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Maricopa County Plans Probe Into Printer Issues During November Elections

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, announced on Friday that they would conduct an investigation into widespread reports of problems with printers during the contested November election following complaints from scores of voters and legal action from former GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

Former Arizona Supreme Court Justice Ruth McGregor said she would lead the “independent” probe, according to county officials. The former justice was a member of the state’s highest court from 1998 to 2009 and took part in the 2019 investigation into security issues involving Arizona prisons.

McGregor plans to hire a team of “independent experts to find out why the printers that read ballots well in the August Primary had trouble reading some ballots while using the same settings in the November General,” Maricopa Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates and Vice Chairman Clint Hickman noted in the statement. “Our voters deserve nothing less.”

The outlet noted further:

After Maricopa County, which includes the capital of Phoenix and is Arizona’s most populous county, became an epicenter of voter integrity issues stemming from the 2020 presidential election, it again faced controversy in last year’s November 8 contest when tabulators in roughly 70 of 223 voting centers reportedly had trouble reading ballots. The problems were attributed to printers that failed to produce sufficiently dark “timing marks” to inform scanners of voter information, according to the Associated Press.

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In response to a November request for information from Arizona’s then-Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Maricopa County said affected residents were offered alternative ways to vote and insisted the printer glitches did not prevent anyone from casting ballots. Still, some candidates have raised concerns.

The decision by Maricopa County officials to launch the probe comes after Lake filed a lawsuit challenging her loss to then-Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who has been sworn in as governor.

Earlier this week, Lake announced on Twitter that her election lawsuit is headed to the Arizona Supreme Court after the appeals court ruled against her. In their ruling, the court stated that voters were able to cast their ballots and votes were counted properly in Arizona during November’s midterm elections.

“Lake argues that the superior court erred by dismissing her claims asserting equal protection and due process violations. Her arguments fail, however, because these claims were expressly premised on an allegation of official misconduct in the form of interference with on-site tabulators — the same alleged misconduct as in Lake’s printer/tabulator claim,” the ruling stated.

It continues: “Because these claims were duplicative of a claim that Lake unsuccessfully pursued at trial, the superior court did not err by dismissing them. For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the superior court’s ruling confirming Hobbs’s election as governor. We deny Hobbs’s request for an award of attorney’s fees on appeal because she offered no substantive basis for the award.”

“Evidence ultimately supports the conclusion that voters were able to cast their ballots, that votes were counted correctly, and that no other basis justifies the election results,” it said.

But Lake’s not backing down and has been very active in political circles.

She’s been attending events, speaking with voters in several states, attended Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate a few times in recent months, and has even dropped a few hints about her political future if her election lawsuit in Arizona does not pan out.

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As noted by Fox News, Lake will be speaking next month at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

“Money has continued to pour in for Lake since her loss. Her campaign raised $2.6 million from Election Day through the end of the year, with the biggest haul coming on the day the race was called for Hobbs. She’s raised more money through a nonprofit group her advisers created in December, which doesn’t have to disclose details about its donations and has become her main fundraising vehicle,” Fox News reported.

Lake’s campaign also responded to rumors that she is considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Krysten Sinema, who left her party months ago and is now a self-declared Independent.

A recent poll showed that Lake would defeat sitting Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Democrat challenger Ruben Gallego.

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