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| Arizona: Senators Call on County Attorney Andy Thomas to Approve Release of Ballots |
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| By Jack Harper, Arizona State Senator | |
| December 08, 2005 | |
“It’s Time to Restore Integrity and Confidence to Election Process” Arizona
State Senator Jack Harper, a Republican, has issued subpoenas for
access to ballots and tabulation equipment used in the 2004 LD20
Republican primary election, in which a machine recount in Maricopa
County resulted in nearly 500 more votes counted on the same ballots.
The data shows pretty conclusively that either the optical scanners
failed (ES&S Optech IV-C) or there was tampering or at least
mishandling of the ballots. The Maricopa County election officials have
not been forthcoming as to the cause of the discrepancy. Harper has
been talking with Doug Jones about conducting tests here later this
month. The state senators supporting Harper are all Republicans, which
is great, as this makes this a bipartisan concern here. Unfortunately,
Harper is getting a lot of pressure from the Senate leadership to drop
this investigation. Nevertheless, he just released the following
message:Stating that it is time to restore integrity and confidence to Arizona’s election process, Senators Jack Harper, Karen Johnson, Thayer Verschoor, and Ron Gould called on Maricopa County Attorney Andy Thomas to respect the legislative subpoena issued by the Senate Government Accountability and Reform Committee and direct Maricopa County Treasurer David Schweikert to comply with the legislative subpoena and release the ballots from the 2004 District 20 Republican Primary to the Committee. Last week, Senate Government Accountability and Reform committee chairman Jack W. Harper issued subpoenas to both the Maricopa County Recorders office and the Maricopa County Treasurer’s office directing them to provide information and ballots from the District 20 Republican primary race for a review by the committee and its staff. As of today, County Treasurer David Schweikert has indicated that his office may not comply with the valid legislative subpoena and release the ballots. Schweikert has turned over the subpoena to the Maricopa County Attorney’s office for review and has redirected all inquiries from the Committee. State Senator Jack Harper said, “I have every confidence that County Attorney Andy Thomas will do the right thing here. I know that he is just as concerned about the integrity of our elections as I am, and I am confident that he will not stand in the way of a valid legislative subpoena calling for the release of these ballots.” Senator Thayer Verschoor, a member of the Government Accountability and Reform Committee, echoed Harper’s comments and encouraged County Attorney Andy Thomas and County Treasurer David Schweikert to work with the Committee Chairman to get to the bottom of the controversy surrounding the District 20 recount. “Until we find out definitively what transpired last year in the District 20 recount, doubts will remain about the integrity of our election process,” stated Senator Ron Gould. “I know that Andy Thomas shares our concerns here, and I believe that he will work with the Chairman to ensure that these ballots are released to the committee for review and analysis by the committee’s staff and professional consultants.” The Senate Government Accountability and Reform Committee has retained University of Iowa professor Douglas Jones, a nationally recognized expert on voting machines and a member of the State of Iowa’s Board of Examiners for Voting Machines, to conduct an independent audit of the ballots, voting machines, the programs. “It is vitally important that we get to the bottom of this recount and find out what went wrong,” stated State Senator Karen Johnson. I know Andy Thomas very well. He is a man of integrity and I am confident that he would not stand in the way of efforts to protect and preserve the integrity of our elections by fighting this subpoena in court.” Senator Harper concluded, “The circumstances surrounding the District 20 Republican Primary election last year are very troubling. The explanations provided so far by officials from the county election department are not consistent with the available evidence. As long as there remain real questions to be answered about the outcome of this race then I believe we must continue to investigate and find the truth. There is nothing more important to our system of democracy than maintaining the integrity of our elections. I am confident that Andy Thomas shares my views and that he will not allow his office to stand in the way of our attempts to find out exactly what happened last year.” Comment on This Article
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