Audits measuring the accuracy of tabulation machines used in this year’s midterm elections have shown no major errors anywhere in the state of Arizona, although not every county completed the examinations because of a lack of the required participation from local political party representatives.
The audits evidently compare hand counts of a subset of ballots to the results of tabulators, and in every county that conducted such a process, no discrepancies were uncovered or those that were found were within what the Secretary of State’s office said was the “acceptable margin.” The counties that did complete the examinations include Maricopa, where a note on the Secretary of State’s website says no discrepancies were uncovered. Kari Lake, the unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor in this year’s Arizona elections, has specifically contested the security of tabulation equipment, having pushed instead for a hand count of ballots in Arizona this year. That pre-election legal effort failed, and lawyers for Lake and her co-plaintiff were sanctioned by a federal judge, who left them under order to pay legal fees incurred by Maricopa County authorities defending themselves.
“To sanction plaintiffs’ counsel here is not to let Plaintiffs off the hook,” the judge said. “It is to penalize specific attorney conduct with the broader goal of deterring similarly baseless filings initiated by anyone, whether an attorney or not.” Mike Lindell financed the suit, and Alan Dershowitz has been among the attorneys on the plaintiffs’ side — and now potentially subject to these penalties. In Maricopa County, supporters of Lake — who has refused to acknowledge the reality of her loss — turned out to a public comment session held during proceedings to finalize the canvass of county results. At least two participants raised the threat of death. One read a passage seemingly from the Bible that graphically promised the demise of the wicked, while another warned board members about the supposedly capital nature of the offense of “interference.” Elsewhere, Cochise County finalized its canvass after a judge ordered the board to end its delay — a delay that was initiated by conspiracy theories about the legitimacy of the certification of equipment used in the election.
Image: Gage Skidmore/ Creative Commons
