All Eyes on Arizona with Abraham Hamadeh

their ballot on demand printers. The Attorney General's Office also has concerns because they launched an investigation into a series of complaints and raising questions if Maricopa County complied with Arizona election law. Instead of being truthful and instead of trying to answer questions, it looks like Maricopa County's leaders are just trying to cover things up. I mean, listen to what Maricopa County Board of Supervisor's chairman Bill Gates

had to say. Hi, I'm Bill Gates, and I'm chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, and I want to talk to you today about voters suppress. Unfortunately, that phrase has been thrown around in our county since election day people have claimed that there was voters suppression because we had issues with the printers, which did not reveal

themselves when we tested these printers before election day. I hate that this happened, and my colleagues and I are committed to figuring out exactly what happened so that it never happens again. But that does not constitute voter suppression. We know what voter suppression looks like in our country. The inconvenience and the lines that people experience were unfortunate. But the fact is every voter had the opportunity to cast a vote on election day. Now, you gotta remember

that Mercoba County is Arizona's most populous county. You also have to remember who's turning out on election day. It's Republican voters. It's not Democrats being disenfranchised. Its Republicans. And what raises suspicions is that Thomas Liddy, the division in chief for the Civil Services Division of the Maricoba County's Attorney's Office. So he's trying to say that no voter was disenfranchised because of the difficulty the county experienced with

some of its printers. How is that possible when you have issues at least sixty voting locations. So even that response from Mericoba County makes no sense. It flies in the face of logic, it flies in the face of the truth. So what really happened in Maricoba County and what happened in Arizona, We're gonna get to the bottom of it with a Bama Day, who is the Attorney general candidate for Republicans. He's currently facing a recount in

the election. He's down by just a little over five votes, so what happened matters a lot to him and could mean if he ends up being the Attorney General or not. So he's launched a lawsuit and uh he waiting to see the results of that and also waiting to see the results of the recount. But he's not giving up the fight, and I don't believe he should because there are questions about what happened in Maricopa County, and it doesn't sound like the Mericopa County election officials there want

to give answers. So here's a you know, a right now, we've got the certification taking place of what happened in Arizona, but there's a lot of questions about what went down on election day. Maricopa County officials have admitted that at least sixty voting locations experienced issues with their ballot on

demand partners. What happened on election day, Well, that's a good question, and you know, a lot more journalist should be asking this because supposedly what happened in a Merricopa county was that they tested all the issue all the machines and the printers the night before and then suddenly, you need imediately, as polls opened up at six am, what we saw was so many of the printers and

the machines malfunctioning. So a lot of what happened. I mean, I voted in personal election day too, and I witnessed firsthand people bout their ballots being rejected constantly by these machines, and so it took them hours and hours to finally

figure out what was wrong. And what the county is saying was that the printers were not printing dark enough, which is quite odd since they say that this is the same settings that they've had it on for the primary in August and also the primary and general election back in So you know, it's really concerning that the county, you know, what happened. Besides this, the long lines to the long lines are what really doesn't franchise so many people. I mean, the lines were taking some of them are

up to three or four hours long. People were leaving the lines. At the Republican National Committee and Carry Lake and Blake Masters, you know, we all wanted to extend to voting hours because of these issues, and at the time, the judge rejected it. So the polls closed at seven PM. And I only highlight that because in my race for Attorney General, I mean, we are down five hundred and ten votes, and as you can imagine, I mean there's

a hundred and twenty voting centers Americopa County. If you can imagine it for three hours, you know, just grabbing another five voters, you know, it would be pretty impactful because on election day here in Arizona, the Republicans we're winning seventy five percent to I mean, that's how much

of a stark difference it was. So that's why you know, we filed our lawsuit earlier this week with Republican National Committee because ultimately we want every voters, uh there, they're votes to actually be counted, and we want justice for what happened on election day we all know is a botched election. Well, and what's important to point out is

this isn't just a disenfranchisement of voters. It's a disenfranchisement of Republican voters, because as we know from this election in the past couple of actions, it's Republicans who are turning out on election day at much more significant rates than Democrats. Yeah, exactly, and that's you know, across the state, we are winning election day voters in every single county, right and even Blue County. So and here America seventy five percent. I mean, can you imagine seventy That definitely

had changed and altered the outcome of this election. But you know, ultimately we need to find out what went wrong. And I think the Hubrists of America, the county is what's so shocking is that, you know, the smugness, they don't want to admit fault, and you know, they're telling

