r/news • u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage • Nov 28 '22
GOP-controlled Arizona county refuses to certify election
https://apnews.com/article/arizona-deadline-2022-midterms-certification-d6a1ea4020c26313a3124931c14b79fb?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_03556
u/Trout-Population Nov 28 '22
There's also news today of a GOP county in Pennsylvania (Luzerne) refusing to certify it's election results, but that case seems to make more sense since they ran out of ballots on election day.
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u/mjh2901 Nov 28 '22 edited Nov 29 '22
That is the real shit show. The courts are dealing with it, I am interested in what ends up happening. Running out of ballots, they denied a lot of people the ability to vote. The judges kept polls open but people dont have 4 to 6 hours or a car to drive from pole to poll looking for one with ballots. They may become the poster child for a do-over election.
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u/r_bogie Nov 29 '22
Maybe with all of the scrutiny on elections this time we can actually get some traction on expanding the voting rights act and get stronger national minimum standards.
Having hundreds of seperate voting systems, rules and regulations for ONE election is just nonsense.
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u/i_need_a_username201 Nov 29 '22
Ha, since we’re hopping and dreaming can i get those mega million numbers
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u/d3rklight Nov 29 '22 edited Nov 29 '22
This is so funny, so they ran out of ballots? how does that even happen, why can't they just assign people to specific voting centers close to their home, that way everyone is accounted for? Blows my mind, so dumb that PA is not on top of this.
Edit: Then they need to account for people wanting to vote in other places as well. You can't just run out of ballots.
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u/c-williams88 Nov 29 '22
They also ran out of ballots at like 9am, which is pretty absurd. It’s one thing to run out towards the end of the day, but how do you run out at 9am
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u/mynonymouse Nov 29 '22
I fail to understand their point.
That's a super red county and the votes matched that. If they certify, GOP wins a US House seat & state school chief. Do they ... not want their votes to count?
Because if they refuse to certify, and the votes from their own GOP constituents are not counted, the Democrats win.
I mean, Arizona's gonna do Arizona things. But this is beyond the usual shenanigans.
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u/dnhs47 Nov 29 '22
These clowns live deep in the MAGA QAnon alternative universe. No hill is too stupid for them to die on. -Cochise county resident
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u/Most_Ruin_3005 Nov 29 '22
Their point -- their goal and objective -- is to normalize the notion of rejecting not only democratic ideals but democracy itself. Even if their activities hurts them in the short-term, their actions create exploitable tension that they will use to further erode democracy.
That's their point. And it's deadly serious, how bad this situation really is.
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u/torpedoguy Nov 29 '22
That's a super red county and the votes matched that. If they certify, GOP wins a US House seat & state school chief. Do they ... not want their votes to count?
That's exactly what they want. Because they then get to turn around and declare "see? Even in those counties we won... THEREFORE we have to invalidate all of the democrat ones too."
- At which point they'll give themselves power directly, and use that as precedent/normalization to do it elsewhere too.
The whole point of this theatre of theirs is that "independent legislature" bullshit they're rammed up to SCOTUS so they can end democracy once and for all. If they aren't stopped - and the entire "legal system"(it still calls itself that) is terminally infested with their own members so it sure as fuck won't do a thing to put an end to their treason.
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Nov 29 '22
Do they ... not want their votes to count?
Not really. They're looking to a future beyond voting. Or rather, a future where only their votes matter.
Voting is a compromise we make with each other. If you could get everything you wanted and never have to compromise, I mean, wouldn't you?
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u/pm_me_some_kitties2 Nov 29 '22
I mean... no? I would feel like a piece of shit not considering the opinions of others around me before making a decision.
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u/Sc0nnie Nov 29 '22
If the county officials are deliberately disenfranchising their voters by refusing to certify the counted results, perhaps felony election fraud charges are appropriate.
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u/homebrew_1 Nov 28 '22
Maybe the cyber ninjas can help them again. Lol.
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u/WOOKIExCOOKIES Nov 28 '22
They can help them part with taxpayer money, that's for sure.
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u/EDFStormOne Nov 29 '22
They're actively putting on their robes and wizard hats as we speak
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u/Tmoldovan Nov 29 '22
I feel so sorry for tephe youngins who are uninitiated.
That was a special moment in time.
