by Matthew Holloway | Feb 28, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
A series of posts to X on Tuesday sparked a firestorm of controversy when Merissa Hamilton of Strong Communities Action-EZAZ.org made a bombshell allegation that Maricopa County Election officials were made well aware of the potential for printing and supply issues during the 2022 statewide elections. Hamilton alleged that county officials moved forward without addressing the issues, citing a series of emails detailing the Maricopa County GOP raising concerns to then-Recorder Stephen Richer and Maricopa County Board of Supervisors’ Election Manager Scott Jarrett.
The post gained national attention when it was shared by X owner and de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk.
In the initial post Hamilton wrote, “Remember in 2022 when the nearly 70% of voting centers in Maricopa County failed on Election Day causing massive, long lines and voter disenfranchisement resulting in @KariLake and @AbrahamHamadeh barely losing? Maricopa County knew in advance their Election Day plan was set up for failure, and THEY LET IT FAIL!”
Hamilton noted that the emails were obtained for Strong Communities Action by The Gavel Project and civil rights activist and Arizona election attorney Ryan Heath saying, “Without his legal muscle we wouldn’t have secured it!”
In the thread that followed, Hamilton released several emails from then-Chairwoman of the Maricopa County Republican Committee Mickie Niland to Richer and Jarrett saying, “I remember hearing from Scott (Jarrett) at some point after the primary that there was a problem during the primary with some tabulators not reading correctly due to low ink. How long does it take you to get paper or ink to them if they run out? Is there a process for the voting locations to report when they are half out of paper? How far are the restocking trucks from the voting centers? Are you using the length of the lines to help you determine when more supplies are brought to the centers?“ She also asked if there was any way she could help.
Jarrett responded, “We’ve been monitoring turnout and are prepared,” adding that there was plenty of ballot paper and normal paper to print control slips as well as “sufficient toner and printer drums.”
Hamilton explained, “Several days ahead of Election Day, the Maricopa County GOP leadership warned Maricopa County that their Election Day plan would fail and disenfranchise voters. The Maricopa County BOS Election Director Scott Jarrett insisted everything would be fine saying he was ‘confident.’”
Niland, representing the Maricopa County GOP, even followed up with an email warning, “Trust is low and voting in person is the topic everyone wants to discuss with us. To us if you are basing your decisions off of history, we think things are different now.” Niland added, “Please consider this email the official raising of that flag.”
According to an investigation of the 2022 Maricopa County Election, former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor found that “many of the Oki B432 printers were not capable of reliably printing 20-inch ballots on 100-pound paper under election-day conditions.”
McGregor added, “The combined effect of the heavy paper, longer ballot, and intermittent burst of print demand pushed the printers to perform at the very edge of or past their capability, so that any decrease in fuser performance in an individual printer could result in problems.”
Replying to the post by Musk, Hamilton thanked the X owner for “bringing attention to this vital matter!” She also raised allegations that Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas Galvin has blocked newly elected County Recorder Justin Heap from accessing “the IT staff and responsibilities assigned to him in AZ law to secure and run our elections!”
Later in the afternoon, Maricopa County published a post to X that outlined the October 2024 agreement, which demarcated the election responsibilities of the Board of Supervisors and the Recorder’s Office. Galvin shared the post as well.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jun 9, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The company behind the ballot printer model behind the mass voting machine failures last November, OKI, says that Maricopa County’s oversight is to blame, not their machines.
In a statement issued last month, OKI refuted Maricopa County’s findings in its April report commissioned by the county attorney’s office, which claimed that their printers weren’t capable of printing 20-inch ballots on 100-pound paper under Election Day conditions. OKI said that the manual accompanying the problematic printer clearly outlined how the two different printer trays handled two different paper weights. The multipurpose tray could support paper weights of up to 110 pounds; however, the paper cassettes could only support up to 80 pounds.
OKI also noted that the manual specified how a 100-pound cover was “well out of spec” for both the multipurpose tray and cassettes. OKI noted that any consultation with their company would’ve also made those facts clear to the county. However, the county didn’t consult with them; the attorney’s office didn’t reach out during their investigatory report either.
