Tag Archives: Katie Hobbs

Something To Watch

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On Thursday, Just the News posted an article about the ongoing trial regarding the gubernatorial election in Arizona. There were some very odd aspects of this election, and some of them are being revealed in court by whistleblower’s testimony.

The article reports:

A top Maricopa County elections official admitted Thursday in the Kari Lake election challenge trial that incorrect Election Day changes to ballot-on-demand printer settings were a factor in ballots being rejected by tabulators.

That  is important because a lot of voters who voted on election day gave up when the voting machines refused to tabulate their ballots. Essentially, they never got to vote.

The article continues:

Lake, the 2022 Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee, is suing her Democratic opponent, Governor-elect and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs; Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer; the county Board of Supervisors; and county Director of Elections Scott Jarrett.

Lake’s case alleges the “number of illegal votes cast in Arizona’s general election … far exceeds the 17,117 vote margin” between her and Hobbs.

Jarrett, who testified as a witness for the plaintiff on Wednesday and as a witness for the defendants on Thursday, admitted under direct examination by defense counsel that the county is conducting a root cause analysis of the Election Day issues. During this post-election analysis, the county found last month that one of the problems with ballot-on-demand printers was a “fit-to-paper” or “shrink-to-fit” setting adjusted on Election Day, Jarrett said.

Maricopa County has admitted that 70 of its 223 vote centers experienced ballot printer issues on Election Day, while Lake alleges in her lawsuit that about 132 of them did.

The real answer to the problem of this election is a do-over closely watched by both sides. The Secretary of State at the time of the election (now presumed Governor) needs to let the new Secretary of State oversee the new election. There was an obvious conflict of interest here that was never addressed.

There Are Definitely Some Problems With The Arizona Mid-Term Election

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On Friday, Just the News posted the following headline:

Top Maricopa election offices couldn’t reconcile 15k disparity in outstanding votes: internal email

You might think that would prevent you from certifying the election. But it didn’t. Maybe that was because the person in charge of certifying the election was also running for office.

The article reports:

Recently disclosed internal communications between top election officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County in the immediate aftermath of Election Day reveal that they struggled to reconcile a discrepancy of almost 16,000 in outstanding ballot totals. 

The governor’s race in Arizona was decided by a margin of just over 17,000 votes.

Maricopa County was plagued by numerous issues with ballot machines at many of its vote centers on Election Day, resulting in delays and long lines. 

Prior to a Maricopa County press conference with Board of Supervisors Chair Bill Gates and Recorder Stephen Richer on Nov. 10, Richer sent an email to Elections Director Scott Jarrett, Gates and others about a significant discrepancy between the county’s estimated remaining ballot totals and the number reported by the secretary of state’s office. 

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was also the Democratic nominee for governor in the Nov. 8 election.

The article concludes:

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted to certify its election on Nov. 28, after listening to a flood of complaints from voters regarding issues they experienced trying to vote.

Mohave County certified its election “under duress,” after being threatened with possible felony charges by Secretary of State Hobbs’ office. Cochise County chose not to certify until a judge ordered them to, following a lawsuit against them filed by the secretary of state’s office.

According to a lawsuit filed by GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake challenging the administration of the 2022 election in Maricopa County, a poll found that 58.6% of Republican voters in the county “reported having issues while trying to cast a ballot on Election Day,” compared to 15.5% of Democrat voters. 

The lawsuit also alleges that 59% of Maricopa County’s 223 vote centers suffered ballot printer and tabulator failures. 

Unless we take the corruption out of our election system, we can expect to see more and more elections settled in the courts rather than in the ballot box. At times, the courts may be able to right a wrong, but even if that is the case, it sets a very bad precedent.

Conflict Of Interest?

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On Thursday, Just the News reported that Arizona Secretary of State (and gubernatorial candidate) Katie Hobbs threatened the Mohave County Board of Supervisors with legal action and criminal referral unless they certified the 2022 vote in their county.

