by Corinne Murdock | Nov 8, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Maricopa County’s vote tabulators were intermittently malfunctioning on Election Day, prompting voter concern that ballots won’t be counted properly or at all.
The problem lasted well into the afternoon, around 8 hours, until the county said it believed it had found the cause of these mass failure: faulty printer settings. The county said it did test-run the machines ahead of the election. They assured voters that they would send technicians to the vote centers to fix the printer settings.
As of noon on Election Day, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates reported to KTAR that 60 vote centers were hit with tabulator and printer problems out of the 223 centers across the county. Each vote center has two tabulators.
The elections department advised voters to cast their ballots into a slot on the machine below the tabulator, where it would be stored until it could be counted manually at a later time.
We collected some testimonies of voters who say they experienced these malfunctioning tabulators. This is not an all-inclusive list, and results are quickly changing:
Anthem:
7:30 am – long lines caused by tabulators malfunctioning.
8 am – Anthem Outlets tabulators malfunctioning.
Cave Creek:
7:30 am – Cave Creek Town Hall tabulators were reportedly rejecting ballots.
8:30 am – Black Mountain Baptist Church and Cave Creek Town Hall locations were turning away voters.
9 am – Laestadian Lutheran Church reported that they had no equipment issues.
9:30 am – Poll workers informed voters that the tabulator issue had to do with how ballots are printed, and that only 1 in 5 ballots were accepted earlier in the day.
Gilbert:
8 am – Valor Christian Center voter said one machine wouldn’t accept ballots.
9:30 am – Trilogy Power Ranch experienced no problems.
Goodyear:
8 am – Compass Church voter reported that her location had printing issues, prompting her to leave without her ballot scanned.
Mesa:
9 am – Love of Christ Lutheran Church voter and Turning Point Action activist reported that only 1 in 15 ballots were read by the tabulators. One woman reportedly waited two hours until her ballot was read properly, while the husband had to spoil his ballot after seven failed attempts.
10:15 am – Mesa Court House reported no issues, per our sources.
Peoria
2 pm – Journey Church voters reported their machines down.
2 pm – Arrowhead Country Club voters reported their machines down.
Phoenix
6 am – Burton Barr Library became a ballot drop off site due to tabulation machine issues. An hour later, their check-in stations became operational.
Scottsdale
9:30 am – Unspecified location, voter had to run ballot through tabulator five times before it was read.
10:40 am – North Scottsdale United Methodist Church machines down, some left without votes counted while there.
Surprise
8 am – Asante Library voter reported their machines rejecting 90 percent of ballots.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer reported at 7:30 am Tuesday morning that over 23,000 people voted in person.
Voters casting ballots at polling places experiencing tabulator issues have three options: stay to wait out the tabulators, drop their ballot in the tabulator slot for manual processing, or go to a nearby vote center.
Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs reassured voters that ballots deposited in drop boxes would be tabulated manually.
At around 2 pm, Richer issued an apology for the mass failure of tabulator machines.
Ahead of Election Day, the Department of Justice (DOJ) deployed its Civil Rights Division forces to monitor polling places in Maricopa, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, and Yavapai counties on Tuesday to ensure no voting rights were violated.
Arizona wasn’t the only state to experience issues with voting machines. Voters in Texas, such as Bell County, reported that the machines wouldn’t allow people to vote at all.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Nov 8, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs said she would remove the shipping containers closing up the border wall gaps if elected. Governor Doug Ducey closed the border gaps using shipping containers topped with razor wire in August; he refused the Biden administration’s demand last month that he remove them.
In an interview with KYMA, Hobbs called Ducey’s shipping containers nothing more than a “political stunt.” She insinuated that Ducey’s motive wasn’t so much to secure the border wall as to instigate a legal fight with the Biden administration. Hobbs indicated that the Biden administration had the border situation under control.
“We need to work with the federal government to implement solutions that are right for Arizonans,” said Hobbs.
The shipping containers took 11 days and about $6 million to install. For well over a year in office, the Biden administration refused to add to the border wall. They spent an estimated $3 million every day to not complete the border wall under contracts set by former President Donald Trump, or around $2 billion in total.
Yet, Hobbs claimed in an NBC interview a little over a week ago that Arizonans were “tired of inaction at the border.” Hobbs implied that she would largely pass the border crisis buck onto the federal government.
“[T]his is largely a federal issue,” said Hobbs.
Unlike Hobbs, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake told KYMA that she would ignore the Biden administration’s request to remove the shipping containers.
Lake’s campaign later remarked that Hobbs wanted no border wall at all.
