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DOJ sends election monitors to 5 Arizona counties to ensure voting law compliance

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DOJ sends election monitors to 5 Arizona counties to ensure voting law compliance


PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) – Federal election screens shall be deployed to varied ballot areas in 5 Arizona counties beginning Tuesday to observe compliance with Federal Voting Rights Legal guidelines, the Division of Justice introduced on Monday.

Officers say that personnel from the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorneys’ Places of work shall be deployed to Maricopa, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, and Yavapai counties beginning on Election Day Tuesday to look at for any voter intimidation and voter suppression. In all, the division says it’s going to deploy personnel to 64 communities in 24 states.

Division officers are encouraging voters to report disruption at a polling place instantly to native election officers (together with these within the polling place). These complaints associated to violence, threats of violence, or intimidation at a polling place needs to be reported instantly by calling 911. As soon as native authorities have been made conscious, voters are requested to report the incident to DOJ officers.

Arizona has been within the nationwide highlight in recent times after the 2020 presidential election, adopted by a controversial poll audit ordered by Republicans within the Arizona State Senate. So far, elections officers round Arizona have repeatedly mentioned there had been no indicators of voter fraud in current elections.

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DOJ Civil Rights Division monitor areas:

  • Metropolis of Bethel, Alaska;
  • Dillingham Census Space, Alaska;
  • Kusilvak Census Space, Alaska;
  • Sitka Metropolis-Borough, Alaska;
  • Maricopa County, Arizona;
  • Navajo County, Arizona;
  • Pima County, Arizona;
  • Pinal County, Arizona;
  • Yavapai County, Arizona;
  • Newton County, Arkansas;
  • Los Angeles County, California;
  • Sonoma County, California;
  • Broward County, Florida;
  • Miami-Dade County, Florida;
  • Palm Seashore County, Florida;
  • Cobb County, Georgia;
  • Fulton County, Georgia;
  • Gwinnett County, Georgia;
  • City of Clinton, Massachusetts;
  • Metropolis of Everett, Massachusetts;
  • Metropolis of Fitchburg, Massachusetts;
  • Metropolis of Leominster, Massachusetts;
  • Metropolis of Malden, Massachusetts;
  • Metropolis of Methuen, Massachusetts;
  • Metropolis of Randolph, Massachusetts;
  • Metropolis of Salem, Massachusetts;
  • Prince George’s County, Maryland;
  • Metropolis of Detroit, Michigan;
  • Metropolis of Flint, Michigan;
  • Metropolis of Grand Rapids, Michigan;
  • Metropolis of Pontiac, Michigan;
  • Metropolis of Southfield, Michigan;
  • Metropolis of Minneapolis, Minnesota;
  • Hennepin County, Minnesota;
  • Ramsey County, Minnesota;
  • Cole County, Missouri;
  • Alamance County, North Carolina;
  • Columbus County, North Carolina;
  • Harnett County, North Carolina;
  • Mecklenburg County, North Carolina;
  • Wayne County, North Carolina;
  • Middlesex County, New Jersey;
  • Bernalillo County, New Mexico;
  • San Juan County, New Mexico;
  • Clark County, Nevada;
  • Washoe County, Nevada;
  • Queens County, New York;
  • Cuyahoga County, Ohio;
  • Berks County, Pennsylvania;
  • Centre County, Pennsylvania;
  • Lehigh County, Pennsylvania;
  • Luzerne County, Pennsylvania;
  • Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania;
  • Metropolis of Pawtucket, Rhode Island;
  • Horry County, South Carolina;
  • Dallas County, Texas;
  • Harris County, Texas;
  • Waller County, Texas;
  • San Juan County, Utah;
  • Metropolis of Manassas, Virginia;
  • Metropolis of Manassas Park, Virginia;
  • Prince William County, Virginia;
  • Metropolis of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and,
  • Metropolis of Racine, Wisconsin.



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Arizona

Gilbert man dies in Eloy skydiving accident, marking second death in 8 days

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Gilbert man dies in Eloy skydiving accident, marking second death in 8 days


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Eloy police reported that a man from Gilbert, believed to be wearing a wingsuit, died after his parachute failed to deploy before a hard landing on Saturday. This marks the second skydiving-related death in the area within eight days.

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About 11:40 a.m., 32-year-old Shawn Bowen was reportedly skydiving near the Eloy Municipal Airport while wearing a “wingsuit-type apparatus,” according to a news release from the Eloy Police Department on Saturday evening.

Eyewitnesses reported that during Bowen’s freefall, his parachute did not deploy, and he died after injuries he sustained from the landing.

Investigators from Eloy police and the Federal Aviation Administration were interviewing witnesses to determine why Bowen’s parachute failed to deploy.

The Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office was also at the scene to investigate the death and would conduct an autopsy later next week, according to the Eloy police news release.

Police said the victim’s wife had been notified and offered their condolences to Bowen’s loved ones.

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Anyone with information about the death of Bowen was asked to contact the Eloy Police Department at 520-466-7324, ext. 0, referencing case number 2025000741.

Here are recent deaths attributed to skydiving in Arizona

On Jan. 24, Ann Wick, a 55-year-old from Minnesota, died after her parachute failed to deploy after a skydiving experience in the same area as where Bowen died.

Medical personnel attempted lifesaving measures on Wick, but she was later pronounced dead, according to police. The exact cause of death was still under investigation.

Terry Gardner, 73, died at Skydive Arizona on Jan. 31, 2024, after making a hard landing without a fully deployed parachute. Skydive Arizona said Gardner had completed thousands of jumps.

