Arizona: ‘We won’: Trump and his allies barrel ahead with election lies despite review confirming his loss | Jeremy Herb and Fredreka Schouten/CNN
The Cyber Ninjas failed to prove fraud in the Arizona 2020 election, but former President Donald Trump's election fraud crusade is now proceeding as if they'd won -- pushing for more "forensic audits" and restrictive voting in that state and elsewhere across the country. Trump's allies are already demanding a new review of another Arizona county won by President Joe Biden. They are launching more partisan ballot reviews in other states following the Arizona playbook after passing laws making it harder to vote earlier this year. And they are calling for decertification of Arizona's 2020 election despite the lack of fraud, as part of a larger effort to validate Trump's "Big Lie" and undermine the 2020 election results. The lesson they're taking from Arizona's Maricopa County ballot review is not that they failed and should stop, but rather that they should try to avoid the negative scrutiny that hounded the Cyber Ninjas' review and "do it better" in states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, even if there's no evidence of fraud, said Sarah Longwell, a conservative publisher and executive director of the conservative group Defending Democracy Together. "It has nothing to do with auditing votes," Longwell told CNN. "It has to do with creating a cloud of suspicion around the elections and keeping their fraud narrative front and center."
Arizona Secretary of State’s Ability to Defend Election Laws Restored By Judge’s Ruling | Mary Ellen Cagnassola/Newsweek
Republican-passed laws in Arizona that ban schools form requiring masks and restrict the ability of local governments to enact COVID-19 requirements were dismantled by a judge Monday, a devastating blow to a nationwide GOP effort to limit pandemic rules. The decision by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper could create a path for Arizona cities and countries to enact mask requirements, if it withstands an impending appeal. Nearly 30 public school systems ignored the laws and required masks for students and staff. Republican Governor Doug Ducey's office called the ruling "clearly an example of judicial overreach." "Arizona's state government operates with three branches, and it's the duty and authority of only the legislative branch to organize itself and to make laws," C.J. Karamargin said in a statement. "Unfortunately, today's decision is the result of a rogue judge interfering with the authority and processes of another branch of government." Full Article: Arizona Secretary of State's Ability to Defend Election Laws Restored By Judge's RulingCalifornia Governor Newsom signs bill to make voting by mail permanent in California | Emily Deruy/Marin Independent Journal
In a move that cements California’s future as a vote-by-mail state, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a bill that makes permanent what Golden State voters experienced during the pandemic elections of 2020 and last month’s recall: Every active registered voter will receive a ballot in the mail for every election. Advocates hailed the new law — Assembly Bill 37 from Menlo Park Assemblymember Marc Berman — as a way to make it more convenient for people to vote, which could increase participation in elections. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least five other states — Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington — already conduct elections by mail. California’s more permissive voting system stands in stark contrast to efforts in other states to tighten voting requirements. Earlier this year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill passed by the state’s Republican-dominated legislature that included new ID mandates and banned around-the-clock early voting. Georgia recently passed a law requiring voters to provide their driver’s license number or other form of ID to get or return an absentee ballot. “As states across our country continue to enact undemocratic voter suppression laws, California is increasing voter access, expanding voting options and bolstering elections integrity and transparency,” Newsom said in a statement. Full Article: Gov. Newsom signs bill to make voting by mail permanent in California – Marin Independent JournalColorado Judge to rule on Mesa County Clerk case next month | Charles Ashby/ Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
A planned hearing today to discuss any potential disagreements in the facts behind the case of whether Mesa County Court Tina Peters should be temporarily barred from conducting this fall’s election has been canceled. Instead, District Judge Valerie Robison will decide the case between Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Peters and her deputy, Belinda Knisley, solely on the legal briefs that have been filed to her court, and issue her ruling by Oct. 13, possibly before. That’s several days after the first day that county clerks can mail ballots to voters, which they can do on Oct. 8. Robison’s decision will be based on multiple briefs and exhibits filed by Peters’ attorney, former Secretary of State Scott Gessler, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Mesa County attorney