Today is my shift at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum for the Maricopa County election audit. Media was supposed to get in at 8 a.m. but wasn’t allowed in until after 9. #azauditpool
In the middle of the room are five laptops and five printers. But they don’t seem to be printing anything at the moment #azauditpool
There were 3 boxes in the fenced area labeled “complete” when I got here but two men just moved them out of view, so unclear how many they have finished.
Two men did some more shuffling with the boxes in the fenced area marked “complete” and this is the best view I can get of them. I can count 5 but could be more against the wall out of view.
Looks like we have former AZ lawmaker Anthony Kern reviewing ballots #azauditpool
Kern took a moment to shake hands with Rep. Andy Biggs, who got a tour of the facility from Ken Bennett.
Well, a man in a cowboy hat and a badge that said Wake TSI just came over, asked if I tweeted the picture of Anthony Kern, and when I said yes he escorted me out of the building and said my press privileges were “revoked”
They said I am welcome to stay in the parking lot where it’s 97 degrees and this is my view
I’m seeing questions about Kern’s pen. It appears to be green and the cap was not stuck on the back end in my previous photo. This shot from the pool photographer @thawthornephoto is clearer
Senate President @FannKfann, who is in charge of the audit, is saying I broke a judge’s order. This is false. We have no judge’s order. We have an agreement not to show any discernible info on ballots. And our agreement states specifically we can/will show faces. #azauditpool
Here's our story on Kern and his background and why it caught everyone's attention that he is counting ballots azcentral.com/story/news/pol…
And you can follow @TaylorSeely95 here for updates today. Already reporting that Kern is back
Thousands of private messages Cyber Ninjas’ CEO sent during the Arizona “audit” show deceit and infighting plagued the work. We (finally) obtained many, but not all of the records through a lawsuit (thread) azcentral.com/story/news/pol…
A few weeks after Doug Logan and Gene Kern confided they didn’t know state election laws and didn’t like reading them, their reluctance to learn things came back to bite them. They stocked the “audit” with blue pens, in violation of state election recount rules. Doh!
But @votewarren and @FannKfann plowed ahead. They just urged discretion. Namely, they kept secret that treasure hunter Jovan Pulitzer was deeply involved. Logan actually messaged Pulitzer continuously throughout the audit and he was on a group chat with contractors.
Cochise Supervisor Peggy Judd voted to delay certifying election. Said she needed more info on machines. Then she told NYT that was just pretext to not certify. She now faces 2 civil suits and possible criminal charges and I don't guess those NYT comments are going to help her.
Judd just said in a public meeting her preferred lawyer is not answering her calls today. Supervisors are meeting to sort out who will represent them.
Cochise supervisors for the second time this month are discussing how it could be possible to use private donations to pay for legal defense rather than use county funds. This was as sticking point for their failed effort to conduct a hand recount.
Good morning from Arizona where the usually mundane county canvasses of elections have become filled with the kind of drama voters just told candidates they were tired of azcentral.com/story/news/pol…
At the moment, a man in Mohave County is asking supervisors who delayed their canvass whether that county can force the entire state to have the election "redone" and how elections work.
"Supposen' you didn't certify them?" man asks county lawyer. Lawyer says that would mean county votes don't count toward state total. Man thinks that would be disenfranchisement.
Right now in southern Arizona, Cochise County supervisors are hearing from constituents who don't want them to certify '22 election results because, they say, the tabulators were not properly certified.
GOP Supervisor Tom Crosby motioned to bring the item up for a vote but said he has more comments for later. Meanwhile, there's enough people lined up for public comment to keep us here through the weekend, according to Supervisor Ann English, who I hope was being facetious
Up now, a man from Maricopa asserting the county attorney gave bad legal advice. Perhaps he missed the lawsuit the supervisors lost this month (that they would have avoided if they listened to the county attorney).
Last year, I got a tip an AZ company was selling marijuana loaded with pesticides to medical patients. So with my editors’ OK, I bought two strains of @growsciences flower from @localjointaz. Would have bought more but that’s all I could find that day. 🧵
@growsciences@localjointaz Grow Sciences is premier stuff. They charge about 2x the price of low-end flower in AZ. They sell out fast. If you recognize the name, it’s probably because they’ve been taking out cover ads on your favorite alt weekly as of late.
@growsciences@localjointaz I transferred the marijuana into generic bags and took them to Desert Valley Testing in Phoenix. Didn’t want the lab to know what they were testing, or why. Spoiler alert: It was loaded with imidacloprid. But that’s only part of this story.
Court hearing for Cyber Ninjas this morning and Doug Logan has two out of state lawyers repping him since his AZ lawyer wants off the case because he says he hasn't been paid. New lawyers are Jonathan Miller of Georgia and Mike Smith of Michigan.
AZ lawyer says Doug Logan is now the "former" CEO of Cyber Ninjas.
The new out-of-state lawyers are not licensed in AZ, so this is off to rocky start. They can't talk during today's hearing.