Kari Lake Announces New Trial Date in Lawsuit to Obtain Mail-In Ballot Signatures

Former GOP Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake announced an upcoming trial date in a lawsuit to obtain mail-in ballot signatures.

“We are scheduled for a 2-day trial set for September 21 & 25th,” Lake wrote on X, the platform previously called Twitter. “I will never stop fighting for Honest & Transparent Elections.”

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Texas, Georgia, Arizona: Three Cases Studies of State Oversight of Troubled Local Elections

Republican-run Texas and Georgia have given state officials oversight of some local elections following issues in Democratic counties, while Arizona didn’t do so there was a Republican administration. 

Last week, the Texas House passed two pieces of election integrity legislation that were previously passed by the state Senate.

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Thousands of Non-Citizens Are Listed on U.S. Voter Rolls, Watchdog Warns

Tens of thousands of non-citizens have tried or made it onto voter rolls across the U.S. over recent years, according to an election watchdog’s analysis of data from several states.

Non-citizen voters have been found on voter rolls in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Maricopa County, Ariz. In Georgia, there were non-citizens who attempted to register to vote but were placed in a pending status because there wasn’t evidence of their citizenship, so they didn’t make it onto the voter rolls.

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Review of 2020 Election Continues as Texas, Pennsylvania Counties Find Ballot Total Discrepancies

An audit of the 2020 election found a discrepancy of nearly 600 absentee votes in a Texas county, while a hand recount in a Pennsylvania county found a far smaller disparity, as more states seek to implement election reviews.

In Smith County, Texas, an audit of the 2020 election showed 584 more absentee voters than absentee ballots, according to KLTV, a local ABC News affiliate. Seven county races were within the 584-vote margin of error, including council races and propositional elections. The audit also found five different totals for absentee ballots.

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Runbeck: Election Firm Involved in Maricopa County’s Alleged Chain-of-Custody Violations

As Republican Kari Lake appeals a legal defeat in her lawsuit challenging certification of her narrow loss in Arizona’s Nov. 8 gubernatorial election, she is alleging that ballot chain-of-custody issues occurred at Runbeck Election Services, a company that municipalities across the country use for outsourcing election operations.

Lake is appealing a ruling against her last month in her suit against former Secretary of State and current Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County election officials demanding the election result be set aside due to alleged failures and misconduct by the county. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson found that Lake failed to meet a legal standard of clear and convincing evidence that intentional misconduct changed the outcome of the election.

In her appeal, which challenges the legal standard applied by the trial court, Lake alleges that Maricopa County’s “massive violations of law and maladministration” included violating Arizona law’s chain-of-custody requirements by not having Election Day dropbox ballots counted at Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) before going to Runbeck.

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Kari Lake Appeals Dismissal of Arizona Election Lawsuit

Kari Lake, the Arizona Republican nominee for governor, is appealing a Maricopa County judge’s dismissal of her lawsuit challenging her defeat to Democrat Katie Hobbs, who is currently serving as secretary of state. 

In a notice of appeal filed Tuesday, Lake asked the Arizona Superior Court to reconsider all 10 counts that she brought up in her original lawsuit as well as the attorneys’ fees she was ordered to pay.

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Expert in Kari Lake Election Suit: ‘No Doubt’ She Would Have Won Without Maricopa Election Day Chaos

Election modeling expert Richard Baris said Thursday in the Kari Lake election lawsuit that his projections showed as many as 40,000 voters were disenfranchised over Election Day chaos in Arizona’s Maricopa County, causing him to “have no doubt” that she would’ve won the gubernatorial election had there no problems at polling centers.

Baris is the final witness for Lake in the scheduled two-day trial for her election lawsuit.

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Day One of Kari Lake Election Contest Trial Sees Testimony from Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Election Integrity Expert Heather Honey

The first of two days of oral arguments from Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake’s challenge of the 2022 general election outcome began Wednesday morning, overseen by Judge Peter Thompson in the Maricopa County Superior Court. Testimonies were heard from several officials and experts.

