By Alexander Lomax
The eyes of the nation are on Arizona, and it’s not pretty.
Certainly, you are aware of the election audit farce going on right now. Well since my last rant about it, we’ve had a few new developments that have put Arizona neck-and-neck with the likes of Florida when it comes to embarrassing stories.
Perhaps you’ve seen former AZ Representative Anthony Kern serving as a volunteer for the audit. Well, that same Anthony Kern was widely photographed taking part in the insurrection at the US Capitol in January. How are we supposed to have any faith in the audit when at least one of the volunteers showed such obvious, demonstratable bias? The fact that that man has access to our ballots (some of which likely had his name on them) is disturbing.
Ohhh, and did you hear about the bamboo ballots? One of the fraud observers told reporter Dennis Welch that the auditors were looking for bamboo fibers on ballots, to attempt to prove the conspiracy theory that 40,000 ballots (presumably pre-filled for Biden) were shipped here from China. Where could one possibly start with this? The ridiculous notion that China would send pre-filled ballots as part of a grand conspiracy with the County Recorder and Board of Supervisors? The inherently racist and ignorant idea that anything from China must be produced with bamboo? Are they really chasing down every ridiculous conspiracy theory they can?
Add to that the lack of transparency of funding, former Secretary of State Ken Bennett managing to look like he’s both placating fools and looking like a fool himself, and incompetence at every step, including now requesting routers when it is fairly widely known that routers are not a source of useful information. It has garnered national attention, allowing Katie Hobbs to become a national figure of sorts. Even politically unknowledgeable folks are now aware of this situation, and while QAnon followers are pleased, it seems as though even halfway rational people are shaking their heads.
Hey Arizona GOP…do you want Katie Hobbs as governor? Because this whole ordeal has made that much, MUCH more likely. You have served her an opportunity to stand out on a silver platter. Do you want a Democratic majority in one or both houses of our legislature? Because this has been the greatest of gifts for 2022, after many Democratic wonks were grousing that the redistricting process will likely not be favorable to them in ‘22.
Few things in this world make me want to simultaneously laugh and cry, but Arizona’s newfound descent back into the meth lab of democracy has done just that.