Pinal County Board of Supervisors hears resident concerns about upcoming elections

PINAL COUNTY, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - The Pinal County Board of Supervisors heard various residents’ concerns regarding early voting, possible voter intimidation, and the potential that various ballot machines are not certified.

During the feedback period, one Pinal County resident said that not only does he believe that the 2020 election machines weren’t certified, but he also believes that “leftist communists are trying to destroy this country.” He added that he believes the county would have ample volunteers to hand count the ballots, if necessary.

The officials said that elections are done in a statutory way, that all machines are verified more than once, and that each election follows an election procedural manual from 2019. The manual was signed by the Governor of Arizona, the Attorney General and many others who oversee the election process in some way.

Another resident said that, to her, having fair elections should be a priority and bipartisan issue. “I’m old enough to know—I’ve been voting long enough to know that paper ballots can be counted by hand,” she said. “Every precinct is set up to have only 1200 and 1500 voters. You can’t tell me a precinct can’t count 1500 ballots in a day.”

Other residents voiced their concerns that Republican candidate for governor Kari Lake, Republican candidate for Attorney General Abe Hamadeh, and others would not take steps to ensure that all votes were appropriately counted. In her latest televised interview, Lake reiterated that she believes the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. The former president has endorsed Lake during her campaign and has spoken at conservative rallies alongside her twice this year. Her comments have many asking whether or not she will consider the results of the election to be valid should she not win the governor’s seat.

“The citizens of Pinal County are counting on you to provide a clear and safe election,” one resident said. Another resident said that he was concerned about this year’s elections being impacted by True the Vote, a conservative non-profit organization based in Houston, for possible voter intimidation efforts. The resident was referring to the several incidences across the state in which masked individuals were spotted filming, photographing, and harassing voters dropping off their ballots.

On Monday and Tuesday, two separate requests for restraining orders were filed by three Arizona organizations against multiple conservative-adjacent organizations, including Clean Elections USA, a Tulsa-based organization whose mission statement claims that in a study individuals dubbed “mules” were reportedly paid to drive across counties in the U.S., filling ballot boxes with falsified mail-in ballots.

“Attorney General Mark Brnovich has requested FBI and Internal Revenue Service to investigate the company for its refusing to cooperate with Arizona investigators, and its claim of 2020 election fraud as depicted in ‘2,000 Mules’,” another resident said. “Can the county reassure that Pinal County ballot boxes will not be impacted or be involved with Pinal County’s Sheriff Mark Lamb? Lamb’s integrity has been compromised by his national activities.”

The resident’s reference to “2,000 Mules” comes from a debunked documentary released earlier this year, which spread the belief that widespread, coordinated voter fraud in the 2020 election would have been enough to allow former President Donald Trump to serve a second term. Sheriff Mark Lamb has appeared on Newsmax and Fox News to address Arizona-Mexico border issues. In 2022, Lamb contributed to conservative Turning Point USA’s newest documentary entitled “Border Battle.”

The committee meeting comes just days after the Cochise County Board of Supervisors voted 2-1 in favor of the ballot hand count after an hours-long meeting. Republican County Attorney Brian McIntyre said he believes that declaring a hand count was illegal and that supervisors would be held personally responsible for instating the ruling.

“I implore you not to attempt to order this separate hand count,” McIntyre said.

Copyright 2022 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.