On today’s BradCast, the new election chief in Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ has discovered tens of thousands of voter registration forms from citizens who, he says, are otherwise eligible to vote, but were never added to the voting rolls by his predecessor, due to what he describes as an unconstitutional or, at least, immoral state statute. [Audio link to show follows below.]
Democrats seem quite giddy (with good reason) about their chances of re-taking the U.S. House next year following Thursday’s passage of the wildly unpopular Republican bill to replace ObamaCare. But their voters will have to be able to actually cast a vote next year — and have their votes counted as cast — in order for Democrats to have any chance of regaining a majority in Congress.
On that note, we are joined on today’s show by Maricopa’s brand new County Recorder Adrian Fontes. Last November, the Democratic former prosecutor unseated Pheonix’ previous election chief, Republican Helen Purcell, who had served in the post unopposed for 30 years. He was inspired to run following the disastrous Presidential Primary in Maricopa last year, when hundreds of precincts were shut down and many voters were forced to wait for hours to cast a vote in the Sanders/Clinton primary.
Since taking office, Fontes has discovered tens of thousands of voter registration forms, going as far back as a decade, stored in dusty boxes in a county warehouse. The forms, he explains, were never entered in to the voter database, since the applicants failed to include proof of citizenship, as required by Prop 200, a 2004 ballot initiative that is now Arizona law.
Fontes explains that he is now attempting to confirm the citizenship of the would-be voters himself, by checking their status as already tracked by the state’s Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) database. “We had a policy in this office that uses what I consider to be a mis-read of state law,” he tells me. “The read that was happening says that the County Recorder is to reject the form. My read is, if you’ve already proven to the State of Arizona that you’re a citizen, then you should be allowed to vote.”
Critics, specifically Republican critics, charge that Fontes, a U.S. Marine who formerly worked as a prosecutor in both the County Attorney’s office as well as for the Arizona Attorney General, is not shy in countering those critics. “Why in the world would anyone not want me to go check with the MVD and say ‘lo and behold, the Motor Vehicle Division of the State of Arizona has on file a document proving that this person is a citizen. I will therefore register you to vote!’ Why would anybody oppose that?”
Making matters worse or more “ironic” or “laughable”, as Fontes describes it, because the federal voter registration form has no instructions for attesting to citizenship status, state guidance requires him to check with the MVD himself to confirm citizenship status for those voters. But if the very same person were to have used a state voter registration form and forgot to fill in their drivers license number or provide other proof of citizenship, he is not supposed to register that person, according to the state rulebook. Moreover, he tells me, an online state registration system automatically checks that very same MVD database for applicants. “So, something that the state does, automatically, on its own website, you’ve got people telling me that I’m barred from doing. If that’s not the epitome of craziness, I don’t know what is!”
In all, Fontes tells me, he now believes “nearly 91,000” otherwise eligible voters may be found in those dusty boxes and he plans to register them all if he is able to confirm their status.
In addition to all of that, I ask Fontes about claims by Bernie Sanders supporters (he is one himself) that the DNC and/or Hillary Clinton Campaign were somehow behind the Primary election disaster in Phoenix last year, in order to rig the contest against the progressive Vermont U.S. Senator. That disaster, he explains, is what inspired him to run against Purcell. We also discuss allegations of Arizona’s voter database being hacked last year, concerns about the county’s electronic ballot tabulation system and whether there is actually any evidence to support claims by Republicans like Donald Trump and his adviser, Kansas Sec. of State Kris Kobach (who also instituted a “proof of citizenship” requirement in that state), that millions of illegal votes, including by non-citizens, were cast in last year’s election.
Finally today, Desi Doyen joins us for the Green News Report with her usual disturbing news, but also with a number of happily encouraging reports on the amazing growth of clean, renewable energy both in the U.S. and around the world!…
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[audio:http://bradblog.com/audio/BradCast_BradFriedman_AdrianFontes_MaricopaAZ_VoterRegistration_050517.mp3]
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Excellent topic and interview, Brad.
This demonstrates why progressives must not overlook the importance of local offices, especially those, like Maricopa County’s Recorder that are critical to maximizing the ability of every eligible citizen to vote without facing unnecessary impediments. Those impediments include long lines, strict photo ID or using proof of citizenship and a multitude of other means as fig leafs to mask naked voter suppression.
Montana’s Republican Party Chairman blew the gaff on the GOP’s attitude toward voting rights when he told his party members in the state legislature to oppose their own bill proposing a vote-by-mail special election to replace the state’s one Representative — on the grounds that this would enable too many people to vote, and that would favor the Democrats.
Other Republicans likewise blew the gaff when boasting about disenfranchising registered voters through voter-ID laws — again, specifically to keep Democrats from the polls.
Of the 868 polling places closed outright aound the country (generally in the South and Southwest) since the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby decision gutted the Voting Rights Act, 212 were in ruby-red Arizona, the highest percentage of polling places closed among the seven states listed.
So need we take many guesses at why Arizona merely stored away “nearly 91,000†otherwise eligible voters’ registration forms, and never acted upon them until now?
Four years ago I was going to vote absentee. Called for ballot and they sent me form to fill out and I did and sent it back in but never received a ballot. As I go to Fl for winter I went in and voted.
This year SOS mailed out forms to everyone to send in for absentee ballots. I voted again in early voting as I don’t trust the absentee ballots. Before I left for Florida I heard on the radio that a lot of the forms to get ballots were being discarded in the large inner cities while to outlying areas were being excepted. I wondered at the time if the S O S was up to something but never heard any more about it. What better way to have voter fraud than to do something like that and reject the forms. I wouldn’t trust our S O S as far as I could throw him. He has been cited for changing the rules to stop people from voting. Now he is running for senator. Heaven help us.
Check Portman’s gift from drugs companies versus Sherrod Brown’s and you see why we can’t get help with bidding on drugs. The Republican party talks a good game but you have to watch their voting record to see who they help.
meh.
* Judicial Watch Warns 11 States to Clean Voter Registration Lists or Face Federal Lawsuit
http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-warns-11-states-clean-voter-registration-lists-face-federal-lawsuit/
90 days tick tock
* Election Integrity Is Under Assault
http://www.judicialwatch.org/election-integrity/
Dirty election rolls can mean dirty electionsâ€