Update On Sham Arizona Senate ‘Fraudit’ Lawsuit

The Arizona Mirror reports on this morning’s hearing, which is now on appeal to a duty justice of the Arizona Supreme Court for a hearing this afternoon. Dems won’t post $1M bond, so election audit won’t be paused:

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury ruled that the audit must halt from 5 p.m. Friday to noon on Monday. But that order was contingent on the Arizona Democratic Party, which brought the lawsuit seeking to block the audit, posting a $1 million bond to cover any expenses that the Senate “wrongfully incurs” due to the delay. The Senate’s lease of Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the audit is being conducted, ends on May 14.

Comments made in open court by the Senate's own legal counsel suggest that the $150k is quite insufficient and that the audit can't proceed without the outside funding that the Senate and Cyber Ninjas refuse to disclose to the public.

— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) April 23, 2021

Also related: https://t.co/h5n9Fgy5E2

— Jim Small (@JimSmall) April 23, 2021

Roopali Desai, the Democrats’ attorney, said the party won’t put up the bond. That means the audit will continue uninterrupted.

Nonetheless, the audit will still have to comply with several other orders the Court issued during a hearing on Friday. The judge ordered the Senate and its audit team to comply with all laws governing the right to a secret ballot and the confidentiality of voter registration data. He also ordered that the auditors use only red pens on the audit floor, an issue that came up after an Arizona Republic reporter who’s working as a volunteer observer noted that the auditors were using blue pens, which could irrevocably harm ballots.

Good point by Colleen.

Judge Coury repeatedly stated that the Senate/Ninjas must comply with ARIZONA laws, but federal laws also need to be complied with! https://t.co/IVgjmD3A3b

— Arizona's Law (@arizonaslaw) April 23, 2021

 

In the lawsuit filed Thursday afternoon, the Democratic Party and Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo alleged that the audit was unlawful because the Senate and its contractors were violating various laws regarding the confidentiality of ballots and voter registration data, and had failed to abide by other requirements on election procedures.

Attorney Kory Langhofer, who represents the Senate [and the AZ GOP], argued that the lawsuit should be barred by lawmakers’ legislative immunity from being served with lawsuits during the legislative session. He also argued that the Democratic Party and Gallardo lack standing to sue, and that the lawsuit violates the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches.

Langhofer told the Arizona Mirror that the Senate will still appeal the ruling to defend lawmakers’ right to legislative immunity during the session. A hearing with a duty justice of the Arizona Supreme Court is scheduled for 3 p.m.

So a crime against democracy is in progress, and these GQP assholes want to assert legislative immunity? These senators must be held accountable for their crime against democracy.

I will update later when we have something from the Supreme Court.

UPDATE: Howard Fischer provides additional reporting. Arizona Senate’s audit of 2020 election will continue despite judge’s concerns (excerpt):

The Democratic Party’s attorney Roopali Desai said said Friday’s hearing was not a loss or a waste of time.

She pointed out that, separate from the question of halting the work, Coury ordered the company to comply with all election laws. The judge wants to see copies of all its procedures, including hiring and training, to ensure that the ballots and the election equipment now at Veterans Memorial Coliseum for the audit are protected.

“They’re going to have to come to court on Monday and explain that,” Desai said.

Senate lawyer argues judge can’t intercede

Coury’s order came despite objections from attorney Kory Langhofer, who represents the Senate, that the judge has no authority to intercede.

Langhofer said legislators are immune from civil suits while the Legislature is in session. The lawsuit by the Arizona Democratic Party and Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo names Senate President Karen Fann and Sen. Warren Petersen, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

The attorney said Cyber Ninjas, by virtue of having been hired by the Senate, is now an agent of the Legislature and entitled to the same immunity.

Sorry, it doesn’t work that way, Sport. Only a duly elected official has legislative immunity. It is not delegable.

The larger issue is the constitutional separation of powers, Langhofer told Coury.

He noted that lawmakers have said the purpose of the audit is to determine if there are weaknesses in state election laws and whether revisions are necessary.

