Judge Issues Order in Case Against Electronic Voting Machines in Arizona
Federal Judge Will Hear Evidence Against Use of Electronic Voting Machines in Arizona
A federal judge will be hearing evidence against the use of electronic voting machines in the state of Arizona and their upcoming midterm elections on Thursday.
Judge John J Tuchi issued an order on Monday granting a hearing in response to a request for a preliminary injunction against the use of electronic voting machines. The injunction was filed by Kari Lake, an Arizona Gubernatorial candidate, and State Rep. Mark Finchem, who is running for Secretary of State.
Since the injunction was filed, several attempts have been made to dismiss the case by current Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
“As there is substantial overlap in the motions, the Court will entertain consolidated presentations from the parties,” the judge ordered. “Plaintiffs will have no more than two hours to present all arguments and, as pertains to their application for injunctive relief, evidence. Defendants shall have no more than three hours collectively to present their argument and evidence.”
Lake and Finchem argued in their complaint that they have “a constitutional and statutory right to have their ballots, and all ballots cast together with theirs, counted accurately and transparently so that only legal votes determine the winners of each office contested in the Midterm Election.”
“The use of untested and unverified electronic voting machines violates the rights of Plaintiffs and their fellow voters and office seekers, and it undermines public confidence in the validity of election results,” the complaint reads. “Just as the government cannot insist on ‘trust me,’ so too, private companies that perform governmental functions, such as vote counting, cannot be trusted without verification.”
This comes after Arizona election officials sent out over 60,000 incorrect early voting ballots to individuals in Pinal County.
County Attorney Kent Volkmer estimates that 63,000 ballots have been impacted, saying that the County Elections Office sent out “mistaken” ballots to at least seven cities or towns in Pinal County. Volkmer also admitted the county doesn’t have a clear solution.
“We are not sitting on our hands,” said Volkmer. “My office, we worked through the weekend Saturday, Sunday. We are exploring all of our options. Right now, I believe potentially holding a separate special election for those districts seems to be the most likely scenario.”
“This is exclusively limited to these seven jurisdictions and their municipal races,” Volkmer said. “There are all of these legal requirements, and frankly impediments, to fix our error, but it’s done to protect the voter.”
Pinal County elections director David Frisk took full responsibility. “This was not a system glitch or a computer error or anything nefarious. It was no fault of anyone in the recorder’s office; it’s my mistake,” he said.
Hobbs, who is also running for governor, insists that the issue with the ballots has nothing to do with the system that created them, and was entirely human error. She claimed the system is still reliable for the 2022 election.
“The Pinal County Elections Director David Frisk has been very clear that these issues were the result of human error,” Hobbs said. “The Secretary of State’s Office will continue to support Pinal County in correcting this issue and ensuring that all voters have a chance to cast a ballot in the appropriate elections.”