The Arizona Audit Results - Election, Obstruction, Criminal Conduct, and Fraud.
"A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people."
Finally finished reading and pondering the Cyber Ninja report on the Maricopa County, Arizona 2020 Election and the sperate report of Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai (Audit). My conclusion - the election was a dumpster fire of biblical proportions. As for the media, they must not have read the same reports I did.
This is a long article, so for those who prefer the short version, here it is.
The Audit raises serious questions about the legitimacy of the election;
The Audit found extensive and credible evidence of widespread voter fraud;
A total of 59,775 highly questionable ballots were identified, many of which are clearly unlawful on their face. All of these ballots must be investigated and criminal action brought against those involved;
Maricopa County (County) went to extraordinary lengths in an attempt to prevent the Audit from being completed;
County officials and/or employees engaged in illegal acts, including intentionally destroying records; and
Surprise - the MSM is being dishonest in reporting on the Audit;
The chart below shows the ballots that are questionable at best, and in many cases unlawful:
Though I have no doubt there was widespread fraud, there is no legal means to ‘decertify’ elections. The arguments I’ve read claiming states can ‘decertify’ their electoral votes rely on the Supreme Court case Chiuafalo v. Washington (July 2020). Problem is, this case addresses the authority states have in appointing electors and whether they can remove and fine unfaithful electors. It does not address, let alone hold that states can ‘decertify’ its electoral votes after the U.S. Congress certifies them. I also believe ‘decertifying’ electoral votes to remove a sitting President would be in conflict with the impeachment and removal powers Article I sections 2 and 3 of the Constitution gives to the House and Senate. Like it or not, the only way to remove a sitting President is through the impeachment process.
Merely because states can’t decertify electoral votes does not mean forensic election audits are not important. They are for several reasons:
It would be impossible for a President and Vice President to govern if it’s proven they were elected through fraud, both would have to resign. If they didn’t, there would be extreme pressure to remove them by impeachment;
They will force legislative reforms - including enhanced criminal penalties - that will prevent future fraudulent elections;
Those who subverted our elections will go to jail; and
They are the first step in restoring trust in our elections and government.
Even if a state could ‘decertify’ their electoral votes, the Audit, as damning as it is, did not find that Trump carried Arizona. What it did find is significant evidence of widespread illegal activity and fraud. Now a criminal investigation must be conducted to determine exactly how widespread the criminal activity and fraud was, what the actual election outcome should have been, and indict those who engaged in criminal acts. The Arizona House and Senate must also enact well drafted and wide ranging election reforms.
THE LONG VERSION
The MSM is engaging in ‘smoke and mirrors’ when they trumpet the Audit confirmed Biden carried Arizona. This is simply false. The Audit did confirm Biden received more votes than Trump, but this was never in dispute. What was in dispute is whether there was widespread election fraud. That question has been answered. The Audit found evidence strongly indicating that large scale voter fraud likely occurred and illegal acts certainly did. Further, the number of questionable ballots greatly exceeds Biden’s margin of victory.
EVIDENCE OF FRAUD
Duplicate mail-in ballots
By analyzing the mail-in ballot envelopes, Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai identified 17,126 people who cast 34,448 mail-in votes - that’s 17,322 more votes than voters. He also identified 2,580 mail-in ballots with a blank or “likely blank” signature block. An example:
A question that needs to be answered, but no one is asking - how did 17,126 people obtain 34,448 mail-in ballots? We’ve been assured for years that security procedures in place prevent people from voting multiple times by mail. Yet her we are.
Questionable Verification
Another finding of likely fraud involves verification stamps. Before being opened and counted the signatures and other information on every envelope of every mail-in ballot must be verified and then stamped “Verified & Approved MCTEC.” Dr. Ayyadurai found that the stamp on many mail-in ballot envelopes are behind the envelopes’ preprinted images. If the envelope was stamped, the ink from the stamp would be over the the preprinted images - not behind them. So riddle me this - how did the stamp get behind the images on the envelopes? An example:
Maybe there’s a valid explanation for this, if so County officials need to make it public immediately. If not, a criminal investigation is required.
