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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.

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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A judge questioned a Senate attorney’s claim Wednesday that the public has no right to know who is paying for the 2020 election audit.

During a hearing, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Kemp pointed out that Senate President Karen Fann has said the Senate, in hiring an outside firm to conduct the audit, was performing “this important constitutional duty.”

Isn't the public entitled to know who’s paying for this, besides the $150,000 the Senate has already appropriated?’’ the judge asked Fann’s attorney, Kory Langhofer.


But Langhofer said the fact remains the records are not in the hands of Fann or anyone at the Senate, but are held by Cyber Ninjas, the private firm Fann hired to conduct the audit. That puts them outside the scope of what is required to be produced under the public-records law, he said.

He also told the judge that, as far as the Senate is concerned, it really doesn’t matter if Fann or her staffers do have what is being sought. He claims the Arizona Constitution pretty much forbids judicial second-guessing of how the Senate conducts its business — and whether it is complying with the law.


American Oversight seeks everything else that the contractor has obtained or produced while it has been conducted the audit. It also demands anything in the hands of former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who was named by Fann as her liaison with Cyber Ninjas.

That includes communications between Cyber Ninjas representatives and individual senators. The lawsuit also also seeks other communications that the contractor has had with outside third parties about the audit.


Langhofer told Kemp there’s nothing else for the Senate to produce because it has nothing more. He claimed the law requires public agencies to produce only the records within their “physical custody.’’

The judge was skeptical.


Kemp, however, said he sees a difference. He said it was the Senate that hired Cyber Ninjas — and the Senate that has “total control’’ of the audit.

“So don’t they really have constructive possession of these documents?’’ the judge asked.

Nothing in the public records law refers to “physical custody,’’ said attorney Keith Beauchamp, representing American Oversight.

Instead, Beauchamp said, the law requires officers and public agencies to maintain “all records reasonably necessary or appropriate to maintain an accurate knowledge of their official activities,” including activities supported by public funds.

And in this case, he told Kemp, the Senate has repeatedly argued that the audit is an official Senate function. In fact, Beauchamp noted, the Senate used precisely that argument of official Senate business in earlier litigation to force Maricopa County to surrender election equipment and the 2.1 million ballots cast there in November.

“Here we have a vendor that is retained precisely to conduct the function that only the Senate is permitted to conduct,’’ he said. "The work being done by Cyber Ninjas is the Senate’s work.’’

Kemp promised a ruling within two weeks.

The co-host of CNN's "New Day" expressed astonishment on Friday morning after the Arizona Republic reported that Republicans in the Arizona state Senate are making plans to recount the 2020 presidential ballots in Maricopa County once again -- seven months after the election.

As CNN host John Berman noted, "The state's Republican-controlled Senate is planning to recount every single one of the 2.1 million ballots cast in the election," before adding, "I read this and I said, 'what?' I mean, there's this audit which in and of itself has a ton of questions surrounding it and now the Republican-led state senate will recount it again after that? What's going on here?"

Jen Fifield of the Republic explained, "So the state senate Republicans have started their recount on April 23rd, that's more than two months ago, they were packing up the ballots, and already to ship them back to the counties saying their recount was complete and then yesterday our reporter Mary Jo Pitzl was there on the scene and Senator Karen Fann (R) told her later we are going to actually recount the ballots again."

"This is recounting the ballots this time, not the votes. she said it's a triple check," she added. "Meanwhile, it doesn't look like Cyber Ninjas, the lead contractor is involved in this one"


Noting that an outside film crew has also been given access to the ballots, she continued, "This is extremely unusual. I have been covering elections since the very beginning of 2016. I have been on dozens of counting floors like the one that Jen described and I have never been allowed access to anything like this."

"It is very unusual that people not directly working with the counting process would be allowed to be in this cage, as we're describing it at all," she continued. "This is a very secure area-- the ballots are kept and it is secure for obvious reasons. and so, to allow an untrained, unregistered film crew back there to not only be near the ballots but to actually film them is so insecure that it's almost laughable. I would have a difficult time believing it if we had not just witnessed two months of complete calamity at the hands of Cyber Ninjas."
of video.

