To: Kelly Ward, Mickie Niland, Gina Swoboda, Alex Kolodin, and various 2022 AZ Republican Candidates
From: Mark Sonnenklar
Re: Maricopa County Roving Attorney Observations -- November 8, 2022 General Election
Date: November 15, 2022
I. Introduction
On November 8, 2022, I was a roving attorney on behalf of the Republican National Committee’s Election Integrity program in Arizona. In that capacity, I visited ten different vote centers in Maricopa County (the “County”).
In addition, after the election, I surveyed all of the other 16 roving attorneys in the RNC’s Maricopa County Election Integrity program to find out about their respective experiences on election day. Ten of those roving attorneys responded to my survey.
This report summarizes what I and the other roving attorneys who responded to my survey witnessed on election day.
II. Executive Summary
I was an Observer at ten vote centers on election day. The other ten roving attorneys that responded to my requests for information about their election day experiences observed at a total of 105 additional vote centers. Thus, together, 11 of the total 17 roving attorneys in the County observed at a total of 115 vote centers out of a total of 223 vote centers in the County (51.56% of the total vote centers in the County).
Finding #1: Collectively, I and the other ten roving attorneys reported that 72 of the 115 vote centers (62.61%) we visited had material problems with the tabulators not being able to tabulate ballots, causing voters to either deposit their ballots into box 3, spoil their ballots and re-vote, or get frustrated and leave the vote center without voting. In many vote centers, the tabulators rejected the initial insertion of a ballot almost 100% of the time, although the tabulators might still accept that ballot on the second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth attempt to insert the ballot. However, many ballots were not able to be tabulated by the tabulators at all, no matter how many times the voter inserted the ballot. The percentage of ballots that were not able to be read at all by the tabulators ranged from 5% to 85% at any given time on election day, with the average being somewhere between 25% and 40% failure rates. In many cases, the printer/tabulator issues persisted from the beginning of election day until the end of election day.
The strong consensus regarding why the tabulators would not read certain ballots was that those ballots, in particular the bar codes on the side of the paper, were not printing dark enough for the tabulators to read them.
These findings directly contradict the statements of County election officials that (1) printer/tabulator issues were limited to only 70 of the 223 vote centers, (2) the printer/tabulator problems were resolved as of 3:00 p.m., and (3) the printer/tabulator issues were insignificant in the entire scheme of the election.
Finding #2: Collectively, I and the other ten roving attorneys also reported that voters had to wait in significant lines at 59 of the 115 vote centers we visited (51.30%). In many cases, voters had to wait 1-2 hours before they received a ballot for voting. It is certainly safe to assume
that many voters refused to wait in such lines, left the vote center, and did not return to vote later. A survey of the electorate could easily confirm such an assumption.
Conclusion: It seems very clear that the printer/tabulator failures on election day at 62.61% of the vote centers observed by 11 roving attorneys, and the resulting long lines at a majority of all vote centers, led to substantial voter suppression. Moreover, because Republican voters significantly outnumbered Democrat voters in the County on election day, such voter suppression would necessarily impact the vote tallies for Republican candidates much more than the vote tallies for Democrat candidates.
Section III below is a summary of what I personally witnessed or was reported to me by the Republican Observers and Inspectors at each vote center that I visited. Section IV below contains the summary reports of all of the other Republican roving attorneys in Maricopa County who responded to my request for information about their experiences. Exhibit A to this report contains a comprehensive report prepared by roving attorney Tabatha Lavoie regarding her experiences at each of the nine vote centers where she was an observer. Exhibit B to this report contains the reports of various poll workers and voters who corresponded with me after election day. Exhibit C to this report contains my report from my experience as a roving attorney during the primary election on August 2, 2022, which noted ubiquitous issues with the tabulators and printers that day as well.
III. Vote Centers
I observed at the following vote centers on election day:
Fountain Hills Town Hall, 13001 N. La Montana Drive, Fountain Hills
Copper Canyon School, 17650 N. 54th Street, Scottsdale
North Scottsdale United Methodist Church, 11735 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale
Oasis Community Church, 15014 N. 56th Street, Scottsdale
Scottsdale Worship Center, 6508 E. Cactus Road, Scottsdale
Venue 8600, 8600 E. Anderson Drive, Scottsdale
Mountain View Park Community Center, 8625 E. Mountain View Road, Scottsdale
Second Church of Christ Scientist, 10180 N. Hayden Road, Scottsdale
Via Linda Senior Center, 10440 E. Via Linda Drive, Scottsdale
Islamic Center, 12125 E. Via Linda, Scottsdale
Horizon Community Center, 15444 N. 100th Street, Scottsdale
After arriving at each vote center, I showed my credentials to the polling inspector and then requested to speak with the Republican Observer. The Republican Observer and I stepped outside of the vote center, and I asked the Republican Observer if he/she had witnessed any irregularities or problems. I took notes during these conversations.
After speaking with the Republican Observer at a vote center, I proceeded to speak with the polling inspector of that vote center. I asked each inspector how things were going, whether they had experienced any problems, and whether they had seen any the problems. I also took notes during these conversations.
Below is a summary of the notes I took on election day at the above-listed ten vote centers:
(@tylerbowyer) November 15, 2022
