Gasoline, meet fire. . .
The Biden Justice Department has sent a letter to the Arizona Senate putting them on notice over “concerns that an audit and recount of the November election in Maricopa County may be out of compliance with federal laws”:
In a letter to the president of the Arizona Senate, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice expressed concerns that an audit and recount of the November election in Maricopa County may be out of compliance with federal laws. @ben_giles reports. https://t.co/EOIHbSkM73
— KJZZ Phoenix (@kjzzphoenix) May 6, 2021
A “consent decree” of some sort may even be on the way:
Unnamed attorney on DOJ involvement: "Civil Rights Division takes its federal election jurisdiction seriously. This is only the beginning of an effort that will ultimately result in a consent decree."
— The AZ – abc15 – Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) May 6, 2021
Needless to say, Arizona Republicans aren’t happy about it:
https://twitter.com/ArizonaAudit/status/1390138407356014596
But there are legitimate concerns as to how the audit is being conducted that invited the feds in:
Observers report ballots and laptop computers have been left unattended in Arizona recount, according to secretary of state https://t.co/e2vSvMRhcR
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 6, 2021
And it’s pretty clear now that the audit will not be finished on time and will have to be extended in some way:
A review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, ordered by the Republican-led Arizona Senate, is far behind schedule and won’t be finished in the time frame officials previously promised. @ben_giles
reports. https://t.co/9dyE7zu6d0— KJZZ Phoenix (@kjzzphoenix) May 6, 2021
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But, again, this raises major concerns regarding the safety and security of the ballots and equipment:
Now the question is, what happens to the ballots, voting equipment, etc? @AZSenateGOP’s rental contract states all of it must be removed from the coliseum on May 14.
I also wonder if the firms involved grasped how long this would actually take… https://t.co/LGOwOvZ2vr
— Ben Giles (@ben_giles) May 5, 2021
They’re working on this issue now:
Just finishing up my shift at #azauditpool. Things Bennett told me:
-working to find a place on fairgrounds to store ballots and equipment for May 14 deadline, will resume when grads are done.
-He has not heard paper analysis referred to as 'looking for bamboo' before. pic.twitter.com/V3I0bfUaAF— The AZ – abc15 – Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) May 6, 2021
As for the “bamboo” part of the tweet above, auditors are examining ballots to discredit a conspiracy theory that said fake ballots made on paper that contained bamboo fibers were shipped in from Asia:
John Brakey, an official helping oversee the audit of the 2020 Arizona election, says auditors are looking for bamboo fibers because of a baseless accusation that 40K ballots from Asia were smuggled here. #AzAuditPool pic.twitter.com/57UOBYIehg
— Dennis Welch (@dennis_welch) May 5, 2021
But, to be clear, they do not believe this is what happened and they’re attempting to discredit it:
I really, really hope people listen to @dennis_welch's second clip here. Brakey does not believe the conspiracy theory about bamboo fibers.
Brakey is an election integrity advocate who got involved to make this all more transparent & fair. He's just the messenger. https://t.co/tnw97e5Rlc
— Jen Fifield (@JenAFifield) May 6, 2021
Of course, libs aren’t telling you that part:
"What they're doing is to find out if there's bamboo in the paper!"
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) May 5, 2021
We’ll keep you posted.
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