The Arizona Republican Party, via the state Senate, has commissioned a trio of companies to conduct yet another recount in Maricopa County, against the advice of electoral authorities, and without the participation of the Arizona Secretary of State’s office, who is the authority in charge of running state elections. This fact alone should make you skeptical, but nothing the former conservative party does these days is a surprise. They have surrendered to their anti-democratic instincts, with behavior that old Republicans would revolt against if it happened in another country.
Previous audits and a hand-recount and court decisions cleared the way for the election results to be certified. This audit is taking place without any regard for procedures is sounding the alarm among voting rights groups. There is a risk that this operation could damage the ballots because, just so we know what is going on here, the Republican Party is conducting an audit with a company whose head is known for spreading falsehoods about the 2020 election. This bogus audit seeks to present a different result that justifies more voter suppression laws.
Within Trump’s inner circle, this is being used as a test for further vote recounts in other states is not unexpected, or that the Republican Party is going along because … well, there’s Liz Cheney, is not surprising. The problem is that the Republican base is not just supporting this behavior; it is demanding it. This needs to be said, as clearly as possible, the conservative party in the United States has an anti-democratic base. When you want to cheat in an election because that is what the mob wanted to do on January 6th, you don’t believe in the electoral process. The people conducting the fake audit in Maricopa County do not believe in elections. They are not sore losers, no. The Republican Party does not believe in elections.
This reminds me so much of my own country, Venezuela, where elections stopped once the ruling party started to lose them. The Republicans are doing the same thing I had to run away from six years ago. The problem is not that this attempt will prove anything different from the initial results, although Trump thinks it will prove the election was stolen. They genuinely believe that people beyond their base will trust that a GOP-controlled Senate, along with private contractors and not election officials, ran a credible audit.
This sham audit does not have any legal consequences other than perpetuating the Big Lie, and that’s about it. Ken Bennett, the recount spokesman, said: “that the goal is not to re-litigate the outcome of the 2020 election.” Bennett acknowledged: “This is about identifying if there are any areas of our elections that need to be improved going forward.” It is a fishing expedition to make every American, regardless of ideology, race, or faith, distrust the integrity of the electoral system.
The concern among voting and election rights activists is that the blatant disrespect for norms is intentional. A former Arizona state lawmaker that participated in the January 6th assault, and ran as a candidate in the 2020 election, is currently involved in the audit. That’s how serious this audit is. It is not official, it is not changing the outcome, but it will contribute to feed the Big Lie (and probably help with the fundraising), but the actual harm is the delegitimization of elections. This will give other states an argument to reinforce voter suppression mechanisms, pass new laws and make it harder for people, even Republicans in some states, to vote.
The Senate’s argument for the recount is to “restore integrity to the election process,” but the fact is they are doing the complete opposite. According to Elizabeth Howard, from the Brennan Center for Justice, this will undermine confidence in the election process. The 2020 election was fair. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, with a Republican majority of 4-1, voted unanimously to certify the November 3rd election of Joe Biden. This audit is telling the American people you cannot trust anyone, not Republicans, not Democrats.
There are several reasons to fear that this dishonest audit will not bode well for the American election process. The audit is being conducted solely by the party that lost the election. After their own Chairman in the GOP-controlled Maricopa Board of Supervisors certified, there was “no evidence of misconduct or malfunction.” There is concern among advocates about the risk of voter intimidation since the company in charge of the audit is planning to conduct interviews with voters in a sample of precincts with ‘significant anomalies.’ This attempt to discredit the election process is being made at the expense of taxpayers, with the state Senate allocating $150,000 to cover the fees. They are using the people’s hard-earned dollars to pay for the perpetuation of the Big Lie.
The Republican Party needs to put their business in order. They know this is a sham, a scam, done not only to perpetuate the excuse for the assault on democracy but also for fundraising. It shouldn’t be ignored. In addition, the GOP is intent on sowing distrust in the election process, no matter the consequences. People like Gabriel Sterling, warning about the illegality of this process, are isolated from a party that has rotten to the core. The former Republican Party has given up on democracy, they know well “election integrity is a losing issue“, but they are not planning on getting back to office through free and fair elections. This should be told.