Yesterday, on the day the Phoenix Suns clinched a spot in the NBA finals, the Arizona ballot boobs had to vacate Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which used to be the Suns’ arena. They left, so should Republicans. I lost track of how many deadlines Cyber Ninjas have missed; last we heard they said they’d be done June 30, the day their lease ended at the Coliseum because a gun show starts July 9. But of course, guns.
Cyber Ninjas and the Arizona Senate say they’re still not done, so they’re moving the 2.1 million ballots and equipment to another building at the fairgrounds, a very old structure that doesn’t have air-conditioning (named for a Democratic Governor).
The Wesley Bolin Building, at the south end of the fairgrounds west of the cattle barns, does not have air conditioning and is not recommended for use from May through September due to the summer heat, according to the fair’s website. The building uses a swamp cooler, or an evaporative cooler that uses moisture to cool the air.
Oh, but it has a swamp cooler! We used swamp coolers a long time ago, and many older homes still have them. They work fine most of the time, just not in the hottest part of summer, and not for big spaces like this 20,000-square-foot cavern. Last week temps averaged about 116 in Phoenix, today it cooled down to 106.
Apparently the counters are done counting, at least we think so because they don’t tell the public a friggin’ thing. Jen Fiefield at The Arizona Republic reports that at least two issues are holding up the process, but they won’t be solved by moving to another building.
First, the Senate wants Maricopa County’s routers, even though the County has already told them that’s a security risk they’re not going to take. Besides, the routers were not used to send election information. Also, the Senate wants passwords from Dominion for its voting machines (which are no longer useable and Maricopa County will spend millions to replace). The County doesn’t have the passwords and Dominion already said no, because Cyber Ninjas and their team of conspiracy nutballs are “unaccredited auditors.” Ouch, that’ll leave a mark!
Chief Ninja Doug Logan appears in the new Deep Rig movie about the audit. Supposedly he was hired to be an objective auditor (the Arizona Senate President said he was “unbiased”), but there he is in the film spouting conspiracy nonsense that’s been disproven. The film’s chock full of bonkers, and after the premiere last week in Phoenix a panel of QAnon lunkheads held a Q&A session with the audience, which included Senate President Karen Fann. Jerold McDonald-Evoy at Arizona Mirror reports that extremism, conspiracies, and death threats were not in short supply during the discussion. Joe Oltmann is featured in the movie and joined the panel for the Q&A.
Oltmann has a history of using violent rhetoric. In March, he said violence would be necessary to “take our country back” in a speech flanked by militia members, and late last year Oltmann threatened journalists.
Turn up the heat! DOJ? Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?