https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/po ... 917836002/T**** set to return to Phoenix on July 24 for rally as review of Arizona ballots continues
Ronald J. Hansen Arizona Republic
Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Phoenix for a July 24 rally in the state he lost by about 11,000 votes to President Joe Biden. The announcement comes as a Florida-based company continues work on what it calls a forensic audit of Maricopa County’s 2.1 million votes. The event also underscores Arizona’s battleground status in 2022.
The event, dubbed the “Rally to Protect Our Elections,” marks Trump’s first trip back to the state since the election. The Republican-led ballot review has riveted the former president, who at one point wanted to get a firsthand view of the process inside Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The review began in late April and moved early this month to another building on the fairgrounds. Trump is expected to appear at the Arizona Federal Theatre in downtown Phoenix for an event hosted by Phoenix-based Turning Point Action, a politically active nonprofit affiliated with Turning Point USA. Both groups, founded by young conservative Charlie Kirk, and their networks of related organizations have for years been key allies of Trump. “Arizona is at the epicenter of the 2022 midterms and of course, the next presidential election in 2024,” Kirk, chairman of Turning Point Action, said in a statement to The Arizona Republic Friday, confirming the rally.
“It’s critical that our support is stronger than ever so the average American’s trust in our systems and institutions is restored. We have to start earlier and work harder than ever before to save Arizona and the republic. We are honored that President Trump is committed to that fight and we know Arizonans are thrilled that he’s decided to pay their home state a special visit.” A spokeswoman for Trump confirmed his visit to The Arizona Republic.
Trump continues to falsely claim he did not lose the 2020 election and sees the review as a mechanism to spread his unfounded theory and perhaps reinstate him and former Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., to office. The time for the rally is not yet set. The rally will center on “restoring confidence” in the electoral system in Arizona and across the nation, Turning Point Action told The Republic. The organization will distribute door-knocking materials and urge attendees from key metro Phoenix suburban areas to vote in the 2022 election, where Arizona voters will choose their next U.S. senator, governor, attorney general, state lawmakers and other office-holders.
Those who want to attend the event can register at www.TPAction.com/Rally.
Here's more of the re-recount story. Subscribing to AZCentral is only $1 for 6 months and recommend it to support balanced reporting (imagine if we only had the Gateway House of Boys and OANN).
Arizona Senate plans its own recount of ballots at fairgrounds as audit nears end
Mary Jo Pitzl Joshua Bowling Arizona Republic
The Arizona Senate will conduct its own recount of the total number of Maricopa County ballots cast in last fall's election, Senate President Karen Fann said Thursday. The Senate has purchased two paper-counting machines to serve as a check on the work done by its contractor, Cyber Ninjas, as well as the count done by county elections officials. Fann called it a "triple-check" on the number of ballots cast as the audit is winding down toward a possible end late next week. ”We’re going to run all the ballots through to see how they match up," she said in an interview an hour after stopping by the audit's new location in a muggy, swamp-cooled building at the state fairgrounds. “If there ends up being a difference, we’d have another count," Fann said.
Fann and audit spokesperson Randy Pullen emphasized the plan is to simply count the number of physical ballots cast in the November 2020 election, and not to recount the vote tallies for president and U.S. Senate. Maricopa County officials have said about 2.1 million ballots were cast by voters in the county. Pullen said the paper-counting machines are due to arrive Friday and it will take a day or two to set them up and train volunteers, under the direction of a newly hired technician. The machines can count up to 2,000 sheets a minute, he said, although a more realistic expectation is 500 per minute, given the way the ballots are batched and the protocols the auditors must follow to protect the chain of custody. At that rate, the work could be wrapped up by late next week, Pullen said, although if more time is needed, the audit will continue and with an extended lease at the fairgrounds.
Fann: I never said there was fraud
In a wide-ranging telephone interview, Fann said it will take another four to six weeks before she gets a final audit report. Asked about efforts by Republicans in other states to do their own version of the audit, Fann, herself a Republican, said Arizona could provide a helpful template. "There are a lot of people who are going to learn from us," she said, adding she has no quarrel with copycat efforts as long as the intent is to identify potential improvements in the election process, not to reverse the 2020 results. She reiterated her long-standing defense of the audit, that it is happening to address public concerns about election integrity. “Contrary to what you see and what you hear, I have said from Day One, I have never, ever said there was fraud," she said. "This was about election integrity.”
She also defended her office's position that it cannot release records of communications between Cyber Ninjas and its subcontractors, a point challenged in a lawsuit filed by The Arizona Republic. “I have already turned over everything I have," she said. “What you don’t have is what I don’t have.” If the Senate is compelled to release emails and other documents between two private firms, Fann predicted many businesses would stop bidding for government contracts, knowing their private data could be made public.
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