safely transported in a state where some 80% voted by mail or absentee.
Brnovich, who has led the nation in calling for election integrity laws and even won a Supreme Court case on the issue, said in his report, “Whether we agree with peoples’ reasons for questioning election integrity or not, we should go above and beyond our call of duty to assure Americans that each legal vote was counted, and no illegal votes were allowed.”