Interesting Takeaways

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Interesting Takeaways will bring forward some interesting findings, without a direct reference to trending of governance gaps.

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This page highlights some interesting facts discovered while researching governance issues.

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These Interesting Takeaways are not presented in any logical order.

Interesting Takeaways

Catch-22 for Governance

catch-22 (noun): a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions

This takeaway is courtesy of the Judge presiding over a Special Complaint Jamie filed against Maricopa County for not delivering most of the county records she had requested.

Judge's final decision acknowledged Jamie's pursuit of accountability and controls for Maricopa County.

The Judge's final decision also acknowledged that Maricopa County has under no legal obligation to maintain the records Jamie sought to show poor accountability and inadequate controls.

This presents a Catch-22 for the Maricopa County citizen by this ruling.

• On one hand, objective evidence would be needed in a judicial hearing to prove Maricopa's County's wrongdoing with an issue that has caused concern or harm to a citizen. In many cases, county documentation would be relied upon as the objective evidence to demonstrate the county's understanding of an issue before and/or during their wrongdoing.
• On the other hand, Maricopa County is not required to document and retain said documentation that could serve as objective evidence needed to prove wrongdoing.  

Laws rarely specify the process details. Governments normally use policies and procedures to conduct business, which is good governance. Granted, Judges must focus on the law, not policies and procedures. Hence, Arizona Counties can shield themselves from public oversight in areas of governance by simply not storing the records created as part of the process, but ensure they comply with the few statutes that recquire documentation. .

• For additional details, see June 1, 2026: Judge's Decision, Catch-22 for Governance.

56,226 Fictitious Addresses

There were 56,226 undeliverable early ballots in Maricopa County during the 2020 General Election per a United States Postal Service Inspector. 

These early ballots were undeliverable because the addresses were fictitious; there was no residence at the address provided on the voter registration form. Can you imagine how easy it is for a corrupt postal worker or workers to steal a few thousand for fraudulent purposes? If you don't think that would be possible, why do you think your credit cards are mailed to you without the name of the credit card company on the envelope? Credit card companies know credit cards are stolen from the USPS if the letter content (credit card) can be determined by distinguishing letterheads on the envelope. Imagine how easy it would be to steal those easy to identify green early ballot envelopes, especially when they have already been segregated form other first-class mail and there are boxes and boxes of early ballots that are still valid and are being treated the same as all first-class mail.

For more details,

• see Allegation #2 Dropbox Collection (2020), Deviation: Fictious Addresses in the MC Voter Registration Database

86,391 Fictitious People

In September of 2021, the Arizona Senate requested the Arizona Attorney General investigate an allegation of 86,391 fictitious people on the voter registration rolls during the 2020 General Election. 

The inspector conducting the investigation discredited the allegation of 86,391 fictitious people based on a "belief" that the databases used by Cyber Ninjas to arrive at that list were not as accurate and reliable that the databases used by the Arizona Attorney General's inspectors.

Meanwhile, the inspector did not perform any random sampling, to acquire objective data for such a serious allegation. Not a single record was checked despite reasonable evidence collected by commercially available data bases. Banking and financial institutions routinely perform a credit check using these commercial databases critical financial decisions. Somehow, the inspector was free to discredit all 86,391 fictious people based on a belief with on objective evidence.

Elsewhere in the inspector's report, 56,226 early ballots were noted to have been undeliverable due to fictious addresses. This objective evidence was presented by a United States Postal Service (USPS) Inspector. He also said all of those undeliverable early ballots were digitally scanned by the USPS.

A prudent action would have been to reconcile the list of 56,391 fictious addresses to the list of 86,391 fictitious people. A negligent action would be to discredit 86,391 fictitious people on the voter rolls without any objective evidence and ignore evidence collected elsewhere in the investigation.

For more details,

• see Allegation #6 Unknown Published Election Fraud Flyer (2020), Sub-allegation #8
• see Allegation #2 Dropbox Collection (2020), Deviation: Fictious Addresses in the MC Voter Registration Database

587 "bad signatures"

During the 2020 General Election, Maricopa County Level 1 Signature Verifiers identified 587 signatures on early ballots that did not match the signature on the voter registration record. 