“How the Legislature conducts its own investigations in determining whether new legislation is necessary and what that legislation might look like isn’t a question on which the judicial branch can opine,’’ Langhofer said.

When it is violating its own election laws to conduct a sham “fraudit”, oh yes the court can intervene.

But Coury said his overwhelming concern is the protection of the integrity of the ballots as well as the secrecy of information turned over to the Senate — and now in the hands of Cyber Ninjas. So he scheduled a hearing to review all that on Monday.

High court declines to get involved

Dissatisfied, Langhofer late Friday asked Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick [formerly of the Goldwater Institute] to overturn Coury’s order. But Bolick, who is the duty justice, said he saw no reason to second-guess the order to produce documents about hiring and training.

“I think that Judge Coury was overtly mindful of the fact that courts have to tread very carefully in this area,’’ Bolick said. “And I do not see anything in the order that makes me think that we ought to intervene at this point.’’

However, Bolick said he and his colleagues may be forced to take up the issue later of whether Coury ultimately has any power to intercede in the audit.

Desai said the Democratic Party’s lawsuit, filed late Thursday, is not about the authority of the Legislature to subpoena the ballots and equipment to conduct an audit. That, she said, was already decided by a different judge.

“The question here that we are raising is that the audit that the Senate and its agents are conducting violate many provisions of state law,’’ Desai said.

Protection of ballots, election equipment

She told Coury that there must be procedures in place to ensure that the ballots and equipment are protected. There also needs to be a “constant chain of custody of every single ballot and every piece of equipment.’’

Another issue is who has been hired by Cyber Ninjas to do the work, she said.

She said no information has been provided on whether background checks were done on the people who will handle the ballots and get access to the equipment, nor about their training.

“There must be sufficient safeguards in place to ensure the audit is not biased, skewed or subject to tampering,’’ Desai said.

That goes directly to the fact that former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, named by Fann to be the Senate’s liaison with Cyber Ninjas, has said the work cannot be done for the $150,000 the Senate has agreed to pay.

That in turn has led to Christina Bobb, who works for the conservative One America News Network, announcing she had raised $150,000 through a website called “Voice for Votes’’ to cover the additional costs.

Cyber Ninjas has declined to disclose any outside source of dollars. And the Senate, in response to a public records request by Capitol Media Services, said it has no information on money given directly to the company.

Voice for Votes, set up as a social welfare organization under federal tax laws, is not required to disclose its donors.

Desai said if private money is, in fact, going to Cyber Ninjas, “there are serious questions about who is influencing, directing and controlling these workers.’’

“The Senate has told us they’re running this so-called audit, that they have abdicated their duty entirely to rogue actors who are making a mockery, with all due respect, of our election laws and our procedures,’’ she said.

The list of who Cyber Ninjas has hired is not public. In fact, Bennett on Thursday refused to allow reporters to film the review process at least in part because it would allow the recording of the workers’ faces.

“We continue to have no indication of who’s handling the ballots, whether they are known insurgents, representatives of recognized hate groups or on the FBI watch list,’’ Desai said.

That suggestion drew derision from pearl clutcher Langhofer.

“When we start talking about the merits, let’s just first of all separate the hyperbole and the political arguments from what is cognizable in this courtroom,’’ he told the judge.

If there has been no vetting, and no transparency, how does anyone know? You certainly don’t know.

We do know that former Rep. Anthony Kern has been hired as an auditor, despite signing a resolution from Republican legislators objecting to Arizona’s election results being certified, and serving as a “fake” presidential elector for Donald Trump, who was present in Washington, D.C. for the seditious insurrection on January 6.

https://twitter.com/AZHouseDems/status/1384185303594717196

If this assclown has been hired as an auditor, it raises serious doubts about the quality of the individuals who have been hired as an auditor. For all anyone knows, they are primarily MAGA/QAnon conspiracy cult members hoping to “prove” their conspiracy theory, which undermines the credibility of the entire process. Don’t lie to me about how this is an “independent” audit given what we already know about the conspiracy theorists involved in this sham “fraudit,” and who is paying for it.