Covering the election charades in Arizona and Florida
In Arizona, the 2020 election still isn’t over. Well, it
The Arizona audit (or, as some have called it, “fraudit”) has been a tough story for practical reasons, too—journalists have been barred from the room. On day one, Jen Fifield, a reporter at the
Arizona Capitol Times, likewise tried to get in as an observer, but was escorted off the premises; she was told first that her registration hadn’t gone through, then that she needed letters of recommendation. (Fifield was not asked for letters.) A few days later, officials agreed to allow a press pool comprising a rotating reporter, photographer, and videographer to sit in a makeshift press box above the floor. (The Veterans Memorial Coliseum seats fifteen thousand people.) Last Friday, Ryan Randazzo, a pooler on duty for the