Arizona
EXCLUSIVE: Arizona Election Worker Retails Voter Fraud Investigation
The employee says the continuing investigation is focusing on US non-profits she believes are ‘political advocacy teams’
In an unique interview given to The Epoch Occasions, the recorder on the Yuma County Sherrif’s Workplace provided extra insights into the dangers of fraudulent registration kinds main as much as the 2022 Major Election and the efforts she and her crew are engaged on to enhance the method.
“Our major is Aug. 2. We’ve got acquired registration kinds which might be fraudulently accomplished,” Yuma County recorder Robyn Stallworth Pouquette, who offers oversight into the county’s voter registration and early voting, advised The Epoch Occasions in an interview on June 7. “It’s been a prevalent downside in Yuma County, and it’s very unlucky.”
Pouquette’s allegations come along with different witness studies and allegations of voting fraud which might be the topic of 16 open investigations on the sheriff’s workplace.
The noticed “sample of fraudulent voter registration kinds,” in response to a Could 11 assertion made by the sheriff’s workplace, contains alleged impersonation fraud, false registrations, duplicate voting, and fraudulent use of absentee ballots.
Whereas Pouquette couldn’t present any names as a result of the investigation is ongoing, she confirmed to The Epoch Occasions that most of the anomalous instances pertain to non-profits working on a nationwide scale, which she believes to be “political advocacy teams.”
“We’re extraordinarily inspired that the Yuma County Sheriff’s Workplace and Recorder’s Workplace are actually working collectively to analyze people concerned within the subversion of elections,” Catherine Engelbrecht, founding father of election integrity group True The Vote, advised The Epoch Occasions in an announcement in Could. “We’ve spent concentrated time in Yuma County and have supplied vital data to each state and federal authorities. What has been taking place in Yuma County is going on throughout the nation. The focusing on of weak communities and voter abuse have to be stopped.”
“It is vitally troublesome to determine who’s submitting these fraudulent kinds. However I’m conscious of actions of third-party teams and I shared that data with the sheriff’s workplace,” Pouquette stated of what she’s witnessed.
Uncommon Indicators
Pouquette stated that whereas third-party organizations who solicit voter registrations serve an essential position in helping voters, they’re additionally a degree of vulnerability within the election course of if the ballots they assist voters submit are fraudulent—because of intentional or unintentional misrepresentation of a voter’s needs.
“I consider it’s a vulnerability of the system, within the sense that fraudulent voter registrations can disrupt the respectable energetic registration of an eligible voter,” she stated. “It’s a very disruptive course of for the workplace once we needs to be specializing in audits and ensuring that we’re auditing our information previous to the distribution of ballots.”
“I’m very captivated with it as a result of there isn’t a regulation that precludes voter registration actions [by] third-party teams,” Pouquette stated. “I really feel that voter registration solicitors needs to be held accountable to the next customary.”
After these third-party organizations drop the voter registration kinds they’ve collected on the recorder’s workplace, Pouquette and her crew would run them via a statewide database to cross-check the figuring out data on every type to the voter.
Nevertheless, Pouquette stated she’s observed uncommon indicators with a number of the kinds she’s acquired.
“I might instantly see that there have been particular person names in these kinds that had been those who I knew had been already registered. However they had been using actual folks’s names with faux addresses and pretend dates of beginning,” she stated. “One in every of them was our pediatrician. One in every of them was a neighborhood lawyer who I had been an acquaintance of and has handed away for a while. One was a minor that I consider was across the age of 14 … So it simply grew to become very clear that there was an issue.
“After which, we’re getting 5, six registration kinds for a similar individual. As you possibly can think about, that’s the place we really feel that there’s an intentional effort to disrupt the system and determine vulnerabilities,” Pouquette added.
Pouquette stated they’ve observed over 100 such anomalies within the registration course of main as much as the 2022 primaries and have despatched letters to every of the addresses indicated on the registration kinds as required by regulation.
“I merely discover it unlucky that it’s a requirement as a result of we all know that we’re sending them to those who now we have a powerful perception to be nonexistent,” she stated. “We needs to be engaged on credible, actual registrations that now we have in our county, versus spending any time or sources—which is definitely vital time and sources—on this sort of exercise.”
New Legislation Proposed
Pouquette added that after she observed a sample of fraudulent registration in 2016, she and her crew started to work with the Arizona legislature to develop new legal guidelines to “outline parameters for regulation of voter registration solicitation.” Nevertheless, she stated the efforts have been largely unsuccessful.
She and her crew, via the Flinn-Brown Fellowship, put collectively provisions that Arizona Senate Republicans included in a invoice launched in February 2022, SB1629, which might maintain third-party registration solicitors accountable.
“[The bill] required that third-party registration solicitors flip within the kinds inside 5 days in order that there’s a timeframe on accountability and any fraudulent type be subjected to a class-6 felony,” Pouquette stated. “And as you possibly can think about, it was very controversial.”
The invoice additionally requires anybody amassing greater than 25 voter registration kinds to determine themselves with the Secretary of State’s workplace so the recorder’s workplace would have the flexibility to contact them for any points with the kinds they turned in. The invoice failed its third studying in March and is ready to be reconsidered for an additional studying within the Senate.
