Exclusive: Poll Tapes, Other Evidence Discovered Missing in Long-Disputed Arizona Election

[BradBlog]

Source: BRAD BLOG



Exclusive: Poll Tapes, Other Evidence Discovered Missing in Long-Disputed Arizona Election
Material sought by Election Integrity advocates from Pima County's 2006 RTA election no longer in 'secured' facility
AZ AG Terry Goddard failed to examine evidence during his criminal investigation hand-count of ballots last year...

-- Special investigative report by Brad Friedman, The BRAD BLOG

The mystery surrounding a long-questioned and allegedly "fixed" non-partisan 2006 Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) bond election in Pima County, AZ continues to deepen as troubling new details have now emerged. The resolution in this matter --- should it ever come --- could spell trouble for supporters of paper-based optical-scan electronic voting systems, since indications are that if the election was rigged, it was done with insiders via the electronic central tabulating computers.

Late last week another new twist was discovered in the years-long election fraud investigation by Democratic and Libertarian Election Integrity advocates in Tucson. The revelations come to light in what was thought by many to have been a settled election, at last, following a long-sought hand-count of paper ballots carried out last year by the office of AZ's Democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard. The AG had announced in April of last year that his criminal investigation hand-count had "affirmed" the original results of the election were correct.

As it turns out, The BRAD BLOG, which has been covering this bizarre matter for years, plays a small roll in this latest development, as a promise that Goddard's office made to us last year concerning the "poll tapes" --- remarks which he was asked about during a press conference at the end of the hand count (see the remarks on video below) --- may have now boomeranged on him.

Given that Goddard is now the likely Democratic nominee to face Republican Gov. Jan Brewer in this fall's Gubernatorial race, this revelation couldn't have come at a much worse time for him.

After many years of litigation, Election Integrity advocates have now finally been allowed to review the long sought-after poll tapes in question. What they've discovered is disturbing and, so far, without legitimate explanation.

Out of 368 precincts, 112 poll tapes are completely missing. Moreover, 102 of the "yellow sheets" --- certified precinct reports, signed by poll workers, detailing corresponding summary information, such as numbers of ballots received, cast and spoiled, as helpful for important auditing functions at the precinct level --- are missing as well.

Furthermore, of the poll tape records that are not missing, 50 of them do not match the results as recorded in the final canvas of the election, according to the Election Integrity advocates who have compared them to the original electronic database numbers...

FULL STORY, GODDARD VIDEO, INTERVIEW WITH DEM PIMA COUNTY ATTORNEY:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7946

Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7946

[Kelvin Mace]

1. don't quite understand this sentence

"The resolution in this matter --- should it ever come --- could spell trouble for supporters of paper-based optical-scan electronic voting systems, since indications are that if the election was rigged, it was done with insiders via the electronic central tabulating computers."

Why is this a problem? The fact that much of the required paperwork is missing is a red flag. I have always stated that if an election is going to be rigged, odds are it would be an inside job. I don't see how missing paperwork is a problem for a paper-based system. If the tabulator was rigged, then an audit of the paper ballots (hand count) would uncover the discrepancy. Here it appears that they have LOTS of evidence that something was wrong with the election, yet haven't done anything about it.

If you are missing 30% of the poll tapes, and 50 contradict the electronic count, you need a new election AT LEAST. Is AZ law so backward that no one can bring suit with such overwhelming evidence of problems?

[BradBlog]

3. Let me help you...

You wrote:

"Why is this a problem? ... I don't see how missing paperwork is a problem for a paper-based system. If the tabulator was rigged, then an audit of the paper ballots (hand count) would uncover the discrepancy."

Actually, no. If you read the whole story, you'll discover that after some 3 years of litigation, trying to get a hand-count of ballots, due to all sorts of red flags, one was finally carried out last year, but they didn't bother to examine the poll tapes (as AZ's AG Terry Goddard's office had told me they would).

Furthermore, the "suspects" in the case, the election insiders alleged by affidavit to have "fixed" the election, had custody of the ballots for some time, and then were able to get custody to them even after they were stored in Iron Mountain. They had years to swap out the paper ballots before the hand-count was carried out last year.

