- Former President Donald Trump has alleged that “fictitious” votes were cast in Arizona’s Pima County.
- He also called for a new election in the county to take place “immediately.”
- But Pima County officials have spoken up to refute his claims, calling their elections free, fair, secure, and accurate.
Former President Donald Trump is once again pushing for a vote audit in Arizona, even after an earlier vote audit in Maricopa County proved that President Joe Biden won.
This time, the former president has his sights set on Pima County, the state’s second-most populous county after Maricopa.
Trump baselessly alleged in a statement on October 15 that there were “staggering anomalies and fictitious votes in Pima County’s mail-in returns.” He also alleged without evidence that the ballot boxes in the county were stuffed “with more ballots than were ever sent.”
“A new analysis of mail-in ballots in Pima County, Arizona, means the election was Rigged and Stolen from the Republican Party in 2020, and in particular, its Presidential Candidate,” Trump’s statement read. “Either a new election should immediately take place, or the past election should be decertified, and the Republican candidate declared a winner.”
In the same statement, Trump also urged GOP officials to “start a canvass of Republican voters” to “remove the obvious fictitious voters from the system.”
Chuck Huckelberry, a county administrator in Pima County, refuted the former president’s claims in an interview with NBC affiliate KVOA.
“Pima County conducted a free, fair, secure, and accurate election. The results were publicly audited via hand count by the County’s Republican and Democratic parties, and the results were certified by the Pima County Board of Supervisors and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey,” Huckelberry told KVOA.
Huckelberry emphasized that the county’s elections website has a “wealth of information” about its elections dating back to the 1990s, including an elections security plan.
“If there is anyone who believes they have evidence of wrongdoing, they should provide such evidence to proper investigative authorities, or file an action in the Pima County Superior Court or the US District Court,” Huckelberry said.
KVOA also spoke to Pima County recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, who said that the county’s bipartisan elections integrity commission, which is made up of Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Green Party candidates, found “no reason” to question the 2020 vote results.
“We found no instances of deviations of elections protocols and no concerns of fraud have been brought to our attention,” Cázares-Kelly said.
Pima County’s local government took to Twitter to debunk the former president’s accusations, tweeting on October 16: “There seems to be some interest in Pima County’s 2020 election results. Fortunately, there is a wealth of information about it available online. Here’s a thread of links for anyone who might have the time or the inclination to take a trip down memory lane.”
The tweet thread from the county included links to the audits conducted on its vote count, the live feeds of its counting room, and a link to the official canvass of the 2020 election.
Separately, Trump has continued to claim that the audit in Maricopa County uncovered “undeniable evidence” of fraud. Earlier this month, the Cyber Ninjas’ vote recount in Maricopa County confirming Biden beat Trump, and by 261 more votes than was initially counted.
Arizona GOP officials also testified before Congress on October 7 that Biden won “free, fair, and accurate elections,” citing the results of the GOP-led vote audit.
Powered by WPeMatico
