Chuck Huckelberry Claims RTA Investigation Was the Result of "a Conspiracy Theorist"

Chuck Huckelberry's "Conspiracy Theorist"

We can guess Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry is referring to John Brakey, who caught them fiddling with another bond election last Thursday.  Yesterday they locked the observation room to prevent anyone (especially Brakey) from seeing the monitor that is prominently displayed for the purpose of transparently showing to the public the electronic procedures in the tabulation room.   Quite an admission of guilt considering the public service Brakey had provided last Thursday.  He had informed Brad Nelson about his nine-year employee breaking a seal and inserting an ethernet cable into what was intended to be a stand-alone machine.  Nelson was obligated to call the more docile, innocuous elections observers back so they can redo the Logic and Accuracy Test.  He should be grateful because that is consistent with his excuse that the breach was an accident.  Of course, he isn't grateful because it was obviously no accident.

Enough with the present shenanigans.  Let's take a look at how Chuck Huckelberry attempts to revise the past:

Pima County Administrator's recent letter to the editor of the Arizona Daily Star:

Attorney general tallied every RTA ballot by hand

Re: the Oct. 27 letter “Is Miller correct about ’06 RTA election?”

This responds to a recent letter to the editor asking whether Supervisor Ally Miller is correct that there was never any verification of the 2006 Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) election. Supervisor Miller is incorrect. A conspiracy theorist suggested the county flipped the 2006 RTA election. After an investigation by the Arizona attorney general, who hand-counted every ballot cast for that election, the results were the same. A complete hand count of every ballot by the Arizona attorney general is the best verification that these election results were correctly reported. To suggest otherwise is simply political grandstanding with the intent to deceive and mislead voters.

Our response:

Huckelberry: If it was a "conspiracy theorist" that caught your Elections Division rigging the RTA election, why would you then spend millions of taxpayers' dollars after Goddard's recount to prevent a simple forensic exam of the ballots? 

Goddard alleged in his press conference that they did such a good job, they found 63 additional ballots. Evidently, this was supposed to distract the public from the fact their count was missing four precincts' worth of ballots.

Goddard's investigation was so bad it garnered national attention on the Mike Malloy show once it was discovered that over a third of the poll tapes (that Goddard refused to inspect) were missing.

The missing poll tapes strongly correspond with electronic records of the RTA election showing memory card re-uploads characteristic of an attempt to pre-program memory cards.

From the perspective of a statistical analysis, one only has to consider the odds for the same precincts experiencing the same re-upload errors correlating to the same missing poll tapes.

Goddard had also refused to perform a forensic exam of the ballots, despite a previous move by the county to compromise court evidence. On the day of his press conference, Goddard acknowledged to the public on the John C. Scott show that he was aware of Pima County violating a court order by compromising evidence in the county vault.

Adding to the need for a forensic exam, court testimony indicated that no adequate protection of the stored RTA ballots took place until a court order was issued in 2011.

Attorney General Terry Goddard clearly moved beyond what is considered 'executive discretion' and served in some capacity to ensure Pima County's right to commit election fraud.

For more information:


and

http://fatallyflawedelections.blogspot.com/.../elections...

Time for Huckelberry to step down.

Tom and Terry: Sunday’s comic bonus

Arizona Daily Independent

By L Hunnicutt

Tom Horne was found this past week to have violated campaign finance laws.
The public outcry is nearly non-existant.

Both Attorney General Tom Horne and former Attorney General Terry Goddard failed to provide shed light on the RTA election.

Thr public outcry has been nearly nonexistant.

Crickets……

Precedent-Setting Court Case Could Affect 2012 Elections

Click here to follow court documents for this case.

Enter this Case Number: C20085016

Election Fraud: Arizona's Ticking Time Bomb Set to Reverberate throughout the Nation

Precedent setting court case could improve election transparency in the United States.

The Libertarian party's pursuit of a remedy against Pima County's criminality and incompetence can have nationwide implications for disenfranchised voters throughout the country.  The Arizona Supreme Court ruled favorably on behalf of the Libertarian party, who argued that the courts must intervene when there is a failure of existing laws as well as a failure to enforce existing laws designed to keep elections transparent and accurate.

Today's press conference marks the beginning of the Libertarian party's request through the courts for changes to Pima County's election procedures, which have been found to be woefully inadequate.

