It looks like some Republican election deniers are trying to revive the widely debunked “Sharpiegate” conspiracy theory to set up claims of fraud in the Arizona primary election to explain their primary losses and to challenge the election results.
One of these "amateurs" is running for secretary of state. https://t.co/4sJx0PN3P4 pic.twitter.com/FijgLoiqVb
— Jim Small (@JimSmall) July 27, 2022
🧵Just texted a friend who sent out a message that she will ignore instructions, not use the given pen, and will use a ballpoint blue pen.
Let's call it what it is. She's trying to disrupt the primary.
Just use the darn pen given to you on election day.
— Stephen Richer—Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) July 27, 2022
It’s not just Coup Plotter Shawnna Bolick, “Ginni” Thomas’ go-to girl to get Arizona legislators to object to the results of the 2020 election as part of Trump’s Coup plot.
Trump endorsed election denier “Krazy Kari” Lake is already alleging fraud in this election before the votes have even been counted, just like her boy Donny did in 2016 and 2020. Arizona’s MAGA Candidate for Guv Pulls a Trump and Alleges Fraud Days Before Vote:
Donald Trump lackey and Republican candidate for Arizona governor Kari Lake claims she is “detecting some stealing” in the upcoming election—a week before the actual vote. The Arizona Republic reports that Lake made allegations of fraud at least four times in a speech to the right-wing North Valley Constitutional Republicans this week. “I’m telling you right now, anybody trying to steal this, first of all, we’re already detecting some stealing going on, but you guys know I’m a fighter, right?” she was quoted telling the conservative crowd. “We’re not gonna let them steal an election,” she said. The comments by the former Fox 10 news anchor, which echo the election fraud claims made by Trump ahead of the 2020 election, were not backed up by any evidence whatsoever, and they come as the race between Lake and her main opponent, Karrin Taylor Robson, has tightened. Robson called Lake’s comments “dangerous” and described the fraud claims as a “calculated narrative” that lays the framework for Lake to dispute election results if she loses.
It is not just “Krazy Kari” Lake setting up this “fraud” narrative. I suspect several Republican candidates will be playing this game next week to explain their losses and to challenge the election results. This is now standard operating procedure for Republicans.
Republicans believe that elections are legitimate only if a Republican wins. Now they are turning on each other in the Republican primary between MAGA/QAnon Republicans and RINO Republicans.
Things are about to get ugly next week. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
UPDATE: Let’s just say it: Republicans are insane and a clear and present danger to Democracy.
E.J.Montini adds, Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward spreads idiotic ballot-marking pen conspiracy:
Donald Trump set the lowest of low bars when it comes to being a whining sore loser, and the Republican Party seems to have adopted his behavior as official policy.
In essence it directs GOP candidates to suggest that the only way they can lose is if the other side cheats.
Trump has been yowling that bitter tune since 2020.
Trump sycophants like Arizona governor candidate Kari Lake and others are running with it now.
Lake said of Arizona in the Republican candidate debate, “We don’t have fair elections,” and “They’re going to have to cheat even harder to win this.”
She’s also suggested that her opponents will use the votes of dead people to try to defeat her.
Kelli Ward’s myth of the poison pen
Right along with this is the latest suggestion by Arizona Republican Party Chair that there is something sinister in the pens the election department wants voters to use at the polls.
I’ve gotten several messages already from GOP supporters railing about how this is a Democratic plot to not count Republican ballots.
No.
The Republican Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer has simply and patiently and reasonably tried to explain why there is a specific type of pen that is best used when folks vote in person.
But patience and reason are no match for kooky conspiracy, so you end up with tweets from Ward saying:
You can vote with ANY pen you choose. You CAN bring your own pen – black or blue ink only to be sure machine can read it. If anyone bothers you, report them to a poll observer for election interference immediately. Don’t be bullied. https://t.co/Em2gujDj2S
— Dr. Kelli Ward 🇺🇸 (@kelliwardaz) July 28, 2022
Why ballots need fast-drying ink on Election Day
Bullied?
Really?
Here’s what Richer said recently on the radio about marking a ballot.
“Please don’t use pencil. Please use a blue or black pen – any type of pen, blue or black – if you’re mailing it back. If you vote in person, we’ll give you a special writing utensil that works well with our tabulation equipment.”
His department’s communications director, Megan Gilbertson added, “On Election Day, we are still recommending voters use the ballot-marking pen we provide at the Vote Center. We need Election Day voters to use fast-drying ink.”
They even sent out a tweet with a video to reinforce what, honestly, is a straightforward, uncomplicated concept.
Why should you use a quick drying felt-tip pen on Election Day?
Election Day votes are tabulated immediately on-site while Early Vote ballots aren’t tabulated for at least 24 hours (giving all ink time to dry).
This video explains more! https://t.co/cF1TXsidbv
— Maricopa County Recorder's Office (@RecordersOffice) July 28, 2022
Ther’s no listening to reason. Mark my words
Sadly, the conspiracy kooks will ignore it.
On purpose.
It’s part of the GOP plan to excuse any loss.
If a favored Trump stooge happens to go down on Election Day, Ward and others probably will cite some sinister, imaginary plot involving how voters marked their ballots.
Mark my words … with whatever pen you’d like.
These insane Republican conspiracy theorists are actually making death threats over felt markers. These domestic terrorists are criminals who should be prosecuted.
