By
Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services- Apr 25, 2022
Updated
Jun 3, 2022
Mark Finchem and Kari Lake confer earlier this year on the House floor. Howard Fischer/Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX — Two Republicans seeking
statewide office are asking a federal judge to block the use of machines
to tabulate the votes in Arizona in the 2022 election.
[Update 7/18/22 The court will hear this case on July 21,2022 at 9:00 AM. The hearing is scheduled to last 5 hours with two hours for plaintiffs to present their case and three hours for the defense's refutation. It will be covered live on frankspeech.com as breaking news through periodic interruptions to existing programs] - ED]
Gubernatorial
hopeful Kari Lake and Mark Finchem, running for secretary of state,
contend that the machines are unreliable because they are subject to
hacking. And they say that the use of components in computers from other
countries makes them vulnerable.
But attorney Andrew Parker who filed the lawsuit on their behalf said there is something even more basic.
He
said that the tabulation of votes is an inherently governmental
function. Yet by using machines built and programmed by private
companies the state has effectively farmed that out.
And what’s worse, Parker said in his filings, is that the technology is kept secret from the public.
“This
lack of transparency by electronic voting machine companies has created
a ‘black box’ system of voting which lacks credibility and integrity,’’
he wrote in a copy of the lawsuit furnished to Capitol Media Services.
What
he wants is a court order to have the 2022 election conducted with
paper ballots which would be counted by hand, calling it “the most
effective and presently the only secure election method.’’
Neither Lake nor Finchem would agree to be interviewed on the lawsuit.
But
Lake, in a Facebook interview with Trump supporter Mike Lindell, said
the litigation is the result of what she believes was a stolen 2020
election.
“We know how tragic
it was that this election (was) corrupted the way it was here in
Arizona,’’ she said. “And we don’t want it to happen again.’’
The
lawsuit also cites what Parker said were “irregularities and evidence
of illegal vote manipulations’’ in voting systems used in the 2020
election. While most of the incidents were from elsewhere, the list
includes claims from the Cyber Ninjas “audit’’ of Maricopa County’s
election process about things like software and patch protocols not
being followed and missing files.
But Parker
also said the lawsuit is not an attempt to undo the 2020 presidential
results in Arizona which gave Joe Biden the state’s 11 electoral votes.
“It
is only about the future — about upcoming elections that will employ
voting machines designed and run by private companies, performing a
crucial governmental function, that refuse to disclose their software
and system components and subject them to neutral expert evaluation,’’
he wrote. “It raises the profound constitutional issue: Can government
avoid its obligation of democratic transparency and accountability by
delegating a critical government function to private companies?’’
At
the heart of the complaint are the contentions by some, particularly
among those like Lake and Finchem who still deny the results of the 2020
election, that it was stolen. While some of the issues involve unproven
allegations that forged ballots were inserted into the system, there
has been a consistent litany of complaints that the hardware and
software used to tally ballots was hacked or, worse, was programmed to
produce a win for Biden.
“The
parallels between the statistical analysis of Venezuela and this year’s
election are astonishing,’’ wrote Cyber Ninjas owner Doug
Logan even before being hired by Senate President Karen Fann to review
the results. That refers to claims that there was a link between
Dominion Voting System and the family of now-deceased dictator Hugo
Chavez.
“I’m ashamed how few Republicans are talking about it,’’ Logan said.
Parker
makes no such claims. Instead he wants a judge to prohibit the use of
electronic voting machines in Arizona “unless and until the electronic
voting system is made open to the public and subjected to scientific
analysis by objective experts to determine whether it is secure from
manipulation or intrusion.’’
Arizona does have various systems designed to check equipment.
For
example, counties are required to conduct “logic and accuracy’’ tests,
both before and after the official tally. That process, done in public,
involves taking a known set of ballots and running them through the
tallying equipment to ensure that the results reported by the machines
matches what actually has been marked.
Parker
contends those tests don’t prove anything to deal with what he said are
“security problems inherent in the use of electronic voting machines.’’
“All post-election audit procedures can be defeated by sophisticated manipulation of electronic voting machines,’’ he claims.
He
specifically cited the refusal of Dominion to surrender its passwords
to Cyber Ninjas for examination, with Dominion attorneys saying granting
such access to the workings of its equipment violated the company’s
protections against illegal search and seizure.
But
what Parker does not mention is that there was an agreement between the
Senate and the county that allowed three independent experts, including
one recommended by the Senate, to examine the equipment. They reported
that the system was not connected to the internet and that there was no
evidence of data deletion, data purging, data overwriting or other
destruction of evidence.
In seeking a court order, Parker wants more than just the use of paper ballots in 2022.
He
also wants each ballot to have a unique identification number known
only to the voter so each can tell if his or her ballot was counted
properly. And Parker said each ballot would be printed on specialized
paper that cannot be counterfeited.
The
Republican-controlled legislature actually mandated the use of
“anti-fraud ballot paper’’ in 2021. But it was voided by the Arizona
Supreme Court which ruled that the provision was placed illegally into
unrelated budget legislation.
A similar measure was introduced this year but has not been approved.
While
the issue of voting machines has largely been a Republican talking
point, the lawsuit does have at least one indication of bipartisanship:
attorney Alan Dershowitz is part of the legal team.
“You have to understand I’m a liberal Democrat,’’ he said during the Lindell Facebook interview.
“I’m
happy with the results of the election,’’ Dershowitz said. “This is
about whether or not votes are being properly counted.’’