BTW, even IF that hand-count had found the initial results to be different (as the trail of the poll tapes now seems to be indicating, according to those analyzing them), it would have been too late to reverse the election, which was three years old by the time the Election Integrity advocates FINALLY got a hand-count of the paper ballots last year.

"Here it appears that they have LOTS of evidence that something was wrong with the election, yet haven't done anything about it."

Um, yes, they have. That's the point. Read the full article. There is "LOTS of evidence that something was wrong with the election", and yet, neither the state AG, nor the County Election Officials (those believed to be the "suspects") have done anything, nor CAN do anything about the results of the election at this point.

If you don't COUNT THE DAMN BALLOTS in the first place, what good is it to have them?!!! Had the ballots actually been COUNTED, publicly on election night, in front of everyone at the precincts, it would have been impossible to game the results via the electronic op-scan tabulators.

"If you are missing 30% of the poll tapes, and 50 contradict the electronic count, you need a new election AT LEAST. Is AZ law so backward that no one can bring suit with such overwhelming evidence of problems?"

It's not just AZ, Kelvin. It's every goddamn state in the union. Good luck getting ANY election overturned EVER once the results are "certified", much less one that took place four years ago, and has been disputed ever since (at a HUGE cost to those who have been in court again and again over these years, TRYING and TRYING to get actual OVERSIGHT for their own damned public election!)

[DallasNE]

10. I Worked Elections For Decades

Here in Omaha, NE where a computer scans paper ballots. Nebraska law regarding custody dictates that when the ballots are removed from the ballot box and put into a metal box a seal is affixed and it is done in plain view of one Republican and one Democrat. I would presume that when the seal is broken and they are loaded into the computer the process is again observed by each party. Once counted that ballots should go back into bags and sealed, again in plain sight. When there is a dispute the courts should supervise the custody -- perhaps taking over the custody themselves, making fraud impossible. Separate custody should be established for the computer tapes by the court. This should be air tight unless the Judge is also involved.

[Kelvin Mace]

11. Well, here in NC

You can't certify the election until after the canvas and after a random audit is conducted comparing actual ballot counts to electronic record. If there is a discrepancy, the paper ballot count is the one that stands. This kind of anomaly would trigger and investigation, and possible prosecution.

Sorry, didn't mean to seem critical of AZ, but was pressed for time and the post came across snarky and I didn't intend. Thanks for the clarification.

[BradBlog]

13. You're right to criticize AZ

The procedures in Pima were horrible, as discovered by even the AG's own investigation. And remember, their e-voting system was put in place by Jan Brewer when she was SoS (before she was elevated to Gov. by Obama!)

I don't know if they were doing ANY "random audits" at the time. But remember, as we saw in Cuyahoga County when they faked the "random" part of the "random recount" after the '08 election (and two of the top election officials were given the max sentence for it), if the election officials are in on it, there is not a whole helluva lot citizens can do when they are not allowed to oversee everything -- as was the case in Pima County, AZ.

[defendandprotect]

2. Thank you -- Amazing stuff -- !! Also listening to Gov. Don Siegelman interview ...

Laura Canary - AG - still in place in DOJ -- ?

-- Wife of the campaign manager for Siegelman's GOP opponent --

Rahm Emmanuel organized a deal with Sessions to leave Canary in to get to her pension!

Evidently in return for Sessions not fighting the SC appointee Sotomayer?

Sen. Jeff Sessions -- history of suppressing black voter turn out -


"Selective prosecution in Siegelman case" was found by one of the House Committees?

Trust that one day Gov. Don Siegelman will get to personally sue Karl Rove and others

involved!


Big fan of Siegelman's -- thanks for all the info --

hadn't seen Brag Blog in a while --

[BradBlog]

5. Thanks, defendandprotect...

Yes, we're always there. Raking muck and being (in my opinion), too often ignored by even the progressive sites out there!

So thanks for helping to spread the word when ya can!

