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AuditAZ & ADP EIC Update on Arizona Stolen Election Case

Written by: Cheryl on Mar 6, 2009 6:23 PM EST

Linked to groups: DFA-Link Organizers, DFA Blog Network, Blog For America, DFA Election Rescue Strategy Team, AuditAZ

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UPDATE

The RTA Ballot Case: Why Transparency Matters: 

 

Last Monday (Feb. 23, 2009) the RTA  Court hearing ended abruptly after only 12 minutes, leaving a packed courtroom in shock.  The Attorney General’s intervention shut down the hearing when in a surprise court announcement, Deputy Attorney General John Evans said that the Attorney General had obtained a secret court order, that he could share with the judge, but not reveal to the public the contents of the order.
 
People who attended the hearing expressed dismay and started to ask questions about the meaning of a secret court order.  For months we had requested the Attorney General to take control of the ballots and set up a transparent process for counting them. The purpose of the litigation is to ask a court to offer prospective relief by setting up procedures to make all future elections fair and transparent.  That part of the litigation will be decided by the Court of Appeals.
 
As it stands we’re urging Attorney General Goddard to open the investigative process to political party oversight. We maintain that party oversight so fundamental to the public trust demands that verification and transparency must be fundamental to inspection and counting of the RTA  ballots.  Therefore, maintaining the security and integrity of the RTA ballots requires that the ballots be stored under the control of the Attorney General, not within any other election department of any other Arizona County and that the inspection and counting process be open and transparent.

View Democratic Party Attorney Bill Risner Video/Audio:

Speculation about the fate of the ballots had been swirling over the weekend since an Arizona Daily Star article mentioned that the Attorney General had filed an “informal request” to obtain the ballots for examination.  That announcement followed earlier statements made by Attorney General Terry Goddard on Arizona Illustrated that he could not take control of the ballots on the basis of “curiosity.” 

 
 Last Monday morning, intending to meet a deadline, Bill Risner filed a notice of appeal challenging Judge Charles Harrington’s ruling that his court had no jurisdiction to order prospective relief in future elections.  Judge Harrington used those legal grounds to deny all jurisdiction concerning the ballots, and end all court proceedings after hearing from Deputy Attorney General Evans.
 
Later we learned that Attorney General Goddard obtained the secret court order from a Court in Maricopa County.  We now know that  the ballots likely were hauled to Phoenix on Tuesday, the day after the hearing, Although we had urged the Attorney General to act to examine and count the ballots as part of his investigation, we had also asked him for transparency. 
 
Background:
 
Bill Risner had received word from County Treasurer Beth Ford that she had no objection to the political parties obtaining copies of the yellow sheets and poll tapes from the RTA election.  This was a separate case scheduled to be heard before another judge.  The aim was to protect the ballots from destruction long enough to allow for a court-ordered transparent process for obtaining the yellow sheets and poll tapes stored within the ballot boxes.
 
Late Friday before the hearing, John Richardson, Attorney for Treasurer Beth Ford informed Bill Risner that Attorney General Terry Goddard aimed to remove the ballots from secure storage at Iron Mountain to the Maricopa County Elections Department. Our expectation was that the Attorney General would present his  “informal request” in Judge Harrington’s Court, not obtain a secret court order.

Sandra Spangler
Chair, Pima County Democratic Party Election Integrity Committee

Update: Activists Jim March and John Brakey went to Phoenix to try to find the ballots.

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Location: Tucson, AZ 85710

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- Fatally Flawed: Stolen Elections Movie Highlight

By Cheryl on Mar 6, 2009 6:46 PM EST

I'll do a separate blog post on this, but if you are in the area--join us on Monday:

 

Join us for the movie premiere of Arizona's Fatally Flawed!

Fatally Flawed, is a newly-produced local documentary that chronicles the legal challenge to the May 2006 Pima County election which created the Regional Transportation Authority. It generated a lawsuit resulting in the largest release of election data in US history.

An alliance of the Tucson Chapter of Democracy for America (DFA Tucson) and Voices of Opposition will host the free premiere on Monday, March 9 at 7 pm, at the University of Arizona's Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (AME) building #119 on the northeast corner of Speedway and Mountain, room #N310. The address is 1130 N. Mountain Ave., Tucson AZ 85721-0119.

Read the backstory here.  Recent press coverage.  Check out the right-hand links on the website.

The issues involving the apparent lack of integrity of the electoral process in Pima County and Arizona and the almost three-year-old challenge to release of the RTA election ballots for a hand count remain headline news to this day. While Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has indicated that the recount process is not over, questions remain over the whereabouts of the ballots and the procedure to be used to count them.

In addition to the screening, principal investigators of the election will be on hand to provide insight on the current issues related to the controversy.Recently, members of the local Democratic Party's Election Integrity Committee offered individual opinions on the matter. “The Democratic Party [and all other political parties] has a statutory right and a critical role in our state system to track and see what’s going on with our elections,” said Attorney Bill Risner, who is involved with the legal investigation into the validity of the May 2006 Regional Transportation Authority Election.

"Elections and election processes should not be secret, and when they are it's a strong sign of either outright fraud or an agency fearful of having its own incompetence exposed,” insisted Jim March, board member of Blackboxvoting.org and local election investigator.

“True security always lies in openness.”Michael Duniho, former election inspector in Maryland and computer analyst concluded, "It seems clear that our system of 'one-man, one-vote' only works if a large number of people monitor the election, to be sure it is honest."

From the words of those who controlled the election and others who have investigated the election, Fatally Flawed makes the case that:

1. Acts of omission and commission occurred before, during and after the May 2006 election by entrusted officials, constituting the charges of election fraud.

2. To date, government officials at the local and state levels have acted to thwart the resolution of these accusations of a rigged election.

3. Only a prompt, fair, and transparent hand counting of the May 2005 ballots will remove the cloud over the creation of the RTA.For further information, call 520-622-6419.

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