Arizona is getting a large amount of national publicity resulting from the 2022 midterm elections, and it is not for the better. Like was pointed out before, Florida’s population is much larger than Arizona’s and the Sunshine State had nearly all of their ballots tabulated and political contests pronounced at midnight on Election Day. So with this in mind, taking into account how the Copper State counts votes, the way Maricopa County officials acted in 2020 toward the forensic audit and the Arizona Senate’s meetings it is no surprise that accusations of vote fraud or questions about vote tabulation occur. From 12News:

Almost all of Arizona’s vote happens by mail, although some voters cast their ballots in-person at voting centers. Most Arizona counties don’t count ballots in-house, with officials instead bringing them to a central facility.

Early votes in Arizona can be counted as they come in, meaning that officials don’t have to wait until polls close on Election Day to start.

Arizona officials release their vote totals in batches. Much of the focus has been on Maricopa, the state’s largest county, with a total of 4.5 million residents — more than half of Arizona’s total population — and about 2.4 million registered voters

Kari Lake said that vote totals in Arizona were calculated faster before Maricopa County implemented their centralized process and, despite clams to the contrary, she has a point. With the multiple problems uncovered in 2020 and seen today including previous reports about mail in ballot manipulation, it should have be abundantly apparent to Maricopa County supervisors that things need to change and potential issues should have been anticipated if they hadn’t already.

It took a State Senate investigation two years ago to finally push the county to fix the some of the problems Maricopa County supervisors would not initially admit. Even before the 2020 election, then County Recorder Adrian Fontes’ not only made decisions contrary to state law and county election procedures but almost from the beginning set his office on a path to rig the county’s election system that obviously contributed to present-day delays.

It should be noted that in his role as Maricopa County Recorder, Adrian Fontes is accused of conducting himself in a questionable manner that demonstrates what to look forward to in his new role as AZ Secretary of State as well. For example, at one point a judge blocked him from mailing ballots to county voters during the COVID-19 pandemic and Fontes was accused of destroying evidence to cover-up voting irregularities for the 2020 election. Fontes’ record as a defense attorney representing some really bad plaintiffs, such as narco-terrorists and gun straw purchasers is very concerning to say the least. This along with his support of Bernie Sanders in 2016 indicates a pattern of Fontes preferring chaos over order.

Accusations are not proof of wrong doing but can indicate a pattern of misconduct. With all of the above in mind, AZ Secretary of State Katie Hobbs refusing to recuse herself from overseeing state elections while a candidate for governor, Maricopa County supervisor chairman Bill Gates dismissing Florida’s success in getting quick election results, the media playing favorites berating candidates championing election integrity efforts as election deniers despite Democrats previously doing so, concerns about vote fraud and election manipulation in Arizona and elsewhere are not only warranted but also necessary.

Image by Mary Pahlke from Pixabay