Everyone knew this was coming…. The Feds are attempting to get involved in the Maricopa County ballot audit. The DOJ Civil Rights Division has sent a letter [pdf available here] to the Arizona State Senate claiming their review of Lawfare statements and media reports may show evidence of auditing issues that violate federal laws.
Last week a group of Lawfare activists [SEE HERE], including New York University Law School – which leads to Andrew Weissmann, asked the DOJ to get involved.
The ridiculous letter from the Biden DOJ goes on to cite media reports from the Washington Post as evidence to justify their involvement.
Remember, previously the DOJ narrative was that each state makes up its own election rules. Now the DOJ is saying, falsely, that Arizona might be breaking federal laws.
Their first concern [as predicted] centers around ballot security. Again, remember, the Maricopa County election board would not let the auditors use the county tabulation center [SEE HERE] so the ballots and equipment had to be moved to Veterans Memorial Coliseum (AZ State Fairgrounds). Now the DOJ is citing that move as a potential issue for the security of the ballots and auditing procedures.
The first issue relates to a number of reports suggesting that the ballots, elections systems, and election materials that are the subject of the Maricopa County audit are no longer under the ultimate control of state and local elections officials, are not being adequately safeguarded by contractors at an insecure facility, and are at risk of being lost, stolen, altered, compromised or destroyed.
Federal law creates a duty to safeguard and preserve federal election records. The Department is charged with enforcement of provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, 52 U.S.C. §§ 20701-20706. This statute requires state and local election officials to maintain, for twenty-two months after the conduct of an election for federal office, “all records and papers” relating to any “act requisite to voting in such election.”
The DOJ’s second issue is even more obtuse. They cite federal election law for voters rights, as the DOJ is worried that auditors will visit -and intimidate- people and places who have a record of multiple ballots from the same address or non residence:
The CNN camera crews worked earnestly to get election audit volunteers on camera; the objective appears to be the familiar threats and intimidation tactics carried out by the news and narrative company in the past. A previous ground report from a local volunteer sent to the Treehouse includes:
The Brennan Center, Protect Democracy and The Leadership Conference have