Arizona Secretary of State

Secretary of State Michele Reagan screws up again

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On Monday I read this blurb from the AP that Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan’s office says her technology team has launched an enhanced website to show voting returns from all 15 counties Tuesday night in real-time. New Arizona election reporting system to debut Tuesday.

My first thought was, “Oh no! Something else Michele Reagan can screw up this year.”

So how did it go? Just as you would expect from the queen of election screw-ups. ‘Error’: Arizona’s new elections site struggles in debut:

MicheleReaganThe Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees statewide elections, was supposed to be issuing the early results of races across the state close to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Instead, the website produced this message: “Error.”

The website continued to intermittently produce results throughout the night, occasionally producing messages saying, “This site can’t be reached” and “Service unavailable.”

A spokesman for Secretary of State Michele Reagan, when asked about the error messages around 8 p.m., told The Arizona Republic the office was “working on” the issues.

Hours later, Matt Roberts told The Republic he couldn’t say with certainty the root of the problems. He said it was unclear whether website traffic contributed to the problem, but issues uploading files from some county recorders delayed results.

You probably should start with your office’s “technology team” that built your web site.

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2016 Arizona Primary results – Southern AZ (updated)

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Arizona Primary 2016 was held today. Polls closed at 7 p.m.

I’m only reporting on some of the contested primary election races for the Arizona primary in Southern Arizona . More info on other races statewide at www.azsos.gov and locally at  www.pima.gov/elections.

Congressional District 2 House (Democrats)

Dr. Matt Heinz     31,369

Victoria Steele       28,013

Legislative District 2 House (Democrats, 2 seats)

Aaron Baumann      5420

Rosanna Gabaldon, incumbent    6955

Daniel Hernandez Jr.    6344

Legislative District 9 House (Democrats, 2 seats)

Dr. Randy Friese, incumbent   14,782

Pam Powers Hannley              11,426

Matt Kopec, incumbent           8841

Legislative District 10 House (Democrats, 2 seats)

Kirsten Engel    11,468

Courtney Frogge   10,735

Stefanie Mach, incumbent   12,459

Legislative District 14 House (Republicans, 2 seats)

Dennis Barger     5706

Drew John     12,458

Becky Nutt    13,565

Anthony Sizer  9134

 

Pima County offices:

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FBI says foreign hackers are trying to gain access to election systems

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Screen Shot 2016-08-30 at 1.11.32 PMOn this primary election day in Arizona, there are some disturbing reports about Arizona’s election data base being vulnerable to foreign hackers.

There is also this recently released analysis from the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, ICIT Analysis: Hacking Elections is Easy! Part One: Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (link to .pdf).

Michael Isikoff reports for Yahoo News, FBI says foreign hackers penetrated state election systems:

The FBI has uncovered evidence that foreign hackers penetrated two state election databases in recent weeks, prompting the bureau to warn election officials across the country to take new steps to enhance the security of their computer systems, according to federal and state law enforcement officials.

The FBI warning, contained in a “flash” alert (.pdf) from the FBI’s Cyber Division, a copy of which was obtained by Yahoo News, comes amid heightened concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about the possibility of cyberintrusions, potentially by Russian state-sponsored hackers, aimed at disrupting the November elections.

Those concerns prompted Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to convene a conference call with state election officials on Aug. 15, in which he offered his department’s help to make state voting systems more secure, including providing federal cybersecurity experts to scan for vulnerabilities, according to a “readout” of the call released by the department.

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Secretary of State Michele Reagan ignores the law, puts Green Party on the ballot

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Oh Bob, Bob, Bob . . . your “Hillary hatred” blinds you, you can’t see the forest for the trees. Green Party Success in Arizona!

Screenshot from 2016-02-11 12:39:46In 2015, our Tea-Publican legislature passed and Governor Ducey signed HB 2407 (.pdf),  which declares it the policy of the Arizona legislature that the “strict compliance” standard apply in referendums and recalls, effectively instructing the courts that the court-created “substantial compliance” doctrine for minor errors in complying with Arizona election laws is no longer permitted. A.R.S.§19-101.o1 (referendums) and A.R.S. §19-201.01 (recalls).

It is an open question whether the “strict compliance” standard now applies to all Arizona election laws as the declared policy of the Arizona legislature.

Election law attorney Tom Ryan recently sued Secretary of State Michele Reagan under the “strict compliance” standard for her mishandling of the Special Election for Prop. 123. Complaint filed to delay Special Election over Secretary of State’s failure to ‘strictly comply’ with election laws. Ryan was unsuccessful in that lawsuit, on other grounds.

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IOKIYAR: Secretary of State Michele Reagan not accountable for violating the law

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When Congress uses the word “shall,” it intends to create a mandatory obligation. That was the unanimous conclusion of the U.S. Supreme Court this week in the case of Kingdomware Technologies, Inc. v. U.S. (opinion). “Shall,” the Court emphasized, was meant as “a command.”

This is one of the cardinal rules of statutory interpretation. It applies not only to acts of Congress, but to state legislative acts as well.

A couple of weeks ago I posted New complaint filed against Secretary of State Michele Reagan – will the AG Act this time?

This week we learned “Oops! … I did it again.” Reagan’s office skips election manual:

MicheleReaganSecretary of State Michele Reagan did not compile a new election procedures manual for the 2016 cycle, perhaps the first time in decades, if not longer, that the office did not release the biennial publication that instructs county and local officials on the conduct of elections.

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State law requires the secretary of state to submit the manual for review to the attorney general and governor “not fewer than ninety days before each election,” a deadline that has already passed for the 2016 primary election. The manual must be issued no less than 30 days before each election, which some county election officials say is no longer feasible.

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[T]he law says: “Such rules shall be prescribed in an official instructions and procedures manual to be issued not later than thirty days prior to each election. Prior to its issuance, the manual shall be approved by the governor and the attorney general. The secretary of state shall submit the manual to the governor and the attorney general not fewer than ninety days before each election.”

Not this time.

Reagan’s office has decided it’s not necessary. To her, state law is more of a recommendation than a requirement.

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