Are Concerns about Election Integrity Based in Reality?

The topic for this Constitution Monday concerns free and fair elections. Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution is known as the “Elections Clause” because it gives power over elections to the legislature in each state. Election Day is the first Tuesday in November, but the state legislatures are to make the rules and regulations about how elections are held in their state.

So, what happens when election officials manipulate the rules and regulations put forth by a state legislature? Kari Lake, a former candidate for the Governor of Arizona, is contesting the results of her election. She claims that there were specific acts of election interference in Maricopa County. Michael Schmitz claims that there are “election patterns across Arizona” that are troubling. 

Kari Lake has been busy assembling evidence showing that Arizona’s 2022 November election was manipulated in the statewide races thanks to shenanigans in Maricopa County. However, it’s easier to understand the corollary evidence for this accusation, which lies in the simple reality that, statewide, Arizonans voted for House Congressional Republican candidates by a large margin—56.4% to 42.8% over Democrats. This can be attributed to the fact that Arizona’s nine Congressional Districts are spread across the state, and many are fully or mostly out of the jurisdiction of Maricopa County elections. (The same spread is true for the Arizona House of Representatives election.) …

The Democrats won four statewide offices in the Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and US Senate races, most by very narrow margins. How can this happen when Arizona overwhelmingly voted for Republican Congressional candidates by nearly 14% while Republicans still maintained control over both branches of the Arizona Legislature?

Against this backdrop, it makes sense to look at the numerous shenanigans that deliberately corrupted the vote in Maricopa County, home to 63% of Arizona voters:

1. Chain of custody issues concerning nearly 300,000 ballots.

2. Nearly an equal number of mismatched or phony signatures estimated in mail-in ballots.

3. Printers having issues on Election Day causing long delays in in-person voting estimated to favor Republicans by 3:1. Testimony was given in a court hearing that these printer issues could only be caused intentionally and were found mainly in Republican-leaning areas.

In addition to the problems outlined above, there are individuals who contributed to the problems. Two election officials in Maricopa County backed a Political Action Committee to oppose Trump supporters. Obviously, they were not neutral in their attitudes. Also, the person overseeing the election in Arizona was none other than the Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Democrat candidate for governor.

Hobbs had control over what happened in an election in which she herself was a candidate. She should have stepped down from overseeing the election. In addition, she threatened to sue Cochise County when county officials proposed hand-counting the ballots. Her office also threatened Mohave County for delaying their certification of the 2022 election because they were concerned about the integrity of the election.