people to put these ballots in the door three. I don't know if you've heard about that, but the door three situation, so that they would be tabulated later on and then at the voting centers they were mixing in the door three ballots that are uncounted with other ballots that were counted. It was just a complete mess. So you know, right now, the certifications are going on across

the state. UM here in the in the county needs and one county just today in Coaches County, they just voted to delay certification, which is quite interesting because that's never happened as far as I can tell in Arizona history because statutorially, they're mandated to UH to certify the election twenty days after UM the election day, which would be today. So it's it's really interesting, but it's really Americopa County's incompetence has thrown Arizona into a laughing stock

across the country. And what our lawsuit is saying is that Arizona shouldn't have to suffer due to the incompetence of Americapa County. And you're exactly right. It was Republican voters who are disenfranchised, and imagine if this was the other way around. And this is this has actually happened before. In sixteen, there were long lines because they switched this voting center model away from precincts voting. And what happened then with a phoenix mayor at the time now Congressman

Greg Stanton, Liberal Democrat. He actually called for a Department of Justice investigation into disenfranchise. So, you know, it's really interesting how the media is carrying the latter for Americopa County when you know, these the so called guardians of democracy, they're the ones who should be asking these questions. Why did the machines go down, what were the contingencies, and why was there a failure in how to we prefend this from happening again? Well, and the Attorney General's office

is asking these questions. Jennifer Wright, the Assistant Attorney General, wrote a letter to Thomas Liddy, the Civil Division Chief, and the Maricope Counties Attorney's Office raising a lot of concerns about the door three ballots which you mentioned, as well as the printer configuration settings. Questions about that as well as election day checkout procedures that took place as well. Do you know what the update is on the Attorney

General's investigation and the questions that they opposed to Maricopa County. Well, the county just released a statement answering some of the

questions yesterday. And it's really interesting because you know, our lawsuit that we filed with the Republican National Committee, it actually alleges many of these issues where the out procedure, So once you're going into go voting, to go vote at voting center, you have to check in right, and that basically says that, Okay, this person voted UM at the time, the county has told them that they could go to a different location if they didn't want to

put their ballot in the box three. So a lot of people were leaving the voting centers without having checked out because nobody knew first of all, how to check people out. It was, you know, pretty complicated. So you know, the county seems to have wanted to they answered this question to the A G. S Office. But it's really odd because at our lawsuit that we filed last week, you know, we were we were in communication with the county and they never told us what the number was.

But conveniently yesterday told us it was a hundred and twenty two that they that they found who left the voting center without checking out, and they counted a hundred and nine of them, you know, which, uh, you know, it would be nice to have that information prior to us filing the lawsuit, like we were asking them constantly, and we actually learned about that from a newspaper article that that they were talking to the media, not to

the attorneys, but you know, the AG's office. I'm glad they're stepping in right now to to get some of these questions answered. But you know, when you have a rogue county like Americopa County who doesn't want to admit faults, what they're doing is kicking the can down the road and trying to hope this goes away in time for the inauguration. But you know, my race, since it's so close, my race is the closest statewide race in Arizona history. That's a margin of point zero two percent of votes

out of two point five million. UM. We are going to be going into an automatic recount probably next week, and it's gonna take weeks for that too, for that

to settle as well. But what we're trying to do is, I mean, we all understand that our voters were showing up at the voting polls on election day, they didn't extend the hours, and they had all of these issues, and suddenly what we just saw was just a total disenfranchisement of Republican voters particularly, But I hope the AGS office gets the bottom of it, but I'm not confident that the county to answer these questions quick break more

on this crazy election in Arizona. And to your point, I'm looking at the response from Maricopa County now and Thomas Lidy, the division chief for the Civil Services Division a Meercoba County, is saying that no voter was disenfranchised because of the difficulty the county experience with some of

its printers. But how can you make such a declarative statement when we know that there were so many issues with the printers, and then also there might have been comigling of these ballots, of the door three ballots, So how how how is it possible to to make such a declarative statement such as that it's because they're hoping to sweep this under the road, Lisa, But I mean

you're right. I mean what we witnessed and what we have people saying is that there are a lot of busses from retirement homes that we're going to the voting locations, and a lot of them left without voting because they couldn't stand in line for two hours, you know, or three hours. So and there's this They had no timeline and when they were gonna get these ballot machines to be working in operational again, that's what's concerning. For him to make that type of statement without the facts right

now is pretty shocking, right. I mean, even in our loss, it was pretty measured and what we were alleging. But you know this, this is the uh, the Hubrists of the county and and I hope that justice is ultimately

done with what happened. But I mean to to suggest that when you have sixty or seventy voting locations out of a hundred and twenty have malfunctions for hours before I was actually remedied, you know, clearly there were people who left the lines, who didn't vote because I mean, people have other things to do, and uh it is they have lives to live. So it is a little shocking that they're suggesting this and it has determined the outcome.

