New: Justice Dept warns GOP-led audit of the 2020 election ballots in Arizona that turning over mate

[soothsayer]

Link to tweet

?s=21


Hugo Lowell
@hugolowell
New: Justice Dept warns GOP-led audit of the 2020 election ballots in Arizona that turning over materials to Cyber Ninjas — operated by Trump supporter — could violate federal voting and civil rights laws.

[CrispyQ]

1. Oh. A warning. I feel so much better.

Everyday the stories coming out of AZ get worse & worse. Today—ballots & computers left unattended. IDK, but our side seems pretty casual about this whole thing.

[soothsayer]

3. I know what you mean. Maybe we just aren't hearing about it?

[DENVERPOPS]

17. Be very very careful Crispy

I said something quite similar a few years back...... I dared, politely, to question the actions of the Democrat Party and one of it's members actions, and was hand slapped/sanctioned by DU......

I dare not say more in agreement with your comment, I hope you understand.......

[HuskyOffset]

25. It's not the "Democrat Party"

It's bad enough when grammar challenged simple-minded Republican dumbasses do it. Can we please not have DUers doing it as well?

[DENVERPOPS]

30. Sorry HO

Sorry, I get confused at my age. Especially when I consider my self a Democrat, not a "Democratic"
It always stumps me which one to use.....We are a party of Democrats, not "Democratics"....??????????
See what my very old, slow brain has to contend with......

But don't you worry HO, I made a DEMOCRATIC post it note and stuck it on my computer........

And, I definitely deeply resent you directly or indirectly implying that I am:

A grammar challenged, simple minded Democrat dumb ass....................

[Mister Ed]

31. Noun: Democrat. Adjective: Democratic.

You're a Democrat. You're a member of the Democratic Party.

I sincerely hope you won't take umbrage at this note. Republicans have been dissing our party by calling it the "Democrat Party" for fifteen years or more. I hate to see them getting us to adopt their term.

[Celerity]

32. Democrat as a slur goes back to the 19th century, and has been systematically used by

the Rethugs since the 1940's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(epithet)

[DENVERPOPS]

35. Now, I am seriously confused.......

so should we therefore quit thinking or call ourselves "democrats"??????

This entire matter has gotten way out of hand with you all....... way out of my league & education.......

[Celerity]

36. we are Democrats (noun), we belong to the Democratic (adjective) Party

[DENVERPOPS]

37. I am out of here..............

I heard you the first time......I am a very old man, un-educated, but not an imbecile.

It fascinates me, the number of people that are more obsessed in a word/spelling/grammar, than the point of my post.

I guess, for the sake of ALL of you, will try much harder in the future...............

[Celerity]

38. I do not understand why you are so upset

Hugz

Cel

[Aristus]

48. I am a Democrat. I am a supporter of the Democratic Party.

Noun. Adjective.

Class dismissed.

[The Wizard]

33. It was started in the 50s

by none other than alcoholic disgraced senator Joseph McCarthy.

[HuskyOffset]

44. Apologies to you DENVERPOPS

I didn't follow the rule about waiting 5 minutes after writing a post before hitting the post button. If I had, I would have sanded the sharpness off that post.

To be clear, I did not intend to imply that you were a dumbass of any kind, although when I read my post that's clearly what it does. That is on me, and I apologize.

I sometimes get a bit hot under the collar when Republicans substitute "Democrat" (a noun) for "Democratic" (an adjective) because it is a systematic effort on their part because they use "Democrat" as a slur. I tend to correct people when I see that mistake. I should have done a much softer correction, as Mister Ed and Celerity did a few posts down in this thread.

I do hope you don't let my mistake discourage you from posting in the future. I'm going to try to learn from this and do better.

[triron]

41. I agree. DOJ needs to heed Teddy Roosevelt: 'Speak softly but carry a big stick.'

[BlueJac]

2. Why didn't they do the recount in a bar?

It wouldn't make it more insane than it is!