The following information will put this in perspective:

• 1,910,317 was the number of early ballots reviewed by Level 1 Signature Verifiers.
• 16,539 was the number of early ballots flagged for having no signature by the Level 1 Signature Verifiers.
• 587 was the number of early ballots flagged for having a "bad signature" (signature mis-match)

In summary,

• 16,539 (0.87%) early ballots were rejected for no signature, No signature is the easiest decision to make for a Level 1 Signature Verifier because its binary; is there a mark within the signature block on the envelope, yes or no?
• 587 (0.030%) were rejected for a bad signature, which is a much more challenging decision because the decision is qualitative, five signature attributes need to be matched according to Arizona Statute (A.R.S. 16-550.01, paragraph G).

Common sense would suggest that a higher number a higher number of early ballots should be rejected based on the more difficult qualitative decision than the easier binary decision. This discrepancy did not concern the Arizona Attorney General's Inspector, who was investigating allegation of malicious or criminal behavior as referred to by the Arizona Senate.

• For additional details, see Gov. Examples, Signature Verification
• To learn more about Signature Verification, visit an external website, The Catastrophic Risks of Inadequate Signature Verification in U.S. Elections – A Five-Alarm Fire for Democracy - Hand Count Road Show

7.2 Second Barrier to Fraud

"According to Mr. Ray Valenzuela, Director of Elections, Level I Signature Verifiers should be able to process around 250 signature verifications every 30 minutes (7.2 seconds per ballot).

By law, A.R.S. 16-550.01, paragraph G,the signature verifiers is required to compare five signature attributes between the signature applied to the early ballot and the signature applied when registering to become a voter (i.e., the signature of record within the voter registration database).

According to Maricopa Leadership, the Level I Signature Verifier should maintain a pace of one early ballot every 7.2 seconds.

Can a Level 1 Signature Verifier be expected to compare the statutory requirements for five signature attributes at pace of one ballot every 7.2 seconds for an eight-hour day?

• For additional details, see Gov. Examples, Signature Verification

Training for us, but not for thee

"According to Ms. Celia Nabor, Assistant Director of Early Voting, all Level I Signature Verifiers and Managers attended Signature Verification Training provided by Associated Forensic Laboratory, LLC. This training was conducted by Ms. Kathleen Annunziata Nicolaides a Forensic Document Examiner. This new training was provided in June 2020 prior to the General Election.

"According to Maricopa County Elections Department, an additional 40 temporary employees were hired from October 30th to November 6th 2020 to assist with Signature Verification and ballot curing."

According to the Arizona State Attorney General's inspector, the Finding was, "No improper Election Procedures were discovered during the Signature Verification review.

This conclusion was made after his report noted that 40 temporary employees were hired in October, four months after the training had been delivered in June. The 40 temporary employees were also noted to be performing Level 1 Signature Verifications, apparently without any training.

• For additional details, see Gov. Examples, Signature Verification

Procedures violated, but consequences unknown

"Election Procedure Violations. Maricopa County election officials failed to follow Maricopa County Election Department Procedures mandated by the Arizona Secretary of State Election Procedures Manual related to Ballot Drop-off Locations and Drop-Boxes. Both Maricopa County and the state of Arizona have procedures to insure the proper chain of custody documenting ballot movement from Drop-Off locations to the County Elections Department. The following procedure violations were identified during the investigation.

Section I.7.b - For any election that includes a partisan race, at least two designated ballot retrievers of at least two differing party preferences shall be assigned to retrieve voted ballots from a ballot drop-box location or drop box.

Section 1.7.d - Upon arrival at a drop-box location or drop-box, the two designated ballot retrievers shall note on the retrieval form prescribed by the County Recorder or officer in charge of elections, the location and/or unique identification number of the location or drop-box and the date of time of arrival.

Section 1.7.e - The time of departure from the drop-off location or drop-box shall be noted on the retrieval form.

Section 1.7.f - The County Recorder or officer in charge of elections (or designee) shall inspect the secure ballot container for evidence of tampering and shall confirm receipt of the retrieved ballots by signing the retrieval form and indicating the date and time of receipt.

Section 1.7.h - When the secure ballot container is opened by the County Recorder or officer in charge of elections (or designee), the number of ballots inside the contain shall be counted on the retrieval form.