Like most voting districts throughout the country, Pima County uses electronic voting machines now infamous for their numerous security flaws and errant outcomes.  Unique to Pima County is the mounting evidence of election fraud surrounding one specific election that took place in 2006.  This was a taxpayer-funded road construction measure worth two billion dollars.   This Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) initiative contained two "yes/no" questions which was part of a simple ballot design that contained only a total of four "yes/no" questions.  Part of the initial suspicion was fueled by this simple ballot initiative's unusual number of anomalies and malfunctions during the tally process, which was unmatched by any of the other more complex ballots counted in Pima County.

Bill Risner helped set the foundation for
prospective relief in this case.

The means, motive and opportunity for election fraud was clearly established by a previous court case over an electronic records request by the Democratic party.  Pima County refused to release the electronic database files for the 2006 RTA election.  Their resistance cost taxpayers approximately 1.5 million in legal fees in its failed effort to prevent the legal transfer of public records to political parties.  The Democratic Party eventually lost interest in the pursuit of prospective relief for election integrity once it became apparent that Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Terry Goddard was complicit in the criminal investigation of the 2006 RTA election.   Fortunately, the Libertarian party continued with the lawsuit to win the appeal over prospective relief. 

This case eventually demonstrated the failure of existing state laws to enable a timely challenge of election results due to a five day limit.  This problem seemed to be complemented by the failure of law enforcement, which was highlighted by the incompetent criminal investigation conducted by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard. 

In short, Terry Goddard refused to conduct an audit by comparing one set of numbers (the ballots) to another set of numbers (the precinct totals or the poll tapes).  Goddard's team refused to conduct a forensic check of the ballots (which are still in existence) despite the suspects' (Pima County's)  access to them throughout the period of litigation.

Today's press conference is marked by the filing of the Libertarian party's initial disclosure statement, which contains the most comprehensive and comprehensible list of facts, legal theories and evidence surrounding the rigged 2006 RTA election.

Additional discovery will take place in this suit to complete the picture of election fraud and to further understand the shortcomings of existing election procedures in Pima County.  Apparently, Pima County is offering stiff legal resistance to the plaintiff's request for a list of people who visited the storage facility for access to the ballots in question during the period of litigation. 

Since HAVA (Help America Vote Act) election fraud is rampant throughout the United States.  The Libertarian party's victory in obtaining prospective relief through the courts means that a court can issue orders that effect the transparency and accuracy of elections.  This case is precedent-setting and may be applicable to other election court cases throughout the country.

J.T. Waldron

Here is the press release info (which has a livestream link):

Press Conferences: The Pima County Election Fraud Case Heads to Back to Court

Just released; will be filed Thursday morning. “Statement of Facts”  Election Fraud Pima County: http://tinyurl.com/76lgzvy

Contacts: John R. Brakey, 520 339 2696 AUDITAZ@cox.net, Bill Risner 520 622 7495, bill@risnerandgraham.com, Jim March, 1.jim.march@gmail.com


When: Thursday January 12th, 2:30 pm
Where: Armory Park Senior Center
220 S. 5th Avenue, 220 S. 5th Avenue, Tucson AZ

Tucson, AZ: Since our saga began over five years ago, more and more people across America are becoming aware of the serious security flaws in computerized voting systems. They are systems designed to cheat, and they are everywhere. As the political scene heats up with the Presidential election, all eyes will be on Tucson as ground zero for exposing these flaws in open court and proposing reasonable checks and balances in the system. We must protect the purity of elections and public confidence in election results — a cornerstone of our democracy. That’s what this case is ultimately about.

BACKGROUND: AUDIT-AZ, the Pima County Libertarian Party and other interested citizens of multiple parties for years have been investigating election processes in Pima County. In previous actions, the Democratic Party took the lead in winning public records lawsuits and revealing the extent of the problems, including poor security practices on "designed to cheat" systems, election results that consistently did not add up, missing or falsified paper, and election officials and staff who continuously flout the law.

The Democratic and Libertarian Parties jointly filed suit years ago to ask a court to order reforms to the process. One local judge decided that his court was unable to do so no matter how obvious the problems might be. After that, the Democratic Party dropped out. The Libertarian Party did not: They appealed and won. Pima County appealed that decision to the AZ Supreme Court and lost. The courts have now ruled that if it can be proven that elections are being handled poorly, a local judge can indeed order Pima County to institute reforms.

IT’S GAME TIME: So after years of effort, we are “game on.” We plan to prove wide-ranging abuses of basic election security in Pima County Arizona and to obtain court-mandated improvements in the election process that could serve as a national model for how to do electronic voting properly and securely.