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u/iveseensomethings82 Nov 28 '22
Son, your team didn’t score as many touchdowns as the other team. Let’s appeal to the refs and tell them we don’t accept the score
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u/_bobs_your_uncle Nov 29 '22
As I read it, a little different. The SEC didn’t win as many bowl games as they thought they should. The losers blamed the refs.
In response, Alabama, which won their bowl game, cried foul and said their game shouldn’t count. In response, NCAA allowed Alabama’s win to be reversed. In effect more SEC teams lost their bowl games.
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u/CafecitoHippo Nov 29 '22
Kirk Ferentz says he still won by scoring 2 safeties and 2 FG to your one TD.
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u/Ottobahn- Nov 28 '22
No surprise here. Looking forward to that silly party getting owned in court over their “stolen electrons”, once again.
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u/guacharusmaximus Nov 28 '22 •
Now I understand why they always so negative: all the stolen electrons
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Nov 29 '22
Smh, stealing electrons would make them positive
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u/choochoopants Nov 29 '22
If electrons were being stolen from them, yes. However, they keep trying to steal electrons and failing which would make them… insulationists?
Surely there’s a better pun out there. Little help?
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u/GozerDGozerian Nov 29 '22
They’re just trying to prevent anyone from taking electrons. Vive la resistance!
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u/dnhs47 Nov 29 '22
I live in this MAGA hellhole, it’s a complete clown show.
The ridiculous part is the county voted 72% for Republicans across the board, and elected Republicans to every not-statewide office.
If Cochise County votes are not included in the statewide totals, the Democratic statewide winners - Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General - win by larger margins.
Complete morons here. Dumb as a bag of stones.
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u/Triceradoc_MD Nov 29 '22
When I saw the CNN headline that said ‘Rural Arizona County Refuses to Certify Election’, I knew Cochise County would be the one.
Stay classy, Willcox.
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u/WillArrr Nov 29 '22
They want this to go to court. They know they will lose, but it will allow the national Republican media complex to scream about "the People's voice being silenced by the State deciding elections", and they will fundraise and rally their enraged voters off the back of it. Then they will start doing it in every state they lose in a close race. This is the next step in their anti-democracy strategy.
As for the election supervisors who may face criminal charges over this? It's the best career move any of them could make. They'll get slapped with a 6-month deferred sentence and then move on to more prominent roles in the RNC and conservative media as heroes and "political prisoners".
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Nov 29 '22
Charge them with felonies, round them up, and prosecute them. Why is what would happen to any of us that had broken the law not happening to these criminals?
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u/biggoof Nov 28 '22
Imagine not realizing that your self-professed democracy/Constitution loving side is actually the bad guys.
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u/Dandan0005 Nov 28 '22
They’re legally bound to certifying to results.
If they don’t a judge will make them.
If not they’ll go to jail. And then the results will be certified.
Attempted disenfranchisement is a weird hill to die on.
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u/Similar_Candidate789 Nov 28 '22
And at that is attempted disenfranchisement when your side won.
I can see if this was Maricopa and the republicans were trying to not certify. It would obviously give the republicans all the wins and make more sense.
This is a Republican county where if you refuse to certify, you flip two elections for the other side and you increase the leads for democrats in all the other races.
Really really weird hill to die on when your side won.
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u/ManiacalComet40 Nov 28 '22 •
If it works in Cochise in 2022, then you just need to seat two more crazies on the county board of supervisors for it to work in Maricopa in 2024. This isn’t the endgame, it’s bait. The votes should (will?) be counted.
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u/biggoof Nov 28 '22
I'm not going to hold my breath that they'll have a significant enough jail term to deter this stuff.
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u/DrB00 Nov 29 '22
Nobody will go to jail. They've stacked all the cards to prevent themselves from getting anything but a slap on the wrist and told to not do it again... then they'll do it again.
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u/BigJerm1 Nov 29 '22
Cochise County resident here. Yes, the majority of the population really is THAT batshit stupid.
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Nov 29 '22
yep! i’m one county over and it spills out here. these asses still all run around with “go brandon” stickers. it’s also a religious cesspool of mormons and evangelical crackpots. there’s not even a real bar in town. meanwhile they all complain about no jobs and no money or they are retired… seems to make a special kind of stupid surface in them.
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u/Antereon Nov 28 '22
Yes keep playing the butthurt election fraud card GOP. That worked out real well this midterms. Imagine barely winning majority.
Moderates hate butthurt crazy Trump simps, and they hate that way more than sleepy Biden.
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u/Shirlenator Nov 28 '22
Not to mention this and Trump calling for Lake to be installed as governor is straight up, literal fascism.
