MariCo GOP Seeks to Shut Down AZ’s GOP Presidential Primary and Gift the Nomination to Felonious Trump

In a recent Maricopa GOP newsletter from news@maricopagop.org, as authorized by the leadership, a plan to deny AZ Republicans their choice of a Presidential nominee was clearly laid out:

ACT NOW TO RECLAIM ELECTION INTEGRITY ON ELECTION DAY!
Don’t let Adrian Fontes and Stephen Richer remove Donald Trump from the ballot! Urge AZGOP Chair Jeff DeWit and the AZGOP Board NOW to Withdraw the AZGOP from a Government-Run AZ Presidential Preference Election by THIS FRIDAY, September 1st, 5pm!

IMPORTANT TRUTHS ABOUT THE PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE ELECTION:
The RNC recently passed a resolution for paper ballots and hand count at the precinct level. The RNC does not have the authority to dictate our state PPE but the resolution included:
— Having an auditable paper trail
— Supporting hand count procedures to audit votes
— Applauding those who perform hand counts 
— Supporting precinct polling
— Opposing vote centers and demanding geographically defined voting and management 
— Stopping drop boxes that are only placed in heavily Democrat areas
— Preventing further expansion of early voting that makes Election Day tabulation more complicated and delayed 
— Stopping additional confusion with schemes like ranked-choice voting
— Requiring IDs and citizenship for voting

The MCRC Resolution has received support from legislators including AZ Senator Wendy Rogers referencing the below video saying “Arizonans – MUST WATCH – MUST DO“.

It will not cost $13M-15M to run our own election. This inflated estimate based on government-run elections was provided by Adrian Fontes with no breakdown or details and likely includes many unneeded costs including mailing costs and machines not needed for a Presidential Preference hand-count. We will provide a comprehensive budget at the AZGOP meeting based on REAL numbers of an actual county who implemented this and our projected voter turnout and poll needs. We have already gathered the support and a commitment on a National level to help meet the financial needs. 

A Presidential Preference Election and CANNOT alienate Independents because it is only for Republicans. The PPE is different and only Republicans can vote.

ARS 16-227 does not require a call letter be mailed to every Republican as the title of the resolution clearly states “nonpartisan elections” which does not apply to the PPE.

In the 2020 election, AzGOP Chairman Kelli Ward, with the support of the EGC, gave courtesy to our standing President at the time and said President Trump would be our nominee. We had one candidate, and PPE was not needed. If the Republican party does what it did in 2020, then it spends $0.

See also CapTimes coverage of this issue. So, it seems the goal of the Maricopa GOP (I wonder if the AZGOP agrees?) is to entirely opt out of any “government-run” election and for the GOP to run their own privately funded Presidential Preference Election (PPE) here in Arizona (despite their active hostility to and legislation this session opposing any private financing of elections…) using only paper ballots and hand counting at the precinct level. How they will legally accomplish this while complying with federal laws regarding special needs voters, absentees, and military & overseas voters is wholly unaddressed.

Their paranoia and obsession with ‘paper ballots’ (which BTW Arizona already uses for EVERY vote) and hand counting (which the farcical and fraudulent Cyber Ninjas stunt proved to be inefficient and inaccurate) continues to astound me. But what takes the wackadoodle cake is the clear implication that the ideal PPE is to simply acclaim Trump as the nominee without any opportunity for any other candidate to compete, and without any input from voters as their ideal result.

I certainly hope that Secretary Fontes, and the elections directors and Boards of Supervisors of Arizona, come to the correct interpretation of the 14th Amendment and refuse to put insurrectionist-in-chief Trump on the ballot here in Arizona’s PPE, as he has disqualified himself from ever holding public office again under the plain language and meaning of our Constitution, according to some of the most eminent CONSERVATIVE judges and legal scholars in America.