Todd Starr over the past week. While Gessler argues that Peters was merely doing her job and should remain doing it, Weiser said Peters and Knisley committed extreme violations of election security protocols that make them both untrustworthy to conduct the upcoming election. Starr, meanwhile, simply argues that the county commissioners had little choice but to appoint former Secretary of State Wayne Williams to oversee the county’s elections when Griswold issued an order last month to appoint Mesa County Treasurer Sheila Reiner to head it. In those briefs, Gessler admits that Peters had allowed a non-county employee access to sensitive election equipment, saying she was within her rights to bring in a computer expert. Full Article: Judge to rule on Peters case next month | Western Colorado | gjsentinel.comGeorgia: High-stakes election tests Fulton County amid state takeover threat | Mark Niesse, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton County is running an election for its life in this November’s race for Atlanta mayor. If the county stumbles, Georgia’s government might take over.Fulton will try to prove itself after 2020 elections scarred by slow results, long lines, lost absentee ballot requests and constant criticism from Republican President Donald Trump and his supporters. But the county will be challenged by the higher standards required of Georgia’s new voting law, which demands quick ballot counting, greater transparency and investigations of discrepancies. Failure comes with potential consequences, including the replacement of Fulton’s majority-Democratic elections board with an appointee by Republicans. Republican Georgia legislators have already launched a performance review of the heavily Democratic county, a step under the state’s voting law toward ousting its election board, which oversees polling place locations, staffing and certification of results. The Republican-controlled State Election Board could then install its own county elections superintendent. Full Article: High-stakes election tests Fulton amid state takeover threat
Idaho Election Officials Reject Fraud Claims After Hand Recounts | James Dawson/Boise State Public Radio
Idaho’s top election officials are refuting claims that the results of the 2020 presidential race were rigged in the state, conducting recounts in two counties within the past week. The Idaho Secretary of State’s office said it recently investigated claims that votes cast for former President Donald Trump were electronically switched for President Joe Biden. Trump won Idaho with nearly 64% of the vote. The assertions from MyPillow CEO and Trump ally Mike Lindell, dubbed “The Big Lie," have been found to be baseless in other states. They raised red flags for Idaho state officials. “There’s illogical arguments that are made and they’re made on such a blanket level, it’s almost impossible to comprehend how something like that could be pulled off,” said Chief Deputy Secretary of State Chad Houck. For example, at least seven of Idaho’s counties, which run their own elections, have no electronic components to their vote counting process. And no voting machine certified for use in Idaho can be connected to the internet or accessed remotely over something like Bluetooth. “That was a huge red flag, and one we knew we could either prove or disprove fairly directly,” Houck said. All votes in the state are also recorded on paper to preserve an audit trail. The secretary of state’s office conducted hand recounts in Butte and Camas counties last week. They found a 10-vote discrepancy in the two counties – well short of Lindell’s claims of 116 and 54 votes respectfully that supposedly swapped to Biden. Another partial recount is set for Bonner County Saturday. Full Article: Idaho Election Officials Reject Fraud Claims After Hand Recounts | Boise State Public RadioIdaho Secretary of State refutes Mike Lindell’s statewide election manipulation claims | KMVT
Staff from the Idaho Secretary of State’s office visited two Idaho counties last week following receipt of information that alleged statewide manipulation of Idaho’s election results. “The office of the Idaho Secretary of State takes free, fair, and accurate elections seriously,” says Secretary of State Lawerence Denney, “so when we are presented with allegations that come with specific details which we can examine, we want to do so.” The document in question, dubbed “The Big Lie” and shared publicly by a website bearing the copyright of Michael J. Lindell, claims that votes actually cast for Donald J. Trump had been switched electronically and recorded as votes for Joseph Biden. “Once we had the document in hand, we immediately believed there was something amiss,” says Chief Deputy Secretary Chad Houck. “This document alleged electronic manipulation in all 44 counties. At least 7 Idaho counties have no electronic steps in their vote counting processes,” states Houck, “That was a huge red flag, and one we knew we could either prove or disprove fairly directly.” Houck, along with members of the IDSOS Elections team, visited Camas and Butte counties, the 42nd and 43rd smallest counties on the list on Sept. 23rd. Not suspecting any issues, these two counties were selected due to their small size, and ease of recount.