Five procedures were violated by Maricopa County during the 2020 General Election according to an inspector for the Arizona Attorney General, who was investigating malicious and criminal allegations from the Arizona Senate. These procedures were written to fulfill the chain of custody requirements as specified by county election procedures and state election procedures; both sets of procedures were written to ensure compliance with the Arizona Revised Statues.

• The inspector's finding was framed as violations of only five procedure.
• The inspector did not state how many occurrences of each procedure violations.
• The inspector did not determine how many thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of early ballots were handled in a manner contrary to statutory chain of custody requirements.

This investigation began ten months after the 2020 General Election. Maricopa County failed to identify or investigate mishandling of drop-box ballots. Maricopa County had an opportunity to identify these procedure violations after citizens had identified chain of custody issues via Public Records Requests. As an example of poor governance, Maricopa County did not investigate these procedure violations. Accordingly, no employee, management or frontline, was held accountable to the violations of procedures, which were written to ensure the integrity of elections.

• For additional details, see Gov. Examples, Dropbox Collection (2020).

Two Person Rule for Drop Boxes Stricter than the Election Management Server

An inspector for the Arizona Attorney General determined multiple procedure violations had occurred during the 2020 General Election, including, "Section I.7.b - For any election that includes a partisan race, at least two designated ballot retrievers of at least two differing party preferences shall be assigned to retrieve voted ballots from a ballot drop-box location or drop box."

The inspector's report also investigated the Arizona Senate's allegation of failure to follow basic cyber security practices. The allegation was determined to be unfounded. As part of the justification, the inspector notes "The EMS server along with the other election equipment resides inside a controlled access room under 24-hour video monitoring. Further security requirements include a two-person rule to enter the room.

Let's contrast the requirements of the two-person team, drop box collection versus Election Management Server (EMS) access:

• Two people are required to pick up ballots from a drop box and the ballot pick up team must consist of people with different party preferences.
• Two people are required to have access to the EMS.

Let's contrast the consequence of error or fraud, drop box collection versus Election Management Server access:

• Corruption by a drop box team may affect thousands or tens of thousands of ballots a most.
• Corruption by an EMS team may affect all ballots, which could be as high as 2,595,272, which is the number of registered voters.

Let's contrast the complexity of error or fraud detection, drop box collection versus Election Management Server access:

• Personnel would be required to physically handle the ballots and complete the pick up form, which documents the pickup location and time. These are fundamental daily life skills and no special knowledge would be necessary for one of the team members to detect fraud or corruption by the other team member.
• Personnel performing maintenance or updates on the EMS would be expected to have Information Technology skills. It would be more difficult for a team member with less knowledge and experience to detect fraud or corruption being implemented by the other person in the team with more knowledge and experience.

By the way, the EMS area may be surveilled by a 24-hour video camera as the inspector noted. Elsewhere in the inspector's report, the inspector notes that Operating System Logs were only preserved until the maximum file size was reached. Then the old files were overwritten with new data. A 24-hour video camera is worthless for a fraud investigation unless the digital recording is preserved for an extended period to support a subsequent fraud investigation. In this case, the inspector for the Arizona Attorney General did not complete the investigation until 13 months after the 2020 General Election. The inspector noted the 24-hour camera but did not make note of reviewing any of the digital recordings.

• For additional details, see Gov. Examples, Dropbox Collection (2020).
• For additional details, see MC EMS 2020 - Failure to Follow Basic Cyber Security Practices.
• For additional details, see MC EMS 2020 - Operating System Logs Not Preserved

Well Aligned, but to the Wrong Purpose

A Maricopa County employee replied to one of Jamie's inquiries with “We have no statutory responsibility to answer your questions.” This comment would be expected from a frontline employee given that Maricopa County leadership and legal team included the following in their March 12, 2026: Maricopa County Defense Briefing, "Defendants have no duty to explain." Maricopa County culture appears to be aligned from top to bottom for the purpose of maintaining a minimum level of performance necessary to comply with applicable laws and regulations. However, Green Book Attribute 1.04 has a different perspective, with the following statement, "The oversight body and management reinforce the commitment to doing what is right, not just maintaining a minimum level of performance necessary to comply with applicable laws and regulations, so that these priorities are understood by all stakeholders, such as regulators, service organizations, employees, and the public." Empasis was by ACV.

• For additional details, see May 15, 2025: Let’s Play Hot Potato
• For additional details, see March 12, 2026: Maricopa County Defense Briefing