“We don’t wish to diminish the work that third-party teams do … to solicit voter registration. I consider that that’s essential and we must always have teams which might be in a position to do this. I simply merely really feel that we must always place accountability measures that … professionalize the method to supply that belief to the neighborhood. I merely felt that it was a step in the correct path for accountability,” she stated of the invoice.
“And I do consider that, once more, the work that’s put in—to make each single effort to not permit these [fraudulent] registrations to show into ballots—is difficult and time-consuming, very, very straining on sources,” she added. “And these are the workers and election officers that ought to diligently be engaged on administering a safe election and never coping with felony exercise like that.”
‘A Few Unhealthy Actors’
Pouquette hoped to make clear that not all third-party teams that register voters are disruptive to the election course of.
“So even just a few unhealthy actors, as you possibly can think about, contribute such a adverse gentle on the method total, which impacts my workplace and the general public belief within the electoral course of … the opposite third-party teams which might be making vital efforts to have interaction with voters and help in, you realize, the democratic course of.”
“I at all times inform folks they need to be very proud to vote in Arizona, whatever the negativity swirling round elections, as a result of we work actually exhausting. So I invite folks in to see the method right here from their floor ground to essentially perceive what we do to confirm and over confirm and confirm third time and audit. These are simply common practices taking place every day in the course of the cycle right here,” Pouquette stated.
“I simply actually really feel that that will get neglected; you realize, how daring election officers are, how courageous they’re, and doing this sort of work each single day, regardless of the crucial response.”
Arizona
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Arizona
Warmer weekend ahead for Arizona after cool temps this week
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A gorgeous day is ahead for much of Arizona, but changes are on tap for the weekend ahead.
Look for sunny skies and slightly warmer temperatures today in the Valley of the Sun. Morning temperatures in the upper 30s to mid 40s will climb to the upper 60s this afternoon, which is near normal for this time of year in Phoenix.
A ridge of high pressure building over our region will bring significantly warmer temperatures for the next week. Over the weekend, look for Valley highs in the mid 70s on Saturday and near 80 degrees on Sunday. Mostly sunny skies and light winds are expected both days.
Even warmer weather is expected early next week when afternoon temperatures climb to the mid 80s Monday and Tuesday. All across the state, afternoon highs will be 10 to 15 degrees above normal and near records.
An area of low pressure is forecast to move by to the north of Arizona by the middle of next week, which will weaken the ridge and bring a slight cool down. The Valley will drop to the upper 70s Wednesday and likely to the mid 70s for Thursday and Friday.
This storm could bring a few light showers to the high country, but only light accumulation is expected. At this point the Valley looks to stay dry. Next weekend also looks pleasant and dry.
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Arizona
Former Arizona Coyotes franchise has fans vote on team name
The former Arizona Coyotes franchise, now the Utah Hockey Club, has chosen three names for fans to vote on for their permanent team name.
Not making the list is the fan favorite “Yeti” or “Yetis” name. The Utah Hockey Club filed for a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to The Associated Press, that was rejected on Jan. 9. The “Yeti” name in relation to the hockey team would have confused the majority of people with the Yeti brand. Thus, Yeti and the Utah Hockey Club could not reach an agreement of coexistence with branding and merchandising.
The final three names up for consideration were Utah Mammoth, Utah Hockey Club and Utah Wasatch.
After Wednesday night’s first day of voting, Utah decided that the Wasatch name was not as popular to the crowd as they thought.
On Thursday, the team announced that they would be switching the option of Utah Wasatch to Utah Outlaws after the first round of voting.
Hey Utah hockey fans! We listened to your feedback and dug into all the Qualtrics data from last night’s survey. For the team name, it’s clear that Outlaws should be in the mix instead of Wasatch, so we’re swapping it out.
Surveys will continue at the arena Friday, Sunday and…
— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) January 30, 2025
For the next three home games (voting started on Wednesday night against Pittsburgh) fans at the Delta Center can vote on their favorite name on an iPad. The next three home games are on Jan. 31 versus Columbus, Feb. 2 versus St. Louis and Feb. 4 versus Philadelphia.
The initial thought to use the Wasatch name was to still get across the idea behind the fans’ wishes of the Yeti, a mythical creature that lives up in the Himalayan mountains. The Wasatch Mountains run along the east side of the Salt Lake Valley.
“We wanted to honor this idea people had for a mythical snow creature like the Yeti and bring a very Utah-centric approach to it,” Smith Entertainment Group executive Mike Maughan said in an article by AP’s John Coon. “Because we have the Wasatch Mountains, because we have the Wasatch Front, we have so many different iterations or ways we can do it. We wanted to honor the sentiment of one of those top names of the last iteration (of fan voting) while also including a Utah-centric version of it.”
A unique feature is that when fans click to vote on their favorite name, it will reveal logos, jerseys and branding for that particular choice.
The permanent team name will be revealed ahead of the Utah Hockey Club’s 2025-26 home opener.
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