Laurie Roberts writes, Nutty Pentel Pen Plot = Death threats for Maricopa County’s elections chief:
It’s official. Arizona’s conspiracy kooks have officially and irrevocably lost their freaking minds.
As if Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer doesn’t have enough to deal with – what with overseeing Tuesday’s primary election and working overtime to make sure the public knows where they can vote and how their votes are being counted – he’s now fielding death threats.
“You might not make it to your next little board meeting,” wrote one, um, admirer.
“We hope you f—ing die,” wrote another.
Meanwhile, a Thursday evening event at which he was scheduled to be the only speaker had to be canceled due to a threat on the building.
So what, you might wonder, has Richer done to deserve, apparently, to die? What nefarious plot has this crafty Republican cooked up on the eve of the election?
Behold the Pentel Pen Ploy — 2022’s answer to Sharpiegate.
Fast-drying ink helps count votes faster
Richer is asking voters to use special county-supplied Pentel pens when they go to the polls to cast their ballots in person. The felt-tip pens, he explains, have fast-drying ink, whereas the ink in ballpoint pens dries more slowly and will gum up the tabulation machines.
Gummed up machines means longer lines, slower results and possibly, more questioned ballots due to smeared ink.
You’d think the conspiracy crowd would be thrilled at the lengths to which Richer is going to ensure that every legal vote counts. The text alerts that you’re vote has been received and counted. The constant reminders of when and where and how to vote. The explanations for how the results will be released.
The man has bent over backwards to try to assure Maricopa County’s voters that they can trust the vote.
Instead, the head kook, GOP Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward, is advising people not be “bullied” by the likes of Richer and to instead bring their blue or black pens to the polls.
Rep. Shawnna Bolick, who is hoping to voters will make her secretary of state so she can run elections, announces she knows somebody who says the Pentel pens will bleed through the paper — presumably ruining your ballot.
But Gateway Pundit smells a rat
Naturally, Gateway Pundit, the gossip rag of conspiracy buffs everywhere, smells a rat.
Note: If you rely on Gateway Pundit as a news source you are by definition a conspiracy theorist, and probably quite insane.
“Maricopa County Official Is Panicked Voters May Bring Their Own Pen to Polls,” screams the big blue headline.
The writer knows this, he says, because of Richer’s tweet.
Cue the GP writer: “The use of all caps to emphasize ‘please please’ and ‘all’ in his tweet about using the new “special pen” has overtones of desperation.”
The writer goes on to dissect several other Richer tweets, which lead him to conclude this is … wait for it … Sharpiegate 2.0, that delightfully creative, easily debunked conspiracy theory that had Sharpies stealing Republican votes in 2020.
That’s when the threats started
As soon as the GP story dropped on Thursday afternoon, the threats came pouring in to Richer and the elections staff that is working long hours to ensure a smooth election.
A sampling of the fan mail:
“You guys are corrupt and stupid all at the the same time … hope the reckoning come and buries you in the ashheap you F’in traitor.”
“Shove your Sharpies up your a–, you DIRTY, FILTHY, STINKING, LYING CHEAT. May karma slap you in the face like the little oath breaking criminal b—- that you are, you contemptible sack of s—. May your nefarious plans be thwarted and fall to the ground. May nothing you touch prosper. A curse on your filthy plans.”
“Kiss my a– you morons, I will use my own pen, you damn unAmerican pieces of crap will not steal another election.”
I guess that last one’s been listening to Kari Lake, who announced this week that she’s already found fraud and vowed to go “supernova radioactive” if she doesn’t win.
Kelli Ward, Kari Lake, Mark FInchem? You must be so proud, to see the result of all your hard work undermining trust in our elections bloom to its full poisonous fruit.
As my colleague E.J. Montini observed, they’re not just putting democracy in danger. They’re putting good people in danger.
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The AZ GQP is now encouraging vigilante poll watchers by offering them rewards. The Phoenix New Times reports, “Arizona GOP Offers $100,000 for Primary Election Bounty Hunters”, https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-gop-offers-100000-for-proof-of-vote-buying-14111154
After failing to ban vote-by-mail in court, Arizona Republicans are offering two $50,000 rewards for evidence of “vote-buying” in the August 2 primary.
In its latest offensive against no-excuse mail-in voting, a staple of Arizona elections for the past three decades, AZGOP is looking to cast doubt on upcoming election results.
The party is offering the rewards to the first two people who can provide evidence that results in an arrest and conviction for vote-buying — but not without caveats. Its bounty offer comes with 10 terms, including the need for formal charges to be filed by the end of the year and proof of a conviction by the end of 2023.
Arizona Democrats blasted the bounty as another GOP effort “that jeopardizes our democracy.”
“It is absolutely despicable, though not at all surprising, that under the leadership of Kelli Ward the AZ GOP is trying to enlist ‘bounty hunters’ to drum up more lies and conspiracy theories about the security of our election,” said Morgan Dick, communications director of the Arizona Democratic Party. “This is a desperate attempt to disenfranchise voters, not to mention it is a reckless and dangerous path that jeopardizes our democracy — and the Republicans know exactly what they are doing.”
Dick added that the award could lead people to unfairly target election workers.
“The 2022 elections both next week in August and again in November will be safe, secure, and accurate thanks to the hard work of dedicated elections officials across Arizona,” she said. “Their public service should be commended, not disparaged.”