Election conspiracies continue at Arizona state capitol

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Election deniers at our state legislature may have gone too far with their latest baseless accusations of voter fraud.

One of the top Republicans at the capitol is calling the comments made at the official hearing “disgraceful.” “What should have been a joint hearing to examine common sense election reforms devolved into disgraceful fringe theater,” House Speaker Ben Toma said in a statement Monday. The House leader referred to last week’s joint hearing on elections, where a key witness accused some of Arizona’s top officials of criminal activity.

Sen. Wendy Rogers, a Republican from Flagstaff, appeared to distance herself from the hearing even though she did not refute the unsubstantiated claims. “To our knowledge, none of the people named had charges filed, have prosecutions pending, nor had any convictions made against them,” she wrote in a statement over the weekend.

Her comments indicate how the hearing went too far, even for an unapologetic election denier like Rogers. Since 2020 she’s led the charge on election denialism and has remained a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump, who continues to endorse conspiracies.

Last year the senate voted to publicly rebuke her after speaking to a group attending a white nationalist conference. After she was officially censured along a bipartisan vote, Rogers, who now leads the senate elections committee, refused to apologize.

Senate President Warren Petersen also issued a statement distancing himself from the hearing. “This was definitely not the proper venue to make such allegations, nor to assess the credibility of such statements,” he said.

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