Full Article: Idaho Secretary of State refutes Mike Lindell’s statewide election manipulation claimsSplit Michigan Legislature Approves Election-Related Bills | Michigan News | David Eggert/Associated Press
The Michigan Legislature on Thursday passed election bills that would limit who can access the state voter file, keep voting equipment from being connected to the internet and require election challengers to receive training. The legislation sent to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was supported by majority Republicans and opposed by all but one Senate Democrat and many House Democrats. The bills blocking outside groups' access to the voter database and prohibiting the connection of electronic pollbooks or voting systems to the internet would codify existing practice. “It's a good idea to take this bill and take the best practices and put them into law so they can't be changed," Sen. Ruth Johnson, a Holly Republican and former secretary of state, said of the internet-connection legislation. Full Article: Split Michigan Legislature Approves Election-Related Bills | Michigan News | US NewsOhio’s top elections official rejects fraud claims | Marty Schladen/Ohio Capital Journal
A spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said the office didn’t want to get dragged in last week when a fellow Republican echoed former President Donald Trump’s baseless fraud claims and called for an audit of Ohio’s 2020 election. But the state’s top election official won’t condemn Trump or say whether he’ll support the former president if he runs again in 2024. And despite his assertion that “it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat in Ohio,” LaRose wouldn’t comment on restrictions that forced large-county voters to wait hours to cast early ballots last year. Former state Treasurer Josh Mandel is one of many Republicans eagerly trying to take up the Trump mantle in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, who is also a Republican. Trump has lied relentlessly about his 7 million-vote loss in the 2020 election. His challenges have failed in more than 60 court proceedings and repeated reviews of the vote in states where the contest was close have upheld the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s win. Even a highly partisan “audit” of Arizona’s results last week confirmed Biden’s victory there. But that didn’t stop Trump from lying about it, too. Full Article: Ohio's top elections official rejects fraud claims - Ohio Capital JournalTennessee: Chancellor Rules Against Shelby County Election Commission in Round One of Voting-Machine Dispute | Jackson Baker/Memphis Flyer
A Shelby County court has denied the request of the Shelby County Election Commission to force the Shelby County Commission to fund its call for the purchase of ES&S electronic voting machines to replace the county’s existing election machinery. Both bodies agree that the old voting machines must be replaced, but have disagreed on what should replace them, with the county commission maintaining that, as the entity empowered to pay for and to “adopt” the replacement devices, its twice-expressed official preference for devices employing paper ballots should prevail over the Election Commission’s choice of the $5.4 million ES&S ballot-marking devices, as recommended by Election Administrator Linda Phillips. After a hearing Thursday afternoon, Chancellor Gadson W. Perry denied the Election Commission’s petition for a writ of mandamus, which would have forced the issue in the EC’s favor. The judge cited contradictions in specific Tennessee statutes, with one of the several laws discussed in the hearing concretely giving the EC the right to select election machinery, while another, just as firmly, supported the county commission’s contention that its control of funding precluded a “duty” to rubber-stamp the EC’s choice.
Full Article: Memphis Flyer | Chancellor Rules Against EC in Round One of Voting-Machine Dispute
Texas secretary of state releases guidance on so-called election audits | Alexa Ura/The Texas Tribune
In the five days since the Texas secretary of state’s office announced it is auditing the 2020 general election in four counties, local officials indicated they were in the dark about what the reviews would entail. Now, they’ve learned they cover some of the standard post-election procedures local officials are already required to undertake. On Tuesday night, the state agency that oversees elections offered the first glimpse of what it has dubbed a “full forensic audit” of the election in Harris, Dallas, Tarrant and Collin counties, but it appears the scope of the effort may be more limited than what the term may suggest. The secretary of state's documentation explaining the parameters of the reviews notes the first phase includes partial manual counts of ballots and security assessments, which all counties are already required to undergo. The second phase, which is slated for “spring 2022,” will be an examination of election records “to ensure election administration procedures were properly followed.” That includes reviews of records of voting machine accuracy tests, rosters for early voting, forms detailing chain of custody for sealed ballot boxes and other election materials maintained by the counties. But the secretary of state also indicates it will review records that counties already provide to the office, including the “reasonable impediment declarations” filled out by voters who indicate they lack one of the photo IDs the state requires voters to present to cast a ballot.
Source: Texas secretary of state releases guidance on so-called election audits | The Texas TribuneWisconsin Governor says election officials should be ‘lawyered up’ as partisan review of 2020 ramps up | Patrick Marley Molly Beck/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said Tuesday that municipal and county clerks should get "lawyered up" as the attorney overseeing the effort sought to meet with Milwaukee County's clerk during a partisan review of the 2020 election. "All’s I can say is if I were a clerk I’d be lawyered up," Evers told reporters at the World Dairy Expo in Madison. "I hate to see them in this position when they’re being told they have to prove this was a good election. Everybody knows it was a good election." Evers made his comments as Assembly Republicans seek to comb through how the 2020 election was conducted. Recounts and court rulings have repeatedly found Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in Wisconsin by 0.6 percentage points. Former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman is overseeing the review at a cost of about $680,000 to taxpayers. Gableman last year told a pro-Trump crowd without evidence that the election had been stolen. Gableman last week asked Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson to meet with him, in part because Christenson has criticized Gableman's review, according to records released this week.
Source: Wisconsin clerks need lawyers during 2020 election review, Evers says