[DENVERPOPS]

18. How about the bar

here in Colorado that U.S. Representative Bang-Bang-Barbee owns....It would be perfect.......

[niyad]

51. Excellent. Between the loaded guns, the alcohol, and potential food poisoning, what could be

more fun?

[Lovie777]

4. republicans know it is illegal ... . .

they don't care because they are above the law and rules of this country.

[triron]

42. If there are no consequences, then....

[stopdiggin]

5. Ummm. Isn't it a little late for that? -(nt)-

[spanone]

6. COULD????? WTF?

seems it's illegal or it's not.

[Escurumbele]

15. Sorry, I repeated what you said... I keep telling myself to read other responses so I don't repeat.

But yes, I am with you...The law is clear, why the doubt?

It almost sounds like "the law says it is illegal, but we may press charges, or we may not"...I am so tired of this vagueness.

[DENVERPOPS]

20. NO SHIT escu.......NC

[albacore]

7. Look at it this way....

Any sensible person knows that a "warning" from the DOJ is letting you know you're liable. Any lawyers involved in that clusterfuck - and there may be a few too stupid to avoid it - will run like bunnies.
I know if the DOJ "warned" me, I would read it as a "cease and desist".

[soothsayer]

9. Yeah, hopefully they'll take this as a wake up call to stop the nonsense

[Deacon Blue]

27. Any Sensible Person...

As we all know, these idjits are the opposite of sensible AND sentient.

[DURHAM D]

8. The legislators who voted to do this

is who actually broke the law. Put them all in jail.

[ancianita]

22. AND the AG and governor who let them do this

[Dan]

10. Susan Collins now in charge of the DOJ?

[DENVERPOPS]

23. Actually, you know what I would like to see

in an investigation? The 2020 election votes in S. Carolina, Kentucky, and Maine examined very very closely, especially if they were tabulated on EIS machines...........Paying a lot of attention to the U.S. Presidential Votes, and the U.S. Senators votes. I found the number of votes for those states U.S. Senators, vs the Polls, to be quite curious........

[Mr.Bill]

11. The good news is all the Arizona ballots

are now legally compromised and no recount of any kind in the future will be valid. They have actually made the last legal recount to be carved in stone. Game over. Let them do this in all the swing states as far as I'm concerned. I think the DoJ gave them enough rope to hang themselves. No way the DoJ did not know this was illegal from the start. They fell into a trap they layed themselves. Brilliant.

[soothsayer]

19. Ooh I like this take

[ancianita]

24. Yep.

Pretty sure the DOJ knows exactly which charges to make against which parties, and the legal precedent the DOJ will get a federal ruling on. They're not going to let private firms take public money to recount public votes, publicly counted and recounted, then publicly confirmed by due process of both the Electoral College and Congress.

Laptops left on all night enable all kinds of remote manipulating, data mining and uploading, too. Through an "abundance of caution," the DOJ should have those confiscated, too.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. Ya think??

[turbinetree]

13. Boom.........

[Escurumbele]

14. "COULD"??? If they know the law, and they should (Justice Dept), there should be no "COULD"

Is it, or is it not? Why the doubt? Does the law make this action by the GOP violate voting and civil rights, YES or NO?

Why is it always a doubt, the law must be clear, is it or is it not?

[BobTheSubgenius]

16. Why would this not have surfaced at the very beginning of this travesty?

I don't seem to be the only one that doesn't expect the "Stop The Steal" crowd is going to listen, but it might have got others paying attention to it.

[DENVERPOPS]

21. The EXACT question I ask

every single day. Especially since Biden has been in charge of the DOJ, FBI, etc etc etc.
My other question that plagues me, is if we will EVER see anyone get punished for the January Insurrection....I see that 450 have been arrested, many for really egregious felony behavior, and released on bond.....are some being held in Jail, awaiting a quick and speedy trial?

This is so weird...................

[Elessar Zappa]

40. The wheels of justice grind slowly but surely.

The insurrectionists will be punished. Give it time. The DC court system is overrun with cases due to those assholes so it'll take a while to get them tried.