I mean, five ten votes, this is absolutely this is a statistical dead heat, right and uh we know that this was you know, clearly affecting Republicans because sevent in meercoa County voted for Republicans on election. I try to be careful in questioning elections because I believe, you know, working in the media, responsibility to get my facts straight into not you know, unnecessarily cast out on things. But I mean there are questions we asked when you know

there's reports in town. I believe human events rather that Arizona's Merica County Recorder Stephen Richer wrych Er whatever his name is, and Supervisor Chairman Bill Gates that they had started a political action committee to stop Maga County candidates in two thousand twenty one. Uh, and the whole goal was to uh support Republicans running for non federal offices who acknowledged the validity of the election and condemned the

events of January six. So, I mean, you know, these are some of the people in charge of Merico County and ensuring that, you know, there's integrity in the process. Yet they've already declared an animus against candidates, uh, you know, like you who support Trump. So it's hard to have

confidence in that. Yeah, And I think if you look at what happened, I mean, those two that you mentioned or they are Republicans basically a name only at this point, if they had spent their efforts in their time to actually take you know, issues and take election integrity issues seriously, we may not have had the problems we just witnessed

in Americo, PA County. But instead what they were doing was starting a political action committee and trying to promote their agenda and try to undermine people like myself, Carry Lake and Blake masters Um. So that that's what's so appalling about this because and honestly, so this is backfired. I mean, even people who are not skeptical of the election now have become you know, skeptics of this election.

So I think this is ultimately back started in a big way against these two because I'm telling you, this is gonna be the top issue of voters mind, at least in Arizona going forward. I mean, I just I can't fathom how the incompetence that was displayed on election day and the smugness and the unwillingness to take responsibility for what occurred, especially given that we know how high the stakes are and all the rhetoric you know, going around this and a lot of the conspiracies, but a

lot of now has come to fruition. So It's really made a lot of people who are not conspiracy theorists into now being questioning the the elections. So it is totally backfired on Bill Gates and Stephen Richard. But you know, this is totally their own doing. And can you imagine the people in charge of the elections creating a superpack, you know, the ones were in charge of tabulating the votes creating a superpack to undermine specific candidates who will

be on that ballot. It it is shocking and it shows a clear, you know, display of you know that that have no integrity. It is really it's really surprising. But you know, here in America, the county are elections have become a laughing stock all across the country, and you know, it's something that we absolutely need to fix. And you know, we thought we were on the right track, but you know, now look at the consequences of what's happened. The Democrats have taken over are taking over every single

statewide office. This is gonna be so detrimental and it's due to the incompetence of America accounting well, you know. And then of course it raises questions because Katie Hobbs is the secretary of stage. You know, it looks like she might end up being the governor of this state now,

but she was the Democrat candidate in the race. So that raises concerns as well that you just have all these individuals in charge of elections that already have a preconceived animus against the political opponents running in the race

just obviously cast out. And then to your point earlier, I think it would make things a lot more believable and more trustworthy if the individuals in charge acknowledged their errors and acknowledged what seems to be the basic truth that there were voters who are disenfranchised just by you know, common sense and logic. So I think the outright denial of that, obviously, you know, raises additional suspicions and questions.

People aren't stupid, right, And you know today, actually we're going to be our case that we filed last week on Tuesday. Today is the first hearing in a few hours, so you know, we're gonna see the Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and my opponents they're seeking emotions dismissed that case. But I mean, there are a lot of issues that need to be answered, and that's why you know, we

feel so strongly about our about our case. I mean votes right now, how many ballots have they not counted at the county Because of these issues and these errors, we don't know, you know, I no longer trust what the county is saying. So this is why the lawsuit is necessary for us to go in have discovery and to litigate some of these issues. I mean, this has ability to have ramifications for the next four years. Right with this election, and with this being the closest race

in statewide history. Of course we're going to file the lawsuit and fight it. And uh, you know it is, you know, to question election. It's really it's really surprising because Democrats were the you know, they were the best at it for a while. Now. I mean, if you remember Outgore in two thousand, remember Stacy Abraham's refusing to concede.