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Kari Lake Lawsuit Exposes Election Process Complexities in Maricopa County, Reliance on Third-Party Vendor

A lawsuit filed Friday by Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake contesting the results in the November 8, 2022, election in Maricopa County exposes, among other things, the complexities of the process for mail-in and drop-box ballots and the county’s reliance on a third-party vendor for essential election functions.

The 70-page complaint filed by Lake named Democratic gubernatorial opponent Katie Hobbs who is the Secretary of State of Arizona who certified the election in her favor on December 5, as well as Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer as an officer in charge of elections, Maricopa County Director of Elections for Election Day and Emergency Voting Scott Jarrett and the five members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

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County Under a Cloud: Maricopa’s Decade-Long History of Election Issues, from 2012 to 2022

As voters, poll workers, and observers have voiced their concerns about issues they witnessed on Election Day in Maricopa County, Ariz., a review of the county’s history shows 10 years of election issues under various election officials.

Numerous issues occurred at vote centers on Election Day in Maricopa County earlier this month, from election machine problems to hours-long lines, according to widespread reports. However, election issues are not unique to the 2022 midterms in Maricopa, as some began a decade ago.

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Arizona AG Opens Inquiry into Maricopa County Election Irregularities, Possible Legal Violations

The Arizona attorney general’s office has opened an inquiry into Maricopa County’s handling of the mid-term elections, demanding a full report of well-publicized irregularities and warning there is evidence of “statutory violations.”

The letter from Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s election integrity unit marks a major escalation in the dispute over how voters were treated on Election Day in the state’s largest county, where scores of ballot tabulators had problems because of printing problems.

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Commentary: America’s Electoral System Is Suffering from a Credibility Crisis

Defying all predictions of a photo finish senate race, Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman won 50.3% of the vote to Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz’s 47.3%. The unexpectedly large margin helped avoid a midterm meltdown. But don’t be deceived; that margin masks major electoral system dysfunction that remains unaddressed.

If the margins had been narrower, things might have looked very different. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf last year vetoed a commonsense measure that would have modernized Pennsylvania’s Depression-era voting laws. As a result, the Commonwealth is saddled with a ponderous mail voting system bolted onto a rickety election code that forbids routine practices like voter ID and pre-processing mail ballots. Those policies secure elections and speed tabulations, but were vetoed by Wolf last year.

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Commentary: A Post-Election Reflection

I am an American, but I haven’t set foot in the states for years. Yes, my daily Internet access provides me with the illusion that I’m in touch with life back home and that I know how people are thinking and feeling. But I can’t really be sure at all that I’m getting the right bead on things. 

So when a great many of the American political commentators and podcasters whom I most respect predicted a “red wave” or even a “red tsunami” on Election Day, I thought: Well, I hope so. How could I demur? After all, they’re at the center of the action. I’m not. 

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Counties in Ohio, Tennessee, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and More Flooded with Requests for 2020 Election Records as Mandatory Preservation Window Expires

With the recent expiration of the federally mandated 2-year window for preservation of 2020 presidential election records, counties across the country have been inundated with public records requests from Americans concerned about election integrity.

During his “Moment of Truth Summit” last month spotlighting 2020 presidential election irregularities, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell exhorted “every single person in the country” to ask for cast vote records from the election from their local county clerk’s office. His website links to the Ordros Analytics, Inc., website, which provides templates of public records requests for cast vote records.

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Arizona Sheriff Establishes ‘Constitutional Sanctuaries’

In an era in which the federal government has identified conservatives as would-be domestic terrorists, many Americans are looking for sanctuaries where their constitutional rights will not be infringed.

Pinal County, Arizona, where Sheriff Mark Lamb has formed a civilian posse to act as a bulwark against tyrannical government encroachments, may be one such place.

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Blake Masters: ‘Political Hack’ Mark Brnovich Wanted Trump to Lose in 2020 for AG’s Personal Political Gain

Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed Arizona GOP Senate hopeful Blake Masters about his primary opponent Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s failure to pursue evidence of election misconduct in the 2020 election.