[defendandprotect]

12. I picked up your link and will keep it more prominently . . ..

Liberals and progressives need to pay more attention to your website -- !!

Among other things . . .


:evilgrin:

[Omaha Steve]

4. K&R!

Great work people are doing on election fraud. Keep digging.

[orleans]

6. oh god. k&r. thanks brad. n/t

[BradBlog]

7. And thank YOU for the K&R!

[Richard Steele]

8. K&R

[Kip Humphrey]

9. I know, I know.... An abacus bead fell out of the tabulator causing it to miss-count.

[saracat]

14. Terry Goddard is likely the most honest man in Arizona and it sickens me to see him attacked. He

was also chosen as the most effective Attorney General in all 50 states by his fellow Attorney General's. I cannot claim the governorship of Arizona by cooperating with the RW on this issue is beneath contempt. This has nothing to do with election integrity.

[EFerrari]

15. What part of the right wing is looking into election integrity?

I don't know of a single one.

[BradBlog]

16. What "attack"? What the hell are u talking about?

I don't even know what you're talking about, in re: "cooperating with the RW", as this is the Pima County DEMOCRATIC Party leading this legal fight and calling on Goddard to do the right thing.

As to Goddard being a wonderful AG, ur opinion and those of other AGs is fine. But that he didn't understand why poll tapes are "relevant" in a ballot hand-count or, in this case, his own "criminal investigation" is something he needs to explain, don't you think?

Would you give a pass to a Republican AG who seemed to completely ignore first-hand evidence at the very heart of a criminal investigation??? Really?!

[saracat]

17. Trying to drum up this issue NOW right as Brewer is taking a lead is digesting.

Terry has done remarkable things for Arizona and if you are adding to the pile on with the immigration teabaggers with this issue at this point in time , you are playing right into their hands. We barely have a chance anymore and if you get a GOP Atty General, what chance do you think you have at all? The fact is this issue has been raised with the libertarians and the GOP as an issue to damage Terry. His destruction of the payday loan industry, for which he has won many awards strikes fear into their hearts as they are so heavily invested in them . Did you seriously think this is the only issue on Terry's plate? Should he drop everything and concentrate on this single matter right now? I do not know what the explanation to the tapes is and right now, it doesn't concern me. I am scared to death about AZ electing Jan Brewer. And this is one election I do know makes a difference. As for what RW? Seriously? You boast of Libertarian cooperation? Who exactly do you think they are? They are GOP who think legalizing marijuana is ok. That is the difference.As for the PIMA County Dems, iIf they are raising this issue NOW, they are contemptible as well. Or haven't you noticed we are in deep trouble in AZ, or maybe you don't care?
Good luck with the GOP with the GOP this fall.

[BradBlog]

19. The issue was "drummed up" last year, when Goddard could have counted poll tapes, but didn't...

Saracat -

Allow me to respond to a few of your comments...

"Trying to drum up this issue NOW right as Brewer is taking a lead is digesting."

I'll presume you mean "disgusting" there. But, none the less, this issue could have/should have been dealt with a year ago (actually several years ago, but certainly last year) when Goddard had the ballots AND poll tapes out as part of HIS own "criminal investigation" into the 2006 RTA election.

If you read full the article, you'll see that his office told me that they WOULD be examining the poll tapes as part of their hand-count. But then they did not. And Goddard's reasons for that -- weak as I believe they are, frankly -- are seen verbatim in a video included in the article.

It has taken a YEAR OF LITIGATION for the Democratic Party in Pima County to finally get at those polls tapes, since Goddard refused to look at them, and put everything back into cold storage.

The Democrats have now gotten those poll tapes, finally, and these are their findings. The timing was not up to me, or to them (though, arguably, it was up to Goddard who could have and should have dealt with this last year when he did his criminal investigation hand count).

I'm sorry if it's politically inconvenient for you or for him. That is not my concern as a journalist, nor, frankly, should it be YOUR concern as a voter.

Goddard is running against Brewer for Governor (not for AG, as you seem to imply in your note). He will be elected, or not, on the very same machines, run by the very same people, who ran the allegedly "fixed" 2006 RTA election in Pima County.