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That incident came several weeks after a hot-air balloon crash killed four people in Eloy. The balloon, operated by Droplyne Hot Air Balloon Rides, had been carrying 13 people at takeoff — eight of them skydivers who had left the craft before issues arose causing it to crash. None of the skydivers was injured in that incident.

The Arizona Republic’s Jose R. Gonzalez and Perry Vandell contributed to this article.

Reach the reporter at rcovarrubias@gannett.com. Follow him on X, Threads and Bluesky @ReyCJrAZ.



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Learjet that crashed with mother, child onboard had flown to Arizona days earlier

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Learjet that crashed with mother, child onboard had flown to Arizona days earlier


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The Learjet that crashed in Philadelphia on Friday night while transporting a mother and her child had flown in Arizona earlier that week on Monday and Tuesday.

The medical transport flight was carrying six people, including the young patient and their mother, when it went down in Northeast Philadelphia, just miles from a small regional airport en route to Mexico.

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“At this time, we cannot confirm any survivors. No names are being released at this time until family members have been notified,” medical transport company and plane owner, Jet Rescue, said in a statement.

The FAA initially reported that the medical flight was “en route to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri.” Officials later clarified the destination was Mexico.

The young patient had been treated at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Philadelphia. The return flight was headed to the patient and caretaker’s home in Mexico, the hospital said.

The medical flight would have no survivors, according to the Aviation Safety Network. Philadelphia authorities said they could not confirm fatalities immediately Friday night as crews of first responders and investigators worked at the large crash site near Philadelphia’s Roosevelt Mall.

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The jet was captured on video exploding upon impact near a shopping center and a residential area close to Northeast Philadelphia Airport, the small regional airport from which the medical flight had departed.

The Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management initially reported a “major incident” on its X account, formerly Twitter, just before 7 p.m. Friday. It later provided updates confirming details of the crash.

The reason for the crash is still unclear. The crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.



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Audit on Arizona's voter data coding problem released

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Audit on Arizona's voter data coding problem released


A review of how some noncitizens were allowed to register to vote in Arizona confirms an ABC15 Investigators report that uncovered incompatibilities between state laws for obtaining driver licenses and registering to vote.

Arizona is the only state in the nation to require proof of citizenship to register to vote. About 218,000 voters may not have provided proof due to systemic database issues stretching back 20 years. The problems became public in September, shortly before the 2024 election.

Gov. Katie Hobbs on Friday released a bipartisan audit she ordered in the fall after the issues came to light. It recommends closer coordination between the Motor Vehicle Division, which issues driver licenses, and the Secretary of State’s Office, which maintains voter rolls, as well as county recorders.

“Finding regular time to share information and build relationships between the MVD and election officials will help eliminate issues in the future,” the report states.

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ABC15 is committed to finding the answers you need and holding those accountable.

Submit your news tip to Investigators@abc15.com

The MVD and voter roll systems have been reprogrammed, but the audit also notes that state law could still allow some U.S. nationals who are not citizens to register to vote. Arizona law accepts passports as proof of citizenship, but passports are issued to some people who are not citizens, such as U.S. nationals from American Samoa and Swains Island.

The MVD does not know how many people this could affect but believes the number is very small, according to the audit.

Audit cites ABC15 reporting from 2016 on noncitizen who registered to vote

The audit details how the problems affecting Arizona’s voter rolls persisted for decades and confirms ABC15 reporting that the database issues could have been identified and fixed years ago.

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In September, then-Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced they had found a data coding error in Arizona’s driver’s license database that allowed at least one non-citizen to register to vote.

Initial estimates found the data errors affected about 218,000 people, 5% of all Arizona voters, who may not have provided documentary proof of citizenship to register as required by Proposition 200, which became law in 2004. These voters were initially issued a driver’s license prior to 1996, before state law required proof of citizenship for licenses.

In October 2016, ABC15 reported on how a non-citizen was able to register to vote in Maricopa County. At the time, Alan Faygenblat described his actions as an attempt to see “if the system really worked” in preventing voter fraud.

“I didn’t want to get in trouble,” he told ABC15 then.

Faygenblat was criminally charged with false voter registration and pleaded guilty in 2017.

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According to court records, Faygenblat was an Israeli citizen who was legally in the United States, but he falsely checked a box saying he was a citizen on the Service Arizona website. He received a voter registration card in the mail.

The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office in 2016 described his registration as a loophole.

“Any person who got a driver’s license after 1996 had to prove citizenship to the MVD. (The individual) had gotten a driver’s license in 1994 so he did not need to prove citizenship. However, for some reason after 1996, he had to get a new license reissued to him and he was never scanned for citizenship at that point,” a recorder’s spokesperson had told ABC15.

Then-Recorder Helen Purcell dismissed the idea this could lead to widespread fraud.

“I think we check it thoroughly enough that’s not the case,” she told ABC15.

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Neither the secretary of state nor other election officials asked for changes after the ABC15 story, the audit says.

The same loophole was again discovered in 2024 – eight years later – with a new noncitizen who registered to vote in Maricopa County.

According to an internal report from December, Secretary of State’s Office staffers also discovered the miscoding in two separate instances in 2017 and 2020.

Hobbs, who was secretary of state in 2020, sent current Secretary of State Adrian Fontes a letter critical of that report’s findings, saying the review appeared to be focused on finding someone to blame.

The governor in her letter indicated that the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, which Fontes headed in 2020, had been made aware of the incident.

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The voters affected by the miscoding were allowed to cast a full ballot in November. But county recorders still need to contact those voters for proper documentation of citizenship before the next election.

State and county elections officials also need to decide what to do about a list of approximately 7,000 voters who have an inactive MVD record, according to the governor-ordered audit.





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