Attorney Bill Risner Interviewed by Brad Friedman on on the Mike Malloy Show over Missing RTA Polltapes

Brad Friedman breaks RTA Missing Polltape Story on the Mike Malloy Show. Interviews Bill Risner and provides great coverage of the RTA saga:


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Poll Tapes Missing In RTA Election

Background:

Remember the hurried press conference by AZ Attorney General Terry Goddard in April of last year? That’s the one where he paraded out all of his assistants and formally declared that after counting the 2006 RTA Ballots, they had found no evidence of foul play for rigging the elections? A few puny voices on the side of the room opposite the mainstream media asked questions. The first, did you count or examine the POLL TAPES in any way? The answer was no. Second, did you do a precinct by precinct audit against the statements of votes cast? No. We would have had to account for one or two adjustments and we don’t know how to do that. Third, did you perform any forensic checks to verify the authenticity of the ballots? The answer? Don’t be silly.

The poll tapes garnered interest right away from Terry Goddard, because Terry wasn’t going to examine anything until he was informed of the Democratic Party’s plans to look at the poll tapes. Then, like a hawk flying out of the sky after a field mouse, Goddard snatched the ballots from Pima County’s Iron Mountain storage facility. How was the Democratic party informed? Through secondhand chatter from the Democratic Party’s opposing legal team while the ballots were being transferred up to some unknown location in Maricopa County. The recount behind glass would take place one month later.

During this process, the Democratic Party had requested repeatedly that Terry Goddard examine the poll tapes, because they provide a valuable “precinct snapshot”- a perfect auditing function. In addition, they can easily be identified if they are fake or regenerated. During this process, the Democratic Party had requested repeatedly that Terry Goddard examine the poll tapes, because they provide a valuable “precinct snapshot” - a perfect auditing function. In addition, they can easily be identified if they are fake or regenerated. During this exchange, the Democrats were assured that Goddard’s investigation would include the poll tapes and the Attorney General’s press spokesperson confirmed that poll tapes would be examined.

Only at that brisk press conference last year did the public discover that the Attorney General refused to examine the poll tapes. The reason? Well, Attorney General Terry Goddard was reduced to feigning ignorance about the importance of examining the poll tapes at that very same press conference, so we weren’t given a reason unless you want to believe Goddard’s act about being ignorant.

So Terry Goddard finished his debut with the RTA ballots and passed them back to the Iron Mountain Storage facility in the custody of Treasurer Beth Ford. The poll tapes are included in the ballot boxes.

This move stuck the Democratic party with another year of litigation involving ridiculous legal arguments from Pima County and the Treasurer's office over costs, process, and, get this, the idea that the poll tapes are “ballots”. Despite the best efforts of Terry Goddard, Pima County and the legal teams intertwined with growth lobby interests, the Democratic party has inspected the poll tapes and examined them.

What was found?:

* Now we know why Terry Goddard refused to look at the poll tapes. Out of 368 precincts, there are 112 poll tapes missing (representing 122 precincts). 102 of the yellow sheets are missing. The corresponding paperwork serving a vital auditing function at the precinct level is missing.

* 50 of the polltapes that were found do not match the final canvas. In all cases ballots were added to the count and many of the yellow sheets indicate that the precincts' optical scanners were not counting all ballots. Somehow, additional ballots were added to the precinct results by percentage. This is consistent with original complaints of electronic vote tampering.

A significant portion of missing poll tapes had corresponding anomalies in the electronic data records. It’s naive to think that electronic records would be manipulated without some measure to cover tracks by either creating a new paper trail or removing the one that exists.

It took the public one additional year of litigation at taxpayer's expense to discover these missing poll tapes - thanks to Goddard’s “dog and pony” show.

Pima County Spends $150,000 to Prevent the Democratic Party from Doing what the AZ Attorney General was Supposed to Do

Remember the hurried press conference by AZ Attorney General Terry Goddard in April of last year? That's the one where he paraded out all of his assistants and formally declared that after counting the 2006 RTA Ballots, they had found no evidence of foul play for rigging the elections? A few puny voices on the side of the room opposite the mainstream media asked questions. The first, did you count or examine the poll tapes in any way? The answer was no. Second, did you do a precinct by precinct audit against the statements of votes cast? No. We would have had to account for one or two adjustments and we don't know how to do that. Third, did you perform any forensic checks to verify the authenticity of the ballots? The answer? Don't be silly.

The poll tapes garnered interest right away from Terry Goddard, because Terry wasn't going to examine anything until he was informed of the Democratic Party's plans to look at the poll tapes. Then, like a hawk flying out of the sky after a field mouse, Goddard snatched the ballots from Pima County's Iron Mountain storage facility. How was the Democratic party informed? Through secondhand chatter from the Democratic Party's opposing legal team while the ballots were being transferred up to some unknown location in Maricopa County. The recount behind glass would take place one month later.

During this process, the Democratic Party had requested repeatedly that Terry Goddard examine the poll tapes, because they provide a valuable "precinct snapshot" prior to the tabulations. In addition, they can easily be identified if they are fake or regenerated. During this exchange, a tentative agreement was reached by Assistant Attorney General Robert Conrad and the Democratic Party. Conrad assured the Democrats that they would examine the poll tapes and the Attorney General's press spokesperson confirmed that poll tapes would be examined.

Only at that brisk press conference last year did the public discover that the Attorney General refused to examine the poll tapes. The reason? Well, Attorney General Terry Goddard was reduced to feigning ignorance about the importance of examining the poll tapes at that very same press conference, so we weren't given a reason unless you want to believe Goddard's act about being ignorant.

So Terry Goddard finished his debut with the RTA ballots and passed them back to the Iron Mountain Storage facility in the custody of Treasurer Beth Ford. The poll tapes are included in the ballot boxes.

Now the Democrats are stuck in a court battle to acquire the unadulterated ballot tapes to examine and copy. You know, those same type of poll tapes from last Fall's city election that were acquired for twelve dollars and forty cents?

At first, the State Treasurer's office and Pima County tried to overtly deny access to the poll tapes, claiming that they were the same as releasing the ballots. Precedence really did a number on that argument, so now they are using more covert means of getting in the way - like restricting the number of participants, raising the costs of copying and videotaping and postponing the actual exchange.

The State Treasurer has also suggested another important measure. This time, they really want the poll tapes to pass through John Moffatt's hands so he doesn't have to go and violate another court order like the one he violated with the database hard drives in the past RTA law suit. Yes, they are actually insisting on having the poll tapes first be transferred to Pima County (the suspects in the RTA investigation) before the Democratic Party can look at them. Meanwhile the rest of the press is ignoring this court case and ridiculing those that still think something's amiss. After all, they have a stake in making their RTA fiction stand.

For anyone interested in seeing this ridiculous game live and up close, the hearing is Monday, March 22nd, at 1:30 PM in the Pima County Superior Court House. Bring popcorn.