We have connected the dots into a 10-point quick summary of the fact pattern in this gripping saga of power and deceit. And we propose a remedy that is easy, inexpensive and doable. Let us share that and more with you. We promise a very interesting time.

***30***

·        RTA Fraud Slides for Press Conference 1/12/12 .pdf: http://tinyurl.com/872o8sn

·        Flyer for Press Conference 1/12/12 pdf: http://tinyurl.com/85ddblt

      ·        Just released: “Statement of Facts” http://tinyurl.com/76lgzvy

·        For more info: http://audit-az.blogspot.com or: http://seekingjusticeauditaz.blogspot.com

Occupy Rigged Elections with C.A.R.E

If you can’t make it you can hopefully watch on line: starting at 2:30pm tomorrow you'll be able to watch it online at: Occupy Rigged Elections Tucson:
 http://www.livestream.com/occupyriggedelections
You may have to sit through one short ad first, after that we're on.

Hope, Peace and Occupy with C.A.R.E.  Care stands for Citizens Against Rigged Elections

John R Brakey

EXCLUSIVE: Poll Tapes, Other Evidence Discovered Missing in Long-Disputed, 'Fixed' Arizona Election

BradBlog

Brad Friedman

Material sought by Election Integrity advocates from Pima County's 2006 RTA election no longer in 'secured' facility

AZ AG Terry Goddard failed to examine evidence during his criminal investigation hand-count of ballots last year...

- Special investigative report by Brad Friedman, The BRAD BLOG
The mystery surrounding a long-questioned and allegedly "fixed" non-partisan 2006 Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) bond election in Pima County, AZ continues to deepen as troubling new details have now emerged. The resolution in this matter --- should it ever come --- could spell trouble for supporters of paper-based optical-scan electronic voting systems, since indications are that if the election was rigged, it was done with insiders via the electronic central tabulating computers.

Late last week another new twist was discovered in the years-long election fraud investigation by Democratic and Libertarian Election Integrity advocates in Tucson. The revelations come to light in what was thought by many to have been a settled election, at last, following a long-sought hand-count of paper ballots carried out last year by the office of AZ's Democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard. The AG had announced in April of last year that his criminal investigation hand-count had "affirmed" the original results of the election were correct.

As it turns out, The BRAD BLOG, which has been covering this bizarre matter for years, plays a small role in this latest development, as a promise that Goddard's office made to us last year concerning the "poll tapes" --- remarks which he was asked about during a press conference at the end of the hand count [see the remarks on video below] --- may have now boomeranged on him.

Given that Goddard is now the likely Democratic nominee to face Republican Gov. Jan Brewer in this fall's Gubernatorial race, this revelation couldn't have come at a much worse time for him.
After many years of litigation, Election Integrity advocates have now finally been allowed to review the long sought-after poll tapes in question. What they've discovered is disturbing and, so far, without legitimate explanation.

Out of 368 precincts, 112 poll tapes are completely missing. Moreover, 102 of the "yellow sheets" --- certified precinct reports, signed by poll workers, detailing corresponding summary information, such as numbers of ballots received, cast and spoiled, as helpful for important auditing functions at the precinct level --- are missing as well.

Furthermore, of the poll tape records that are not missing, 50 of them do not match the results as recorded in the final canvas of the election, according to the Election Integrity advocates who have compared them to the original electronic database numbers...




The background, the anomalies, the whistleblower and the 'fixed' election

Some background is in order to explain the significance of the rather disturbing new discovery in the case, which we revealed in an on-air exclusive late last week during an interview with Pima County, AZ attorney Bill Risner while guest hosting the nationally-syndicated Mike Malloy Show. [Audio of the complete interview with Risner is available at the end of this article.]

Without getting into too many of the weeds --- and there have been many along the way --- the RTA bond measure, or ones like it, had been on the ballot several times in Pima, and had always been defeated. In 2006, however, the initiative was said to have finally passed. Ironically, at least in hindsight, the Democratic Party had actually supported the measure at the time in order to help see new roads built in the Tucson area.

The election was run in Pima County (Tucson) on Diebold's paper-ballot based optical-scan machines, the same ones seen being hacked in HBO's Emmy-nominated 2006 documentary Hacking Democracy (video of that hack here). Election Integrity advocates from AUDIT-AZ (Americans United for Democracy, Integrity and Transparency in Elections - Arizona) and BlackBoxVoting.org became suspicious about the election results after the measure had passed, and set about investigating various red flags in the contest.

