Amateur hour....as outlined by the AZ Secretary of State: (noting the AZ Governor, Attorney General have remained silent to date):
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) on Wednesday sent a letter outlining a string of problems that she said observers from her office have witnessed at a Republican-led recount of the 2020 presidential election results in Arizona’s largest county.
In the six-page letter, Hobbs wrote that elections are “governed by a complex framework of laws and procedures designed to ensure accuracy, security, and transparency” but that the procedures governing the ongoing recount in Phoenix “ensure none of those things.”
Concerns based on disclosed procedures
1. The procedures are vague and insufficient to ensure accuracy and consistency
2. The counting process incorporated the use of untested, uncertified systems
3. The counting process departs from best practices for accurate hand tallying of ballots
4. The procedures do not detail a clear process for aggregation
5. The procedures fail to adequately protect and document chain of custody of ballots
6. The “forensic audit” of ballots lacks any credibility or basis in actual election operations
7. There were no procedures for hiring qualified, unbiased counters
Concerns based on observation
1. There is inadequate physical security of ballots
2. There was no livestreaming or observer access to the forensic processing of Maricopa County’s
election equipment.
3. Computers at “forensic analysis” tables were left on and unattended
4. There is risk of commingling counted and uncounted ballots in a batch, leading to some ballots being double-counted and others not being counted at all
5. The constantly changing rules cause confusion and counting errors, and undermine the reliability of the results
6. Frequent violations of the limited procedures that do exist, and a disregard for best practices or basic security
Mr. Bennett, as a former Secretary of State, you know that our elections are governed by a complex framework of laws and procedures designed to ensure accuracy, security, and transparency. You also must therefore know that the procedures governing this audit ensure none of those things. I’m not sure what compelled you to oversee this audit, but I’d like to assume you took this role with the best of intentions. It is those intentions I appeal to now: either do it right, or don’t do it at all.
Sincerely, Katie Hobbs Arizona Secretary of State
Read details in the letter:
https://context-cdn.washingtonpost..../0e40bd63-9f64-4c84-b60b-f6f13d6c0dc6.#page=1