PHX Reporter

Rogan O'Handley, Ambassador of Turning Point USA, criticizes Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes for sending out a letter to Mohave County Board of Supervisors urging them not to vote for the hand counting of ballots in the 2024 election. The incident occurred amidst concerns from Republican lawmakers in the state about election integrity due to malfunctioning tabulation machines.

"This is insane - just 1 day after Argentina hand-counted 20 million ballots and declared their Presidential winner in the same night, the illegitimate Attorney General of Arizona threatens Mohave County officials with criminal prosecution for trying to…hand count ballots", said Rogan O'Handley.

Exploring the sequence of events leading up to this controversy, In the second vote since August, Mohave County decided 3-2 against manually counting votes that were previously suggested to be counted by hand instead of using computer tabulation. Just before the vote, Mayes sent a letter to the board, warning of potential legal consequences if the county opted to manually count the ballots in the upcoming 2024 election, according to AZ Mirror.

Further adding tension was a detailed warning sent by Attorney General Mayes prior to the county’s vote. "I understand that you will be voting tomorrow on whether to direct Mohave County Elections Department to count ballots for the 2024 elections by hand, rather than automatic tabulating equipment," wrote Mayes in the letter, according to Office of Arizona Attorney General. "Before you take that vote, I want to make sure you know that a 'yes' vote would direct your Elections Department to violate law. As Arizona’s chief law enforcement officer, I have an obligation warn you that legal consequences would be serious."

The debate over manual vote counting in Arizona finds its roots in ongoing concerns over election integrity, particularly within the Republican party. Republican lawmakers in the state have been concerned about election integrity in recent years due to malfunctioning tabulation machines. Numerous allegations of a flawed election have arisen since November 2022 results, with both Abe Hamadeh and former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake prominently raising concerns. Hamadeh, former Republican candidate for attorney general position, narrowly lost to Kris Mayes by margin of just 280 votes, according to Arizona Daily Independent.

These concerns were further magnified when issues arose during election day in Maricopa County, On election day in Maricopa County, nearly 20% of voting locations, approximately one in four, encountered glitches. These malfunctions affected multiple ballot tabulator machines and had impact on total of 17,000 ballots in county. As result, concerns about fairness and accuracy of election process surfaced leading to widespread accusations of fraud. These accusations made not only by Lake but also by many others according New York Times.

The issue has prompted various reactions from other prominent figures as well, "You fight election integrity with 'threat of arrest'," said Arizona Rep. John Gillette, according to post on X platform. "Talk about left-wing bullying. The last AZAG and as yesterday in GA a Federal Court allows it. It would appear you like not counting legal votes using unsecured machines with CCP parts."