The article reports:

Mohave County waited until Nov. 28, the deadline for Arizona counties to certify, to vote on the certification of its election because of the host of issues that plagued Election Day in Maricopa County, casting a cloud over Hobbs’ razor-thin victory in the gubernatorial race over GOP nominee Kari Lake, the consistent leader in pre-election opinion polling.

Two of the supervisors on the Mojave County board said they were voting to certify the election “under duress,” after being warned that they would “be arrested and charged with a felony” if they didn’t, according to the board chairman, Ron Gould.

While Mohave County’s own election was problem-free, the Board of Supervisors was concerned about the election issues in Maricopa County, said Gould.

“We believe that Mohave County voters were disenfranchised by the problems that they had in Maricopa County,” Gould said in an interview Wednesday on Real America’s Voice TV’s “The War Room.”

The article concludes:

“The Elections Integrity Unit (‘Unit’) of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office (‘AGO’) has received hundreds of complaints since Election Day pertaining to issues related to the administration of the 2022 General Election in Maricopa County,” Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright wrote.

“These complaints go beyond pure speculation, but include first-hand witness accounts that raise concerns regarding Maricopa’s lawful compliance with Arizona election law,” she said.

On Nov. 27, the county replied to the letter, saying that it followed the law on Election Day and the election problems were “regrettable.” The county insisted, however, that “every lawful voter was still able to cast his or her ballot.”

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted to certify its election on Monday, after listening to a flood of voter complaints regarding issues they experienced trying to vote on Election Day.

This is not okay. The problems need to be resolved before the election is certified.

And The Media Lies Just Continue

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Earlier this week, someone broke into the campaign headquarters of Katie Hobbs, the Arizona Democratic gubernatorial candidate. The media (and Ms. Hobbs) immediately framed the break-in as politically motivated. Somehow, when that was proven to be false, the candidate stopped talking about the break-in.

PJ Media reported the following on Thursday:

Democrat Katie Hobbs, Arizona secretary of state and gubernatorial candidate, was quick to amplify claims that “dangerous misinformation” from her Republican opponent Kari Lake was connected to a break-in at her office this week. Police have now reportedly arrested a suspect and confirmed the break-in had no political motivation, so Hobbs did what any self-respecting Democrat political candidate would do — she refused to discuss the new development or her former accusations.

“AFTER accusing my team of coordinating a Watergate-style break-in of her office, Katie Hobbs has now flip-flopped and DOES NOT want to talk about the crime,” Kari Lake tweeted Thursday. “This comes AFTER arrest was made and NO political motivation confirmed.”

On Oct. 26, Hobbs tweeted a statement from her campaign manager Nicole DeMont. “Earlier this week, a break-in occurred at our campaign headquarters,” DeMont said. “We continue to cooperate with law enforcement as they investigate, and we are thankful to the men and women of the Phoenix Police Department for their work to keep us safe.” DeMont might need to up her wokeness — she’s excluding dozens of genders by talking only about the “men and women” of the police department. Do better, DeMont.

“Secretary Hobbs and her staff have faced hundreds of death threats and threats of violence over the course of this campaign,” DeMont’s statement continued. “Let’s be clear: for nearly two years Kari Lake and her allies have been spreading dangerous misinformation and inciting threats against anyone they see fit. The threats against Arizonans attempting to exercise their constitutional rights and their attacks on elected officials are the direct result of a concerted campaign of lies and intimidation.” All nice and vague, of course.

On Thursday, The Western Journal reported:

The Arizona Democratic Party was even more explicit in blaming Republicans for the alleged burglary, taking aim at “fringe Republicans” for the act.

…However, an arrest in the case appears to debunk any notion of a Republican operative targeting Hobbs. Police have apprehended 36-year-old Daniel Mota Dos Reis in the case, a man who identifies as a “Democrat” on his Facebook page.

The Democrats have complained for years that the Republicans are creating division in America. Has it occurred to them that false accusations that are not quickly retracted when proven wrong might be a source of division?