#AZAudit Maricopa & Other Arizona County Election Audits - #CyberNinjas / Jovan Pulitzer / Fann / Birther Ken Bennett

[LM K]

Thanks for that update, LM K. Agree, these are serious violations. Having a partisan audit is a horrible idea. Katie Hobbs' office has all of this so expect when the "report" comes out they will be ready to rip it apart. But agree, the court should be dealing with these violations as well.

I suspect that the MCBOS is drawing up a court filing to submit this week regarding violations of the May 5 settlement.

[Foggy]

... if Dems were this deceitful, lax, and incompetent, Repubs would be having rage induced strokes.

I don't really see a downside there.

[Frater I*I]

... if Dems were this deceitful, lax, and incompetent, Repubs would be having rage induced strokes.

I don't really see a downside there.

[Luke]

The GOP is blowing 2022 over this sham.

A conservative talk radio host once backed the Arizona GOP election recount. Now he’s warning Republicans against it
By MELANIE MASON STAFF WRITER JUNE 6, 2021 6 AM PT

PHOENIX — Mike Broomhead talks for a living, but for a moment last week, all he could do was sigh. With that flash of wordless exasperation behind him, he continued with his work: delivering the latest update on the Maricopa County election recount to listeners of his eponymous morning talk radio show. That day’s news was of a forthcoming conspiracy-theory-riddled documentary on what organizers call an audit — but Broomhead soon turned his attention to the officials overseeing this unfolding spectacle. “You’re turning this into the clown show that you’ve been accused of. ... You’re turning this into the sideshow at the state fair,” he said.

This is the type of criticism one might expect from Democrats, who opposed the recount effort from the beginning, or from one of the many election experts who raised alarms at the stark departure from established audit practices, or from a Never-Trump Republican trying to wrest the party from the former president’s grip. But Broomhead is a two-time Trump voter, a staunch conservative and a onetime supporter of this recount. In recent weeks, he has fashioned himself as a reality check for fellow Republicans. As the recount of 2.1 million ballots cast seven months ago drags on, Broomhead and others are contemplating just how this saga will end. The recount’s most ardent supporters believe former President Trump will be reinstated in the White House (despite there being no legal mechanism for that to occur). Its fiercest critics predict a damaging precedent that will embolden others to baselessly challenge results of elections they don’t like.

An increasingly vocal share of Arizona Republicans see the recount as an act of self-sabotage, creating an albatross for statewide candidates in the run-up to a pivotal election year. Broomhead is in this camp, with another lingering concern. “No matter where you stand, the one thing we can all agree on is it has put a great big wedge in this community,” he told listeners earlier in the week. “That to me is the worst part of this. It’s one more reason for us to stand on opposite sides of the streets and complain about each other.” Seated at his microphone, wearing a Harley-Davidson T-shirt, Broomhead, 54, put in his earbuds, fixed his gaze straight ahead and gesticulated as he talked. The unnatural pantomime translated as natural conversation on-air, as he took his listeners on another recount riff. “Here’s where we stand. It is June,” he said. “It is June. We have less than a year and a half before another election.”
***
Since the recount began at Phoenix’s aging Veterans Memorial Coliseum, it has been beset with snafus, including ballot security lapses, opaque procedures and technical errors. Then there are the conspiracy theories — the search for nonexistent watermarks or bamboo fibers in the ballots, sparked by unfounded rumors of ballots flown in from Asia. Organizers granted preferential media access to far-right network OAN, whose personalities are leading grass-roots fundraising drives for the recount that do not disclose donors. The more the effort veered away from expert-sanctioned best practices and toward groundless speculation, the less Broomhead had faith in its integrity. He tried to imagine if the parties were reversed, if liberal Democrats were pushing an identical process. It’s only fair to admit, he said in an interview, that “Republicans would lose their minds.”
***
Kelly Johnson, a retired lawyer from Huntington Beach, doesn’t just hope that’s the case; he’s certain it will be. Arizona would be the “first domino to fall” in overturning the 2020 results, he said, echoing a prediction promoted by believers of QAnon, an amorphous pro-Trump conspiracy theory. “I’m not looking at 2024” for Trump to win back the White House, Johnson said. “I’m looking at 2021. I think something will happen by the end of this year.” Johnson, 60, has driven three times to Phoenix to show support. In triple-digit heat, he arrayed his collection of Trump flags on extendable flagpoles, while other supporters relaxed in camping chairs under a canopy, surrounded by handmade pro-recount signs. Johnson intends to come back midsummer, when the final report is expected to be released, he said, taking a break from the sun in the taco shop across the street. “I think a lot of us kind of know what the result’s gonna be,” he said, but stated he would believe the Senate Republicans if they say no fraud was found.
***
For state legislators in safe GOP districts, backing the recount is good politics. A poll by HigherGround, an Arizona consulting firm, found that more than three-quarters of Republicans support the audit. Winning over that base of voters ensures a primary victory, and effectively, reelection. But the same poll found that 55% of Arizonans overall oppose the effort, which means it could drag down statewide and swing district candidates come November 2022. The recount has already rippled into next year’s governor’s race, which Hobbs jumped into last week. Days earlier, OH Predictive Insights, a Phoenix-based pollster, had put Hobbs at the top of its power rankings of Arizona officials, based in part on her growing name recognition and favorability. Mike Noble, the firm’s director of research, tied her surge to her high-profile challenge to Cyber Ninjas and the state Senate. “The GOP keeps providing their chin to Hobbs in a proverbial political sense, and she keeps capitalizing each time they stick their chin out, which seems quite often in the audit,” Noble said.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/ ... dit-stance