If you believe NOT talking about these facts, NOT holding folks accountable, NOT investigation very serious allegations of election fraud make these things just go away -- and somehow, make it more likely that Goddard will be announced the winner of his upcoming election -- I don't know what to tell you. You are living in a partisan clouded world of short-sighted, self-destructive, self-delusion.

"Terry has done remarkable things for Arizona and if you are adding to the pile on with the immigration teabaggers with this issue at this point in time , you are playing right into their hands."

Nobody has been tougher on the pathetic Jan Brewer than I. For years. Long before Obama made her the Governor, back when she was the horrible Sec. of State -- one of the nation's worst -- who brought these very machines into AZ in the first place. The same machines, by the way, that will be used to elect her, or defeat her, as Governor against Goddard. And the same ones, have I mentioned it?, still being run by the same folks down in Pima County, the second largest county in the state.

I might suggest that if YOU don't give a damn about all of these things, that it is YOU who are playing into "their" hands.

"We barely have a chance anymore and if you get a GOP Atty General, what chance do you think you have at all?"

As mentioned, AG Goddard is running for Gov, not AG.

"The fact is this issue has been raised with the libertarians and the GOP as an issue to damage Terry."

Nonsense. The county Democratic Party -- in coalition with Libertarians and others -- has been fighting this fight for years. Goddard has stone-walled for years, even while admitting that the machines and processes used in Pima in 2006 (and still today) are "very, very bad."

If Goddard is damaged, he has himself to blame, for not doing the job he should have, as AG, long ago, or even last year when examining the poll tapes from the entire election, as his office had promised, would have taken about 20 minutes.

"His destruction of the payday loan industry, for which he has won many awards strikes fear into their hearts as they are so heavily invested in them . Did you seriously think this is the only issue on Terry's plate? Should he drop everything and concentrate on this single matter right now?"

No. He should have dropped everything and concentrated on it YEARS ago, when the Democratic Party in Pima had first begged and pleaded him to do so.

"I do not know what the explanation to the tapes is and right now, it doesn't concern me. I am scared to death about AZ electing Jan Brewer."

Then you should be *demanding* an explanation for the polltapes, right now.

"And this is one election I do know makes a difference. As for what RW? Seriously? You boast of Libertarian cooperation? Who exactly do you think they are? They are GOP who think legalizing marijuana is ok. That is the difference."

I know who they are, I know them personally, and I know that their interest in Election Integrity in this case couldn't be more rock-solid and sincere. They are the same folks who demonstrated AGAINST Jan Brewer for years when she was the state's horrible Sec. of State.

"As for the PIMA County Dems, iIf they are raising this issue NOW, they are contemptible as well. Or haven't you noticed we are in deep trouble in AZ, or maybe you don't care?"

I do care. That's why I give a damn about elections with integrity. Hopefully you'll figure that out too some day.

"Good luck with the GOP with the GOP this fall."

And backatcha. Be sure to ask them to actually COUNT the ballots, *publicly*, BEFORE they tell you they won this time. K?

[saracat]

21. I am perfectly aware of the fact Terry is running for Governor but he is, as you point out still

AG. And my remarks regarding that were due to your comments about his performance as AG regarding your issue with Pima. Do you really think that if we do not get a Democratic Attorney General that your issues will get any play at all? Do you think a GOP Attorney General would have even talked to you?

By casting doubt on Terry's integrity you are handing a gun to the Brewer campaign, and honestly as far as the Pima County Ballot situation is concerned Goddard had a lot more important issues to deal with.

And ya know what? I have worked with the Board of Elections in Maricopa County multiple times and I have been involved with voter integrity. And I always participate in the hand count, except when I cannot because of a relationship to a candidate. But it isn't my ONLY issue and I certainly woundn't have any AG "drop everything to pursue it. I guess the issues of mortgage fraud, identity theft, predatory loans and childrens and senior issues are negligable to you.

