From Sedona Redrock News October 4, 2023
VOC resident sues Secretary of State Fontes over ballots
"Village of Oak Creek resident Dwight Kadar is suing Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over a provision in Fontes’ new edition of the state elections procedures manual that permits alternate methods of ballot verification.
Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John D. Napper rejected Fontes’ motion to dismiss the suit on Sept. 1, allowing it to proceed.
Kadar is a joint plaintiff in the suit, which was filed on March 6, with two 501(c)(4) groups, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections; the latter is a Virginia-based organization. The Republican Party of Arizona joined the suit as a plaintiff on April 17. Kadar has donated more than $110,000 to the party and to Republican candidates over the last 10 years. He ran unsuccessfully for a Sedona Fire District Governing Board seat in 2018."
The plaintiffs may have a real case here (although very technical and probably specious) and it should be decided by the courts to limit any confusion during the 2024 election cycle. However, what I find interesting is who signs on for this suit. Included is the Arizona Republican Party, a wealthy donor, as well as some Republican affiliated 501(c)(4) groups.
Let's remember a few things: 1) for over 20 years about 80% of Arizona voters have voted by mail. Voters like it and until 2020 trusted the process. 2) During that time Republicans routinely won most statewide elections and kept control of both houses of the state legislature. 3) There were no complaints about election fraud that resulted in major changes in the outcome of contested races. 4) There has been no proof that mail-in ballots are vulnerable to tampering or forgery at a mass level.
So what changed? Donald Trump lost the 2020 general election. That's the only thing that changed in Arizona. Unlike other states that made changes because of the pandemic, Arizona already had in place "no fault" voting by mail.
Now the charge from the GOP is that people don't trust the system and we have to change it. However, whatever changes are made, and I believe none are necessary, they will not make these people happy if they lose elections again. The idea is to create more chaos around elections and then make it even more difficult to vote - forcing everyone to vote in person on election day on paper ballots and then count them by hand.
That's certain to cause a drop in participation and increase in potential fraud resulting in a total loss in confidence in our elections.
From Sedona Redrock News October 4, 2023