LM K wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:34 pm Isn't it interesting that the senate purchased new counting machines?

LM K wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:34 pm

Isn't it interesting that the senate purchased new counting machines?

sugar magnolia wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 1:11 pm Where is the AZ senate getting all this money from? Even with donations, there has to be a bottom of the money well at some point.

Arizona Audit Live Feeds, [10.07.21 14:09]
[Forwarded from Arizona Audit Live Feeds (EOJ Always)]
July 10, 2021
10:55 AM PT

Verification of tabulation sheets continue.

Two machines used for ballot recounts have been installed. More cooling equipment being brought in to bring temperature and humidity into ideal operating range for equipment.

No new press release issued.

Work in progress:

- Analyzing 118 Terabytes of Network Packet Capture Data from Dominion Machines from Maricopa

- Matching the auditor's batch information to the newly acquired county's blue sheets

- Validate and analyze tabulation and forensic data

- Dominion tabulator passwords, routers, router log files are still missing from Maricopa

- Double & Triple checking number of ballots received from the county using corner of ballot counting machines.

Ken Bennett: a detailed audit report will be submitted around mid August.

—
Channel: https://t.me/ArizonaAuditLiveFeeds
Chat: https://t.me/joinchat/SlEiDtBXy3Q2YTAx
Workgroup & Reports: https://t.me/joinchat/rCRHiFvxtfszYTZh
Recorded video:

much ado wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:45 pm

LM K wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:34 pm Isn't it interesting that the senate purchased new counting machines?

Well, obviously the old ones were not counting correctly if Trump did not win! Like, you know, duh!!

Chilidog wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 5:27 pm

much ado wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:45 pm

LM K wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:34 pm Isn't it interesting that the senate purchased new counting machines?

Well, obviously the old ones were not counting correctly if Trump did not win! Like, you know, duh!!

Actually, they did not purchase new VOTE counting machines.

They purchased new PAPER counting machines.

They are not counting the votes, they are counting the ballots.

Chilidog wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 5:27 pm

much ado wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:45 pm

LM K wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:34 pm Isn't it interesting that the senate purchased new counting machines?

Well, obviously the old ones were not counting correctly if Trump did not win! Like, you know, duh!!

Actually, they did not purchase new VOTE counting machines.

They purchased new PAPER counting machines.

They are not counting the votes, they are counting the ballots.

covfefe wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:53 pm

sugar magnolia wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 1:11 pm Where is the AZ senate getting all this money from? Even with donations, there has to be a bottom of the money well at some point.

Patrick Byrne of Overstock.com. He’s put in at least $3.3M so far.

orlylicious wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 4:10 pm So Patrick claims, let's see some receipts

Telegram AZ Audit:

Arizona Audit Live Feeds, [10.07.21 14:09]

Work in progress:

-

Analyzing 118 Terabytes of Network Packet Capture Data from Dominion Machines from Maricopa

Work in progress:

- Analyzing 118 Terabytes of Network Packet Capture Data from Dominion Machines from Maricopa

Women who worked at the Arizona Election Audit endured sexual harassment for weeks, even after submitting written accounts of what was taking place. That is according to a former employee who spoke to Arizona’s Family Investigates.

Arizona’s Family agreed to conceal the employee’s identity because she says she was a victim of the sexual harassment herself. She provided us with statements from seven witnesses and victims, which corroborate her description of what happened.

“Any time he would come across someone he considered attractive or a woman, he would harass them, things like trying to demand dates, things like making sexual comments,” said the employee. She said the comments turned into unwanted touching and other physical advances.

The statements described situations that involved more than one alleged offender, but the complaints centered on one man in particular. “(The person) has made several unwarranted and unwanted comments about my appearance,” wrote one woman. “He commented, ‘You showing off your butt?’” wrote another woman.

Several of the complaints described instances where the man would become aggressive and angry.

Several of the complaint letters are a page or longer. “We personally agree among ourselves that his disruptions are no longer tolerable,” wrote another employee. “When I didn’t return a compliment or react to his flirting, he would insult me,” wrote a woman. She also said the man engaged in unwanted touching.

And several of the complaints described instances where the man would become aggressive and angry. “He would seemingly randomly have angry outbursts,” wrote one witness. “This issue seemed to stem from some type of anger over women having authority over him,” wrote another witness.

