Attorneys for state and county election officials head to federal court Tuesday, Dec. 8 to try to quash one of the two remaining attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s win in Arizona. In legal papers filed in federal court, Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Tim Liddy said the lawsuit, filed by the 11 Republicans who hope to be electors for President Trump, is “woefully deficient.” He said the claim is based on “conspiracy-theory laden, unsigned, redacted declarations making wild accusations” about Dominion Software, which provides election equipment to the county. And Liddy told U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa that claims of hundreds of thousands of illegal votes appear to have come “out of thin air,” calling the lawsuit a “fishing expedition.” Roopali Desai, representing Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, was even more direct in saying there’s nothing to the allegations of a conspiracy to throw the election to Biden. Republican challengers contend that conspiracy involves Dominion and its officers converting Trump votes into votes for Biden. “Plaintiffs allege that this plan somehow originated in Venezuela more than a decade ago, over the year enlisted ‘rogue actors’ from various ‘countries such as Serbia’ and ‘foreign interference by Iran and China,’ compromised voting machines and software in states across the country in this election, and was ultimately executed with the assistance of thousands of Democratic, Republican, and nonpartisan election officials despite the presence of both parties in numerous states across the country, including Arizona,” Desai told Humetewa. She called it “dystopian fiction.”
Arizona Senate will subpoena Maricopa County for election audit | Jim Small and Laura Gómez/Arizona Mirror
Amid false claims of election fraud spread by President Donald Trump and Arizona Republican leaders, the Arizona Senate will issue subpoenas to inspect and audit ballot counting machines in Maricopa County, a top Republican senator announced Monday at the conclusion of a six-hour-long legislative hearing into the November election. During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, senators heard testimony from the county’s elections director, the chair of its board of supervisors, one of its chief attorneys about the 2020 election and two officials with the Arizona Attorney General’s Election Integrity Unit. They all testified that there was no evidence that President-elect Joe Biden’s win was achieved by fraud, manipulation or tampering, and repeatedly shot down questions from senators based on conspiracy theories. … The subpoena may prove moot, anyway, as county officials testified that they are likely to perform a forensic audit on the machines on their own. Clint Hickman, the chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, told the committee that he had been prepared to ask his fellow board members to approve just such an audit — and a hand-recount of all 2.1 million ballots cast — but was forced to shelve such plans because a case challenging the election results that was dismissed last week for a lack of evidence was immediately appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Jarrett said that an audit and recount of the ballots cannot be completed while the litigation is ongoing, as the machines and ballots are potential evidence. Tom Liddy, a deputy county attorney who serves as legal counsel to the board of supervisors, said it’s possible that litigation could all be finished by the end of the week, clearing the path for the supervisors to approve an audit and recount.
Full Article: Arizona Senate will subpoena Maricopa County for election audit