Election 2020: Maricopa Audit Back in Gear

From Kaelan Deese and Dan Chaitin at WaEx, Judge denies Democrats' request to stop Maricopa County audit

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Martin, who was assigned to the case on Monday after the first judge recused himself, also rejected on Wednesday a motion by Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based consulting firm hired by the GOP-led Arizona Senate, to keep its audit policies and procedures under seal. During a livestream hearing, the judge ordered that the documents be made public by noon on Thursday, barring action by a higher court.

The Arizona Democratic Party and Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo, the sole Democrat on the board, sued to stop the audit last week, raising concerns about adherence to state election laws and regulations. The review, which includes 2.1 million ballots cast, a forensic audit of the voting machines, and follow-up interviews with voters, has been subject to intense scrutiny for other issues too, including media access and questions raised about who is funding the effort on top of the $150,000 being doled out by the state Senate.

But, so far, Martin determined that there is no reason to stop the audit from proceeding.

Sundance at CTH, Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward Provides Update on Court Drama and Maricopa County Ballot Audit

(1) The audit will continue. The Arizona judge denied a temporary restraining order.
(2) Judge made clear that democrats have provided no evidence to support their claims of audit impropriety.
(3) The lead auditing firm must release their auditing process and systems to the public.
(4) After the Arizona Secretary of State previously refused the invitation to participate in the audit; the democrats have no reversed course and argued with the court to have the SoS and legal counsel present. The judge gave both sides until 5pm to work it out.
(5) Auditing firm Cyber Ninjas continues as previously outlined. 

Twitchy, That’s actually what democracy IS, mouth-breather: Rachel Maddow seems panicked babbling about Maricopa County 2020 election audit (watch). They do seem suspiciously anxious to stop this audit. I wonder why?

From the TNP, NEW: Capitol Authorities Had Advance Warning Of Jan 6th Riot, But Refused To Act On Intelligence. It's almost like they wanted something to go wrong. In his speech last night President* Joe Biden called the Jan 6 Capitol Incursion ‘Worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War!’ Can Biden really be this dumb? (Patricia McCarthy at AmThink). No, he's not really very bright, but he can be this deceitful. Buzzfeed buzzes that Facebook Stopped Employees From Reading An Internal Report About Its Role In The Insurrection. You Can Read It Here. "After BuzzFeed News reported on an internal document that examined the social network’s failings leading up to the Capitol riot, many of Facebook's employees were prevented from accessing it." Facebook hosted far more that Parler could ever hope to. But Parler was the one the monopolists decided to try and kill. 

Politico, How Trump’s renewed election rhetoric is complicating Capitol rioters’ legal fight "Judges are citing former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on election fraud as they deny some accused Capitol rioters bail, saying there’s a risk they’ll commit violent acts in Trump’s name again." They're leaning on this as an excuse to make an example out of them. AllahPundit at Hot Hair, Wounded D.C. cop: It's difficult watching elected officials pretend like the Capitol riot wasn't violent. No, what pisses us off is the Democrats and the media (but I redund) conflating the giant rally with the much smaller Capitol Incursion. WaPoo whines that Four months later, there’s been little political accountability for the Capitol riot. Meaning, they didn't get the mileage out of it they wanted. Breitbart, Pelosi: ‘I Will Never Forgive’ Trump, Capitol Rioters for Trauma They Caused. Back at you, Nancy! WaPoo, Trump supporter found guilty of threatening to kill members of Congress after Jan. 6 insurrection. Turns out, he's a Democrat!

Capt. Ed at Hot Hair, Backfire: Abrams gets two Pinocchios for doubling down after WaPo fact check. Using Fritz's system for evaluating the Wapoo factchecker will never go far wrong. If the check favors the Democrats, add two Pinocchios. If it hurts Republicans, subtract two. Twitchy, Sean Spicer has a note for ‘WOKE CEOS’ after the WaPo gives Stacey Abrams 2 Pinocchios for latest claim on Georgia voting law

MEMO
TO: WOKE CEOS
FROM: @washingtonpost left wing "fact checker"
RE: Georgia Law
CC: @staceyabrams @POTUS @nytimes @NBCNews

"net effect of the new early-voting rules was to expand the opportunities to vote for most Georgians, not limit them. https://t.co/VFkxb0buR3

— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) April 28, 2021

Breitbart, Kelly Loeffler Pens Letter to Georgia AG, Asks for Investigation of Raffensperger over 2020 Election. He does seem to be working for the other side. 

Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) has penned a letter to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr requesting an investigation into Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger over his handling of the 2020 presidential election.

According to Loeffler, in a letter sent Wednesday, Raffensperger “politicized and minimized voters’ legitimate concerns about changes to Georgia’s elections” that came as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

“This request is not about the outcome of an election, but about the loss of confidence in our elections and the importance of holding elected officials accountable for upholding the law and carrying out their constitutional duties,” Loeffler wrote.

“If voters don’t trust the electoral process and their elected officials, we risk sustained damage to voter participation in our state,” Loeffler continued. “We saw the impact of reduced faith in elections in the Senate runoffs, when over 339,000 Republican voters who voted in November did not vote in January.”

Loeffler also laid out seven allegations against Raffensperger, including his failing to address absentee voting and other discrepancies in Georgia’s 2020 primary elections.

In addition, Loeffler says “Raffensperger’s office orchestrated the recording of a call with the President of the United States and subsequently released the recording to the Washington Post just days before the January runoff, interfering with an election that was already underway by reducing faith in the process and eroding trust in our election officials.”

Via the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 04.28.21 the Shark Tank informs us that  FL House Passes Election Integrity Bill

The Republican-led House of Representatives has taken up the controversial election integrity bill SB 90 —the measure that prohibits ballot drop boxes and ballot harvesting —and House Democrats have responded in the debate by painting the measure as racist and a modern day Jim Crow Law.

The vote passed in the House by a vote count of 77 to 40.

Thomas Lifson at Am Think thinks  Official documents reveal officials colluded with a PR firm working for the Biden campaign pressuring social media to suppress posts. You know, I'm entirely OK with President* Joe Biden funding his program by draconian taxes on social media companies. 

At Da Caller, Sen. Murkowski Is Not Afraid To Buck The Party Line Or Criticize Trump. Could It Cost Her In 2022? One can only hope. Ace, Democrat Front Organization "The Dispatch" Forced to Admit That Their Neocon Witch Liz Cheney Is Toxic in the GOP, "But who knows, maybe not so toxic as a Democrat-funded spoiler candidate, which is all these guys are ever interested in."

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links.