More mail-in ballots received than mailed out
County election records show there are 9,041 more mail-in ballots received than ballots mailed out. How could this happen and how could election officials have innocently missed it? All they had to do was compare two of their election data bases (EV32 and EV33) - which is what the Audit team did.
People voting in more than one county
The auditors identified 5,047 individuals who may have voted in more than one county. To confirm or refute this finding, Maricopa must run the the personal information of the identified people through data bases they have access to, but the auditors do not. To date the County has declined to do so.
Mail-in ballots sent to an address the voter no longer lived at that were completed, returned, and counted.
The Auditors found that 23,344 mail-in ballots were sent to an addresses the voter no longer lived at, but were completed, returned, and counted. Law prohibits ballots from being forwarded, so how did these people receive their ballot? Some could have picked their mail up from their previous address, but I find it hard to believe that 23,344 people did so.
While I was writing this, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer responded via Twitter of all places. He states that people can have their ballot sent to a “temporary address” and 20,933 did so. He claims the remainder are military personnel or US citizens living abroad who were required to list their “address in the state in which [they] were last domiciled.”
I have a few issues with Richer’s response:
Even if 20,933 people provided temporary addresses. So what? The auditors flagged ballots mailed to an addresses the voters moved from. Why would voters use the address they moved from as a temporary address to send their ballots to? Also, voters with temporary addresses could very well be different people than the ones the auditors flagged. 20,933 ballots could have been correctly sent to voters at temporary addresses and 23,344 ballots improperly sent to different voters at their previous address. One does not preclude the other. In any event, it’s easy to determine how many, if any of the flagged ballets were sent to a voters at a temporary addresses - check the names and addresses of the flagged ballots with the ballots sent to temporary addresses.
Richer’s explanation concerning military personnel and US citizens living abroad doesn’t make sense. The audit flagged ballots that were mailed to an address. Why would the county send a ballot to an address in Arizona if the voter is living in Spain, Israel, or flying off a ship in the Pacific? Seems, they would send those ballots to Spain, Israel, or the ship’s FPO.
I expect at least a veneer of professionalism from elected officials. Taking to Twitter to sling insults like "To label it a 'critical' concern is either intentionally misleading or staggeringly ignorant" falls far short. A professional letter to the Senate President and the auditors challenging the findings, even publishing the letter would work, a ‘mean tweet’ does not.
Color me a skeptic, but I don’t take government officials - of any party - at their word. Until Richer produces evidence supporting his statement, it just remains another meaningless tweet floating around Twitter.
Failure to verify signatures.
The President of the Senate stated at the Hearing that every signature on every mail-in ballot must be verified using a 27 point verification procedure. However, the Senate has sworn affidavits from County employees that they were told to use less than 27 points and eventually not to verify signatures at all. This statement is supported by ballots that were stamped “verified and approved” by County election officials and/or employees. A couple of examples:
These people are brazen! The verified and approved is stamped in the the empty signature blocks! Also note that there is a second verification stamp on these envelopes that are behind the preprinted triangles that are on every mail-in ballot envelope. Yea, nothing to see here…
OTHER VOTING VIOLATIONS
People who moved out of Maricopa County voted in person in Maricopa County.
The auditors identified 2,382 people who moved out of the county but voted in-person in Maricopa County.
Other scary but not widespread violations
There were 1,551 more votes than people who voted; 393 people voted with incomplete names; 198 people registered after the October 15th deadline and voted; an estimated 282 deceased people voted; an estimated 186 people have duplicate voter IDs; 430 votes were received but not counted; 193 voter registration dates were changed to an earlier date so they could vote; and 56 ballots were counted twice.
OBSTRUCTION
In an effort to derail the Audit, County officials engaged in wide spread and consistent obstructionist tactics. They publicly attacked the Senate and auditors as partisan hacks, tried to paint the auditors as amateurs who know nothing about election law or election procedures, brought legal actions - all of which they lost, engaged in unlawful acts, and instructed their vendors and service providers not to talk to the auditors.