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U.S. Senate Hopeful Lamon: I Would Not Have Voted to Certify Arizona’s Electors Jan. 6, 2021

Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed Arizona GOP Senate hopeful Jim Lamon after his town hall with supporters in Sun City. Lamon told TSNN he would not have voted to certify Arizona’s electors Jan. 6, 2021.

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Arizona Senate President Warns State Could Take Control of Maricopa Election After Audit Red Flags

Following the release of explosive findings by an independent forensic audit of the 2020 election in Arizona’s Maricopa County, the state may step in to assume direct control of election administration there before the next election, Arizona Senate President Karen Fann hinted Friday.

The long-awaited results of an outside audit of the county’s 2020 election process were announced Sept. 24. While confirming the rough accuracy of county vote tabulation giving Joe Biden a razor-thin victory in Arizona, the auditors flagged more than 50,000 suspect ballots for further investigation of issues ranging from people voting from addresses from which they had already moved to residents voting twice.

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Brnovich Demands Maricopa County Freeze All Materials Related to 2020 Election

In response to the report released last week about the Maricopa County ballot audit, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s Election Integrity Unit sent a letter to Maricopa County instructing the recorder and supervisors to preserve all records related to the 2020 election in preparation for litigation. He also sent a letter to the Arizona Senate requesting more information related to the audit. 

“The Arizona Senate’s report that was released on Friday raises some serious questions regarding the 2020 election,” Brnovich said in a statement about the letters. “Arizonans can be assured our office will conduct a thorough review of the information we receive.”

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Maricopa County Audit Results Reveal Someone Was Caught on Video Illegally Deleting Hundreds of Thousands of Election Files the Day Before the Audit Started

Arizona Senate Republicans issued the results of the independent ballot audit they conducted of the 2020 presidential and U.S. Senate election in Maricopa County on September 24 during a presentation, revealing findings that numerous election laws were broken and security measures breached. 

The most startling finding came from Ben Cotton, the founder of CyFIR. He said hundreds of thousands of election files — which the Maricopa County Supervisors refused to allow the auditors to examine — were deleted the day before the audit began, a violation of federal law which requires federal election records to be retained for 22 months. Although the name of the account that deleted them was not tied to a specific election worker, Cotton said there is video of the person who accessed those servers at that time. 

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Independent Canvassing Effort in Maricopa County, Arizona Finds 34 Percent of Votes Missing or Lost

A grassroots canvass of Maricopa County voters in the 2020 election found that over 34 percent of those canvassed said they voted even though the county didn’t have a record of their vote.

Liz Harris, the Arizona resident who organized the independent canvass talked to Steve Bannon about her Voter Integrity Project findings on the Wednesday morning edition of the “War Room.”

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Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and Audit Liaison Ken Bennett Confirm Bennett Will Remain as Senate Liaison, Pledge Bennett Will Have ‘Full Access’

Ken Bennett

Arizona Senate President Karen Fann released a statement on Friday that confirmed former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett will continue to serve as the Senate’s Liason to the ongoing audit.

Further, Fann promised that Bennett will be granted “full access” to all aspects of the forensic audit, after Bennett threatened to leave the post earlier this week.

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Former President Trump Holds Rally in Phoenix, Highlights Election Security

PHOENIX, Arizona – The Star News Network Wire Service – Former President Trump took the stage to thunderous applause at his rally in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday, where he highlighted efforts across the country he said are needed to ensure the integrity of elections.

“Thank you to Charlie [Kirk] for that introduction which was so beautiful, and for   your fearless leadership at Turning Point Action and Turning Point USA,” Trump told the crowd as he began his speech at 3:55 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.

“Let me also express my appreciation to the thousands of bold, young, and proud American Patriots that are with us today. What a crowd, what a crowd … You are the pulse of our movement, you are the ones who will make America Great Again,” the 45th President of the United States added.

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Former President Trump to Hold Phoenix Rally on July 24

Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will hold a rally in Phoenix, Arizona to highlight election security efforts.

Trump is hosting the rally, dubbed “Rally to protect Our Elections,” in connection with Turning Point USA — the group’s founder Charlie Kirk announced in a tweet.