Hobbs’ endorsements from law enforcement included a prominent sheriff who denied the existence of the border crisis. Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway rejected Arizona National Guard assistance for his people last April. Hobbs said that Hathaway’s support as a border sheriff reflected her border policy.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Nov 8, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake challenged Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs to push back on a mainstream media warning of election hacking.
On Monday, the day before Election Day, Politico issued an article warning that hackers impose “real risks” to election equipment such as voting machines. They prefaced their warning with the disclosure that claims of voting machine hacks from the 2020 presidential election were invalid.
The Politico article stated that there were six potential threats to elections, five of which were related to cybersecurity: misinformation/disinformation, election office and campaign website crashers, campaign social media hijackers, voter registration database hackers, voter harassers, and wireless modem hackers.
Only that last potential threat, the wireless modem hackers, could compromise election results by tampering with unofficial vote data, voting machine processing, or computer tallying. Politico assured readers that this type of cyberattack would be less likely to occur because it’s more difficult and time-consuming. Discovery of this type of cyberattack would only occur through paper ballot analysis and post-election audits.
Tensions over Hobbs’ role overseeing the election as secretary of state in a highly contested race have grown over the last few weeks. Last Tuesday, Lake hired one of former President Donald Trump’s lawyers from the 2020 election lawsuits.
As TIME reported, two former secretaries of state advised that Hobbs should grant election oversight to other officials. However, Hobbs’ office told TIME that she wouldn’t do so.
Richard Mahoney, a Democrat, suggested that Attorney General Mark Brnovich or Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer assist Hobbs.
“I think it would be wise if the secretary of state seconded responsibility for ministerial oversight to either the attorney general or the Maricopa County recorder,” said Mahoney.
Ken Bennett, a Republican, suggested others within her office assume control.
“She should recuse herself from the official acts that she would normally perform as secretary and let a deputy secretary or somebody else take care of those,” said Bennett.
The latest polling favors Lake over Hobbs. According to FiveThirtyEight’s summary, Lake leads Hobbs by over two points.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Terri Jo Neff | Nov 7, 2022 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
Just weeks after its founder was convicted of federal fraud charges, Phoenix-based Nikola Corp. (NKLA) announced Third Quarter 2022 financial results showing higher than expected revenues and a narrower than expected quarterly loss.
On Thursday, Nikola Corp. reported revenues of $24.2 million, GAAP net loss per share of $0.54, and non-GAAP net loss per share of $0.28. The company also revealed it produced 75 heavy-duty Nikola Tre battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) at its plant in Coolidge, outpacing the 50 BEVs which came off the assembly line last quarter.
Nikola also announced pilot testing of its Tre BEVs is underway with Walmart and SAIA, and that 63 of its trucks have been delivered to dealers.
“During the third quarter we continued to produce and deliver Nikola Tre BEVs to dealers and customers,” said new Nikola President, Michael Lohscheller. “We also made significant advancements in developing our energy business, announcing our intent to develop access of up to 300 metric-tons per day of hydrogen and up to 60 stations by 2026, and our collaboration with E.ON in Europe.”
Founded in late 2014 by Trevor Milton, Nikola seeks to transform the transportation industry by designing and manufacturing zero-emission BEVs and hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). The company is also a leader in EV drivetrains, vehicle components, energy storage systems, and hydrogen station infrastructure.
As AZ Free News previously reported, Milton was stripped of any role in the company in 2020 following an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into allegations Milton repeatedly lied to investors, prospective investors, and the public about Nikola’s research and development progress as well as sales contracts in an effort to increase the company’s share price.
Then-CEO Mark Russell sought to move Nikola forward from the scandal, agreeing the company would pay a $125 million civil penalty to the SEC. Russell retired this summer, putting Nikola in the hands of Lohscheller, who previously served as CFO for several top automakers, including Mitsubishi Motors, Volkswagen Group USA, and German-based Opel/Vauxhall. Lohscheller was promoted in 2017 as CEO of Opel, where he helped plan the company’s move toward being an electric-only brand by the end of this decade.
Meanwhile, company officials fully cooperated with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York which took Milton to trial Sept. 12 on four fraud charges. The nearly month-long trial ended with the jury deliberating for less than seven hours before convicting Milton of two counts of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud.
A not-guilty verdict was handed down on another count of securities fraud.
Milton, who avoided pretrial detention by posting a $100 million bond, was granted permission by a federal judge to remain out of custody his until Jan. 27, 2023, sentencing. He is facing up to 20 years in prison, with prosecutors calling for a “significant” prison term in light of numerous warnings to Milton about his misrepresentations.