[Notaperson]

It's spreading to other Arizona counties now.

Inspired by Mike Lindell, Republicans demand information from elections officials

....In an email to supporters of his campaign for secretary of state, Rep. Mark Finchem claimed that Lindell’s recent internet video provided enough “probable cause” to “begin an inquiry” into ballot images from multiple counties across the state.

The Lindell video, “Absolutely 9-0,” claims that Chinese hackers switched votes from Joe Biden to Donald Trump, among other dubious and false claims. Finchem wrote in his newsletter that he and Rep. Leo Biasiucci, R-Lake Havasu City, have requested “ballot printing order records” from Apache, Pima, Pinal and Yuma counties, as well as ballot images from Pima County, due to the “revelation” from Lindell’s video.

Finchem is also no stranger to conspiracy theories. He has been on a popular QAnon talk show and has re-posted QAnon theories on his Gab account.

And he recently claimed without evidence that there are “elected officials” engaged in sex trafficking while appearing on Victory News, echoing a popular QAnon conspiracy theory that elected officials are engaged in pedophilia and sex trafficking worldwide.

https://www.azmirror.com/blog/inspired- ... officials/

[Foggy]

The Lindell video, “Absolutely 9-0,” claims that Chinese hackers switched votes from Joe Biden to Donald Trump, among other dubious and false claims outright lies.


And he recently claimed without evidence lied that there are “elected officials” engaged in sex trafficking while appearing on Victory News, echoing a popular QAnon conspiracy theory that elected officials are engaged in pedophilia and sex trafficking worldwide.

I don't know why these so-called journalists can't use the word "lie".

[gshevlin2]

Media outlets in the USA have a deep aversion to using the word "lie". They engage in all manner of semantic evasions instead. They also will not use words like "ridiculous" or "nonsense".

[raison de arizona]

Media outlets in the USA have a deep aversion to using the word "lie". They engage in all manner of semantic evasions instead. They also will not use words like "ridiculous" or "nonsense".

Jake Tapper excluded. Someone should make a supercut of him just smack talkin'

Also, too, it would seem like if they were to call these things actual lies, they would need to investigate them. And who is going to waste their time chasing down every BS statement a Repug makes? I'd _love_ to see LIES out in the open, but I get using "accusations presented without evidence" etc.

[gshevlin2]

A major problem is that the vast majority of the population has never had any education in logical analysis and critical thinking. I have had to explain the difference between an assertion and an argument to a few people over the years. Ditto logical fallacies.
Many people are not equipped to properly parse the utterances of politicians and pundits and detect the bullshit, fallacies, non sequiturs, ad hominems and other forms of guff.

[much ado]

A major problem is that the vast majority of the population has never had any education in logical analysis and critical thinking. I have had to explain the difference between an assertion and an argument to a few people over the years. Ditto logical fallacies.
Many people are not equipped to properly parse the utterances of politicians and pundits and detect the bullshit, fallacies, non sequiturs, ad hominems and other forms of guff.

Especially if the politicians and pundits are saying what the people want to hear.

[LM K]

This is far from over.

Maricopa County recount almost done, but other parts of audit will continue

A hand recount of nearly 2.1 million ballots from the 2020 Maricopa County election is on track to wrap in a few days, but that doesn’t mean a final audit report will soon follow, an Arizona Senate spokesman said Tuesday.

