DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Fact Check-Election Day turnout numbers do not account for Arizona early voting
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Data showing low Democratic turnout on Election Day does not account for early mail-in and ballot drop-off votes. One of the Uplift charts, titled “Maricopa County E-Day Check Ins,” shows 16.6% Democrat, 30.7% Other, and 52.7% Republican check ins at Election Day in Maricopa County. These included 250,000 (16%) in-person votes on Election Day, 290,000 (19%) early ballot drop-offs on Election Day and 1.02 million (65%) early ballots before Election Day. “The short answer to why this is incorrect is the data is from primary election day 8/2/2022,” Almy said. “Voters in the primary have no relevance to the general election.”Megan Gilbertson, communications director for Maricopa County, said “Maricopa County has not asserted either of the claims stated that article.”VERDICTMissing context.

☆ Arizona attorney general wants report on voting machine problems
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Arizona Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich's office has demanded that Maricopa County officials provide a report on the voting machine problems that caused some delays in the battleground state during this month's midterm elections. A letter dated Saturday by Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright calls for county officials to report by Nov. 28 on the specific problems related to the printers at each location as well on how poll workers were trained. Blake Masters lost to Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, and Kari Lake lost the governor's race to Democrat Katie Hobbs. Lake has yet to concede and continues to make unsubstantiated claims about election improprieties on her Twitter feed. Reporting by Chris Gallagher in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Although prominent election deniers in critical battleground states lost at the polls, their movement has had far-reaching impact. In reality, the livestream app suffered a glitch that caused the cameras to stop working, county officials said in a statement after investigating the blackout. IN ARIZONA, BOOSTING SECURITYIn Arizona's Maricopa County, election officials strengthened doors, added shatterproof film on windows and stationed a security guard in the ballot-counting room. In Georgia's Gwinnett County, which includes part of the greater Atlanta area, election officials held planning meetings with local law enforcement to beef up security, Elections Supervisor Zach Manifold told Reuters. The plan included keeping sheriff's officers on site for longer to ensure election staff felt safe, he said.

☆ Fact Check-As printing issue affected some tabulators in Maricopa County, officials say backup options were available for voters
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Reuters also reported that a Republican request to extend voting in Maricopa County was rejected on Tuesday night. AVAILABLE ALTERNATIVESIn a statement to Reuters on Nov. 8, the Maricopa County Elections Department said that if voters experienced issues with tabulators, they "have a number of options to choose from" (here). The Maricopa County Elections Department explained the process in a tweet (here). Mercer County in New Jersey also reported issues with voting machines scanners on Nov. 8(here) (bit.ly/3zYGFqT). VERDICTThere is no evidence that issues affecting voting machines in Maricopa County led to fraud.

☆ Voting machine problems in battleground Arizona seized on by Trump, election deniers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Tim Reid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Richer called the malfunctions "disappointing" and correctly predicted that election deniers and conspiracists such as Trump would "exploit" the issue. The state's Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who has echoed Trump's false claims of a stolen 2020 election, also seized on the machine problems, issuing a "voter alert" on her Twitter account. Trump, Lake and other election deniers have been calling for the end of electronic voting machines, Election Day-only voting, and the use of just paper ballots and hand counts, a process that is time-consuming, costly and far less accurate than machine counting. The machine malfunctions fueled distrust among many Republican voters in Arizona that fraud was involved, especially after Trump issued a statement on his Truth Social platform. "Reports are coming in from Arizona that the Voting Machines are not properly working in predominately Republican/Conservative areas," Trump said, adding: "Here we go again?

☆ Officials in key Arizona county combat misinformation, election security fears a day before midterms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Rocio Fabbro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Key county officials refuted misinformation about vote counting spreading on Twitter, among other platforms. "We're here in Maricopa County, we've got residents of Maricopa County that are trying to do the right thing and understand what the truth is, and a lot of this misinformation is being spread by people who don't even live here in Maricopa County," Gates said. For the past two years, Maricopa County has been ramping up efforts to combat misinformation, which has especially affected the area. Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said the county is "committed to protect the free vote in a republic." As of Monday morning, the Maricopa County recorder's office received 974,760 early voting packets and signature verified 965,000 of those, according to county Recorder Stephen Richer.

[1/3] Eliza Luna, a ballot designer with the Maricopa County Elections Department, counts ballots for the Arizona Presidential Preference Election at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., March 17, 2020. Between July 11 and Aug. 22, the county election office documented at least 140 threats and other hostile communications, the records show. Maricopa officials appeared at times overwhelmed by threatening posts on social media and right-wing message boards calling for workers to be executed or hung. Eight people face federal charges for threats, including two who targeted Maricopa County officials. The county election director had instructed him to shut down the server for delivery to the Arizona State Senate in response to a subpoena.

☆ Election officials combat voter intimidation across U.S. as extremist groups post armed militia at some polls
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Rocio Fabbro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Instead they are leading to voter intimidation complaints," Maricopa County election officials Bill Gates and Stephen Richer said in a joint statement the next day. But its presence caused unease among Maricopa County voters, who saw these "drop box watchers" as a blatant attempt at voter intimidation. Fears about voter intimidation and suppression have been brewing nationwide since the 2020 presidential election, when Trump refused to accept his loss and accused several states of voter fraud. Two in five U.S. voters said they were worried about threats of violence or voter intimidation at the polls, according to a new Reuters/Ipso poll. "There's an alarming rise in the number of people in this country condoning political violence or simply remaining silent," Biden said.

But the door knockers didn't explain where to vote or promote a candidate, the usual work of canvassers ahead of a big election. At another, they listed names of registered voters and demanded to know if they still lived at the address. In at least one state, Michigan, they plan to use their list of alleged irregularities to challenge voters in the Nov. 8 election. Reuters identified at least 23 state-wide or local efforts where canvassers may have crossed the line into intimidation, according to election officials and voting rights lawyers. This August, people affiliated with USEIP were also canvassing in La Plata County, according to the county clerk.

☆ Top Arizona election official refers more cases of potential voter intimidation to law enforcement
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Zoë Richards | Zoë Richards Is The Evening Politics Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has referred six reports of possible voter intimidation to law enforcement in the past week, as well as an allegation of harassment of an election worker, her office said Monday. The cases were referred to the state attorney general’s office and the U.S. Justice Department for further investigation. Early voting got underway Oct. 12 in the battleground state, where Hobbs is the Democratic nominee for governor. Hobbs’ office said it also referred a report of election worker harassment to law enforcement Saturday. The case is being pursued by the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which was launched in June 2021.

Search resuls for: "Stephen Rich"

10 mentions found