Transparency is essential to maintaining trust in our democracy, and without it, our democracy will wither away in darkness. If presenting the facts and advocating for transparency is considered crossing a line, then I stand guilty for defending the truth. The caller identified herself as a “professional lobbyist” and we briefly discussed the matter before she abruptly hung up the phone. However, I recently received a call from a representative of Creosote Partners, a public relations lobbying firm that represents Jenny Guzman. We attempted to reach out to both groups regarding the bill but have not received any response. Here is our thoughtful reply:Īrizona Election Transparency Bills Shine Sunlight On Voting Process, Not Voters Unfortunately, some Democratic Groups, such as Jenny Guzman from “Common Cause Arizona” and Alex Gulotta from “All Voting is Local,” express a belief that making these records public will facilitate chaos. Ted Downing PhD calls this” the big lie killer.” But Democrats, blinded by fear, are paranoid that this bill is just some kind of Republican trick, which it is not. Bennett and his transparency team (mostly democrats) believes that SB1324 will help achieve the teams’ goal of transparent, trackable, and publicly verified elections in the state. He is operating the same way as a Senator. When he was SOS, Bennett was known for reaching across the aisle for bipartisan solutions. However, Senator Ken Bennett, former Arizona Secretary of State, is the bill’s sponsor. One of the things that has worried Democrats is that this bill was introduced by Republicans, which has set off alarm bells and fears of being sabotaged. And if the losers are grifters and refuse to stand down, their followers will be convinced when the truth hits them in the face. Anyone who views these records should be convinced. It is clear from many of their comments that they do not understand the power of the ballot images and Cast Vote Records to convince everyone, including the loser of an election, that the winner actually won, and the loser actually lost. These two short videos make the point better than we can write in this report on why ballot images are so important, and why they may be the most persuasive evidence one can present to verify election results:ĭemocrats are allowing fear to stand in the way of reason. When everyone has access to accurate information, false election claims cannot stick. These records are anonymous but are the source documents for the election that can truly verify results. In contrast, SB1324 would make ballot images and Cast Vote Records publicly available so anyone can verify the results for themselves. The traditional hand-count audit, touted by election officials, is not statistically significant and is fatally flawed due to being severely out of date. Presently, the public has to trust election officials when they state that there were no problems, and that the election results are accurate.

However, their inability to see the benefits of transparency in this case is a tragedy unto itself.

As a party that traditionally believes in open government, they appear to be terrified of releasing more information for fear that it will be abused and misused.

Imagecast ballot verification