The Last Scheme to Discredit the 2020 Election Is On, and It's Even Crazier Than You Think

[catbyte]

From a conspiracy-minded tech CEO to an auditor who lost the very election he’s auditing—and got fired for lying about a tablet—the recount has eyeballs rolling.

Kelly Weill
Reporter
Published Apr. 22, 2021

When a Republican-led coalition gathers to “audit” Maricopa County, Arizona’s 2020 election results on Thursday, the motley crew will include a former lawmaker who previously lost a police job for lying about a stolen iPad and a technology firm helmed by a proponent of election conspiracy theories.

Joe Biden won the presidential election in Arizona, including in hotly contested Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. Although multiple bipartisan reviews have upheld those results, and Donald Trump has long since exited the White House, a new effort to recount all of Maricopa County’s 2.1 million votes is kicking off this week. The scheme is led by actual elected officials with power, including the leaders of Arizona’s state Senate, which has tapped a Florida-based cybersecurity firm to oversee the audit.

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On Monday, former Arizona state representative Anthony Kern tweeted that he would be involved in the recount. “#Electionintegrity,” he wrote in his announcement. Arizona’s House Democrats had a less sunny response: quote-tweeting Kern with a picture of him standing in a crowd of Trump fans at a Jan. 6 rally that preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol. “One of Arizona’s election auditors reporting for duty,” the House Democrats tweeted. “#ShamAudit.”

Kern, who did not return The Daily Beast’s request for comment, maintains that he did not enter the Capitol or participate in the riot, and has not been charged with a crime related to the day’s events. Still, the specifics of his actions are the subject of a legal spat in Arizona. On the day of the riot, he was serving his final days as a state representative, having lost re-election the same day as Trump. He and another Arizona representative who attended the pre-riot rally have declined public records requests for their messages related to the event, with their lawyer stating that “the threat of criminal prosecution gives rise to certain Constitutional rights that may overcome the duty to disclose otherwise public documents under Arizona’s public records law.”

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-last-scheme-to-discredit-the-2020-election-is-on-and-its-even-crazier-than-you-think

[ChazII]

1. I don't know for sure but one might still be able to be an observer.

Maricopa County, Arizona registered voters from all parties may apply to become a volunteer observer.

https://arizonaaudit.com/sign-up/

[maxrandb]

2. Got to give him credit. That's a novel approach to Pleading the 5Th