Arizona State Representative Mark Finchem believes further obstruction by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors only increases the obligation by officials to the review the results of the November 3rd election.
“As much as the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors want to marginalize and ridicule and do everything they can possibly do to obstruct this – for example, refuse to comply with the subpoenas, constantly go back into court – all it does is add fuel to the fire of suspicion and adds weight to the further demand of scrutiny.”
Rep. Finchem made the comments in a telephone interview with ITN on Monday.
The Republican-controlled Arizona State Senate is conducting a forensic audit of 2.1 million ballots cast in the November 3 election in Maricopa County. The audit is on hold this week because of contractual obligations Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix has with schools to host their graduation ceremonies. It is set to resume next week.
The audit has thus far uncovered several major irregularities like internet routers that were connected at the Maricopa County tabulation center on election night, broken chain of custody documents and missing ballots.
About 50,000 votes currently separate Joe Biden and President Trump in Maricopa County. Only 11,000 votes separate the two men in the entire state.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which is majority Republican, has been fighting a comprehensive review of the ballots since December. Late Monday they held a press conference to demand the audit end.
“Now it’s time to say enough is enough. It is time to push back on the big lie,” Board member Bill Gates said. “We must do this as a member of the Republican Party, we must do this as a member of the Board of Supervisors, we need to this as a country. Otherwise we are not going to be able to move forward and have an election in 2022 that we can all believe the results, whatever they may be,” he added.
An attitude Mr. Finchem says shows a fundamental misunderstanding on the part of the MCBS of their function. “This is not their election,” he said. “And that seems to be the overriding thing that they just do not get.”
“This isn’t your election [Board Members] Jack Sellers, Bill Gates, Clint Hickman. This election belongs to the people. And until the people are satisfied that the forensic audit has been done. That the machines have either been proven or disproven to be accurate. That the ballot count is accurate. That doesn’t exceed the number of voters. Until all of those questions are answered, as a citizen myself, I’m not willing to throw in the towel on any level of scrutiny,” he added.