So this is where when we have actionable reports that suggests that the machines failed, they were not operational, and you have people disenfranchised because they were waiting for hours and unsure if they wanted to drop off this ballot into a a box three that they didn't know where it would go to. Ultimately, you know, it's it's really sadly so, because I'm really worried about Republicans not showing up to vote anymore because they no longer have trust

in the system. Because the same people who vote on election day already suspicious of you know, early voting and mail and voting, and they already suspicious of the voting process in general. So now if the courts don't take these issues seriously, it's going to destroy whatever faith that they had left in our elections. And that's what's so status see, and that's why I'm fighting this all the way to the end to be able to restore confidence in our elections, to get justice, and to see what

happened in November eight. Well, I'm glad you are. You know, before we go, I wanted to ask you about that conundrum that Republicans are facing because you know, again, you know, the only election really questioned as Republicans initially was which

was unprecedented with mail and ballots. So I think it's completely a fair to question something that's new people were totally unprepared for, and you know, you have issues like signature matching and things of that nature, Whereas to your point, Democrats have question pretty much every election that Republicans have win,

regardless of the y behind it. But you know, I want to ask you about that conundrum that we're in because it's almost like the game has changed since COVID and Democrats have been able to win I think in the mid terms because they've weaponized mail about it, mail and balloting and early voting. I mean, the Republicans in some respect have to play that game in order to win and to hopefully change it. Absolutely, that's ultimately we

have to do. And if you look at Florida, I mean, the Florida results are beautiful, right, I mean here Ron de Santi governor to Santes barely won against Andrew Gilli. I mean that was very close race too, and now he defeated Charlie chris By. But isn't it also convenient that the voting system was improved and Florida in that time period. And uh so that's what that's ultimately what what we have to do is you know, actually get

into office and take power. And if you look at Arizona and you look how close these margins are five ten votes for me and carries down about sixteen thousand votes. But you know, the Democrats. They've they've understood that it's not about getting voters, it's about getting ballots. And here in Arizona, I don't know, um if I don't think it was widely reported, but the Arizona State University voting precinct was going in favor of the Democrats seven percent.

It was like nine thousand plus of votes went to the Democrats and only a few hundred went for the Republicans. And that's something that we have to take a look at too. How many college kids are voting in multiple states right by these mail and ballots that that the Democrats rely on to win. So now this is why it was this election is so critical, and this is why we're fighting because we know what the left wants.

They want to give felons their voting rights right, and they felons are have they have been known to have been voting in elections even though they're not allowed to in those are illegal ballots. So this you're exactly right.

We have to fight fire with fire. We have to play the game and the sandbox that they've created until we take back power, just like what Ronda Santis was able to effectively do back in and now We've seen how Florida has become a purple state into bright red and that's ultimately what we're hoping for Arizona to become. But you know it, it is really it's really scary what we've witnessed over the past few weeks and the incompetence and the smugness of Americopa County, Lisa, and uh,

you know, I'm not gonna put up with it. I'm fighting this in court. I'm glad the Republican National Committee is with us, and uh, you know, our recount is still going to start next week. But you know that it is unimaginable, and I I feel for so many Arizona's right now who no longer have faith in our in our elections. And you know that is something that we're all going to work on to make sure it happens.

Because if you look at all the polling, I mean, Carrie Lake was up in the polls by and to have this become totally inverted is just it's shocking, and it's it's it's almost unbelievable, especially given the botched election that we witnessed here in America County. Yeah, I've I've got a ton of questions. And you know, as a Florida and I can say governor of Santa's also has just done a hell of a job. But to your point, that did make a bunch of integrity changes to the elections,

which is vital and really important. I've got questions about what happened to Carry Lake as well. Um, I you know, I wish she was governor. I hope she still could be. She she would be amazing. But Abe, I appreciate you're keeping up the fight. You have every right to keep fighting this out. Five hundred ballots is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, and in the way that you know, they could have just done you dirty. So I'm glad you're fighting this and you know, keep

us updated and thank you for taking the time. Appreciate it. Yeah, those ay of him a day running for attorney general. And Arizona still you know we're going into a recount. You know, who knows what's going to happen, but crazy what's been going on in Arizona. I hope you enjoyed the episode. Thanks so much for listening. I hope you

leave us a review on Apple Podcast. I want to thank John Cassio for putting this together every Monday and Thursday, but you can listen throughout the week until next time.