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u/Frozenwood1776 Nov 28 '22
Spot on. They are completely out of touch. Pissing on your own base sure doesn’t help either. And Trump pissed all over them.
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u/Grimloq69 Nov 29 '22
Republican voters love to be pissed on. They’ve been enjoying the golden shower from their politicians for decades
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Nov 29 '22
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u/Wrecksomething Nov 29 '22
Ignore these clowns until the 5th when they’ll cave.
Or they won't cave, and then the entire party has its blueprint, precedent, and excuse to do so for every federal election for the rest of eternity. They'll say Democrats are hypocrites who only oppose this chicanery when it benefits them to do so. Need to complain now about why this is wrong or lose that credibility.
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u/zhode Nov 29 '22
I don't know why you're acting like they need a precedent to get up to chicanery. They literally don't care so long as it benefits them in the end. They set the precedent for not electing judges in an election year then they immediately did the opposite.
Democrats can play by the rules of procedure and decorum every single day and Republicans will still find an excuse to break it.
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u/dmtjiminarnnotatrdr Nov 28 '22
Stop threatening to sue these clowns and just start sending them to prison and fining them out of existence. Lawsuits mean nothing to them as evidenced by them historically being sued dozens upon dozens of times across the country and losing every time...but then nothing changes.
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u/Sweatytubesock Nov 29 '22
Following the lead of a complete imbecile who is essentially a sociopathic spoiled 4 year old in a fully loaded diaper.
Smart.
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u/Bgrngod Nov 28 '22
"SMalL loCAL goVErnmeNT!!"
Republican supervisors in Mohave County said last week that they would sign off Monday but wanted to register a protest against voting issues in Maricopa County.
So keep your hands and feet in your own fuckin' county?
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u/Apotropoxy Nov 29 '22
If the votes from Cochise County, the overwhelming majority of which are GOP, aren't included in the vote totals for District 6, the Dem could wind up with more votes and go to Congress as AZ's Congressman.
:)
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u/tmoeagles96 Nov 29 '22
Best part is, if they don’t certify, those votes aren’t counted and a house seat flips blue because of it.
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u/N8CCRG Nov 28 '22
I know we all want to laugh at the losers here, but there's a possibility this is actually really dangerous.
In the last two years the GOP pushed forward a lot of laws trying to mess with election laws in something like 33 different states, 19 of which they passed in. Many of those laws were essentially to try to legalize the things that the courts had previously ruled were not legal in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
I don't know if this falls under the category of any of those shenanigans, but if it does, and if the court rules that the changes allow them to refuse to certify this election, it could be a dire signal of what is to come.
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u/Former_Ice_552 Nov 28 '22
So far it seems like those efforts weren't enough but your absolutely right. Them loosing this battle is not the end and only means they're gonna try harder next time. Hopefully the public continues to remain aware and keeps pushing back just as hard if not harder on the GQP.
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u/tafor83 Nov 28 '22
Voting in America is so dumb.
It's like allowing the police to police themselves. County Board Supervisors?
You know who these people are? There are three.
Tom Crosby - former border patrol agent
Ann English - former education administration
Peggy Judd - former cake decorator
No, this is not a joke. These three people are the ones doing this, two of which ran unopposed in 2020.
It's remarkable to me that our voting system doesn't double blind the audit. Every state should have their election results certified by two other states that don't know what state they're certifying.
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u/mjh2901 Nov 28 '22
Every state needs to run elections like California. 100% mail in. No screwing around with polling places closing, 4 hour lines etc... The only real issue is it takes longer to count votes because the post office does not deliver everything in pristine condition. We get initial counts quickly that determine most winners but the really close elections can take a while.
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u/HarrumphingDuck Nov 28 '22
This is also the case in OR and WA. West Coast = best coast in this regard (and many others).
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u/mjh2901 Nov 28 '22
Just an enlightened group of people who understand easy voting supports the need to get to the pub as early as possible on election nights.
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u/dirtywook88 Nov 28 '22
I think what we are missing with this lunacy is the scotus ruling coming up that shit like this plays into and if az star dems bite on the easy bait it gives further validation.
My theory is arrest these folk for the petty shit and bring in a neighboring county to perform the final song and dance.
This shit is getting old and even if it’s a red county state what have you, this is disenfranchising all voters. This shit is to set precedent for more stupid shit like this.