Nikola has recently announced several highpoints, including:
- Acquiring land in Buckeye for the construction of a hydrogen production hub with project partners. The company is working through zoning and permitting processes and has already ordered some long lead-time equipment;
- A multi-year purchase order for 100 Tre BEVs by Zeem Solutions, which specializes in fleet truck leasing;
- A stock-only purchase of California-based Romeo Power, which is expected to result in a large savings for Nikola on battery-pack costs;
- An intent to develop access of up to 300 metric-tons per day of hydrogen and up to 60 dispensing stations by 2026. The company sees potential benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act.
by Terri Jo Neff | Nov 7, 2022 | Economy, News
By Terri Jo Neff |
The struggle to fill job openings continues for mom-and-pop enterprises and other small businesses across the country, according to a report issued Thursday by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
“The labor shortage remains a challenging problem for small business owners,” NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said of the group’s Jobs Report for October. “Because of staffing shortages, small business owners are less able to take full advantage of current sales opportunities and continue to make business adjustments to compensate,”
The Jobs Report is a monthly, national snapshot of the small-business-owning membership of NFIB in 9 industries — agriculture, construction, finance, manufacturing, professional, retail, services, transportation, and wholesale.
The October 2022 report released Nov. 3 shows that:
- 23 percent of owners report labor quality as their top business problem, second only to inflation;
- 61 percent of owners reported hiring—or trying to hire—in October;
- Of those hiring or trying to hire, 90 percent of owners reported few or no qualified applicants for the open positions;
- 40 percent of owners have openings for skilled workers while 22 percent are seeking unskilled labor;
- Transportation (68 percent) and Construction (63 percent) had the most difficulty in October filling job openings.
There are several programs available to Arizona small businesses to assist with hiring issues. One is the Arizona Small Business Development Center Network funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration. There are 10 SBDC Centers in Arizona served through the local community college districts.
Another is Arizona@Work sponsored by the Arizona Commerce Authority and Arizona Department of Economic Security.
by Terri Jo Neff | Nov 6, 2022 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
AZ Free News has confirmed at least two of Arizona’s 15 county recorders did not put forth an “aye” vote when deciding whether to oppose Proposition 309, despite public assertions by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer of a unanimous vote.
Prop 309 would tighten the identification requirements for in-person and early ballot voting. On Sept. 29, the Arizona Association of County Recorders (AACR) conducted a “aye or nay” voice vote on issuing a statement in opposition of what is often referred to as universal voter ID.
Many boards and associations make decisions and take positions on a majority-rule basis, but those votes are not publicized as representing the position of each individual member. There was no role call nor record kept of how any of the county recorders voted, yet Richer, who is AACR’s President, listed the names of all 15 recorders on the anti-Prop 309 statement.
As previously reported by AZ Free News, Cochise County Recorder David Stevens took issue with that, as he was out of the country at the time and had not given his chief deputy recorder authority to vote his proxy. In fact, Stevens is pro-Prop 309.
Public records obtained by AZ Free News also show at least one other recorder reported not expressing any vote on the AACR position but opted to not go public, given that the majority of members did vote “aye.”
AACR met on Sept. 29 and took the voice vote about Prop 309 despite nothing on the agenda indicating a vote would be taken. Then on Oct. 4, Richer used his Maricopa County email account to distribute a draft version of the AACR statement to a handful of members for review.
He also used the Maricopa County website and a staffer’s time on the AACR’s anti-Prop 309 letter.
Richer has acknowledged this was an improper use of public resources to influence a ballot measure, and has expressed hope his mea culpa is sufficient to stave off criminal charges in light of a complaint filed with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office (AGO).
The AGO has the authority to expand the investigation from Richer’s use of public resources into whether his refusal to correct the record about the AACR vote falls under Arizona’s criminal statutes related to a fraudulent scheme or artifice.
Other public records show the draft version of the anti-Prop 309 statement Richer sent, however, did not include the names of all the county recorders. That feature was added at the suggestion of Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cazares-Kelly.
Richer released a revised draft statement about Prop 309 to the full AACR membership on Oct. 10. The next day, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs received an email from Richer with an advance copy of the statement about 90 minutes before it was released to the public.
Stevens, who did not see the draft, immediately emailed Richer and the other recorders upon learning of the statement’s content. He made clear his position on Prop 309 (he supports it) as well as on the use of his name.
The email also requested Richer “remove my name from this list and issue a retraction immediately.” Richer ignored that request as well as subsequent requests by Stevens.
For now, Stevens is waiting for the outcome of the AGO investigation. There is also a possibility of civil liability under Arizona law for the use of Stevens’ name without his consent.