“Without clarification in the testing process that defines the exact paper type and the printing source (multipurpose tray or cassette), the conclusion is disingenuous given the fact that the use of 100 lb. paper can be out of specification for the B432 printers, as can be discerned readily from the printers’ manual,” stated OKI. “As a result, it seems that the true underlying cause of the election issues was the use of 100 lb. paper without reviewing the manual and/or confirming with OKI that such use was within the specifications of the OKI B432 printers. Had the County consulted OKI prior to such use, the design specifications would have been discussed and alternatives could have been explored.” (emphasis added)
OKI said that it is awaiting a corrected report from Maricopa County.
OKI also refuted two other major assertions made by the report: that the fuser inadequacy of the printers weren’t easily remedied because the fuser can’t be easily replaced, and that the company cannot offer parts and consumables for the printers because it withdrew from North American markets.
In a point-by-point rebuttal, OKI said that the printer fusers were easy to replace and could be done so on-site by technicians. They also clarified their legal obligation to support printers currently in the field with consumables and spare parts for a five-year minimum ending in 2028.
As AZ Free News reported last year, the printer model provided by OKI was one of two ballot-on-demand (BOD) printer types. The OKI model used by Maricopa County was retrofitted in 2020 to be a BOD printer for last year’s election.
The county increased the ballot size from 19 to 20 inches to accommodate for several candidates and propositions that weren’t finalized until late last August.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jan 11, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Maricopa County is investigating the mass failures of Election Day ballot-on-demand (BOD) printers resulting in issues for over 17,000 voters.
In a press release last Friday, the county shared a joint statement from Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates and Vice Chairman Clint Hickman. The duo shared that former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor would lead the investigation. The duo also appeared to mistakenly state that the BOD printers “read” the ballots.
“This Board of Supervisors has always been committed to continuous improvement. When things don’t work, we find out why,” stated the pair. “[We will] find out why printers that read ballots well in the August Primary had trouble reading some ballots while using the same settings in the November General. Our voters deserve nothing less.”
McGregor is tasked with hiring a team of outside experts to investigate why there were mass printer failures. McGregor previously investigated allegations of unethical conduct within Arizona State University’s economics department concerning, specifically a quid pro quo agreement between the university and an education and technology company. McGregor’s investigation quickly proved the allegations to be false.
McGregor also investigated Arizona Department of Corrections safety issues pertaining to malfunctioning cell doors and locks. The report resulted in improvements to the malfunctioning security measures.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who is challenging the midterm election results in an ongoing lawsuit, questioned why Gates and Hickman stated that the BOD printers “read” ballots.
During the county’s canvass of the election results, several poll workers testified that they witnessed election machine issues prior to Election Day. The county also disclosed that only certain BOD printers experienced failures during their preliminary investigative efforts: “Oki” model printers retrofitted to be BOD printers. According to the county at the time, 71 of 211 sites were impacted.
The timing of the county’s investigation aligns with its other actions to address voter concerns. A few hours before the state certified the election results, the county issued a survey asking voters how they felt about the midterm election.
The county also delayed its compliance with the Arizona Senate’s subpoena for election records for over a month. The legislator leading the charge to obtain the records, former State Sen. Kelly Townsend, did receive the records earlier this month.
Townsend hasn’t published the records on a public forum yet. She stated that she couldn’t post the documents on the State Senate website.
Governor Katie Hobbs announced the creation of an Elections Task Force over the weekend. The task force must issue a report by Nov. 1 with recommendations to improve Arizona’s election laws, after which point it will be terminated.
In her press release, Hobbs took aim at Ducey. She indicated that him not launching a similar initiative showed a lack of leadership.
The order is one of the latest issued by Hobbs under her “First 100 Days Initiative.”
Hobbs also reinstated the Arizona Commission on Homelessness and Housing, which Ducey abolished in 2020, and banned gender identity discrimination from state employment.
REVIEW HOBBS’ EXECUTIVE ORDERS HERE
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
