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The FBI has obtained election-related records tied to Maricopa County, Arizona, as part of a federal criminal investigation into election administration going back to 2020 and through 2024.
Just the News reports that the records were obtained through a grand jury subpoena seeking “terabytes of data” and other materials connected to voting systems and election procedures in Maricopa County, Arizona. The scope of the subpoena and the specific materials obtained have not been publicly disclosed.
The investigation follows concerns raised by House Administration Committee observers during the 2024 election who inspected a third-party ballot processing facility used by Maricopa County. According to a memo cited in the report, observers reported that completed mail ballots and blank ballots were stored in the same room at the facility – Runbeck Election Services, a private contractor hired by Maricopa County to process ballots. They reported no state government officials were present while ballots were being handled, and that some pallets of blank ballots appeared to have torn wrapping with ballots missing or removed at the facility.
According to the report, Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ) previously asked the US Department of Justice to investigate Runbeck Election Services and the handling of ballots during the 2024 election, and the Arizona action is part of an ongoing federal investigation into election issues in multiple states.
President Donald Trump shared the Just the News report on his Truth Social account, amplifying the story with, “Great!!!” in the body of the post.
Back in January, I interviewed former Maricopa County Clerk and Recorder Stephen Richer on my Friday election-related show, Why We Vote.
The conversation was constrained to Fulton County, GA, but at one point Richer downplayed Runbeck’s role in Maricopa County elections in 2022 — that was the “drawer three” election.
Runbeck Election Services is so specialized it requires waiving competitive contracts in certain contexts — like country-level contract and funding approvals. (see: El Paso County, CO) In other contexts — like efforts to verify ballot chain of custody and obtain loading dock footage — it’s so basic that it’s just like the Staples or the UPS store. (See: Maricopa County, AZ)
This is the essence of the public private partnerships in elections — plausible deniability via ever-moving goal posts.
It can’t be both. It can’t be so specialized it deserves a waiver of the standard bid requirements but, also, so unspecialized that the government can’t compel transparency in “our democracy.”
That’s been the narrative landscape for Runbeck to date — but that elusive transparency is now the substance of a federal investigation.
About that… remember the Maricopa audit? I made a timeline in 2021 of all times the county obstructed justice, overlaid with audit findings and other notable moments:
This conduct is now being investigated. We’re closer than we’ve ever been.
Georgia… Arizona… who’s next?
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Now do Colorado! Now do Colorado! LOL
Pennsylvania.