Washington, DC. Election Integrity Network (EIN) has published on its website reports from more than 100 citizen observers, election workers and volunteer attorneys who were eyewitnesses to a chaotic election in Maricopa County, AZ on November 8, 2022. These troubling reports, found at www.whoscounting.us/Maricopa/ describe massive technology, equipment, management, and leadership failures in epic proportions that disenfranchised thousands of Maricopa County voters.
Based on these documented reports from volunteers and voters in Maricopa on election day, EIN Chairman and election integrity attorney Cleta Mitchell notes, “Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates, Director of Elections Scott Jarrett, and County Recorder Steven Richer presided over a wholly mismanaged and disgraceful election on November 8 that has robbed countless voters of their political voices. Since the polls opened on Election Day, they have misled and misinformed the public about what really happened. But thanks to engaged citizens, we know the truth.”
Reports from witnesses on the front lines reveal consistent problems across Maricopa and the state: printer failures leading to ballots never being accepted by the ballot on demand system, rejected ballots co-mingled with tabulated ballots, voters unable to vote after being logged into a failed system and sent to another location, and provisional ballots not handled in accordance with state statutes.
Arizona poll observers noted, “people were tearing up their ballots and walking out,” and “about 45% (of ballots) were rejected and voters gave up after trying after four times.” Observers reported that voters were misinformed by election officials that their failed ballots would be handed counted if placed in the holding box called “Door Three,” when the procedure was ballot transcription onto new forms by a third party. Some voters were allowed to walk away with spoiled ballots. The EIN report lists a litany of problems, lost ballots and incompetence reaching a level Chairman Mitchell calls “horrifying” and “criminal.”
The New York Times reviewed and referenced the EIN Report in its recent account of the voting issues in Maricopa County: “The Times also reviewed two reports released Saturday by the Election Integrity Network…compiling accounts from Maricopa County observers, poll workers and Republican attorneys that echoed the voter accounts (of problems voting).”
“This is why EIN trains and deploys poll watchers: to observe, document, and report problems or irregularities. Poll watchers have the right under state and federal law to oversee election procedures, and when election officials fail voters as profoundly as they did in Arizona, every American should be concerned and engaged,” Mitchell concluded.
This press release and the Maricopa AZ Election Integrity Report may be reprinted in part or in whole with proper attribution to Election Integrity Network and Chairman Cleta Mitchell. Interviews with Arizona election observers and any other media inquiries may be arranged by contacting [email protected] and referencing “EIN Maricopa”
Election Integrity Network is a non-partisan, non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization providing training, education and resources for election integrity regardless of party affiliation. ###
