New Developments on the RTA Election Front

by David Safier

If you’re an election integrity fan, here’s a new development in the ongoing battle to resolve the questions surrounding the contested 2006 RTA election. Bill Risner working with Audit AZ has sent a long, heavily documented letter to Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard. It demands that Goddard open a criminal investigation into the RTA election or continue work on the earlier investigation that may still be open.

This time, though, Risner wants the AG’s office to pay less attention to the desires of the Pima County Elections Division. He says the suspects themselves helped divert the investigation away from the most damning evidence.

Risner says the AG’s office should pay more attention to the evidence in the letter and the supporting documents. I’ve read the entire letter and much of the evidence. In the opinion of this non-lawyer, Risner has a pretty strong case, which is made even stronger by a recently released affidavit by Zbigniew Osmolski, in which he says Bryan Crane, the computer operator of the Pima County Elections Division, admitted to fixing the election during a conversation at the Boondocks Lounge. Here’s the money quote from the sworn affidavit:

During that conversation Bryan Crane told me he “fixed” the RTA, or Regional Transportation Authority election on the instructions of his bosses and he did what he was told to do. Mr. Crane expressed his concern about being indicted and said he would like to talk but couldn’t trust anyone.

Basically, it comes down to this. Risner and Audit AZ want a hand count of the RTA ballots to resolve the question of whether or not the election was rigged. What most people don’t know is that only Goddard can call for a hand count of the ballots. The Supes can say they want one and the local papers can agree in their editorials, but Arizona law is very strict on this point. The ballots can only be counted when the results of an election are within one-tenth of one percent or when the ballots are evidence in a criminal investigation.

So it’s in Terry Goddard’s hands. Either he opens the investigation and calls for a hand count, or the ballots sit in their sealed boxes until they’re destroyed.

For a more complete discussion, go to my post on The Brad Blog.

UPDATE: Ken O’Day adds this in a comment:

If you care about election integrity and want to make sure that your vote is counted as cast, then PLEASE CONTACT ATTORNEY GENERAL GODDARD’S OFFICE and insist that he reopen the criminal case in the 2006 RTA election on the basis of this new evidence and order a recount of the ballots. Here is the AG’s contact info:

Attorney General Terry Goddard
Office of the Attorney General
1275 West Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007
602.542.5025
800.352.8431 (toll free)
Fax 602.542.4085
Email aginfo@azag.gov