This is getting curiouser and curiouser. The Arizona GOP has clearly gone down the rabbit hole and now they’re theatening the federal government with time in the slammer if the feds have the hubris to enforce federal law. Hoe kay.
'Justice' Department – you need to stay in your lane. Do not touch Arizona ballots or machines unless you want to spend time in an Arizona prison.https://t.co/W7l3WhFsjt
— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) May 6, 2021
Wow. You don’t see a state official threatening to incarcerate an entire executive branch department every day. Bookmark this.
“We have a concern that Maricopa County election records, which are required by federal law to be retained and preserved, are no longer under the ultimate control of elections officials, are not being adequately safeguarded by contractors, and are at risk of damage or loss,” she [Pamela S. Karlan, head of the civil rights division of the DOJ] wrote.
In her letter, Karlan also asked questions about a plan by the private contractor hired to lead the audit, Florida-based Cyber Ninjas, to interview voters and ask them whether they cast ballots in November, as county records show. Karlan said such interviews could violate federal laws prohibiting voter intimidation.
Former Arizona secretary of state Ken Bennett, the audit’s spokesman, said in an interview Thursday that state Senate President Karen Fann plans to tell the Justice Department in her own letter that there is no need for federal involvement.
Fann plans to argue that the ballots at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix are being guarded 24 hours a day and are not in any danger, he said. […]
“This is a matter between the Arizona Senate and Maricopa County,” he said. “We don’t see any grounds for anyone else to intervene.”
The problem is that it’s not an Arizona-specific matter and limited to Arizona. It involves a federal election and this recount farce has repercussions for the entire country. The Arizona secretary of state, Democrat Katie Hobbs, said she was part of a bipartisan group of secretaries of state who were “concerned” about what is happening in Arizona and well they should be.
“This is potentially precedent-setting,” she said. “We think they’re writing the playbook here to take this across the country.”
In an interview with The Washington Post, Hobbs said that she is not sure what actions the Justice Department will take. “I think that they’re at a place where they don’t think they legally can send in observers,” she said. “But they’re certainly paying attention to what’s going on.”
Meanwhile, back at the Madhouse On McDowell, the voice of the Trump cult rang out loud and clear.
Democrat SoS @katiehobbs who does not support election audits or transparency now wants the Federal Government to get involved in the Arizona Senate forensic audit. Arizona has the authority to conduct this audit without interference from the Feds!
— Maricopa Arizona Audit (@ArizonaAudit) May 6, 2021
There is no basis for this audit to begin with. Three audits have already been conducted and the results were certified. This is political theater and it is dangerous.
Wrong, voters reached out to the Feds who have sole authority of federal elections/federal election laws. Whackjobs in the Senate handed federal ballots over to some rando… now they got BIG problems
— Sheri #WomenWarriorsVote SlayerAZ (@SlayerAZ) May 6, 2021
This is going to get crazier still before it’s over.
‘This is going to get crazier still before it’s over.’
I think this is the current motto for the republicans now.
O…M…G. Did they REALLY just threaten federal officials? Even the dimmest, most inept criminal (I’m of course excluding GOP cultists and grifters, who are in a class by themselves) know better than to do that so openly.
They clearly haven’t taken civics or ever even read the US Constitution.
I don’t expect them to end up in jail, unless they defy the court and get taken in for contempt.
In which case, I fully expect them to wind up in jail. A sense of proposition these people do not possess.
Maybe Arizona has declared independence and just hasn’t bothered to tell anyone in Washington yet
I used to know Ken Bennett when he was in the Arizona State Senate. He used to be a nice, reasonable guy. And now he is the spokesman for something that no one should be calling an election audit? What happened to him?
My guess? He was never the guy you thought he was.
These are ballots cast in a FEDERAL election and states can whine all they want but federal law controls. It’s why so many confederacy sympathizing states fought so hard against the original Voting Rights Act over fifty years ago. Roberts might have gutted key provisions but even he couldn’t change the fact that the Constitution provides for the federal government to set standards when it comes to federal elections. Part of those standards include what to do when an election is close and recounts take place, so states adopt laws to protect the sanctity of both the process and the ballots themselves. Those state standards and processes must conform to federal rules.
Federal rules are being violated.
This shit has been in the works for months. So keep in mind that Attorney General Merrick Garland hasn’t been on the job all that long and walked into a DOJ that had been thoroughly fucked up on purpose by his predecessors. Not only his own appointment, but that of other top level appointees requiring Senate Confirmation was help up by Republicans and asshole-we-need-bipartisanship Democrats for far too long. Anyone who thinks McConnell and his gang didn’t have an eye on what AZ Republicans were up to needs to rethink their position. Even if McConnell and others want to move on from the election and fuck with the Biden administration via the old tried and true obstruction tactics there are plenty of Republican Senators who also happen to be positioning themselves for 2022 or a run for President in 2024 who want to play up their Trump credentials. So DOJ is having to play some serious catch-up as the Civil Rights Division and other key players at DOJ get staffed with actual professionals again.
This entire process should have been shut down before it ever got started. Those ballots should never have been turned over to the control of a single political Party in AZ or in any other state. If some political hack of a judge allowed (as happened in AZ) it then the decision should have been appealed all the way up to SCOTUS.
Multiple Pandora’s Boxes have been opened due to Trump, and this one has spilled out across the country. You’re damned right that Republicans in other states are preparing to do the same thing that’s been done in AZ which is bad. However it gets worse. They are looking at all the mistakes, or let’s be honest and call them cluster-fuckups and figuring out how to avoid them when they pull this shit.
The sooner the feds step in and get injunction to shut this down the better. And as I said they need to appeal all the way to SCOTUS if necessary. Roberts is likely horrified at the prospect of it getting that far, but that’s a longer discussion.
Just like 1/6. Folks thinking they could attack the capitol and mffffft – nothing happens – but there have been consequences. This audit is fraudulent and if nothing happens to the asshats doing it – we’re in deep shit.
Why does everyone assume that justice is like a microwaveable meal as opposed to a slow pot roast?
The Republicans in Arizona broke the law and should be locked up. Now. Marshalls should be waiting for them to come out of their homes in the morning. Of course the Marshalls should be discouraged from shooting the GOP state senators while serving the warrents. After all, they are white.
You DEMWITs really can’t stand to see your corruption exposed, but it will be exposed, in AZ and the rest of the country. When it is, your favorite senile Chinese Communist agent will be dragged out of the White House and demoted to a sad footnote in American history.
Ah. Another dung-beetle from Mar A Lago (or Bedminster) speaks…