Missing Poll Tapes

Tucson Weekly

Frequent commenter J.T. Waldron has this to say about the poll tapes from the RTA election:

The Tucson Weekly has afforded me this opportunity to post on The Range about the missing RTA poll tapes. What are poll tapes and why do they matter? Poll tapes are receipts that are printed in each precinct at the end of the election night. They contain the vote totals that indicate the results for that particular precinct. Once printed, election workers verify the authenticity of the poll tape and its totals by signing the bottom of each poll tape. For this reason, poll tapes could serve an important auditing function, especially in conjunction with examining the ballots.

Earlier posts and national media news sources report that a number of poll tapes from the 2006 RTA election are missing. Here are the actual numbers:

Out of 368 memory cards representing 409 precincts, there are 112 poll tapes missing, which represent 122 precincts. This is approximately 30 percent of the precincts counted.
102 additional supporting documents (yellow sheets) are missing.

50 of the polltapes that were found do not match the final canvas.

Why is this significant? Because it utterly discredits Attorney General Terry Goddard's investigation, it renders the RTA investigation incomplete and it underscores the lack of confidence in Pima County's elections.

Attorney General Terry Goddard contradicted himself numerous times over activities involving the RTA poll tapes.

Bill Risner said that prior to Goddard swooping in to take the ballots out of Pima County last year in advance of the hand-count, he had explained to him the significance of reviewing the poll tapes. "We told the attorney general's office that if we look at the poll tape, there would be clues on it that would tell us whether they had used the machines to fraudulently program [the election]. ...That's when he grabbed the ballots."


A quick look at the timeline of events supports Risner's claim. In an article dated Feb. 13, 2008, Terry Goddard told the Arizona Daily Star that he didn’t intend to examine the ballots. Five days later, Bill Risner informed Goddard that the Democratic Party will examine the poll tapes. Then eight days later, Goddard’s staff is in court announcing their “secret court order” to take the ballots and poll tapes as part of a criminal investigation.


During the course of this investigation by Goddard's staff, the Democratic Party repeatedly requested that Terry Goddard examine the poll tapes, because they would provide a valuable “precinct snapshot”. In addition, they can easily be identified as fake or regenerated, and so would have evidentiary value. Election integrity activists and the Democratic party were assured by the AG's office that Terry Goddard's investigation would include examination of the poll tapes. This was not done.

Contradicting himself again, Terry Goddard reveals in his press conference following the hand count that he had not examined the poll tapes and saw no value in examining them. At the time of the press conference, Terry Goddard knew of the significance of the poll tapes. His statement "Why would we count a poll tape? I mean, I don't see how they are relevant to the hand-count." is either disingenuous or a flat-out lie.

Once Goddard finished his hand-count debut with the RTA ballots, he packed them up with the poll tapes and passed them back to the Iron Mountain Storage facility in the custody of Treasurer Beth Ford. This move saddled the Democratic party with another year of litigation, seeking access to the poll tapes, which is why the missing poll tapes are being reported one year later.

What is known is that the ballots and poll tapes had been stored at various times at unknown locations in Maricopa County, Maricopa Elections Division and the Iron Mountain storage facility.

Testimony in the most recent poll tape litigation established that Iron Mountain was not a secure facility when it came to the RTA ballot boxes. Despite evidence at trial that the County Manager had instructed the County Attorney to tell Iron Mountain that no one could approach those boxes, the Iron Mountain representative stated under oath that "no one ever told us that, and our customers, the county, could always come in to these boxes."
The fact that the County had access to those poll tapes at the Iron Mountain facility at all times makes forensic analysis of the ballots imperative. After all, anyone from the County could apparently have been granted access to those ballot boxes. Yet, during the press conference, when questioned by Jim March, Goddard said he had no cause to perform the nondestructive no-cost forensic examination of the ballots.

Shortly after the press conference, Terry Goddard was a guest on the John C. Scott radio show reiterating once again his contention that the hand count established that the RTA election results were proper and there was no need for further probing. I called in to the show and asked Terry Goddard if he was aware of the problems with custody of the hard drives that were in the Pima County Vault. I was referring to the Sept. 14, 2008 discovery that despite a court order for release of unaltered election data to the Pima County Democratic Party, the designated Democratic Party's database containing the hard drive had gone missing from the Pima County vault. It was only upon Bill Risner's visit to the County Clerk's office that the box of hard drives reappeared: in the hands of John Moffat, who had only a garbled explanation for why he was illegally in possession of the hard drives. Goddard replied: "Well I meant that's part of what I'm talking about. I was aware that that had happened...those are part of the very disturbing combination of events which ultimately said let's not depend upon as we did initially in our first past to review the electronic records."

