Posted on 04/11/2023 10:27:41 AM PDT by Coronal
An outside review of ballot printing mishaps in Maricopa County during the 2022 midterm elections that caused long lines and vote tabulation delays in critical Arizona races blamed the headaches on printer failures and paper ballot thickness.
Maricopa County, which includes the Phoenix area, contains 60% of Arizona’s voters and has been a hotbed for election denialism in the last two cycles. Former President Donald Trump alleged widespread fraud in Maricopa County tipped the state to President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, while failed 2022 GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has cited Maricopa County election woes in her unsuccessful efforts to overturn her loss to now-Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ).
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors commissioned former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor in January to spearhead an investigation into why printers in the area had performance issues during the general election after operating successfully in the primaries. Nearly a quarter of the Election Day voting centers in the area had issues with tabulating or printing ballots.
McGregor's report attributed the Election Day failures to older printers being unable to maintain heat levels necessary to print ballots dark enough to be read by on-site tabulators and the length and thickness of the ballots causing the printers to fail.
“This report is exactly what we needed. An unbiased analysis of what happened and a range of recommendations for what to do next,” Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Jack Sellers said in a statement. “Whether it’s replacing printers, using different paper, or changing the way we test equipment before an election, you can be sure our Board will take any steps necessary to ensure in-person voters have the experience they deserve in 2024.”
The county has vehemently denied accusations of malfeasance or allegations that its election oversight altered outcomes.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Every election the democrats find new ways to fortify the vote.
Fortunately we have Rona to head them off at the pass for the next election.
Don’t know whether to barf or laugh.
Oh shut the blank up, Emily!!!
Using words like this is not a sign of good journalism but rather a sign of heavy bias.
It is purposeful until proven otherwise.
Uh-huh.
It was by design
what happened to the other expert sho said it was done on purpose...?
Oh. I’m sorry. I misread the printer label.
Thought that printer was the Bulljet 1000 Model.
Seriously, the writer and the “investigator” did EXACTLY what they were told to do.
Find a simple but conceivable problem that is merely a symptom of the fraud-causing delays and fraud-induced suppression of Republican voters by two and three hour delays in their precincts.
Never mention what happened to the results. (Less than 7,000 votes out of several millions, many tens of thousands of thrown-away paper ballots.)
Never mention the democrat self-interest of the candidates and Sec of State.
Never mention the culpability of the local Phoenix-Maricopa County politicians. And THEIR harassment and intimidation of Lake and others!
If I recall correctly, the state used the same printing company for over 20 years. There should be no reason for irregularly shaped or printed ballots.
To me, that means the printing company as 1)negligent, 2)in on the “fix” and/or counterfeit ballots added to the precincts where it could do the most damage.
Going back a long time.
We had small dot-matrix printers with 3-part carbonless paper used to print receipts. A new wing was opened to the existing building, but the AC guys screwed up and left a vent to the roof open in that section. This was N.FL and the humidity was sky high. The 3-part paper swelled up due to high humidity and jammed in all the printers, every single time the clerks tried to print anything. So yes, printers and scanners are very sensitive to problems with paper.
the length and thickness of the ballots, WAS CHANGED!!!
whoever ordered the change should be charged wi election tampering
Ruling class whitewash
The question is whether the breakdowns were intentional or due to incompetence. I am slightly more inclined to think it was intentional as you suggest. That said, there is a case to be made for incompetence. Elections are held every couple of years. Once the election is over, the equipment goes back to a warehouse. In that scenario I'll bet nothing was done to the equipment between election cycles...
Suuure. Like guns and SUVs are responsible for murders and deadly accidents...
If they don’t pull the equipment out and start testing, verifying, and certifying it months in advance, that is either gross incompetence or malevolence.
There don’t seem to be any indications these problems have occurred before. Lake’s opponent was in charge of the elections. Add all that up, and you get pure evil wrong-doing.
How lame can excuses get?
You read it here!!
I don’t see an answer as to why this only happened with the Election Day ballots… there were no problems at any of these locations for the early voting.
The weight of ballot paper is specified by law in AZ. We knew early on that several under weight sizes of paper were used in large numbers. That should have been enough, by itself, to void the election of both 2020 and 2022.
AND-—for 40+++ prior years.
“...older printers being unable to maintain heat levels necessary to print ballots dark enough to be read by on-site tabulators”
Did you write “This part sounds reasonable.” Are you NUTS? The whole system should have been tested, retested, and challenged in every way possible. Then tested some more. Those sort of problems should have been uncovered MONTHS before the election.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.