My "only " issue right now is ensuring that Brewer not be elected. (Don't bother. I already know you are going to say that doesn't matter because "they" are going to "FIX" the election anyway, right? )

And BTW, isn't Vince Rubago from Pima County, running for AG? I looked through all of his stuff. This issue isn't even raised. He was in the AG's office from that division too. Why isn't Vince making this a central issue to his campaign? And oddly, I have never heard him speak out against Terry's actions, or in your opinion, lack thereof on this issue.

And with complaints like yours making the rounds, we won't have to "publicly count any ballots to prove "They" won" because, they will. Terry is the only shot we have at the Governor's seat. If we damage him, this state is finished. And most of us can't even sell our houses and get out of here.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[saracat]

25. Well last I heard this site is supposed to be about "generally supporting Democrats. "If

that isn't important to you, I suggest you find a less partisan venue. My prorities are fine, thank you very much. I am aware that a Brewer victory would completely destroy Arizona and as I have an inverstment in that state and the only thing I have of value is in Arizona, I naturally do not want to support any effort that causes her victory. You may not have noticed but Terry is unopposed in the primary. So that makes him the presumptive Democratic Nominee. And campaigning aginst him won't be allowed. And as it is obviously going to be Terry or Jan, weakening Terry isn't a really swell idea. And as you are so well informed as to not be aware of Vince, what about all the other AG candidates? Felicia and David? Do you know where they stand? What about the GOP? Why don't you go after Andrew Thomas?

[BradBlog]

28. Um, okay. You DO know the litigants against Goddard are the Democratic Party of Pima County, right?

...So even if I accept your premise that I am supposed to be "generally supporting Democrats" with every post I write here, which Democrats am I supposed to "support"? Democratic AG Terry Goddard? Or the Democratic Party of Pima County who has been challenging him for four years, and who have discovered that he failed to account for hundreds of missing piece of evidence in a criminal investigation that he was/is running??

As to where all of the AG candidates stand on this matter, it sounds like a very interesting story and one that I might look into if I have the time.

For now though, I'm most interested in how the actual AG -- Democrat Terry Goddard, the one who promised to examine evidence, didn't, and now that evidence has apparently gone missing -- explains himself.

The Democratic Party of Pima deserves an answer. And, by the way, so do YOU unless you want to see the same voting machines which Goddard called "very, very bad", used by the same officials alleged by a county whistleblower to have "fixed" an election, used to determine whether Goddard wins or loses to Jan Brewer for Governor in November.

Given the above in Pima, the most Democratic part of the state, which way do *you* think that November election is going to turn out if you and I and the Democratic Party of Pima decide to look the other way, as you seem to be suggesting??

[BradBlog]

27. Why did you have my response removed, Saracat? (n/t)

[EFerrari]

20. Hasn't he had nearly four years to straighten this out?

Really, if it's still open, he has no one to blame but himself.

[BradBlog]

22. Yup. And he hasn't (n/t)

[sabrina 1]

18. I don't know anything about Goddard. He's a Democrat

but why would he not want the truth to come out about possible fraud in an election? That's how I am reading this article. If I'm reading it wrong, that a Dem. has been complicit in hiding evidence, then my apologies.

I will go back and read it again though. Thanks for your persistence on this issue Brad.

K&R

[Michigan-Arizona]

24. K & R Thank you Brad n/t

[jillan]

26. Wouldn't this fall under the job of the secretary of state, not the attorney general?

Jan Brewer was the SoS at that time.

[BradBlog]

29. Brewer chose the machines, but Goddard is the one running the criminal investigation...

...of the election in question.

His office is the one who said they would count all of the poll tapes last year when they counted the ballots, but then didn't. His office is, therefore, the one who needs to answer questions as to why that was, and if the poll tapes were there in the first place when he did his count, and what he now intends to do about the fact that hundreds of them have suddenly gone missing.

It's no longer a question for the Sec. of State (current or previous), it is a criminal matter, taken up already by Goddard's office. He seems to have some questions to answer, and/or some investigation to do. As far as I know, he's still the state AG, and the criminal investigation is still, officially, his.