(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Former Arizona state Supreme Court Justice Ruth McGregor will be leading an investigation into Maricopa County’s election issues.
County officials said the investigation will be done by a team of “independent experts,” according to the Daily Wire.
The judge will hire several “independent experts to find out why the printers that read ballots well in the August Primary had trouble reading some ballots while using the same settings in the November General,” said Maricopa Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates and Vice Chairman Clint Hickman in the statement.
Maricopa County includes the state’s capital, Phoenix, and has the highest population of all Arizona counties. The county suffered several highly suspect election infractions during both the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterms., which helped Democrats in both cases secure alleged wins that are still being litigated in court battles.
When counting votes for the midterm elections, tabulators at an estimated 70 of 223 voting centers were unable to read ballots due to a printing problem that failed to sufficiently print dark “timing marks.”
Printers are provided at polling sites so ballots can be produced on demand, allowing voters to vote at any location in the county.
Requests for further information were disregarded, with election officials neglecting to give pertinent answers. Candidates, however, continued to raise concerns.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake sued the state after the results showed a close loss to her opponent, Democrat Katie Hobbs.
Lake alleged that election officials coordinated to disenfranchise voters and that “hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots infected the election in Maricopa County” via the malfunctioning printers and other means.
The lawsuit was rejected; Lake is working to appeal the suit.
McGregor served on the state’s Supreme Court from 1998 to 2009 and previously lead a 2019 investigation into Arizona prisons, revealing security issues.
There is no public timeline for the investigation, but reports indicate that McGregor is already working to put together her team and start investigating.
“The intention was always to have trust but verify and to have an outside group of eyeballs come in and take a look at this,” said county spokesman Fields Moseley.
 Former Arizona state Supreme Court Justice Ruth McGregor will be leading an investigation into Maricopa County's election issues.){kind=link}