[BobTheSubgenius]

45. I have no answer, just all but useless conjecture.

Perhaps the feds are worried about stirring up the hornet's nest any more than necessary, but I doubt it. It's hard to believe that any of the "street thug" level actors have juice within the govt, at least directly. Maybe there are some in a position to do the seditionists some good by quietly pulling strings, but that doesn't seem likely, either.

The only one that would do anything openly is the Evil Pumpkin, because he has no filters and massive amounts of arrogance, sense of entitlement, and any other negative quality you care to add. Fortunately, I don't think he has enough leverage to make someone that really counts within the power structure to potentially blow up their lives to help what is no more than rabble.

[ancianita]

28. Maybe the DOJ has had to get their evidence and argument ducks in a row,

so a court decision doesn't win on appeal?

[BobTheSubgenius]

46. That's an excellent thought.

Hang on to it, because we might be circling back to that at some point.

[pnwmom]

29. I hope it means they were setting a trap -- giving them enough rope to hang themselves. n/t

[BobTheSubgenius]

47. That could certainly be the case.

My thought was that I would hate to see this charade gain momentum by leaking "results," and it seemed to me that nipping it in the bud (or wherever else you'd like to see it nipped) would be a good strategy, too.

[ancianita]

49. The Democrats tried to nip it, but Judge Daniel Martin let it go forward, though the judge

has said, even after examining ninja privacy procedures docs, that he's not assured that privacy rights of voters will be guaranteed. So what that tells me is that he's allowing for whatever the DOJ might consult with him on. Just a thought.

[BobTheSubgenius]

55. His opinion of their privacy procedures isn't enough to issue at least a temporary injunction?

I don't see any irrevocable harm in that, but I do see prudence and caution. Those qualities seem to be lacking all over the place.

[ancianita]

57. That's what plaintiffs asked for, but I guess he decided to let it go forward, seeing whether

defendants might likely hoist themelves with their own petard. As it turns out, they're probably not going to be able to finish the count or fulfill all the requirements of a proper 'audit,' anyway. Which will mean that their attempt to give momentum to the big lie was a FAIL.

[Lettuce Be]

26. Isn't that obvious?

How was this ever allowed to go forward? The election is over, it's been certified.

[NoMoreRepugs]

34. Mr Garland is a VERY bright man, there's a strategy here.

[dalton99a]

39. Kick

[UCmeNdc]

43. I thought that was an odd way to do a recount. Turning ballots over to a partisan private company

Then they should turn the ballots over to me and let me count them if it is a thing that anyone is allowed to count ballots. I mean why does Cyber Ninjas get to count the ballots?

[ancianita]

50. Republicans got the Sec of State to allow it. Apparently,

a state party can hire a 3rd party "auditor,&quot the ninjas as long as the judge who heard the Democrats' case ruled that the auditors seemed 'in good faith' enough, followed the law and gave him written procedures. That's what I gather, but hell yeah, it's odd as hell.

[garybeck]

52. it is blatantly illegal and I said this over a week ago

https://democraticunderground.com/100215381204

[bluestarone]

53. Will the FULL COST of this bullshit recount ever be known

To Arizona voters? All this for NOTHING!

[scipan]

54. NPR article:

One issue is that ballots, voting systems and other election materials are no longer in the custody of election officials — a possible violation of federal law, which requires state and local election workers to store and safeguard federal voting records.[
"We have a concern that Maricopa County election records, which are required by federal law to be retained and preserved, are no longer under the ultimate control of elections officials, are not being adequately safeguarded by contractors, and are at risk of damage or loss," Karlan wrote in the letter addressed to Fann.

The other issue: Plans for door-to-door canvassing may also violate federal laws aimed at preventing voter intimidation, according to Karlan.

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/06/994246426/justice-department-shares-concerns-with-arizona-senate-audit-recount

[LiberatedUSA]

56. A warning was needed for this? I thought it was assumed.