Still undecided: Team Barber Goes To Federal Court To Push To Count More Ballots

[liberalla]

The AZ 2nd District race is still undecided, with a recount coming in December.
The Koch puppet, Martha McSally is ahead of Ron Barber by 161.

Team Barber Goes To Federal Court To Push To Count More Ballots

Team Barber issued this press release today:

"This morning attorneys for Ron Barber for Congress and Southern Arizonans whose votes have not been counted went to Federal Court to seek relief, asking the Federal Court to order Pima and Cochise Counties to count 133 wrongfully rejected votes.

Three Arizona voters, Josh Cohen, Lauren Breckenridge, and Lea Goodwine-Cesarac, have joined with Ron Barber for Congress to file suit in Federal District Court in the State of Arizona, asking the judge to consider 133 declarations signed by individual Arizona voters, asking for their vote to be counted.

"I'm 81 years old, and in all my years, I never thought my vote would be tossed in the trash instead of counted," said Lea Goodwine-Cesarac. "I'm an Arizonan and a United States citizen. I voted and my vote should be counted along with the more than one hundred other Arizonans whose votes were wrongfully thrown out."

"We are talking about 133 Southern Arizona voters who lived up to their responsibility — they registered to vote and then showed up to vote," said Kevin J. Hamilton, attorney for the voters and for Ron Barber's campaign. "We are asking the court to ensure that every lawful vote is counted. That's what America is all about."

McSally, meanwhile, has declared victory, attended new member orientation and has begun hiring to build out her Capitol Hill staff. Barring an injunction from the federal district court, the Arizona Secretary of State will have has until Dec. 1 to certify the results.
from The Hill

[liberalla]

1. If anyone would like to support/donate to the Ron Barber Recount Fund,

ActBlue has set it up here.

FYI

[SickOfTheOnePct]

2. What is their basis for not counting them?

Are they provisional ballots, absentee ballots, etc?

[liberalla]

3. Sorry for delay in responding. I had to make it to the Post Office before they closed yesterday

and a couple other errands, and once I was home again I got caught up in the Ferguson coverage.

The basis for not counting the ballots...

In Pima County, 776 ballots were rejected for various reasons, with nearly half — 371 — rejected because registered voters went to the wrong polling place, according to County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez. Because the 2nd Congressional District covers only part of Pima County, not all of those ballots are relevant to the Barber-McSally race.

You can read the specific reasons/complaints in the 11/18/14 letter which outlines them here:
Barber letter & affidavits on ballot count

Among the reasons:
Early ballots submitted at purportedly incorrect polling places
Out of precinct provisional ballots
Signature "mismatches"
Updated addresses not included on voter rolls

"Among them were Sita Adhikari, who became a U.S. citizen in 2013 and was casting a ballot in her first election. Her vote was discarded because she cast a provisional ballot in the wrong polling place. Adhikari said that poll workers did not direct her to the correct polling location, as they are required to do.

Also told that her ballot was not counted was Roma Page, who was born in 1919 and been registered to vote since she was 21 years old, Barber's campaign said. Page, an Arizona resident since 1985, had her ballot rejected because her signature on an early ballot did not match the one on her registration card.

"Like many older voters, her signature has changed with age. She called the Pima County Recorder's Office to ensure that her ballot was counted, but they neither returned her call, or counted her ballot," Barber's lawyers said.

The Barber campaign's letter to the supervisors pointed to two married couples — all were registered to vote, but both wives had their ballots discarded. One couple were incorrectly told their names were not on the voter lists. The husband pointed out his name and voted a regular ballot, while the wife voted a provisional ballot that was not counted. Another couple who had recently moved were told their names were not on the rolls; the husband's provisional ballot was counted while the wife's was not.

Another voter spoiled his original ballot, and was not given a replacement regular ballot as required, but rather a provisional one — that was not counted, Barber's campaign said."

Also at the link with the letter, the list of the 133 names with copies of their individual affidavits.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On Oct. 30 Ron Barber tweeted Track your ballot and make sure your vote for Ron Barber counts! with a link to the Recorder's office where you enter your info and get your voting history.

I did this as I had received an early ballot by mail and did not return it in time, so dropped it off at my polling place. My ballot was counted.

[liberalla]

4. For anyone interested in the lawsuit that was filed, it's posted online

Barber lawsuit over ballot count

After both Pima and Cochise counties declined Barber's requests to review more ballots last week, his attorneys wrote to Secretary of State Ken Bennett, asking him to delay the statewide election canvass. The 11/21/14 letter to the Secretary of State is here.

[liberalla]

5. UPDATE: Judge rejects Barber's request to count 133 ballots

Barber denied, recount to proceed in CD2