Dems sue to halt Senate audit
Officials unlock a truck prior to unloading election equipment into the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the state fairgrounds, Wednesday, April 21, 2021, in Phoenix. Maricopa County officials began delivering equipment used in the November election won by President Joe Biden on Wednesday and will move 2.1 million ballots to the site Thursday so Republicans in the state Senate who have expressed uncertainty that Biden’s victory was legitimate can recount them and audit the results. (AP Photo/Matt York)
The Arizona Democratic Party is going to court to halt or at least delay the audit of Maricopa County election results.
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX The Arizona Democratic Party is going to court to halt or at least delay the audit of Maricopa County election results.
Legal papers filed late Thursday note that the Senate, which demanded possession of the 2.1 million ballots and counting equipment, has now had all that turned over directly to outsiders hired by the legislature. They are planning to conduct the review starting Friday at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The problem said attorney Roopali Desai, is there is no evidence that the private firms hired by the Senate and the people they are retaining have been properly trained, not just in things like signature verification but also in protecting the security and privacy of the records.
As the Arizona Senate prepared to begin its election audit on Friday, it was unclear whether Senate Republicans would permit journalists to cover the unprecedented event except under severe restrictions that would seriously limit their ability to do their jobs.
Senate President Karen Fann said Wednesday evening that her audit team was revising its media policy, which previously only permitted journalists into Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the audit is taking place, if they signed up to work as volunteer observers and agreed to follow rules prohibiting them from taking photographs, using recording devices or even taking notes with pen and paper during their six-hour shifts.
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This supersedes that of the US Supreme or any other court.
Rudy Giulianni, Attorney Jenna Ellis and constitutional experts explained this to the state legislatures during recent election hearings.
It has once again been clarified in an Arizona courtroom by Judge Timothy Thomason in Maricopa County v Karen Fann, et al.
“The Court finds that that Subpoenas are legal and enforceable. There is no question that the Senators have the power to issue legislative subpoenas. The Subpoenas comply with the statutory requirements for legislative subpoenas. The Senate also has broad constitutional power to oversee elections. The Arizona legislature clearly has the power to investigate and examine election reform matters. Accordingly, the Senators have the power to subpoena material as part