The County even ignored a Senate subpoena the courts ruled valid. Seems they mistakenly believed that since the Senate was not in session and could not vote to hold them in contempt, the County could not be sanctioned. They should have hired better lawyers. Arizona law allows the AG to withhold state funding to a city or county that is violating state law. The AG found the County was violating state law by refusing to comply with a valid subpoena and gave them 30 days to comply or have $700 million in state funding withheld. I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but at the last minute the County agreed to comply with the subpoena.
County officials claimed to have turned over all computers and servers. They did not. They produced only 1 of two EMS servers and none of the laptops used at the voting centers. The County has yet to produce rejected provisional ballots, uncured mail ballots. and ballots mailed that were returned as undeliverable.
DESTRUCTION OF EVIDENCE
Erasing Computer Security Logs
Whenever a person access the Election Management System (EMS) identifying information such as password, user name, and information identifying the computer used to login is stored in the security log. The County’s EMS security log is limited to 20 MB, when the security log is full the last entry is deleted when a new login is made.
On three different occasions an unidentified number of people used a script to log into the EMS system 38,280 times erasing that number of older eateries from the log. These acts erased all login data from the EMS security log that would be relevant to the election
All personnel with access to the EMS server used the same password and user name. So, those who ran the scripts must have thought it would be impossible to determine who they were. Alas, “Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.”1 The auditors were able to identify the terminal used to access the EMS server and run the scripts, as well as the time the scripts began and ended. They then checked the County security cameras covering the terminal used at those times and identified the people who erased the data in the EMS security log.2 The identities of those people have been made available to the AG. They need to go to jail.
Deleting Directories and Files Subject to the Subpoena
Between October 28, 2020 and March 16, 2021 a total of 865 directories and 1,150,418 election related files were deleted from the EMS server. On February 2, 2021, the EMS data base that holds all details of the 2020 general election was purged. On March 3, 2020 someone deleted 1,285 directories and 250,682 election related files from two HiPro scanning machines. All of these files and directories were deleted from the server and scanners before they were turned over to the auditors.
Procedural Problems That Can Affect The Integrity Of An Election
People who moved out of state within the 29 days before the election received incorrect ballot.
The Audit found 2,081 voters who moved out-of-state during the 29 day period before the election that were unlawfully provided full ballots instead of president-only ballots. While this would not affect the presidential election, it could impact the down ballot races.
Computers used for the election have the capability of connecting to the internet.
Contrary to statements by County officials, the EMS system was capable of connecting to the internet. The auditors stated that the setup and security was so bad that a “kiddy hacker” could hack into the EMS system and have complete access to the election computer system. However, the auditors could not determine whether the system was hacked during the election because the security logs had been intentionally erased and the County refused to grant access to network data.
From February 5 to March 12, 2021 there were a “significant” number of “atypical anonymous” remote logins to the EMS server. The County has refused to grant access to the network data to determine if these were authorized logins or breaches of the server.
Ballots made from different types of paper.
At the hearing the auditors stated that they had identified ten different types of paper of varying weights that were used for ballots. This coupled with the County’s instructions to its vendors not to talk to the auditors makes it extremely difficult to determine if there were forged ballots.
MY THOUGHTS
The Audit did not show Trump carried Arizona, nor did it confirm Biden won. What the Audit did was provide significant and credible evidence of widespread voter fraud and criminal conduct that undermined the legitimacy of the election. It’s time for people to stop screaming ‘decertify the election’ and start screaming for (1) an AG investigation; (2) criminal indictments where appropriate; and (3) legislative reforms.
This is the only way Americans can ensure our elections are free and fair.
* Subtitle is a quote from John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962. The series Great Ideas.
Alexander Pope, An Essay On Criticism
They did not reveal the names at the hearing due to privacy concerns, but those names have been forwarded to the AG.