If he didn't believe there was cause to examine the ballots for their authenticity then, there is definitely cause now. This investigation is incomplete.

Probably the most disturbing aspect of the missing poll tapes is the blow to the already poor confidence in the Pima County Elections Division. Despite efforts to improve procedures, issue self published report cards and oversee a hand-picked Election Integrity Commission, nothing can distract the public from the fact that the same people are operating within the elections division with impunity.

Now we have a recent mayoral election in Oro Valley sporting very peculiar numbers.
For this Oro Valley race, vote by mail consisted of 66.68 percent of the total vote. Within the 66.68 percent of the mail-in votes, Mike Zinkin was ahead by approximately 53 percent to Satish Hiremath's 47 percent. Within the remaining 33.32 percent of the votes, Hiremath was in the lead by 55.87 percent to Zinkin's 43.77 percent.

This makes the spread between vote-by-mail and all the rest of the votes as large as 9 percent. A spread that has never been seen before in Pima County's election history. With this difference, Hiremath won the Oro Valley Mayoral race.

Is an anomaly just an anomaly? Given what I and many others know about the Pima Elections Division, there's likely more to this story

More Details Emerge About Missing RTA Poll Tapes

Note: Read AUDIT AZ's Statement about early ballot counting here.

Not only did Pima County employees have access to the RTA ballot boxes, it appears that the Democratic party was mislead by Pima County about the records being protected. In the Democratic Party's most recent Motion for Deposition of Iron Mountain Company, Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckleberry is quoted as follows:

In addition, we need to protect, secure and seal any information related to Division of Elections actions regarding not only the November 2006 election, but also the May 2006 RTA election. Even thought the ballots/returns for the RTA election are eleigible for destruction puruant to A.R.S. 16.-624, please ensure that all ballot and election returns for this election now stored at our contract records management facility are retained, with specific instructions not to destroy these documents. Further, since the allegations are against an official of the Division of Elections, it would be appropriate to ensure that there are very specific instructions approved by the County Attorney to the contract records management firm that Division of Elections personnel, including you as the Director, and myself as your immediate supervisor, are not granted any independent access to said records without independent oversight and supervision. This will ensure that County Administration and the Division of Elections cannot be accused of having independent access to the ballots and altering same.

Mr. Huckleberry concluded:

We need to take action to ensure that all documentation, ballots, electronic files and other information sources are secured so they cannot be altered, tampered with or destroyed as I am sure an accurate and independent review of this material will verify that the allegations are made by Mr. Risner are absolutely untrue.

As Bill Risner puts it:

In spite of Pima county's strong statement that "all documentation" and "other information sources" would be secured and Iron Mountain would be so instructed based upon "specific instructions approved by the County Attorney" the Iron Mountain manager testified that such instructions were never made.

At the moment that Terry Goddard and his men took possession of the ballots and poll tapes, workers at the Iron Mountain facility could have been asked about who had access to the boxes containing the RTA election materials. What they would have learned at this moment should have been enough to inform them of the need to forensically check the ballots to determine if they are genuine.

AZ Attorney General Terry Goddard's actions surrounding the poll tapes involves Bill Risner's letter to Terry Goddard informing him of the Democratic Party's pending agreement to obtain the poll tapes from the RTA election. In this letter, Bill Risner informed Terry Goddard that the poll tapes would be inspected by an expert who can easily detect a specific type of foul play. This form of cheating involves the reprogramming of flash memory cards. Each precinct recorded their specific result onto their own flash memory card. The Pima County Elections Division is suspected of reprogramming a portion of the cards to create results that reflect something different than actual results of their corresponding precinct's vote totals. When this form of cheating is successful, poll workers would simply print out the corresponding poll tape and sign the tape for verification without suspecting any foul play. An expert with a hand lens, however, can detect imperfections attributable to a reprogrammed flash memory card. Once the poll workers have finished, the flash memory card is then delivered to the main elections office for the central tabulator. At this point, it's important to note that even when the flash card reprogramming is unsuccessful, end of day poll tapes would still be generated at the precincts.