“Everybody seems to focus the entire audit on what’s happening right here, which is incorrect,” Ken Bennett, state Senate audit liaison, told pool reporters at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

“This is the hand count and the paper evaluation. The hand count will be done by the end of this week, the paper evaluation by the end of the month. But there’s other aspects of things that can, and I hope will, be happening simultaneously or maybe a little bit after that, and then there will need to be a few weeks for putting the report together.”

He said that in addition to an examination of mail ballot envelopes for signatures, other aspects could potentially include a second tabulation of scanned images, but he didn’t provide details about what that might entail if it happens.

Bennett said that as the hand counting winds down, available resources are being shifted to paper evaluation, which addresses questions such as: “Are there folds in the 1.9 million ballots that came in and out by mail? Are alignment marks on the fronts and the backs of the ballot aligning as authentic ballots should? Is there a depression in the oval where a human hand-held device would have filled in that oval as opposed to an inkjet printer or a Xerox machine or whatever you might think?”

He said the auditors are also looking for expected differences between preprinted ballots and those printed out on demand at voting centers.

“So, all kind of characteristics about the ballots that confirm or question their authenticity,” he said.

This will take months. And this is only round one.

[Slim Cognito]

Shorter Bennett: We haven't found any rock-solid evidence of voter fraud but, by God, we'll keep looking until we do.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

A ballpoint pen will compress the paper. If you used a Sharpie like I did (for my Michigan ballot), very little pressure is needed. I foresee a lot of false signals.

[northland10]

We should have had plan A to plan B to plan A and then nine points of forgery by this point. How can we get back to Big Plan B if we are still on it?

I hope Bennett is checking on the white toner.

[LM K]

Is Cyber Ninjas allowed to do signature verification? I know many courts told auditors "no way, Jose", but I can't find anything about this fraudit.

[LM K]

A ballpoint pen will compress the paper. If you used a Sharpie like I did (for my Michigan ballot), very little pressure is needed. I foresee a lot of false signals.

#sharpiegate

[Phoenix520]

Many people are not equipped to properly parse the utterances of politicians and pundits and detect the bullshit, fallacies, non sequiturs, ad hominems and other forms of guff.

My HS senior year elective was a psychology class. The teacher’s wife worked at a local TV station and gave him commercial reels and old news broadcasts.

We watched the ads with an eye to the deceptions; I was stunned to see that a couple of them flashed subliminal messages even though they’ve been sorta banned since the 60s.

We spent a semester talking about deception. Seems to me something like this should be part of every HS curriculum, yes?

[AndyinPA]

Well, cheer up, people. When he magically gets back into office in August, the fraudit will no longer be necessary.

[LM K]

Turn volume down for video 2

[woodworker]

A major problem is that the vast majority of the population CAN'T AND DOESN'T WANT TO THINK -- THAT TAKES EFFORThas never had any education in logical analysis and critical thinking. I have had to explain the difference between an assertion and an argument to a few people over the years. Ditto logical fallacies.
Many people are not equipped to properly parse the utterances of politicians and pundits and detect the bullshit, fallacies, non sequiturs, ad hominems and other forms of guff.

FIFY.

[fierceredpanda]

That's elitist, woodworker.

(I agree with you entirely. As Bertrand Russell put it: "...most people would die sooner than think – in fact they do so.")

[gshevlin2]

A major problem is that the vast majority of the population has never had any education in logical analysis and critical thinking. I have had to explain the difference between an assertion and an argument to a few people over the years. Ditto logical fallacies.
Many people are not equipped to properly parse the utterances of politicians and pundits and detect the bullshit, fallacies, non sequiturs, ad hominems and other forms of guff.

Especially if the politicians and pundits are saying what the people want to hear.

Many people prefer comfortable bullshit to uncomfortable facts.

[Gregg]

A major problem is that the vast majority of the population has never had any education in logical analysis and critical thinking. I have had to explain the difference between an assertion and an argument to a few people over the years. Ditto logical fallacies.
Many people are not equipped to properly parse the utterances of politicians and pundits and detect the bullshit, fallacies, non sequiturs, ad hominems and other forms of guff.

Especially if the politicians and pundits are saying what the people want to hear.

Many people prefer comfortable bullshit to uncomfortable facts are idiots.

FIFY

[SlimSloSlider]

Never forget that 50% of the population has an I.Q. of 100 or under.
These days, I tend to find that optimistic.

[noblepa]

This is far from over.



This will take months. And this is only round one.

Why should it take so long? They already know the results, don't they? Trump won by a landslide.