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Counting of Paper Ballots in Maricopa County Has Concluded, But There’s Still Work to Do Before Report is Released

The counting and examination of paper ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona concluded on Friday, but there is still more work to do before the full results are made public. According to one report, however, preliminary results could be released as early as this week.

The Maricopa County Audit Twitter account announced that they had finished counting paper ballots Friday evening.

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Republicans Launch Election Investigations in Multiple States as Arizona Audit Forges Ahead

Governor Tony Evers gives his first State of the State address in Madison, Wisconsin, at the State Capitol building on Jan. 22, 2019. He addressed a joint meeting of the Assembly and the Senate. Seen here, from left, are Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Tyler August, R-Lake Geneva, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester and President of the Senate Roger Roth, R-Appleton.

Republicans in multiple U.S. states are mounting investigations into the circumstances surrounding the 2020 election, moves that come amid the contentious ongoing audit of election results in Maricopa County, Ariz.

The Arizona audit — which includes a hand recount of over two million ballots — has reflected bitter partisan divisions in the state, with Republicans and Democrats squaring off in a series of volleys over the conduct of the audit and the political fallout surrounding it. Establishment media outlets have joined in Democratic attacks against the audit, with CNN claiming that the process is “bogus” and FiveThirtyEight calling it a “partisan inquisition.”

Nevertheless, efforts are underway in several states to undertake investigations similar to Arizona’s, though none are anywhere near as large in scope as is that in Maricopa, the state’s largest county.

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Commentary: The Real Significance of the Arizona Audit

A lot of people on both sides of the political aisle seem to be missing the whole point of the ongoing election audit in Maricopa County, Arizona.  

This process isn’t about “proving” fraud or overturning an election. Rather, it’s about determining what, if anything, went wrong with the election process in 2020 and providing a road map for further investigation. In other words, it’s about determining the right questions to ask as we work to restore confidence in our electoral process. 

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Soros Kicked in $2M to Elect Maricopa County Sheriff Now Stonewalling Election Audit

More than four years before Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone used his law enforcement credibility to resist subpoenas in the Arizona Senate audit of the county’s general election, he was running for the office he now holds.

Crucial to the Democrat’s victory over incumbent Republican Joe Arpaio: $2 million from progressive megadonor George Soros.

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Maricopa County Withholding Subpoenaed Hardware from Election Audit, Citing Alleged ‘Security Risk’

Officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County are withholding materials subpoenaed by the state legislature as part of its audit of the county’s 2020 election, claiming that surrendering them would constitute a security risk for both law enforcement and federal agencies.

A Monday letter sent from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office to Ken Bennett, the former Arizona secretary of state and the liaison between the state Senate and the auditors, said the county had elected not to turn over “several routers” requested by the legislature due to an alleged “significant security risk to law enforcement data utilized by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office as well as numerous federal agencies.”

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‘We’re Doing the Right Thing’: Maricopa County Announces It Will Audit Its 2020 Election Equipment

The board of supervisors of Maricopa County, Arizona, voted this week to audit the election equipment it used in the 2020 election, following months of allegations of election irregularities there and elsewhere around the country.

The supervisors voted unanimously in favor of the audit, the county said Wednesday on its website. Both audits will take place early next month.

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Commentary: Faith in Fairness Is Shattered Beyond Recovery

Many people, including some good friends, believe that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election fair and square. 

Many others – and I place myself among them – believe that something is rotten in the state of Denmark, or, to be more specific, in the cities of Milwaukee, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Detroit, not to mention Maricopa County, Arizona. I think what happened was so rotten that I regard the election as illegitimate. 

What proof, you might ask, do I have? 

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Ohio Grassroots Brace for Smash-Mouth Politics in 2020

  DAYTON, Ohio – The conservative grassroots group Miami Valley Citizens Informed welcomed Tom Zawistowski, president of We the People Convention, executive director of the Portage County Tea Party and former president of the Ohio Liberty Coalition, to its meeting Monday night. The veteran grassroots organizer was invited to share his thoughts…

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