Arizona's Republican-dominated state legislature voted Thursday to remove Katie Hobbs, Democratic secretary of State, of any election-related authority. Instead, it diverted this power to Mark Brnovich Republican attorney general.The House approved the measure late Thursday night. It now goes to Doug Duceys desk, Republican governor, for his signature. The legislation transfers exclusive control of election lawsuits from Hobbs and Brnovich to Brnovich, for a period of one election cycle. Brnovich claimed that the secretary-of-state was not equipped to handle lawsuits against the state, which aimed to increase ballot access and reduce voting restrictions.Hobbs called Friday's action egregious and claimed that the GOP was using the process to retaliate against my office.Hobbs condemned the independent 2020 Arizona election audit, which was spearheaded by the Republican senate. In it, Maricopa County became embroiled in allegations of voter fraud and irregularities around its ballot tally. The audit covered 2.1 million ballots within the county's jurisdiction. Joe Biden won the election by approximately 10,000 votes. It was conducted by Cyber Ninjas, a small cybersecurity firm and first-time election auditor.Hobbs' opposition was expressed by the Biden Department of Justice, (DOJ), who expressed concern that the Arizona election audit could normalize voter intimidation and inadequate security for future elections. Pamela S. Karlan (DOJ's principal deputy assistant attorney General for civil-rights) wrote to Karen Fann, expressing concern about the handling and possible tampering with election records.The letter stated that we are concerned that Maricopa County's election records, which must be kept and preserved under federal law, aren't being properly protected by contractors and could be at risk of loss or damage.Continue the storyHobbs stated in an interview with Bloomberg that the lack of transparency in the method and procedures behind the election audit doesn't inspire confidence in the reliability of the results. She stated that the audit's objective was to compromise the integrity of our elections.To perpetuate the big lie about the 2020 election being stolen. This is a huge blow to democracy. She said that it lays the foundation for any loser to demand such an audit.National Review: More
