Republican Abe Hamadeh shared Thursday that Maricopa County allegedly delayed his team’s efforts to inspect the county’s adjudication logs from the 2022 election following a public records request. He is preparing to take legal action to remedy this if necessary.
“Maricopa County told my team that they were available for inspections this week. After we arrived yesterday morning the County kicked us out after just one hour. Maricopa County continues to obstruct and conceal – my team is prepared for litigation,” tweeted Hamadeh.
Maricopa County told my team that they were available for inspections this week. After we arrived yesterday morning the County kicked us out after just one hour. Maricopa County continues to obstruct and conceal – my team is prepared for litigation.
Democracy dies in darkness. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/jfELuGW7t3— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) February 9, 2023
The Arizona Sun Times reached out to Maricopa County for a response but received no response before publication.
The situation was explained in a letter penned by Hamadeh’s newest attorney, Jennifer Wright. She wrote that one of Hamadeh’s attorneys, Tim LaSota, filed a public records request with the County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates in November. He requested access to all “images of all ballot adjudications and duplications” and the “adjudication and duplication logs” from the 2022 election.
Wright explained that after roughly three months, Hamadeh’s team got a response, which stated that the adjudication logs would be available to inspect by appointment only. Ballot adjudication occurs when a tabulation machine cannot read a vote, possibly because of a stray mark or overvote. When this happens, a bipartisan group examines the ballots to determine voter intent and if or how the vote should be counted. Adjudication results are reported on paper audit logs.
However, Wright stated that Hamadeh’s inspectors went to review the adjudication logs on Wednesday but were told by Maricopa County that their examination time was limited to one hour. Wright claimed this was a surprise to the team. Yet, before leaving, the team was told they could return Thursday to continue the inspection. Except, Wright stated the county later notified the team that they could not return until Monday likely due to a lack of available staffing at the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office to supervise the inspection.
As reported by The Sun Times, Hamadeh is involved in an ongoing election challenge to overturn the results of the attorney general race and has requested a new trial. In his reply brief, also written by Wright, she explained that a new trial is warranted because Hamadeh did not have access to all the possible evidence before going to trial.
Wright continued her letter to the county by citing Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS) § 39-121, which states that public records in the custody of an official “shall be open to inspection by any person at all time during office hours.” She insisted that the records LaSota requested could support Hamadeh’s election challenge, and Hamadeh’s team would take “swift legal action” in accordance with ARS § 39-121.02.
“More than 80-days to provide an opportunity to simply inspect records during office hours seems to run afoul of the plain language and clear precedent of Arizona’s Public Records Laws,” Wright wrote. “Given Maricopa County’s perpetual delays in responding to public records requests, Mr. Hamadeh intends to aggressively utilize every available legal remedy.”
To avoid further litigation, Hamadeh requested that the County make arrangements to allow the inspectors to resume their review on Friday or provide his team with digital copies of the adjudication logs.
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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Abe Hamadeh” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