Remember, the Pima County Elections division is suspected of reprogramming these flash memory cards for three main reasons (out of at least 20):

1. Electronic data won by the records lawsuit indicate that many flash memory cards had to be re-uploaded numerous times at the central tabulator's office. Reprogramming a flash memory card can be difficult and the typical errors that occur involve problems in uploading to the central tabulator. It is estimated that up to 140 cards had to be re-uploaded to the central tabulator and a large portion were re-uploaded repeatedly. These problems are symptomatic of poorly programmed flash memory cards and provide stark contrast to 2004's election in which only 4 cards were re-uploaded. When such a massive number of failures occurred in the 2006 RTA election, the Pima County Elections Division chose not to inform their vendor of these issues.

2. During the 2006 RTA election, Pima County was found to be in possession of the precise, obscure tool used to reprogram the very type of flash memory cards used in Pima County's election machines. The excuse by the County for having such contraband was that the computer technician wanted to find out whether such reprogramming of flash memory cards was possible with that specific device. This explanation contradicts Pima County's contention that security threats can only come from outside of the elections division.

3. A whistleblower has come forward with a sworn affidavit testifying that Bryan Crane told him privately while at the Boondocks Lounge that he had “fixed” the RTA election under direction from his bosses. Two additional people signed affidavits placing Bryan Crane at the Boondocks Lounge at the time of this confession, despite Crane telling the Arizona Daily Star that he'd never heard of the Boondocks Lounge.

Attorney General Terry Goddard's decision to take the poll tapes with the ballots appears to have been made after it became clear to him that the Democratic Party was close to obtaining the poll tapes and that an expert could detect foul play by looking at those poll tapes. This is logical behavior for somebody wishing to prevent the discovery of foul play through the poll tapes.

Another new piece to this puzzle is evidence that Terry Goddard's office was made aware of the legal struggle that the Democratic Party would be forced to endure if the Attorney General's office did not inspect the poll tapes and/or made them inaccessible again by putting the poll tapes back in the ballot boxes. Terry Goddard had the specific choice to examine the poll tapes or to participate with the Democratic Party and allow their experts to inspect the poll tapes. His choice was to keep interested parties from inspecting the poll tapes, to prevent access to the poll tapes, and to saddle the Democratic Party with another year of litigation to obtain access to the poll tapes. Again, this is logical behavior for somebody wishing to prevent the discovery of foul play through the poll tapes.

There is very strong circumstantial evidence that Terry Goddard is an accessory to the crimes likely committed by Pima County's elections division during the 2006 RTA election. Terry Goddard clearly had a choice to follow the straight and narrow in his investigation and examine all of the evidence. Instead, he opted to perform an exercise in public relations by presenting the illusion of an investigation. Why else would a seasoned white collar crime investigator go to the trouble of counting ballots behind glass and announcing his "findings" to the public yet leave so many stones left unturned? 

 

Election Integrity Pursuit Abandoned by Democrats Wins Appeal

J.T. Waldron

PDF of Ruling

The Libertarian party, the last group continuing the pursuit of prospective relief from rigged elections in the Arizona courts won a major legal victory last Thursday. The Court of Appeals reversed Judge Charles Harrington's dismissal and remanded the case for further proceedings.

The Democratic party backed out of this RTA court case when Judge Charles Harrington denied those who were seeking prospective relief in the courts to improve election integrity. The rationale provided by the Democratic party to abandon the case was concern of the costs for litigation. Election integrity activists believe that the Goddard political machine wanted as little attention possible over his handling of the RTA investigation.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard demonstrated how the executive branch failed to provide adequate remedy when he investigated the 2006 RTA election. Goddard refused to perform elementary auditing procedures including a check of the ballots' figures against the poll tapes from that same election. After a year of litigation, the public learned that thirty percent of the poll tapes were missing.

In Arizona, election challenges can only take place within the first five days after the election is held. Five days proves to be an impossible time frame given the complexities involved with obtaining and examining electronic data and relevant records. Barring a change in statutory law, the legislative branch fails to provide sufficient remedy in an extremely suspicious election.

For the citizens of Arizona, the courts were the last hope in providing some measure to ensure that future elections are not rigged. Unfortunately, Judge Harrington threw this case out by accepting the county's argument that criminal activity cannot be discovered in a civil case trial. Despite the absurdity of this argument, the Democratic Party dropped out of the case after Harrington's decision. However, the Libertarian party was on board from the beginning and elected to continue pursing the matter in appeal.

Below is a clip that set the tone in the previous trial with Judge Harrington admonishing Bill Risner, the attorney for the Democratic party, for suggesting to the court that it "can't just wash it's hands of this matter". This, of course, took place just before Judge Harrington washed his hands of the matter and let it go to appeal.