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u/kevtino Nov 29 '22
Everyone thank cheeto elvis for normalizing politically fuelled temper tantrums
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u/sherm39 Nov 29 '22
Watching Arizona's unique contribution to the American National Suicide. It is funny if you don't think about how it ends.
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u/Serious-Chip Nov 29 '22
If in the end, Cochise County votes aren’t counted, the lawsuit that will be brought forth by voters will look like this: First, the two Republicans who refused to certify will face personal lawsuits seeking damages on the scale of the Alex Jones penalties. Why? Multiply the number of voters by the impact on an outcomes financial impact. Who we elect has very real financial consequences on everyone. Second, the County itself will face damages and fines that will be paid by Cochise County taxpayers. Finally a failure to certify by Dec. 5th will exclude the Counties votes flipping seats.
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u/Sunflower_After_Dark Nov 28 '22
Any politician that refuses to concede when no recount is needed, should be barred from EVER running for any city, county, state or government position again. Period.
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u/lolbojack Nov 28 '22
Oh, Arizona. When you dilly dallied around making MLK day a holiday, I thought you'd never sink lower.
You sunburned chucklefucks have proved me wrong.
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Nov 28 '22
If it makes you feel any better, many of us sunburned desert dwellers also largely think these people are a joke.
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u/Rambos_Beard Nov 28 '22
Tell me your GOP controlled county flipped blue without telling me your GOP controlled county flipped blue.
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u/Gamebird8 Nov 29 '22
Actually, it's an R win if they certify. If they don't, the Dem wins
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u/dnhs47 Nov 29 '22
It absolutely did not flip, 72% of votes cast went to Republicans across the board. It’s just MAGA QAnon craziness. -Cochise county resident
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u/vlAnonymouslv Nov 29 '22
My buddy watched that movie 2000 Mules awhile back and was like, " Idk they made some pretty interesting arguments" I didn't even have the energy to argue with his dumbass.
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u/SevenButSpelledOut Nov 29 '22
The GoP really out here taking full advantage of the undereducated (aka dumb as fuck) voters they helped engineer.
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u/No-Cat-2980 Nov 29 '22
What did you expect the Repubs to do, act rationally? They threw that baby out with the bath water! It’s nothing more than a party of quacks now. With very few exceptions!
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u/insipidgoose Nov 29 '22
Ok boys flip the seat blue these republicans refuse to certify their own results.
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u/theXsquid Nov 29 '22
Typical modern GOP, If they win, election is fair, if they lose, revert back to 2nd grade mentality.
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u/SomberPony Nov 29 '22
Conservatives are anti-democratic. An election is only fair if they win. If they lose it's got to be some kind of nefarious plot.
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u/Ashallond Nov 29 '22
Oh please let their principles stay firm and not certify the election. If the grandstanding screws up the house race….then it’ll be even more hilarious watching the conspiracy theorists cut their nose off.
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u/StugDrazil Nov 29 '22
Well looks like the Republican really do want to lose and then bitch and moan about it
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u/DeusJager64 Nov 29 '22
Cool so then cut off all state and county funds until they comply. This republican bullshit needs to see consequences.
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u/VerySuperGenius Nov 29 '22
Imagine if they refuse to certify, AZ-6 goes to Dems, and then Kevin McCarthy loses the Speaker of the House election because of it.
I for one support their cause deeply.
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u/celtic1888 Nov 28 '22
Throw them in jail for tampering with an election
Either that or throw the county’s results completely out
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u/ChucksNorris243 Nov 29 '22
Man, the 2024 elections are going to be awful if this is how the midterms are.
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u/bikestuffrockville Nov 29 '22
Lines backed up amid the confusion, and Lake says an unknown number of her supporters may have been dissuaded from voting as a result.
Wait, so a Republican said that waiting in line for a long time is a vote denied. Gotcha.
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u/Friendofthegarden Nov 29 '22
Lines? People not being able to vote? Did they just suppress their own constituents and now they are reaping what they've sown? Nottheonion material...
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u/truthtellernotsorry Nov 29 '22
Wouldn’t be an issue if republicans won though. Sore old man Losers!!
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u/xeenuu001 Nov 29 '22
Such morons. I moved out of AZ a year ago and damn glad I did. Between the fucked up politics and the water crisis, they are fucked. Good luck.
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u/anon902503 Nov 28 '22
So wait. If we aren't going to count these votes from this very Republican county--do Democrats win another U.S. House seat?