Man votes by touch
By Sasha Hupka || Arizona Republic
A Maricopa County Republican Party leader has refused to sign off on a post-election examination of election equipment.
A month after approving the results of pre-election tabulator tests, party Chair Mickie Niland said she no longer believes the examinations go far enough to ensure public trust in the machines and election officials’ preparedness.
Her announcement came within minutes of an election lawsuit from Abe Hamadeh, the Republican nominee for state attorney general, and around the same time state Sen. Kelly Townsend subpoenaed the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors seeking information and records related to the county’s ballot printer woes on Election Day.
Hamadeh is trailing Democrat Kris Mayes by 510 votes statewide, according to full results from Arizona’s 15 counties. The race will head to an automatic recount after the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office certifies the results on Dec. 5.
In a statement, Niland cited concerns over insufficient testing between the county’s ballot printers and tabulators. She said a more through review of election preparations should replace the test, which she called “largely ceremonial.”
“My primary reason for not signing this test is I feel the test is largely obligatory, and is not a comprehensive test of their preparedness,” she said.
Although Niland refusing to sign off on the tests won’t halt the election certification process, it marks a continued trend of some prominent Republican candidates and personalities sowing doubt in Maricopa County’s election system.