The letters are dated May 8. But the employee who spoke to Arizona’s Family Investigates said the man was kept on staff for another month. “We told upper management and they allowed him to stay on the floor for weeks,” she said.

Arizona’s Family Investigates is not identifying the man who is accused of the harassment because he has not been charged with a crime. Calls to the Arizona Audit media line were not returned.

Arizona’s Family Investigates contacted Senate President Karen Fann, the Republican lawmaker who is ultimately in charge of the audit. Through a spokesperson, she relayed the response she received from the audit’s lead vendor, whose name we were not given.

“I have never received any written complaints of any type of sexual harassment, nor has a complaint like this been brought to my attention. The closest thing I can think of is I am aware of a single table manager who was cussing a lot, and had apparently told an inappropriate joke. We fired him immediately."

He also denied they changed their policies and procedures during the audit or that anybody was injured on the job.

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 6:25 pm If the Dominion machines have no connection with the internet, how does one capture low level network information?

What low level network data would Maricopa county have captured? Who captured it? From when is this recording? One would assume that in this day and age the data portion in the packages are scrambled cause they are only fragments of a whole message exchanged between computers. Decryptinng a message is only possible when all packages are available and ordered in correct sequence. Plus one would need to find the one-time session key exchanged between the two network devices, they are not recorded. Plus not all higher level protocols for data interchange are simply http!

ps. i only scratched the surface of interpreting low level network information.

LM K wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 5:36 pm

Chilidog wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 5:27 pm

much ado wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:45 pm

Well, obviously the old ones were not counting correctly if Trump did not win! Like, you know, duh!!

Actually, they did not purchase new VOTE counting machines.

They purchased new PAPER counting machines.

They are not counting the votes, they are counting the ballots.

Exactly. Cyber Ninjas ran out of time to recount how many paper ballots they were shipping back to the county, so the senate is counting them. Cyber Ninjas was weighing each box to "confirm" all the ballots were accounted for.

And, all the machines touched by Cyber Ninjas are being decertified because Cyber Ninjas fucked everything up. Thus, the senate had to purchase new machines.

p0rtia wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:42 pm

LM K wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 5:36 pm

Chilidog wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 5:27 pm

Actually, they did not purchase new VOTE counting machines.

They purchased new PAPER counting machines.

They are not counting the votes, they are counting the ballots.

Exactly. Cyber Ninjas ran out of time to recount how many paper ballots they were shipping back to the county, so the senate is counting them. Cyber Ninjas was weighing each box to "confirm" all the ballots were accounted for.

And, all the machines touched by Cyber Ninjas are being decertified because Cyber Ninjas fucked everything up. Thus, the senate had to purchase new machines.

There's this neat trick to count a deck of cards in half the time, to make sure there are 52. You count out 21, then neaten up that pile on the table, then neaten up the rest of the cards and put that pile next to the first pile, and press down on both. If the two piles are equal, you have 52 cards.

They could try that.

p0rtia wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:42 pm

► Show Spoiler

LM K wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 5:36 pm

Chilidog wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 5:27 pm

Actually, they did not purchase new VOTE counting machines.

They purchased new PAPER counting machines.

They are not counting the votes, they are counting the ballots.

Exactly. Cyber Ninjas ran out of time to recount how many paper ballots they were shipping back to the county, so the senate is counting them. Cyber Ninjas was weighing each box to "confirm" all the ballots were accounted for.

And, all the machines touched by Cyber Ninjas are being decertified because Cyber Ninjas fucked everything up. Thus, the senate had to purchase new machines.

There's this neat trick to count a deck of cards in half the time, to make sure there are 52. You count out 21, then neaten up that pile on the table, then neaten up the rest of the cards and put that pile next to the first pile, and press down on both. If the two piles are equal, you have 52 cards.

They could try that.

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 8:05 pm That's what is done in production of mass items...

p0rtia wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:42 pm If the two piles are equal, you have 52 cards.

They could try that.

rossgw wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:12 am

p0rtia wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:42 pm If the two piles are equal, you have 52 cards.

They could try that.

42 in your example actually!