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AuditAZ & ADP EIC Update on Arizona Stolen Election Case
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The RTA Ballot Case: Why Transparency Matters:
Last Monday (Feb. 23, 2009) the RTA Court hearing ended
abruptly after only 12 minutes, leaving a packed courtroom in shock. The Attorney General’s intervention shut down the hearing when in a
surprise court announcement, Deputy Attorney General John Evans said that the
Attorney General had obtained a secret court order, that he could share with the
judge, but not reveal to the public the contents of the order.
People who attended
the hearing expressed dismay and started to ask questions about the meaning of a
secret court order. For months we had requested the
Attorney General to take control of the ballots and set up a transparent process
for counting them. The purpose of the litigation is to ask a court to offer
prospective relief by setting up procedures to make all future elections fair
and transparent. That part of the litigation will
be decided by the Court of Appeals.
As it stands we’re
urging Attorney General Goddard to open the investigative process to political
party oversight. We maintain that party oversight so fundamental to the public
trust demands that verification and transparency must be fundamental to
inspection and counting of the RTA
ballots. Therefore, maintaining the
security and integrity of the RTA ballots requires that the
ballots be stored
under the control of the Attorney General, not within any other election
department of any other Arizona County and that the
inspection and counting process be open and
transparent.
View Democratic Party Attorney Bill Risner
Video/Audio:
Speculation about the fate of the ballots had been swirling over the weekend since an Arizona Daily Star article mentioned that the Attorney General had filed an “informal request” to obtain the ballots for examination. That announcement followed earlier statements made by Attorney General Terry Goddard on Arizona Illustrated that he could not take control of the ballots on the basis of “curiosity.”
Last Monday morning, intending to
meet a deadline, Bill Risner filed a notice of appeal challenging Judge Charles
Harrington’s ruling that his court had no jurisdiction to order prospective
relief in future elections. Judge Harrington used those legal
grounds to deny all jurisdiction concerning the ballots, and end all court
proceedings after hearing from Deputy Attorney General
Evans.
Later we learned
that Attorney General Goddard obtained the secret court order from a Court in
Maricopa County. We now know
that the ballots likely were hauled to Phoenix on Tuesday,
the day after the hearing, Although we had urged the Attorney General to act to
examine and count the ballots as part of his investigation, we had also asked
him for transparency.
Background:
Bill Risner had
received word from County Treasurer Beth Ford that she had no objection to the
political parties obtaining copies of the yellow sheets and poll tapes from the
RTA election. This was a separate case
scheduled to be heard before another judge.
The aim was to
protect the ballots from destruction long enough to allow for a court-ordered
transparent process for obtaining the yellow sheets and poll tapes stored within
the ballot boxes.
Late Friday before
the hearing, John Richardson, Attorney for Treasurer Beth Ford informed Bill
Risner that Attorney General Terry Goddard aimed to remove the ballots from
secure storage at Iron Mountain to the Maricopa County Elections
Department. Our expectation was that the
Attorney General would present his
“informal request”
in Judge Harrington’s Court, not obtain a secret court order.
Sandra
Spangler
Chair, Pima County
Democratic Party Election Integrity Committee
Update: Activists Jim March and John Brakey went to Phoenix to try to find the ballots.
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